Memory problems could be another problem for children with autism

By Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 11, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Children with autism have well-known difficulties with social interactions, but a new study highlights another area where they may struggle: memory.

The researchers found that compared to their peers, school-aged children with autism showed more difficulty managing memory tasks. They often had trouble remembering faces – which has been seen in previous studies – but also having trouble remembering words and other types of information.

Additionally, the researchers were able to trace the memory deficits to particular brain circuits that were “hyperconnected.”

The results suggest that memory problems may be a bigger problem for children with autism than is generally recognized. And this should be considered in school and in services for these children, say the researchers.

Children with ‘high-functioning’ autism often go to mainstream schools and receive the same education as their peers, the lead author said Jin Liupostdoctoral researcher at Stanford University School of Medicine, California.

But, she says, the new findings suggest that while these children may have high IQs, they may still have memory problems.

“So they may need some extra help,” Liu said.

Autism is a brain development disorder that, to varying degrees, impairs communication and social skills. Some children have milder difficulties, but others are deeply affected – speaking little or not at all, and getting caught up in repetitive and obsessive behaviors. Some children have developmental disabilities, while others have average or above average IQs.

When it comes to memory issues, research has been quite limited. Some studies have shown that children with autism may have more difficulty remembering faces than normally developing children. Less is known if they tend to have broader difficulties with memory.

It’s an important question, Liu said, because memory abilities are critical to academic and job performance. They also play an underappreciated role in social relationships, she noted.

Socialization is complex and requires people to use many skills, including episodic memory – recalling details of an event, like your first day at school, and the emotions associated with it.

Even seemingly simple memory for objects can matter for schoolchildren’s interactions, Liu pointed out – if, for example, an autistic child has trouble remembering that a classmate’s backpack looks like the his, but is not his.

For the new study — published July 10 in Biological psychiatry: cognitive neurosciences and neuroimaging — Liu and his colleagues recruited 25 children with autism and 29 typically developing children. All were between 8 and 12 years old and had average to above average IQs.

On average, children with autism scored lower on standard memory tests than the comparison group. The tests measured the children’s ability to recognize if they had seen a picture or heard a word before, and their ability to remember details of those past experiences. Some images were faces and some were completely “non-social” – that is, they didn’t include any people.

The researchers also found another performance difference. In non-autistic children, face and non-social memory were generally consistent: if one was good, the other was also good.

But in autistic children, the two didn’t always match. Facial memory may be worse than non-social memory, for example.

Some clues as to why emerged when researchers used functional MRIs to track children’s brain activity.

In autistic children, two distinct brain “circuits” were linked to memory difficulties. General memory problems have been attributed to overactivity of the hippocampus, a brain structure well known to be involved in memory. But the facial memory problems were linked to an area of ​​the brain called the posterior cingulate cortex, which plays a role in social skills and the ability to distinguish oneself from others.

This, however, does not prove that abnormal activity in these brain circuits actually causes memory problems in children, Liu said.

For parents, the results might not come as a surprise. They are the ones who know their children best, Liu said, and may well have noticed general memory difficulties.

The study does not answer the question of how best to help children with memory problems.

But it raises awareness, said Alycia Halladayscientific director of the non-profit association Autism Science Foundation.

“This study underscores the need to look beyond core autism symptoms when assessing the needs of individuals on the spectrum,” said Halladay, who was not involved in the study.

She agreed that memory problems can have far-reaching effects, not just on things like school performance, but also on daily life and well-being.

“It’s important to understand these memory impairments, even in those without intellectual disabilities,” Halladay said.

The US National Institute of Mental Health has more on autism.

SOURCES: Jin Liu, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.; Alycia Halladay, PhD, Scientific Director, Autism Science Foundation, Scarsdale, NY; Biological psychiatry: cognitive neurosciences and neuroimagingJuly 10, 2023, online

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