Autism Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Autism, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, causes, effects.

Executive functions in autism and Asperger's disorder: flexibility, fluency, and inhibition.

Kleinhans N, Akshoomoff N, Delis DC

Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego State University, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. nmk_353@yahoo.com

The Color-Word Interference Test, Trail Making Test, Verbal Fluency Test, and Design Fluency Test from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (Delis, Kaplan, & Kramer, 2001) were administered to 12 high-functioning adults and adolescents with autistic disorder or Asperger's disorder. Each test included a switching condition in addition to baseline and/or other executive-function conditions. Participants performed significantly below average on a composite measure of executive functioning adjusted for baseline cognitive ability. Complex verbal tasks that required cognitive switching and initiation of efficient lexical retrieval strategies produced the most consistent deficits, whereas cognitive inhibition was intact. We discuss implications of these findings for understanding the neurocognitive substrates of autistic spectrum disorders.

Published 21 April 2005 in Dev Neuropsychol, 27(3): 379-401.
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