Slow but Steady: Similarities and Differences in Executive Functioning Between Autistic and Non-autistic Adults

Prior research has established differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals across the domains of executive function (EF). While some early theories portrayed these differences as universal to the autism spectrum, recent findings have been quite mixed. Factors like small samples, the components of EF being measured, age and intelligence quotient (IQ), and co-occurring conditions like Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) may contribute to this diversity in results. Moreover, performance over time might be expected to fluctuate in different patterns for autistic and non-autistic individuals, leading to differences in outcomes according to the length of experiments. To determine the extent of EF differences and whether these factors influence them, we recruited a sample of over 900 autistic and non-autistic participants (with generally average/above average IQ levels) from 18-77 years of age. They completed a battery of tasks measuring inhibition, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and attentional orienting to social and non-social cues. We found that performance was similar between groups in our primary measures of EF, although autistic participants were consistently slower, more susceptible to the effects of spatial cueing, and more prone to certain errors in the working memory task. Differences between groups were generally not influenced by participants’ age, gender, or IQ, and autistic participants with/without co-occurring ADHD performed similarly. Performance over time varied only in the working memory task. While autistic adults may still face related challenges in real life, these findings suggest that being autistic does not necessarily imply executive dysfunction on a basic cognitive level.