Background

The transition from primary to secondary school is particularly difficult for autistic children, a transition underpinned by an increase in prospective memory (PM) demands.

Aims

To better understand PM in autistic children of the relevant age range and its underlying processes, the current study investigated the impact of cue salience (distinctiveness) on PM in autistic and non-autistic children and adolescents. The study was unique in manipulating the visual and auditory salience of PM cues. Salient cues are assumed to put lower demands on executive control resources as compared to cues that blend in with the ongoing activity.

Methods and procedures

The children completed a computer-based categorisation task in which an event-based PM task was embedded. The salience of PM cues was manipulated (low, high visual and high auditory salience).

Outcomes and results

Results revealed that both groups benefitted from an increase in visual and auditory salience, but only autistic participants were faster to respond to auditory cues.

Conclusions and implications

Increased cue salience improved PM performance for all children. Positive effects of auditory cues were especially evident in autistic children.

中文翻译：

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你听到了吗？听觉前瞻记忆线索对自闭症儿童比非自闭症儿童和青少年更有益

背景

对于自闭症儿童来说，从小学到中学的过渡尤其困难，这种过渡由前瞻记忆 (PM) 需求的增加所支撑。

宗旨

为了更好地了解相关年龄范围的自闭症儿童的 PM 及其潜在过程，当前的研究调查了线索显着性（独特性）对自闭症和非自闭症儿童和青少年 PM 的影响。该研究在操纵 PM 线索的视觉和听觉显着性方面是独一无二的。与融入正在进行的活动的线索相比，显着线索被认为对执行控制资源的要求较低。

方法和程序

孩子们完成了一项基于计算机的分类任务，其中嵌入了基于事件的 PM 任务。PM 线索的显着性被操纵（低、高视觉和高听觉显着性）。

结果和结果

结果显示，两组都受益于视觉和听觉显着性的增加，但只有自闭症参与者对听觉线索的反应更快。

结论和影响

增加提示显着性提高了所有儿童的 PM 表现。听觉线索的积极影响在自闭症儿童中尤为明显。