NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPATIAL COGNITION IN AUTISM

自闭症空间认知的本质和发展

基本信息

批准号：
6538349
负责人：
JAMIE S OGLINE
金额：
$ 3.62万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER (COLORADO SEMINARY)
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2002
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2002-06-01 至
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6538349
关键词：
Downs syndrome adolescence (12-20) autism behavioral /social science research tag clinical research cognition disorders developmental psychology human subject middle childhood (6-11) neuropsychological tests short term memory space perception

项目摘要

The overall goal of the proposed research is to examine the nature and development of spatial cognition in individuals with autism. Although previous research suggests that spatial cognition may be a strength in those with autism, research findings in this area are inconsistent and need further examination. For instance, central coherence theory claims that those with autism have difficulty attending to the gestalt and will focus more on the local parts of a spatial configuration. This theory is inconsistent with the possibility that individuals with autism may have a strength in the spatial domain because many spatial tasks require attention to both the global and local parts of configurations. Another inconsistency is evident between previous findings of executive deficits in autism and the findings that individuals with autism are not impaired on spatial tasks that may require executive processing, such as the WISC block design. The proposed study will attempt to resolve these inconsistencies and add to knowledge about spatial cognition in autism by testing low-functioning children with autism as compared to Down syndrome and normally developing mental age matched control groups using measures of spatial working memory, global/local processing, and a spatial task previously not examined in this population. Broadening knowledge about spatial cognition in this disorder will allow for a better understanding of development in this disorder and any potential strengths that may exist.

拟议研究的总体目标是检查自闭症患者空间认知的本质和发展。尽管之前的研究表明空间认知可能是自闭症患者的优势，但该领域的研究结果不一致，需要进一步检验。例如，中心连贯理论声称患有自闭症的人很难注意到格式塔，并且会更多地关注空间配置的局部部分。该理论与自闭症患者在空间领域可能具有优势的可能性不一致，因为许多空间任务需要同时关注配置的全局和局部部分。先前关于自闭症执行缺陷的发现与自闭症患者在可能需要执行处理的空间任务（例如 WISC 块设计）上没有受损的发现之间存在另一个明显的不一致。拟议的研究将尝试解决这些不一致问题，并通过使用空间工作记忆、全局/局部处理的测量来测试功能低下的自闭症儿童与唐氏综合症和正常发育的心理年龄匹配的对照组，从而增加有关自闭症空间认知的知识，以及以前未在该人群中检查过的空间任务。扩大有关这种疾病的空间认知的知识将有助于更好地了解这种疾病的发展以及可能存在的任何潜在优势。