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Abstract:
Abstract: The memory difficulties of people with Asperger's
syndrome/autism may relate to the degree of support available to
the subject and the degree of control needed during remembering
(Bowler et al., 1997). This observation may explain the mixed
findings on source memory in autism: Benetto et al (1996) report
increased intrusions of items from earlier lists in a multi-list
free-recall paradigm (no support), yet Farrant (1998) reported no
impairment in identification of which of two experimenters had
spoken a particular word (support present). We report two studies
of the effects of presence or absence of suport on source memory in
individuals with Asperger's syndrome. In Experiment 1, subjects
were asked to perform one of four things (think of an associate,
generate the opposite of the word, think of an action related to
the word or think of a word that rhymes with it) on studied words.
At test, they were asked either to recall what they did with the
word at test or to select what they did from the four options
presented on the screen. In Experiment 2, test words were presented
either at the top or bottom of a computer screen or were spoken by
a male or female voice. At test, subjects identified either where
or by which voice the word had been presented under either
supported or unsupported condition. The results are discussed in
terms of current conceptions of memory in autism.
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