A more nuanced understanding of autobiographical memory in autism spectrum disorder and its implications for social functioning

Abstract

Reduced autobiographical memory (AM) specificity and detailedness are robustly demonstrated in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) compared to neurotypical controls. This thesis investigates the interactions between AM retrieval and participant sex in ASD. Chapter 2 combines previous findings of AM retrieval in ASD into a comprehensive meta-analysis. The review found an overall reduction in AM retrieval in ASD, with results remaining consistent across studies. However, high variance suggests the presence of factors influencing AM that are not commonly accounted for across the literature, such as participant sex. In chapter 3, we build multiple generalised linear mixed models, suggesting emerging trends of reduced AM recall only in autistic males. Autistic females outperformed both the autistic males and the control group. When addressing possible interactions between AM, everyday, and social problem-solving (SPS) skills, autistic participants provided solutions of higher quality and detail, but this did not translate into the effectiveness of their solutions. AM detailedness and specificity remain consistent predictors of SPS performance, but not for everyday problem-solving. This suggests a greater attention to detail, which may also be evident in the social problem-solving task. Chapter 4 manipulated the AM cueing task by splitting cue words into neutral and social cue words, chosen to facilitate recall of AM focused on social interactions. We examined the diagnosis group, participant sex, and interactions between outcome variables, including participant IQ, social responsiveness, depression, anxiety, and stress scores. Findings suggest a substantial impact of the nature of the cue word on AM retrieval, especially in the ASD group. Moreover, prior findings were corroborated, suggesting superior detailedness, specificity, depth of detail and social qualities in retrieved memories for females with ASD when accounting for sex differences. Contradictory findings of superior AM retrieval in autistic females prompt further investigation into the impact of sex differences affecting AM recall.

Date of Award	3 Dec 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Barbara Dritschel (Supervisor)