Further evidence of intact working memory in autism

Earlier investigations have found mixed evidence of working memory impairme nt in autism. The present study examined working memory in a high-functioni ng autistic sample, relative to both a clinical control group diagnosed wit h Tourette Syndrome and a typically developing control group. No group diff erences were found across three tasks and five dependent measures of workin g memory. Performance was significantly correlated with both age and IQ. It is concluded that working memory is not one of the executive functions tha t is seriously impaired in autism. We also suggest that the format of admin istration of working memory tasks may be important in determining whether o r not performance falls in the impaired range.