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Performance of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders on the Dimension-Change Card Sort Task

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Abstract

Restricted and repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorders have been conceptualized to reflect impaired executive functions. In the present study, we investigated the performance of 6–17-year-old children with and without an autism spectrum disorder on a dimension-change card sort task that explicitly indicated sorting rules on every trial. Diagnostic groups did not differ in speed of responses after the first rule switch or in speed or accuracy on blocks with mixed versus single sort rules. However, performance of the ASD group was significantly slower and less accurate overall than the typically-developing group. Furthermore, within the ASD group, poorer DCCS task performance did not predict more severe autism symptoms. Implications for the executive dysfunction theory of autism are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by R01 MH073402 (Bodfish). G. Dichter was supported by NIH/NCRR K12 RR023248 and by NIMH K23 MH081285. K. S. L. Lam and L. M. Turner-Brown were supported by NICHD T32-HD40127. Assistance for this study was provided by the Subject Registry Core of the UNC Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (P30 HD03110).

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Author notes

  1. Tia N. Holtzclaw

    Present address: Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, USA

    Gabriel S. Dichter, Krestin J. Radonovich, Lauren M. Turner-Brown, Kristen S. L. Lam, Tia N. Holtzclaw & James W. Bodfish

  2. Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, CB# 3366, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7160, USA

    Gabriel S. Dichter, Lauren M. Turner-Brown, Kristen S. L. Lam, Tia N. Holtzclaw & James W. Bodfish

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, CB# 7160, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7160, USA

    Gabriel S. Dichter & James W. Bodfish

  4. Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Gabriel S. Dichter

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3026, Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    Gabriel S. Dichter

  6. Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida College of Medicine, PO Box 100234, Gainesville, FL, 32610-0234, USA

    Krestin J. Radonovich

  7. Center for Development and Learning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB # 7255, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7255, USA

    James W. Bodfish

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  1. Gabriel S. Dichter
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Correspondence to Gabriel S. Dichter.

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Dichter, G.S., Radonovich, K.J., Turner-Brown, L.M. et al. Performance of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders on the Dimension-Change Card Sort Task. J Autism Dev Disord 40, 448–456 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0886-1

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