Performance on a single executive function (EF) task (e.g., a card sorting task) is often taken to represent ability on the underlying subcomponent of EF (e.g., set shifting) without accounting for the non-specific and non-executive skills employed to complete the task. This study used a manualised battery of EF tasks to derive individual task…

This study analyzes the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-Learning Potential (WCST-LP) in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) versus children with typical development (TD). Its main aim was to assess: the test's construct validity; the effect of IQ on its pretest and LP scores; and whether the WCST-LP held any relationship to cognitive/EF and…

Although deficits in Executive Functioning (EF) are reported frequently in young individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), they remain relatively unexplored later in life (>50 years). We studied objective performance on EF measures (Tower of London, Zoo map, phonetic/semantic fluency) as well as subjective complaints (self- and proxy…

Little is known about the relation between cognitive processes and imagination and whether this relation differs between neurotypically developing children and children with autism. To address this issue, we administered a cognitive task battery and Karmiloff-Smith's drawing task, which requires children to draw imaginative people and houses. For…

This study examined the effects of a 12-week physical activity intervention on the motor skill proficiency and executive function of 22 boys (aged 9.08 ± 1.75 years) with autism spectrum disorder. In Phase I of the 12 weeks, 11 boys with autism spectrum disorder (Group A) received the intervention, whereas the other 11 boys with autism spectrum…

We conducted a meta-analysis of 31 studies, spanning 30 years, utilizing the WCST in participants with autism. We calculated Cohen's d effect sizes for four measures of performance: sets completed, perseveration, failure-to-maintain-set, and non-perseverative errors. The average weighted effect size ranged from 0.30 to 0.74 for each measure, all…

Autism spectrum disorders include autistic and Asperger's Syndrome (AS), often studied in terms of executive functions (EF), with controversial results. Using Planning Attention Simultaneous Successive theory (PASS; Das et al. in "Assessment of cognitive processes: the PASS theory of intelligence." Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA, 1994),…

Numerous research groups have consistently called for increased rigor within the evaluation of social programming to better understand pivotal factors to treatment outcomes. The underwhelming data on the essential features of social competence programs for students with behavior challenges may, in part, be attributed to the manner by which…

The study investigated sequence learning from stochastic feedback in boys with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typically developed (TD) boys. We asked boys with ASD from Nigeria and the UK as well as age- and gender-matched controls (also males only) to deduce a sequence of four left and right button presses, LLRR, RRLL, LRLR, RLRL, LRRL and…

The aim of this study was to identify specific cognitive abilities that predict functional outcome in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and to clarify the contribution of those abilities and their relationships. In total, 41 adults with ASD performed cognitive tasks in a broad range of neuro- and social cognitive…