Abstract: Prospective memory refers to the ability to remember the planned intention or behavior at an appropriate time or situation in the future. A growing body of research has investigated the event-based prospective memory (PM) in typically developing children but research on children with autistic spectrum disorders is limited. The inconsistent findings in studies on event-based prospective memory ability in populations with autistic spectrum disorders and the lack of empirical evidence from preschoolers, have also limited the understanding of the characteristics of prospective memory in children with autistic spectrum disorder. Besides, executive function plays an important role in prospective memory and dysfunctional executive function underlies the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorders. Given the weight of evidence demonstrating autistic impairment in such processes, and the potentially debilitating PM failures this may lead to, it is vital to better understand the characteristics of prospective memory impairment in children with autistic spectrum disorders.<br/>The present study investigated the developmental characteristics of event-based prospective memory in children with autism spectrum disorders aged 3~6 years and explored the potential impairment and mechanisms. Participants included 27 children with autism spectrum disorder age 3~6 and 30 matched typically developing children. All participants completed an event-based prospective memory embedded in a living task (an ongoing task) and were required to classify the pictures presented on the screen according to the principle of living or non-living. Meanwhile, a series of executive function tasks were also assessed to measure the abilities of working memory updating (the N-back Task), inhibitory control (the Go/No-go task), and cognitive flexibility (the Dimensional Change Card Sorting Task) in both autistic and typically developing children. First, results revealed that the performance of event-based prospective memory in children with autism spectrum disorder was significantly lower than that in typically developing children. That is, the impaired event-based prospective memory ability was found in 3- to 6-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder. Moreover, the impaired executive functions were also found in the children with autism spectrum disorder and the development of various components of executive function was closely related to the development of prospective memory in children with autism spectrum disorder. These have shown that event-based prospective memory deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder were accompanied by the impairment of executive function. Importantly, stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that inhibition control performance of autistic children could significantly predict prospective memory performance, rather than the updating or cognitive flexibility components in executive function. But the performance of prospective memory in typically developing children could not be predicted by inhibition control. <br/>To conclude, the patterns of results indicated that executive function, especially inhibitory control, played an important role in the event-based prospective memory deficits of children with autism spectrum disorder aged 3~6. These findings supported the multiprocess framework of prospective memory and provided empirical evidence for the executive function framework theory of prospective memory from a clinical perspective.

Key words: autism spectrum disorder, event-based prospective memory, executive function, inhibitory control

摘要： 为了解3~6岁自闭症儿童基于事件前瞻记忆能力的发展特点和损伤机制,本研究采用实验室前瞻记忆范式,比较了自闭症儿童与正常儿童基于事件的前瞻记忆和执行功能表现。结果显示,相比于正常儿童,自闭症儿童基于事件前瞻记忆表现存在明显缺陷。而且,自闭症儿童基于事件的前瞻记忆受损与其执行功能障碍有相关,自闭症儿童抑制控制能力的发展显著预测其基于事件的前瞻记忆能力。

关键词: 自闭症谱系障碍, 基于事件的前瞻记忆, 执行功能, 抑制控制