Verbal Memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

  In this article, the author reviewed studies on verbal episodic memory in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) . First, the important concepts and model on episodic memory (such as the three stages of memory (encoding, storage, retrieval) , short-and long-term memory (LTM) and the dual storage model) as well as how the free recall task contributed the advance of memory research were explained. Then the results in an early experimental study on ASD, which include theoretically contradictory findings regarding LTM, were de scribed. More recent studies on ASD without intellectual delay, using a modified paradigm of free recall or a levels-of-processing paradigm, have revealed generally unimpaired long-term memory as well as a pos sibility of an atypical semantic memory. Finally, the need of caution for the difference in the performance of LTM among ASD subtypes (such as autistic disorder and Asperger disorder in the DSM-IV) was stated.