We had an incident today at home and I was stunned with how much Aiden struggled with his short term memory while trying to accomplish his task. Aiden has a co-diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder, which I always attributed to his memory struggles. Never the less I wanted to know if there was a connection between memory and Autism.
There are three major types of human memory: Sensory Memory, Short-Term (aka Working) Memory, and Long-Term Memory.
Sensory Memory: Probably the easiest to explain, sensory memory is also the fastest type of memory to occur. Do you remember the first time you badly burned yourself while cooking? You probably do, I know I do. I still have the burn scar on my arm from the incident. Sensory memory contributes to that. I remember what the burner feels like when its hot, that is sensory memory.
Short-Term Memory: You use your short term memory every day, multiple times a day. When you read, your brain has to remember the first part of the sentence to make sense of the rest of it. That is what short-term memory does.
Long-Term Memory: Long-term memory is what you immediately imagine when you think of the word memory. What is your favorite childhood memory? When you recalled that memory on my prompt, that is long term memory in action.
So how are memories made? To make short of the details memories are made by the intake of sensory information, which creates a biological reaction. We determine if the information being relayed to us is a long term or short term need. The repetition of short term information can cause a long term effect and the more emotionally involved we are in an incident will cause the short term replay to continue.
So how does Autism impact memory? At the beginning of this year SFARI published an article about a study from the journal of Development and Psychopathology. In this study researchers studied 63 children with Autism and 63 controls. After 3 days of memory testing children with Autism were found to need more prompting to remember events. Researchers found that both the control and those with ASD began forming memories around the age of 3, but those with Autism retrieved fewer memories than the controls. The memories they did recall contained fewer details than those of the controls. Emotions have link to memory and older children in both groups had more emotion when recalling memories, though those with Autism displayed less emotion than controls. This is important because autobiographical memories connect people socially, If individuals with ASD have difficulty with memory they will disconnect socially.
But I thought kids with ASD were savants? Some of them are. Time Magazine published an article, What Genius and Autism Have in Common. Its a very interesting article and explains that savants have great working memory. The average human can recall about 7 digit sequences in their short term memory. Savants and prodigies can hold much more than that allowing them to hold the information in their minds and keeps it available for further processing. The article goes onto describe that prodigies share traits with high functioning Autistics and actually have a tenacious attention to detail, even more so than those with Aspergers.
Does that mean everyone on the Autism spectrum have amazing short term memory? No, remember everyone is unique. Temple Grandin gave a speech in 1999 on the topic of choosing the right job for those with Autism. She specifically discusses her struggles with short term memory, in stark contrast to the excellence of her long term memory. She is just one individual example of the differences between those with ASD. Remember, if you have seen one child with Autism, then you have seen one child with Autism.
Here are more articles to help you understand Autism's effect on memory:
American Psychological Association: Children with Autism Found to Have Specific Memory Problems
Psychology Today: Early Memory and Autism
There are three major types of human memory: Sensory Memory, Short-Term (aka Working) Memory, and Long-Term Memory.
Sensory Memory: Probably the easiest to explain, sensory memory is also the fastest type of memory to occur. Do you remember the first time you badly burned yourself while cooking? You probably do, I know I do. I still have the burn scar on my arm from the incident. Sensory memory contributes to that. I remember what the burner feels like when its hot, that is sensory memory.
Short-Term Memory: You use your short term memory every day, multiple times a day. When you read, your brain has to remember the first part of the sentence to make sense of the rest of it. That is what short-term memory does.
Long-Term Memory: Long-term memory is what you immediately imagine when you think of the word memory. What is your favorite childhood memory? When you recalled that memory on my prompt, that is long term memory in action.
So how are memories made? To make short of the details memories are made by the intake of sensory information, which creates a biological reaction. We determine if the information being relayed to us is a long term or short term need. The repetition of short term information can cause a long term effect and the more emotionally involved we are in an incident will cause the short term replay to continue.
So how does Autism impact memory? At the beginning of this year SFARI published an article about a study from the journal of Development and Psychopathology. In this study researchers studied 63 children with Autism and 63 controls. After 3 days of memory testing children with Autism were found to need more prompting to remember events. Researchers found that both the control and those with ASD began forming memories around the age of 3, but those with Autism retrieved fewer memories than the controls. The memories they did recall contained fewer details than those of the controls. Emotions have link to memory and older children in both groups had more emotion when recalling memories, though those with Autism displayed less emotion than controls. This is important because autobiographical memories connect people socially, If individuals with ASD have difficulty with memory they will disconnect socially.
But I thought kids with ASD were savants? Some of them are. Time Magazine published an article, What Genius and Autism Have in Common. Its a very interesting article and explains that savants have great working memory. The average human can recall about 7 digit sequences in their short term memory. Savants and prodigies can hold much more than that allowing them to hold the information in their minds and keeps it available for further processing. The article goes onto describe that prodigies share traits with high functioning Autistics and actually have a tenacious attention to detail, even more so than those with Aspergers.
Does that mean everyone on the Autism spectrum have amazing short term memory? No, remember everyone is unique. Temple Grandin gave a speech in 1999 on the topic of choosing the right job for those with Autism. She specifically discusses her struggles with short term memory, in stark contrast to the excellence of her long term memory. She is just one individual example of the differences between those with ASD. Remember, if you have seen one child with Autism, then you have seen one child with Autism.
Here are more articles to help you understand Autism's effect on memory:
American Psychological Association: Children with Autism Found to Have Specific Memory Problems
Psychology Today: Early Memory and Autism
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