Social Versus Memory Demands On Cognitive Set Shifting
Johnston, Oliver H.; White, S.; Clawson, A.; Krauskopf, E.; South, M.; South, Mikle
Abstract
Executive functions refer to brain processes needed for planning, flexibility, abstract thinking, and other everyday organizational tasks. There remains inconsistency in executive function (EF) studies in autism. A recent review of previous studies (Corbett et al., 2009) reports overall significant deficiencies in EF for autism groups, but it is uncertain how much of this may be due to the presence of ADHD symptoms in 30-50% of children diagnosed with autism (Yerys et al 2009). It has been shown that children with high-functioning autism perform the Wisconsin Card Sort, a test of set-shifting and perseveration, better when it is administered via computer than by a person (Ozonoff 1995). Ozonoff suggested this was due to social demands on cognition during the in person task that interfered with performance, rather than damaged executive functioning in set-shifting. We aimed to investigate this hypothesis by varying the amount of social input in the administration of the WCST, across three different conditions