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Abstract:
The role of the medial temporal lobe in Autism has recently
been highlighted by the animal model of Bachevalier et al, 1994.
Here we present evidence of behavioural abnormalities consistent
with medial temporal lobe pathology in a group of Autistic children
compared to age matched controls.
Episodic memory, as assessed by memory for everyday events and
by recall on standardized memory tests, has been found to be
dependent on the integrity of the hippocampus (Vargha-Khadem et al,
1997). The Autistic children were significantly impaired relative
to controls on both of these measures, and their deficits were not
predicted by their verbal intelligence. By contrast, semantic
memory, evaluated by information, vocabulary and comprehension
subtests on the WISC-III, appears to be independent of the
hippocampus. On these measures, the Autistic children did not
differ from the controls.
No significant differences were found between the groups on
tasks associated with frontal lobe function (e.g. Stroop,
Extinction, and Rule reversal).
The evidence therefore weighs against the possibility that the
impairment in episodic memory is due to pathology in the
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and gives preliminary support to the
hypothesis that the Autistic syndrome is associated with
hippocampal abnormality.
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