Short-term Memory and Cross-modal Information Processing in Autistic Children

Abstract

The short-term memory and cross-modal information processing capacities of seven autistic/schizophrenic children were tested with visual-visual and auditory-visual matching and sequencing tasks presented under three conditions: (1) simultaneous, (2) successive, and (3) delayed presentation. Although there were large individual differences in the patterning of intact functions, most of the children showed severe visual-visual short-term memory deficits and several children were unable to make cross-modal associations between auditory and visual stimuli. The results suggest that perceptual disabilities rather than emotional disturbance may underly the delayed intellectual and language development of psychotic children and may contribute to the development of bizarre behavior patterns.