Performance of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders on the Dimension-Change Card Sort Task

Restricted and repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorders have been conceptualized to reflect impaired executive functions. In the present study, we investigated the performance of 6–17-year-old children with and without an autism spectrum disorder on a dimension-change card sort task that ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2010-04, Vol.40 (4), p.448-456
Main Authors: Dichter, Gabriel S., Radonovich, Krestin J., Turner-Brown, Lauren M., Lam, Kristen S. L., Holtzclaw, Tia N., Bodfish, James W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescents
Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Autistic children
Autistic spectrum disorders
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Bixby, Jerome Lewis
Book publishing
Case-Control Studies
Child
Child and School Psychology
Child clinical studies
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - psychology
Children
Cognitive Ability
Cognitive Processes
Comparative Analysis
Developmental disorders
Dysfunction
Executive Function
Female
Humans
Infantile autism
Male
Medical sciences
Neurological Impairments
Neuropsychological Tests
Neurosciences
Original Paper
Pediatrics
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychomotor Performance
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Public Health
Reaction Time
Repetitive behaviour
Severity (of Disability)
Stereotyping
Task performance
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Summary:Restricted and repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorders have been conceptualized to reflect impaired executive functions. In the present study, we investigated the performance of 6–17-year-old children with and without an autism spectrum disorder on a dimension-change card sort task that explicitly indicated sorting rules on every trial. Diagnostic groups did not differ in speed of responses after the first rule switch or in speed or accuracy on blocks with mixed versus single sort rules. However, performance of the ASD group was significantly slower and less accurate overall than the typically-developing group. Furthermore, within the ASD group, poorer DCCS task performance did not predict more severe autism symptoms. Implications for the executive dysfunction theory of autism are discussed.
ISSN:0162-3257
1573-3432
DOI:10.1007/s10803-009-0886-1