Background: Executive functions (EF) impairments have long been observed in children and youths with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Until very recently, little attention has been paid to examine EF profiles of adults with ASD. Given the importance of EF to cope with the demands of daily life and participate in society (e.g. maintaining an employment), this study reports on a preliminary investigation aimed at exploring planning skills and cognitive flexibility in a sample of adults with ASD and without intellectual disability. A secondary aim was to explore the contribution of both intellectual functioning and socio-demographic variables on efficiency of EF.

Method: Twenty-nine autistic adults (age range 18-50) were assessed using the Tower of London (ToL) test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Intellectual functioning was assessed with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - IV.

Results: From the evaluations emerged poor performances in sub-processes related to planning skills as assessed by ToL (number of Moves, Correct Reponses, and Execution time). In contrast, WCST performance did not result impaired in any of the indicators considered. Exploratory analyses revealed a strong relationship between the time needed to complete the planning tasks and visuo-spatial reasoning. Further, strong inverse associations were found between global intellectual functioning and chronological age in the WCST.

Conclusions: The results of this study highlight mixed EF profiles in a sample of adults with ASD. Future investigations may build on the results of the present study to understand whether evaluating planning abilities of adults with ASD by means of measures that do not require a time-limit would yield different results compared to time-constrained assessment procedures.

背景：在患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童和青少年中，长期以来观察到执行功能（EF）受损。直到最近，很少有人关注检查ASD成人的EF概况。鉴于EF对于应对日常生活需求和参与社会（例如维持就业）的重要性，因此本研究报告了一项初步调查，旨在探索ASD和无智力障碍成年人的计划技能和认知灵活性。第二个目的是探讨智力功能和社会人口统计学变量对EF效率的贡献。

方法：使用伦敦塔（ToL）测试和威斯康星卡片分类测试（WCST）对29名自闭症成年人（年龄18至50岁）进行了评估。智力功能用韦氏成人智力量表-IV评估。

结果：通过评估，发现与计划技能相关的子流程的绩效不佳，如ToL（移动次数，正确响应和执行时间）所评估。相反，在所考虑的任何指标中，WCST的性能均未受到损害。探索性分析表明，完成计划任务所需的时间与视觉空间推理之间存在密切的关系。此外，在WCST中发现了全球智力功能与年代之间的强烈反关联。

结论：这项研究的结果突出了成人ASD样本中混合的EF谱。未来的调查可能会基于本研究的结果，以了解与不需要时间限制的评估程序相比，通过不需要时间限制的措施评估ASD成人的计划能力是否会产生不同的结果。