Verbal memory deficits in relation to organization strategy in high- and low-functioning autistic children

The present study examined the verbal memory profile and its relation to organizational strategies in high-functioning (Hi-AUT) and low-functioning (Lo-AUT) children with autism. Twenty-two Hi-AUT and 16 Lo-AUT, and 22 age-, gender- and handedness-matched normal children (NC) were required to remember a list of semantically related words for immediate and delayed recall and recognition. All autistic children showed impaired free recall, a reduced discrimination score and an elevated false alarm rate at recognition. While Hi-AUT children showed encoding and retrieval deficit, Lo-AUT children demonstrated more severe encoding problem and an additional retention difficulty. Lo-AUT, but not the Hi-AUT, children showed impaired semantic clustering. The recall performance in autistic children was not as strongly correlated with semantic clustering as in NC. The dual deficits of encoding and retrieval in autistic children, regardless of functioning level, implicate a frontal-lobe problem commonly observed in autism. The additional retention difficulty shown by low-functioning autistic children may be suggestive of pathological temporal-lobe involvement. The present findings may provide insights into future exploration of memory intervention for autistic children.