Executive Function in Autism

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I know "executive function" is not a very precise term, although some researchers have been trying to define it more thoroughly in recent years. However, I've had the feeling that autism presents a lot of impairments that aren't specifically described in the criteria or necessarily clearly elucidated in one place, so I've been looking for something that might help identify where and how these executive function impairments might exist.

Unfortunately, the research I did find was done in 1996 and collated numerous earlier studies, so there's a lot of research since that may have an effect on their conclusions. Even so, it was rather interesting:

http://www.du.edu/psychology/dnrl/Execu ... %20and.pdf

It covers ADHD, Conduct Disorder, Autism, and Tourette's Syndrome. I focused on the autism. I can't copy/paste text from the paper itself, but the abstract says:

What I noticed here is the verbal working memory impairment. I have tested with a very low verbal working memory, and I have been trying to figure out what it means, if anything.

This bit got my attention at the end of the paper (Implications for Future Research):



It would take me forever to transcribe enough, but basically: Hyperactivity and impulsiveness are characteristic in ADHD, perseveration and deficits in verbal working memory are characteristic in Autism, but there's a wide range of deficits for both.

One of the problems with the research for autistic EF deficits that they drew upon is that the majority of them did not screen anyone for whether they fit the criteria for ADHD (and the prevailing belief was that an autistic person who had ADHD just had autistic symptoms that mimicked ADHD).

I actually did not expect the paper to say that autism had more severe executive functioning deficits than ADHD, but I am not actually surprised. I would love to see more modern research on all of this.

I feel like I have both. Both impulsivity and hyperactivity and at least perserveration.

What are "molar" executive functioning tasks?

The more I read about it, the more I think executive dysfunction may be one of the major sources of my issues. There are several good papers and articles at http://www.co-brass.com/articles_executive_function.htm
Let me know if you spot anything you think is particularly noteworthy- I will do the same!
Good luck!

I got the impression that this referenced tests that tested elements of multiple executive functions as well as nonexecutive functions. Or just multiple EFs. I'm not sure. It may be explained in the study but I probably missed it or I can't remember it right now.

Thanks for the links/ articles. I will read through them later today.

I am particularly interested in techniques for improving executive functioning. Over the years I have tried to simplify my life in the hope that would free up time and improve my performance in the remaining areas. I am not sure if it has helped much because I still have a hard time "getting things done". It often feels like my level of functioning is getting worse as I get older. Meanwhile, my life is going nowhere, and it is really starting to depress me.


Edit. "The authors [Prior & Hoffmann (1990)] stated that the autistic group ''perseverated with maladaptive strategies, made the same mistakes repeatedly, and seemed unable to conceive of a strategy to overcome their difficulties'' (p. 588)" (Pennington & Ozonoff, 1996, p. 74).
Sounds like the story of my life.

Last edited by Logan5 on 28 Jun 2011, 2:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thank you. I think I found this some months ago, and forgot about it. I

This one looks noteworthy, and is incorrectly linked from the BRASS page:

http://www.ucd.ie/artspgs/langimp/autismexecdysf.pdf (Executive Function in Autism).

This page has some executive function tests. Unfortunately, while they save the data from your tests, they don't seem to analyze it. The page suggests looking up published studies to interpret scores.

http://pebl.sourceforge.net/battery.html

Good stuff in there like the TOVA, which is commonly used to test for ADHD.

This is an area of interest for me. I am very high functioning. Some days I am "on" and I even amaze my self. Other days not so much. It can be a struggle to effectively accomplish anything and I just sit in my office hoping no one notices.

I am unclear about exactly what Executive Functioning means. My husband recently diagnosed with aspergers.
does executive function refer to the difficulties he has with actually focussing and getting tasks done.

for example:
as I am working full-time , he is responsible for getting the kids up and ready in the morning and off to school. It is often chaotic with him walking around but not actually doing anything. he forgets where he has left the kids bags, shoes, lunchbox. seems to do a lot of yelling at people to do things but doesn't actually do much himself. by the time his leaves there is a trail of dirty clothes, dirty dishes and breakfast foods spread through kitchen/lounge/dining.

the other thing he did yesterday was try to change the fluorescent tube of a light which was flickering. However, he ended up removing the tube on the light which was actually working fine. (he was obviously confused about which light was working and which wasn't) he was unable to replace it himself, so when I got home from work we had no lighting on the verandah. i know he was really trying to get it right, but i get annoyed and wish he would just leave it for me to handle.


Is this the sort of stuff that is implied by the term "executive function"?

thanks for your thoughts

Yes. Executive function relates to self-regulation: Being able to control when you start and stop tasks, transitioning from one task to another, how easily you plan and organize tasks, being able to do the things you may not want to do and get them done, and the like.

This is geared toward ADHD, but it might help:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR1IZJXc6d8[/youtube]