Neurocognitive function and joint attention ability in young children with autism spectrum disorder versus developmental delay.

Full Abstract

Studies have shown that young children with autism are not impaired on prefrontal tasks relative to what would be expected for their mental age, raising questions about the executive dysfunction hypothesis of autism. These studies did not include ventromedial prefrontal tasks, however. The present study examined whether young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are impaired on ventromedial prefrontal tasks, and whether performance on such tasks is correlated with a core autism symptom, joint attention ability. Seventy-two 3- to 4-year-old children with ASD, 34 3- to 4-year-old developmentally delayed children, and 39 12- to 46-month-old typically developing children, matched on mental age, were administered ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal tasks and joint attention tasks. Children with ASD performed similarly to comparison groups on all executive function tasks, indicating that at this early age, there is no autism-specific pattern of executive dysfunction. Ventromedial, but not dorsolateral, prefrontal task performance was strongly correlated with joint attention ability, however. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is hypothesized to play a role in the development of joint attention and possibly some aspects of the autistic syndrome.

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Author information

Author/s: Dawson, Geraldine (G); Munson, Jeffrey (J); Estes, Annette (A); Osterling, Julie (J); McPartland, James (J); Toth, Karen (K); Carver, Leslie (L); Abbott, Robert (R);

Affiliation: Center on Human Development and Disability, University of Washington, Seattle 98195, USA.

Grants: P01HD34565 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Child development (Child Dev), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2002 Mar-Apr; vol 73 (issue 2) : pp 345-58

Dates: Created 2002/04/12; Completed 2002/10/24; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 11949896, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Attention - physiology
Autistic Disorder - diagnosis; physiopathology; psychology
Brain Mapping
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - diagnosis; physiopathology; psychology
Child, Preschool
Discrimination Learning - physiology
Down Syndrome - diagnosis; physiopathology; psychology
Female

Female
Humans
Male
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Neuropsychological Tests
Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology
Reference Values
Reversal Learning - physiology

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