Objectives: To further explore the usefulness of the aging analogy to the study of memory in ASD by drawing on a paradigm developed by Chalfonte and Johnson (1996). These authors showed that compared to younger participants, older typical adults had intact memory for individual features (i.e. colour, identity, location) of a complex stimulus (a grid of coloured line drawings) but were impaired in their memory for combined features (i.e. colour-identity, location-identity).
Methods: A sample of participants with ASD and typical individuals, matched on age and full-scale IQ, took part in the current investigation. On each of 5 separate testing sessions, participants were presented with 21 uniquely coloured line-drawings that appeared simultaneously for 1 minute in random locations of a 6x6 grid. Following Chalfonte and Johnson (1996), their memory was tested either for individual features only or for combinations of these features.
Results: Our results show that individuals with ASD in comparison to typical individuals exhibit a marked decrement in their memory for combinations of features despite showing intact memory for the features themselves.
Conclusions: Our findings further support a parallel between the memory difficulties evident in typically aging populations and those exhibited by individuals with ASD. We discuss these findings in the context of a ‘relational binding’ hypothesis of ASD.