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Executive functions in youths with autism spectrum disorder and their unaffected siblings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2020

Guan-Jye Seng ,
Wan-Ling Tseng ,
Yen-Nan Chiu ,
Wen-Che Tsai ,
Yu-Yu Wu  and
Susan Shur-Fen Gau Open the ORCID record for Susan Shur-Fen Gau [Opens in a new window]
Guan-Jye Seng
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital & College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Wan-Ling Tseng
Affiliation:
Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
Yen-Nan Chiu
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital & College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
Wen-Che Tsai
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital & College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
Yu-Yu Wu
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan
Susan Shur-Fen Gau*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital & College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Department of Psychology, Graduate Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
*
Author for correspondence: Susan Shur-Fen Gau, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Background

Executive dysfunction is one of the main cognitive theories of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite evidence of deficits in executive functions in individuals with ASD, little is known about executive dysfunctions as candidate cognitive endophenotypes for ASD. In this study, we investigated executive functions in youths with ASD, their unaffected siblings and typically developing controls (TDC).

Methods

We recruited 240 youths with a clinical diagnosis of ASD (aged 6–18 years), 147 unaffected siblings of ASD youths, and 240 TDC youths. TDC youths were recruited based on the age and sex distribution of the ASD youths. Participants were assessed using the verbal Digit Span test and four executive function tasks from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, including Intra-dimensional/Extra-dimensional Shift (I/ED), Spatial Span (SSP), Spatial Working Memory (SWM), and Stocking of Cambridge (SoC).

Results

ASD youths, relative to TDC, performed significantly worse in executive function tasks assessing verbal working memory (forward and backward digit span), set-shifting (I/ED), visuospatial working memory (SSP, SWM), and planning/problem solving (SoC). Furthermore, unaffected siblings, relative to TDC, performed worse in forward and backward digit recalls and made more errors in SWM. These results were independent of the effects of age, sex, IQ, and symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Conclusions

Our findings support impaired executive functions in youths with ASD. However, unaffected siblings were mostly unimpaired except in the areas of verbal and spatial working memory, which may be potential cognitive endophenotypes for ASD.

Keywords

Autismendophenotypeexecutive functionsiblingsworking memory
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 51 , Issue 15 , November 2021 , pp. 2571 - 2580
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

Guan-Jye Seng and Wan-Ling Tseng have equal contributions as the first authors.

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