1. Evatt ML, DeLong MR, Grant WB, Cannell JJ, Tangpricha V. {{Autism spectrum disorders following in utero exposure to antiepileptic drugs}}. {Neurology};2009 (Sep 22);73(12):997.
2. Gosar D, Greiss-Hess L, Macedoni-Luksic M, Rogers SJ, Lemons-Chitwood K, Hagerman R. {{Imitation in fragile X syndrome: Implications for autism}}. {Autism};2009 (Sep 21)
To address the specific impairment of imitation in autism, the imitation abilities of 22 children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) with and without autism were compared. Based on previous research, we predicted that children with FXS and autism would have significantly more difficulty with non-meaningful imitation tasks. After controlling for full-scale IQ and age, the groups did not differ in their overall imitation accuracy scores, but analysis of error patterns revealed that children with FXS and autism made more groping errors and additional movements than the comparison group. These error patterns are consistent with the hypothesis that an action production system deficit plays an important role in the overall imitation deficit in autism, at least in children with FXS.
3. Rinehart N, Tonge B, Brereton A, Bradshaw J. {{Attentional blink in young people with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s disorder}}. {Autism};2009 (Sep 21)
The aim of the study was to examine the temporal characteristics of information processing in individuals with high-functioning autism and Asperger’s disorder using a rapid serial visual presentation paradigm. The results clearly showed that such people demonstrate an attentional blink of similar magnitude to comparison groups. This supports the proposition that the social processing difficulties experienced by these individuals are not underpinned by a basic temporal-cognitive processing deficit, which is consistent with Minshew’s complex information processing theory. This is the second study to show that automatic inhibitory processes are intact in both autism and Asperger’s disorder, which appears to distinguish these disorders from some other fronto-striatal disorders. The finding that individuals with autism were generally poorer than the comparison group at detecting black Xs, while being as good in responding to white letters, was accounted for in the context of a potential dual-task processing difficulty or visual search superiority.
