Cognitive Strategies in Older and Autistic Adults

Cognitive strategy use in autism seems to mimic patterns of strategy use at older age as both younger autistic, and older non-autistic individuals seem to make less use of semantic affordance when performing visual memory tasks. Hypothetically, initial difficulties in semantic strategy use in autism become beneficial at older age (i.e., “protective aging”), due to enhanced visual processing. The current study aimed to investigate 1) whether differences in strategy use at younger age translate to differences in strategy use at older age, and 2) possible protective age-related differences in autism. Participants (ntotal=147) in four groups (autistic younger/older, non-autistic younger/older) completed a recognition version of the Visual Patterns Test (VPT) assessing semantic strategy use during visual memory performance, the Just Noticeable Difference (JND) size task assessing visual processing, and Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ) on subjective memory performance. Unexpectedly, on the VPT all groups - except the younger non-autistic group – benefited from high semantic affordance, although the older groups (autistic/non-autistic) performed less accurately and slower. On the JND size task, the autistic groups did not show enhanced visual processing. Subjectively, autistic adults rated their memory performance worse than non-autistic adults, despite higher reported rates of strategy use. These results might shift our perspectives on cognitive strategy use in older and autistic adults, showing that, in a recognition paradigm, (semantic) strategy use might be more similar between younger/older and autistic/non-autistic people than previously expected. Although no protective age-related effects were observed, these results substantiate previous research suggesting parallel cognitive aging in autism.