Memory In Autism: Theory and Evidence

by Jill Boucher, Dermot Bowler

Overview

Many people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are remarkably proficient at remembering how things look and sound, even years after an event. They are also good at rote learning and establishing habits and routines. Some even have encyclopaedic memories. However, all individuals with ASD have difficulty in recalling personal memories and reliving experiences, and less able people may have additional difficulty in memorising facts. This book assembles research on memory in autism to examine why this happens and the effects it has on people's lives. The contributors utilise advances in the understanding of normal memory systems and their breakdown as frameworks for analysing the neuropsychology and neurobiology of memory in autism. The unique patterning of memory functions across the spectrum illuminates difficulties with sense of self, emotion processing, mental time travel, language and learning, providing a window into the nature and causes of autism itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521862882
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/05/2008
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jill Boucher is Professor of Psychology in the Autism Research Group in the Department of Psychology at City University, London.

Dermot Bowler is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Autism Research Group in the Department of Psychology at City University, London.

Table of Contents

Foreword; Preface Peter Hobson and Beate Hermelin; Part I. Introduction: 1. Concepts and theories of memory John M. Gardiner; Part II. The Neurobiology of Memory in Autism: 2. Temporal lobe structures and memory in nonhuman primates: implications for autism Jocelyne Bachevalier; 3. Acquired memory disorders in adults: implications for autism Andrew Mayes and Jill Boucher; 4. A comparison of memory profiles in relation to neuropathology in autism, developmental amnesia and children born prematurely Claire H. Salmond, Anna-Lynne R. Adlam, David G. Gadian and Faraneh Vargha-Khadem; 5. Possible parallels between memory and emotion processing in autism: a neuropsychological perspective Yifat Faran and Dorit Ben Shalom; 6. Dysfunction and hyperfunction of the hippocampus in autism? G. Robert Delong; Part III. The Psychology of Memory in Autism: 7. Memory within a complex information processing model of autism Diane L. Williams, Nancy J. Minshew and Gerald Goldstein; 8. Episodic memory, semantic memory and self-awareness in high-functioning autism Motomi Toichi; 9. Episodic memory and autonoetic consciousness in autistic spectrum disorders: the roles of self awareness, representational abilities and temporal cognition Sophie Lind and Dermot Bowler; 10. Impairments in social memory in autism? Evidence from behaviour and neuroimaging Sara Jane Webb; 11. Memory characteristics in individuals with savant skills Linda Pring; 12. Working memory and immediate memory in autism spectrum disorders Marie Poirier and Jonathan S. Martin; 13. Rehearsal and directed forgetting in adults with Asperger syndrome Brenda J. Smith and John M. Gardiner; 14. Memory, language and intellectual ability in low-functioning autism Jill Boucher, Andrew Mayes and Sally Bigham; Part IV. Overview: 15. Practical implications of memory characteristics in autistic spectrum disorders Rita R. Jordan; 16. A different memory: are distinctions drawn from the study of nonautistic memory appropriate to describe memory in autism? Laurent Mottron, Michelle Dawson and Isabelle Soulières; 17. Memory in ASD: enduring themes and future prospects Dermot Bowler and Sebastian B. Gaigg.

Editorial Reviews

"...one of this book's contribution—an unusual essay, co-authored by an individual with autism, that raises the ethical issues of equating difference with deficiency—will interest a broad audience…”
—K. M. Dillon, emerita, Western New England College, CHOICE

From the Publisher