Executive Functions in High-functioning ASD.

ALONSO GONZÁLEZ, A.; SAMPAIO, A.; MARTÍNEZ REGUEIRO, R.; RESCHES, M.; GÓMEZ GUERRERO, L.; GÓMEZ, S.; CARRACEDO, A.; FERNÁNDEZ PRIETO, M.

Porto

Congreso; 3rd International Conference of the European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (ESCAN); 2016

European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (ESCAN)

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by a wide range of impairments in different areas of development, including social interaction and communication, and by a restricted and repetitive pattern of behaviours, interests or activities. Additionally to these core symptoms, deficits in executive functions have been reported. The term ??executive function?? (EF) refers to a range of processes such as working memory, inhibitory control and attentional shifting, which are believed to depend on frontal lobe activity and underlie goal-directed responses to novel and challenging situations Nevertheless, the primacy of executive functions among the autistic symptoms is a topic of debate, particularly in terms of planning and shifting. Therefore, in this study we compared two domains of executive functions (response inhibition, and flexibility/shifting), in a group of children with high functioning ASD. The current study investigated executive functions in 4 children with AS (mean FSIQ: 96.8 ± 17.5) and 4 children with typical development (FSIQ: 113.8 ± 16.9) matched by age and sex (2 males, mean age: 14 ± 3.2), using two neuropsychological tests: the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) to assess cognitive flexibility and the Stroop task to assess response inhibition. Results showed increased perseverative errors in the ASD group (100 AS group vs 129 t typically developing test) and lower interference score (53 vs 50 in typically developing group). These results were associated with behavioral problems, measured by the CBCL, in the ASD group. Overall, these preliminary findings are in accordance with evidence showing pervasive impairment across a broad range of EF tasks, namely in inhibition, working and flexibility/shifting and are possibly contributing to ASD behavioral profile.