To address inconsistencies in the literature on memory in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we report the first ever meta-analysis of short-term memory (STM) and episodic long-term memory (LTM) in ASD, evaluating the effects of type of material, type of retrieval and the role of interitem relations. Analysis of 64 studies comparing individuals with ASD and typical development (TD) showed greater difficulties in ASD compared with TD individuals in STM (Hedges' g = -0.53, 95% CI [-0.90, -0.16], p = .005, I² = 96%) compared with LTM (g = -0.30, 95% CI [-0.42, -0.17], p < .00001, I² = 24%), a small difficulty in verbal LTM (g = -0.21, p = .01), contrasting with a medium difficulty for visual LTM (g = -0.41, p = .0002) in ASD compared with TD individuals. We also found a general diminution in free recall compared with cued recall and recognition (LTM, free recall: g = -0.38, p < .00001, cued recall: g = -0.08, p = .58, recognition: g = -0.15, p = .16; STM, free recall: g = -0.59, p = .004, recognition: g = -0.33, p = .07). We discuss these results in terms of their relation to semantic memory. The limited diminution in verbal LTM and preserved overall recognition and cued recall (supported retrieval) may result from a greater overlap of these tasks with semantic long-term representations which are overall preserved in ASD. By contrast, difficulties in STM or free recall may result from less overlap with the semantic system or may involve additional cognitive operations and executive demands. These findings highlight the need to support STM functioning in ASD and acknowledge the potential benefit of using verbal materials at encoding and broader forms of memory support at retrieval to enhance performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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自闭症谱系障碍中的记忆：对实验研究的荟萃分析。

为了解决自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）记忆方面文献中的不一致之处，我们报道了有史以来首次对ASD中的短期记忆（STM）和情节性长期记忆（LTM）进行荟萃分析，评估了类型的影响材料，检索类型和项目间关系的作用。对64项具有ASD和典型发育（TD）的个体进行比较的分析表明，与STM中的TD个体相比，ASD的困难更大（Hedges的g = -0.53，95％CI [-0.90，-0.16]，p = .005，I² = 96％）与LTM（g = -0.30，95％CI [-0.42，-0.17]，p <.00001，I²= 24％）相比，口头LTM的难度较小（g = -0.21，p =。 01），相比于TD个体，ASD的视觉LTM中等难度（g = -0.41，p = .0002）。我们还发现，与提示记忆和识别相比，自由记忆的普遍减少（LTM，免费记忆：g = -0.38，p <.00001，提示记忆：g = -0.08，p = .58，识别：g = -0.15 ，p = .16； STM，免费召回：g = -0.59，p = .004，识别度：g = -0.33，p = .07）。我们根据它们与语义记忆的关系来讨论这些结果。这些任务与语义长期表示的更大重叠可能导致语言LTM的缩小以及保留的整体识别和提示的回忆（支持检索），而语义长期表示则完全保留在ASD中。相比之下，STM或自由召回的困难可能是由于与语义系统的重叠较少或可能涉及其他认知操作和执行要求。这些发现强调了在ASD中支持STM功能的必要性，并认识到在编码中使用语言材料的潜在好处以及在检索时使用更广泛形式的内存支持以增强性能。（PsycINFO数据库记录（c）2020 APA，保留所有权利）。