Biomaterial Database

Short-term and serial memory in autistic, retarded, and normal children. 1976

M R Prior, and C S Chen

Experimental data on memory ability of autistic children is scarce and contradictory. It is suggested that this may in part be the result of failure to control for acquisition of the correct response before memory is tested. In the first experiment reported, acquisition was controlled in a delayed-response visual discrimination task. The performance of autistic children was compared with MA matched normal and retarded controls. Recall deteriorated with increasing delay interval in each group. There were no significant group differences. The second experiment was designed to measure the effects of interference on memory using a serial memory task. No differences were found among groups in rate of learning, although the autistic children improved significantly on the second and longer series. There was no relationship between performance on the STM and the serial memory tasks over the same time intervals for any group. The results are interpreted as supporting the view that when MA and response acquisition level are equated with normal and retarded children in a memory task, autistic children do not show any specific memory deficits.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007360	Intelligence	The ability to learn and to deal with new situations and to deal effectively with tasks involving abstractions.
D008297	Male		Males
D008570	Memory, Short-Term	Remembrance of information for a few seconds to hours.	Immediate Recall,Memory, Immediate,Working Memory,Memory, Shortterm,Immediate Memories,Immediate Memory,Immediate Recalls,Memories, Immediate,Memories, Short-Term,Memories, Shortterm,Memory, Short Term,Recall, Immediate,Recalls, Immediate,Short-Term Memories,Short-Term Memory,Shortterm Memories,Shortterm Memory,Working Memories
D009042	Motivation	Those factors which cause an organism to behave or act in either a goal-seeking or satisfying manner. They may be influenced by physiological drives or by external stimuli.	Incentives,Disincentives,Expectations,Disincentive,Expectation,Incentive,Motivations
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D004193	Discrimination Learning	Learning that is manifested in the ability to respond differentially to various stimuli.	Discriminative Learning,Discrimination Learnings,Discriminative Learnings,Learning, Discrimination,Learning, Discriminative
D004314	Down Syndrome	A chromosome disorder associated either with an extra CHROMOSOME 21 or an effective TRISOMY for chromosome 21. Clinical manifestations include HYPOTONIA, short stature, BRACHYCEPHALY, upslanting palpebral fissures, epicanthus, Brushfield spots on the iris, protruding tongue, small ears, short, broad hands, fifth finger clinodactyly, single transverse palmar crease, and moderate to severe INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY. Cardiac and gastrointestinal malformations, a marked increase in the incidence of LEUKEMIA, and the early onset of ALZHEIMER DISEASE are also associated with this condition. Pathologic features include the development of NEUROFIBRILLARY TANGLES in neurons and the deposition of AMYLOID BETA-PROTEIN, similar to the pathology of ALZHEIMER DISEASE. (Menkes, Textbook of Child Neurology, 5th ed, p213)	Mongolism,Trisomy 21,47,XX,+21,47,XY,+21,Down Syndrome, Partial Trisomy 21,Down's Syndrome,Partial Trisomy 21 Down Syndrome,Trisomy 21, Meiotic Nondisjunction,Trisomy 21, Mitotic Nondisjunction,Trisomy G,Downs Syndrome,Syndrome, Down,Syndrome, Down's
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man