Self-referenced

memory, social
cognition, and symptom
presentation in autism
Henderson, H., Zahka, N., Kojkowski, N., Inge, A., Schwartz, C., Hileman, C.,
Coman, C., & Mundy, P. (2009) Self-referenced memory, social cognition, and
symptom presentation in autism. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 50(7):
853-861.  https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02059.x
Background

Self-Referenced Memory Effect: Higher performance on

recall of words processed semantically in relation to self
compared to others (Symons, & Johnson, 1997).

Autistic adults have shown a reduction (Lombardo et al.,

2007) or a lack (Toichi et al., 2002) of this effect.
Background

Potential reasons for this:

 Deficits in self-awareness (Frith & Happé, 1999)
 Deficits in social mentalising (Frith & Happé, 1999)

Research has focused on autistic adults, not children.

Therefore the study aims to examine the self-referential memory

effect in autistic children in relation to symptom severity and
social cognitive tests of measuring.
Method

 Participants were between 8-16 years old

 31 High functioning autistic children (28m, 3f)
 31 Comparison children (22m, 9f)

Groups did not differ significantly on age, verbal

comprehension, perceptual reasoning, gender, children’s
eyes task, or strange stories task (p=0.055)
 Method

 Abbreviated Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV

 Social Communication Questionnaire

 Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire

 The Strange Stories Task

 The Children’s Eyes Test

Method – Self Referenced Memory Task

Presented with 14 Forced yes/no response

adjectives describing within two seconds
personality traits for each
of three processing
questions.
Method – Self Referenced Memory Task

Does this word describe

something about you?

Talkative
Yes No
Method – Self Referenced Memory Task

Does this word describe

something about Harry Potter?

Funny
Yes No
Method – Self Referenced Memory Task

Does this word contain 7

letters or more?

Cranky
Yes No
Method – Self Referenced
Memory Task

Afterwards presented
with list of 126
adjectives describing
personality traits.

Asked to circle the 42

words that were
judged as ‘old’ in 5
minutes.
Method – Self-referential memory task

Clever Cunning Happy

Sincere Easygoing Sly
Vain Cranky Brave
Lazy Untidy Mean
Silly Reliable Talkative
Friendly Quiet Shy
Nervous Cruel Practical
Funny Frank Noisy
Generous Rational Serious
Sad Honest Crazy
Results
Results
Results
Autistic children:
 Did not show a mean level memory difference or deficit.
 Showed a social-semantic processing effect but not a self-
referential bias.

Concluded:
 Diminished self-bias may be associated with increased social
problems.
 Autistic children show atypical differentiation or depth of
processing of self versus other forms of semantic information.
Strengths
 Supported the findings of Toichi et al.
(2002)

 Unbiased measure of memory sensitivity.

 Good counterbalance measures.

Limitations  Assumes children processed words
semantically.

 Use of Harry Potter as familiar other.

 Learning disabled in comparison group.

 3 females in HFA group, 9 in TD group.

 Majority of effects were in the small

range.
Future Research

 Gender difference in self-bias in autism.

 Use both fictional and non-fictional

familiar others.
References
Frith, U., & Happé, F. (1999). Theory of mind and self‐consciousness: What is it like
to be autistic?. Mind & language, 14(1), 82-89.
Henderson, H., Zahka, N., Kojkowski, N., Inge, A., Schwartz, C., Hileman, C.,
Coman, C., & Mundy, P. (2009). Self-referenced memory, social cognition, and
symptom presentation in autism. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 50(7),
853-861.  https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02059.x
Lombardo, M. V., Barnes, J. L., Wheelwright, S. J., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2007). Self-
referential cognition and empathy in autism. PloS one, 2(9), e883.
Mattila, M., Jussila, K., Kuusikko, S., Kielinen, M., Linna, S., Ebeling, H., Bloigu, r.,
Joskitt, L., Pauls, D., & Moilanen, I. (2009). When does the autism spectrum
screening questionnaire (assq) predict autism spectrum disorders in primary school-
aged children? European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 18(8), 499.509.
Symons, C., & Johnson, B. (1997). The self-reference effect in memory.
Psychological bulletin, 121(3), 371-394.
Toichi, M., Kamio, Y., Okada, T., Sakihama, M., Youngstrom, E. A., Findling, R. L., &
Yamamoto, K. (2002). A lack of self-consciousness in autism. American Journal of
Psychiatry, 159(8), 1422-1424.