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Reality Monitoring and Metamemory in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

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Authors

Cooper, Rose A 
Plaisted-Grant, Kate C 
Simons, Jon S 

Abstract

Studies of reality monitoring (RM) often implicate medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in distinguishing internal and external information, a region linked to autism-related deficits in social and self-referential information processing, executive function, and memory. This study used two RM conditions (self-other; perceived-imagined) to investigate RM and metamemory in adults with autism. The autism group showed a deficit in RM, which did not differ across source conditions, and both groups exhibited a self-encoding benefit on recognition and source memory. Metamemory for perceived-imagined information, but not for self-other information, was significantly lower in the autism group. Therefore, reality monitoring and metamemory, sensitive to mPFC function, appear impaired in autism, highlighting a difficulty in remembering and monitoring internal and external details of past events.

Description

Keywords

Autism, Episodic memory, Metacognition, Metamemory, Reality monitoring, Adult, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Executive Function, Female, Humans, Imagination, Male, Memory Disorders, Memory, Episodic, Mental Recall, Metacognition, Middle Aged, Photic Stimulation, Prefrontal Cortex

Journal Title

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0162-3257
1573-3432

Volume Title

46

Publisher

Springer Nature
Sponsorship
This research was supported by a James S. McDonnell Scholar Award to J.S.S., and an Economic and Social Research Council Award to R.A.C.