Intrinsic hippocampal functional connectivity underlying rigid memory in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A case-control study.
Teruo Hashimoto, Susumu Yokota, Yutaka Matsuzaki and 1 others
PMID 33779333WHAT IT FOUND
Stable picture-name memory did not differ between children with autism and typically developing children.
Children with autism had fewer memory gains, and left hippocampal network links to stable memory were stronger in typically developing children.
Key findings
01Children with ASD and typically developing children did not differ significantly in mean correct learning or mean correct recognition.
02Children with ASD had fewer memory gains than typically developing children, averaging 1.76 versus 2.50.
03Typically developing children showed stronger left hippocampal network associations with stable successful memory than children with ASD, and children with ASD did not show greater associations in any network.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The analysis excluded scans with too much head movement. The final sample was 41 children with ASD and 82 typically developing children. The authors used a lenient head movement criterion because a stricter one would have reduced the sample further. The study did not test an intervention, so it cannot show what therapy would change. Sex differences in autism and hippocampal network development may have confounded the results. The gain and decay memory measures had high chance levels, which may limit their reliability. The authors could not analyse neural correlates for the other memory change categories because there were too few responses. The within-group brain connectivity correlations were post hoc and the authors say they are likely inflated.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and reported no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that children with autism have worse picture-name memory. Their correct learning and delayed recognition scores were not significantly different from typically developing children.