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ERIC Number: EJ836137
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1362-3613
EISSN: N/A
Divided Attention Capacity in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders and without Intellectual Disability
Bogte, Hans; Flamma, Bert; Van Der Meere, Jaap; Van Engeland, Herman
Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, v13 n3 p229-243 2009
Earlier research showed that divided attention, an aspect of executive function, is limited in both children and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The current study explored divided attention capacity in adults with ASD and without intellectual disability (n = 36). Divided attention was tested using a computerized variant of a well-known memory recognition test, with two levels of cognitive load. The effect of cognitive load on reaction time performance is considered to be inversely proportional to divided attention capacity. The study failed to provide a relationship between divided attention and ASD, contrary to earlier research. Findings indicated that only the adults with ASD who used medication had a divided attention deficit, and that this group had specific difficulty reaching a binary decision in a memory search task. An additional finding was that the participants with ASD were overall slow. Possible causes and implications of these findings are discussed. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A