2 - New Papers From The International Meeting for Autism Research

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2 - New Papers From The International Meeting for Autism Research

The International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) is two-day

scientific meeting comprised of all types of autism research - from

molecular biology to neuropsychology to treatment will be

represented at their meeting in San Diego, November 9 and 10.

The abstracts below are some of the scientific papers being presented

Friday afternoon by the researchers. Additional Friday afternoon and

Saturday's reports will be reproduced here in subsequent postings of the

FEAT Newsletter. All of the information is from the IMFAR website:

http://www.imfar.org/index2.html

NEUROPSYCHOLOGY ABSTRACTS

Abstract Reasoning In Autism: A Dissociation Between Rule-Learning & Concept

Formation Abilities.

N. J. Minshew, G. Goldstein and J. Markus. Univ. of Pgh. Sch. of Med.,

Pittsburgh, PA 15213.

Rule-learning and concept formation are separable cognitive abilities

within the abstract reasoning domain. It was hypothesized that concept

formation tasks, such as free sorting procedures, would discriminate more

accurately than attribute identification and rule-learning tasks, such as

the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Halstead Category Test, between 90

individuals with high functioning autism and 107 normal controls.

Performance was significantly different between individuals with

autism and a matched control group on all abstract reasoning tasks. However,

stepwise discriminant function analyses revealed that tests of concept

formation had greater discriminatory capacity than tests of concept

identification. This dissociation between rule-learning or concept

identification and higher-order conceptual integration within the domain of

abstract reasoning appears to be relatively unique to autism. The presence

of this dissociation in autism suggests there may be a distinct biological

basis for these two categories of abstraction abilities.

This dissociation provides an explanation for the rule bound behavior

typical of autism, difficulty with generalization and with novel situations

for which rules are not known. We conclude that the dissociation between

concept identification and concept formation more accurately characterizes

the range of abstract reasoning abilities found in higher ability

individuals with autism than executive dysfunction.

This study was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and

Human Development Grant HD35469 and National Institute of Neurological

Disorders Grant NS33355 to J. Minshew and by the Medical Research

Service, Department of Veterans Affairs.

* * *

Left Medial Frontal Cortex Joint Attention And Theory Of Mind.

P. Mundy. Center for Autism and Related Disorders, University of Miami,

Coral Gables, FL 33146.

Autism is characterized, in part, by a sequential developmental

disturbance in joint attention development and social cognition, as measured

on Theory of Mind measures. Recently, three studies have revealed a left,

medial-frontal contribution to the development of joint attention skills in

infancy (Caplan, 1993, Mundy et al. 2001, Yoder, in preparation).

Converging with these data, numerous studies have implicated left

medial and left inferior frontal contributions to theory of mind performance

in typical and atypical samples (e. g., Fletcher, et al. 1995; Sabbaugh &

, 1999; et al. 2000).

These data suggest that a consideration of the functions associated

with a brain system involving the left medial cortex, and its connections

with the frontal eye fields, motor cortex, cingulated cortex, thalamus and

Broca's area may make a heuristic contribution to emerging theory on

" social " brain circuits involved in autism.

This paper will: a) provide a review of data connecting left medial

process to joint attention and theory of mind, and present a model of the

potential contribution of the left medial cotical system to understanding

autistic pathology. The relations of this system to other CNS areas likely

involved in autism (e. g., cerebellar, temporal, orbital or dorsolateral

frontal cortex) will be discussed.

Supported by: NICHD R01 HD38052-01, SAMHSA KD1 SP09894-01; FLORIDA

STATE Dept. of Education, FDLRS Specialized Entrant

* * *

Evidence For Semantic Knowledge Across Three Input Modalities In

Low-Functioning Autism.

S. Higgins, K. I. Boser, & B. Gordon Div. of Cog. Neuro., Dept. of

Neurology, s Hopkins Med. Inst., Baltimore, MD 21287.

Attentional, motivational and sensory deficits in low-functioning

autism, as well as response bias and strategies, make assessment of acquired

knowledge especially challenging in this population. To measure semantic

knowledge more reliably, we developed a set of tasks assessing comprehension

of concrete nouns across 3 modalities (written, auditory and iconic) in a

low-functioning non-verbal autistic child (SR).

We examined consistency of responses and evaluated performance on

items previously trained in a picture to written word task on the

Foundations computer system. The subject was required to match a stimulus to

a corresponding color photograph, and the task included 300 items, presented

3 times, from 15 natural and 15 non-natural categories. Distracter items

shared both semantic and visual, only semantic, only visual, or neither

feature with the target. Results. SR demonstrated generalization of written

training to other input modalities.

Trained items were more likely to be correct across all presentations

and modalities. He generalized to untrained nouns, particularly for trained

semantic categories. SR performed better on natural than non-natural

categories across all modalities.

He made more errors to visual distracters in non-natural categories

for icon and written matching and more errors to semantic distracters in

natural categories for auditory and written matching. Therefore, the current

findings extend our previous results with AI, tested only in the auditory

modality, to SR, demonstrating evidence for broader semantic knowledge when

assessed across several input modalities.

Supported by: Dev. Cog. Neurosci. Gift & the Ben Endowment.

* * *

Discrimination Shift Learning And Task Complexity In Low-Functioning Autism.

K. I. Boser, S. Higgins, and B. Gordon. Div. of Cog. Neuro., Dept. of

Neurology, The s Hopkins Med. Inst., Baltimore, MD 21287.

Young children demonstrate initial use of exemplar-based strategies in

discrimination learning while older children are able to " abstract "

dimensional information. Extracting dimensional information leads to faster

learning of reversal shifts in which the rewarded feature shifts within a

dimension from training to test, but is impeded by memorization of

exemplars.

However, memorization does not interfere in non-reversal shift

learning, since the rewarded feature shifts to a new dimension at test. This

task is an important measure of flexibility crucial for categorization and

concept learning. We examined 2 low-functioning, nonverbal children with

autism (SR & FN) and contrasted different methods for training

discriminations:

1) two dimensions were varied simultaneously within two different

training sets;

2) one dimension was varied across both sets; and

3) one dimension was varied in only one set.

Results. SR learned reversal shifts faster than FN when both stimulus

dimensions were varied simultaneously, although many trials to meet

criterion (9/ 10 correct) were required. Varying the irrelevant dimension

across rather than within trials facilitated reversal shift learning for FN

but not SR. Both subjects had greater difficulty learning reversal than

non-reversal shifts when one set was presented in which only the relevant

dimension varied.

These results have implications for teaching cognitive skills to

children with autism, particularly those requiring flexible discrimination

such as early concept and category learning.

Supported by: Dev. Cog. Neurosci. Gift & the Ben Endowment.

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* * *

" Item Mortality " : Factors And Possible Explanations.

J. O'Grady, K. I. Boser, B. Gordon. Div. of Cognitive Neurology, Dept. of

Neurology, The s Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD 21287.

" Item mortality " is the apparent " forgetting " of previously learned

items as new ones are taught. While normal subjects demonstrate this, it is

a particularly prominent and frustrating problem in trying to teach

low-functioning individuals with autism. There are a number of possible

explanations of item mortality, including, insufficient initial learning,

limited working memory, rapid forgetting, retroactive interference and

response competition.

However, what factor or combination of factors is responsible for the

effect in these individuals has not been determined. We describe a series of

educational and research studies of a single individual that establish a

reproducible methodology for demonstrating item mortality and for

investigating its causative factors. The basic tasks involved line drawings

to picture matching and auditory stimulus to picture matching and the task

format had been well practiced by the subject.

Item mortality was reproducibly demonstrated with different items,

across the two different input modalities. Item difficulty, working memory

demands (both for stimuli and for responses), and new learning requirements

are to be systematically varied in each modality, in ongoing studies.

Relevance of these data for possible explanations for item mortality in this

situation will be discussed.

Supported in part by the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience gift

account, The Therapeutic Cognitive Neuroscience Endowment, and The

A. Endowment for Aging, Alzheimer's Disease, and Autism.

* * *

Impaired Learning Of Rotary Pursuit In Children With Autism.

S. H. Mostofsky, M. C. Goldberg and M. B. Denckla. Kennedy Krieger

Institute, s Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205.

Deficits in procedural learning (acquisition of skills through

repeated practice or exposure to task) have been reported in children with

autism (Mostofsky et al., 2000), based on findings of impaired implicit

sequence learning on the Serial Reaction Time Test (SRTT).

The goal of this study was to determine whether children (8-12 years)

with high functioning autism (HFA) also show deficits in acquisition of

another motor skill, Rotary Pursuit. Seven children with HFA and six

gender-, age-, and IQ-matched controls performed four successive blocks of

Rotary Pursuit trials. Each block consisted of four trials, each lasting

20-seconds, at a speed of 20 rpm. In blocks 1, 2, and 4 a circular pattern

was presented; in block 3 a square pattern was presented. There was a

20-minute break between blocks 1 and 2. Learning was measured by the

increase in mean time on-target across the three circular blocks.

Results: Controls were significantly more on-target across all blocks

than were children with HFA (F = 20.7 (1, 11), p = .0008). A repeated

measure ANOVA revealed that controls showed a significantly greater

improvement in performance across the three circular blocks than did

children with HFA (F = 19.4 (1, 11), p = .001).

In conclusion, these results suggest that children with HFA have

deficits in motor skill learning during Rotary Pursuit; although, a factor

of poor motor execution cannot be excluded. The findings provide further

evidence for a deficit in procedural learning in children with autism;

however future studies are needed to address whether the observed deficits

are secondary to impaired learning, execution, or both.

* * *

Examining The Relationship Between Executive Functions And Restricted,

Repetitive Symptoms Of Autistic Disorder.

B. R. , A. J. Lincoln, S. Ozonoff., Z. Lai. Consulting Measurement

Group, Inc., Institute for Developmental Research & California School of

Professional Psychology, University of Utah, Department of Psychology,

Scripts Research Institute.

Objective: To determine if a relationship exists between executive

functions (i. e., cognitive flexibility, planning, working memory, fluency,

and response inhibition) and the restricted, repetitive symptoms of Autistic

Disorder (AD).

Method: Seventeen adults with Autistic Disorder were matched on age

and Performance IQ to 17 healthy, nonautistic controls. Executive functions

were measured by the Delis-Kaplin Executive Function Scales were

administered to all the participants and autistic symptoms were measured by

the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, the Autism Diagnostic

Interview-Revised, the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale, and the Aberrant

Behavior Checklist-Community.

Results: The current study replicated the well-established executive

function profile of Autistic Disorder (i. e., deficits in cognitive

flexibility and planning, relatively unimpaired abilities in working memory

and response inhibition, and mixed findings in generativity). Cognitive

flexibility, working memory, and response inhibition were all found to be

highly related to restricted, repetitive symptoms, but planning and verbal

fluency were not found to be significantly correlated to restricted,

repetitive symptoms. Obtained data also suggest that cognitive flexibility

plays a mediating role between nonverbal fluency and restricted, repetitive

symptoms. We found that multiple executive functions are strongly associated

with restricted, repetitive behaviors.

Conclusion: A complex relationship exists between the restricted,

repetitive symptoms of AD and executive function component processes. When

accounting for restricted, repetitive symptoms of AD the entire executive

profile of AD needs to be considered. Moreover, findings from the present

study suggest a cognitive deficit model is insufficient to fully account for

restricted, repetitive symptoms of Autistic Disorder.

* * *

Time Processing Deficits In Autism .

Jill Boucher, Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4

7AL, UK.

It is proposed that autism is caused by two fundamental psychological

deficits. One of these (a primary intersubjectivity or socio-emotional

processing deficit) is seen as the main cause of autistic

socio-communicative impairments, and is not the topic of this presentation.

The second primary deficit is hypothesized to affect biopsychological

time processing, and is seen as the main cause of the repetitive behaviours

and lack of creativity which partly define autism, and also of the language

impairments and mental retardation which commonly co-occur with autism. In

this presentation the time processing deficit theory will be outlined, and

the results of studies testing predictions arising from the hypothesis will

be reported.

The findings presented will be discussed in relation to the theory

itself, and in relation to other current psychological explanations of

autism, in particular, the weak central coherence theory and Minshew's

notion of defective higher order integrative functions.

* * *

Adaptability In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders.

S. L. Hepburn, S. J. , W. L. Stone, & G. Shub. University of Colorado

Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO 80262.

" Adaptability " is a temperament characteristic that refers to the ease

with which an individual modifies behavior to adjust to changes in social

context. We hypothesized that low adaptability may be an early manifestation

of the insistence on sameness behaviors (e. g., restricted interests, strict

adherence to routines) which distinguish children with autism from other

developmentally disordered groups after the age of 3.

To evaluate this hypothesis, we conducted two studies. In the first

study, 28 two-year olds with autism were compared to 27 children with

developmental delays (groups comparable on mental and chronological age) on

parent report of adaptability. Two-year olds with autism were significantly

less adaptable than their peers, F( 1,55)= 4.72, p<. 05. Adaptability was

significantly correlated with severity of autism symptoms (r=. 37, p<. 01)

and receptive language ability (r=-. 27, p<. 05), but not to overall mental

age.

In the second study, we compared 2-year olds with autism to 42

four-to-five year olds with autism (mean age= 59 mos.) on adaptability.

Younger children were significantly less adaptable, F( 1,66)= 7.15, p<. 01.

A third inquiry into the relations between adaptability at age 2 and

insistence on sameness at age 4 is underway and suggests a strong

association.

Implications for diagnosing very young children and theoretical

associations between adaptability and frontal lobe functioning will be

discussed.

Supported by: NICHD P01 HD35468 and NIMH MH50620

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