2016 Volume 57 Issue 4 Pages 618-627
Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of neurocognitive function-especially visual attentional function-in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through performance on the CogHealth Battery in comparison to children exhibiting typical development.
Methods: The subjects comprised 37 children with ASD and 131 typically developing children aged 7-15 years. The CogHealth Battery was used to assess short-term memory, working memory and visual attentional function. Performance on each task was compared in terms of reaction time, accuracy rate, commission error, and omission error. In children with ASD, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) was conducted within one month of administering the CogHealth.
Results: In children with ASD, accuracy in the One Card Learning task was significantly associated with full IQ. Performance in the Divided Attention (DA) task was better in children with ASD than in typically developing children; accuracy of DA was significantly higher, commission errors were significantly fewer, and reaction time was significantly slower than in typically developing children.
Discussion: Superior performance in the DA task could be a reflection of the cognitive function characteristics of children with ASD, such as high visual search capacity, and greater focus on locally-oriented perceptual operations.
