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A Meta-Analysis of Working Memory Impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Abstract

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by executive dysfunction, and working memory (WM) comprises one core component of executive function. Many studies have investigated WM impairments in individuals with ASD, however, a conclusive agreement has not been reached. The present study provided a meta-analytic review of WM impairments in individuals with ASD and evaluated potential moderating variables of this problem. Twenty-eight studies were included in this study, and the participants comprised 819 individuals with ASD and 875 healthy controls. A significant WM impairment (Cohen’s d = −0.61) was identified in the individuals with ASD, however, this impairment was not associated with age. Results of moderation analyses showed that (a) spatial WM was more severely impaired than verbal WM and (b) the component of cognitive processing (maintenance vs. maintenance plus manipulation) did not affect the severity of WM impairments. These findings suggest that WM is impaired in individuals with ASD and may have implications for interventions related to WM impairments in these individuals.

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Notes

  1. DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and DSM-IV-TR were used by the reviewed studies.

  2. We sent two requests, and data were provided by the author(s) of one article .

  3. One reviewer suggested that the ADI-R is based on the DSM criteria and is considered a gold standard in ASD diagnosis, the ADOS is not an appropriate standalone diagnostic instrument, thus one study relied solely on the ADOS for diagnosis (Eack et al. 2013) was excluded from the meta-analysis. Including this study would not change the results.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (31571130, and 81571317); Youth Innovation Promotion Association Funding of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y1CX131003); Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (113000C136); the Beijing Training Project for the Leading Talents in S & T (Z151100000315020), and the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Programme for Creative Research Teams (Y2CX131003).

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    1. Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China

      Ya Wang, Lu-lu Liu & Raymond C. K. Chan

    2. Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

      Ya Wang

    3. Department of Youth Work, China Youth University for Political Sciences, Beijing, China

      Yi-bing Zhang & Jing Wang

    4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

      Lu-lu Liu

    5. National Institute of Education Sciences, Beijing, China

      Ji-fang Cui

    6. Menzies Health Institute Queensland and School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia

      David H. K. Shum

    7. Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

      Therese van Amelsvoort

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    Wang, Y., Zhang, Yb., Liu, Ll. et al. A Meta-Analysis of Working Memory Impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Neuropsychol Rev 27, 46–61 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-016-9336-y

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11065-016-9336-y

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