Title

The relationship between social functioning and memory in autism

Date of Completion

January 1997

Keywords

Biology, Neuroscience|Health Sciences, Mental Health|Psychology, Clinical

Degree

Ph.D.

Abstract

Since the medial temporal lobe has been suggested as the primary site of dysfunction in autism, and medial temporal lobe structures appear to be involved in aspects of both social and memory functions in mammals, this study looked at the relationship between memory and social functioning in 9-year-old high-functioning autistic children, as compared to a control group of language-disordered children. Social functioning was measured by the Socialization domain of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales: Interview Edition. Partial correlations were conducted between Vineland Socialization and memory variables, controlling for reasoning abilities. For both groups, Vineland Socialization was generally not significantly correlated with measures of immediate memory, but was significantly correlated with verbal learning over several trials and with delayed verbal recall. ^

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