Dr. Lorna Goddard's Projects

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY IN ASD: PERSPECTIVE TAKING AND ITS LINKS TO WELL-BEING

Previous research has demonstrated a distinct pattern of autobiographical memory in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Much of this research focuses on the quality of memory typically recalled and has identified a specific memory deficit in ASD.
In the clinical domain, there is increasing interest in the perspective from which an individual recalls an event, i.e., from a  field or observer stance (cf. Nigro & Neisser, 1983) and links have been made between memory perspective, self-concept and emotional experience. This project seeks to examine first the connections between memory perspective and autonetic consciousness in ASD and second to assess whether  manipulating memory perspective may be a potentially useful therapeutic tool for improving mood and self concept in ASD.  

THE NATURE OF DEPRESSION IN ASPERGER SYNDROME

Previous research (Goddard, Howlin, Dritschel & Patel, 2007) has shown that individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD)  have an impaired access to specific autobiographical memories (i.e., memories for individual events). A specific memory deficit has also been reported across a range of psychiatric disorders, in particular those associated with depression. Here a reduced access to specific memories results in an overgeneral retrieval style which has negative consequences for social functioning.  
Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in ASD. It therefore becomes of interest to examine how memory deficits in Asperger syndrome are similar/different to depression. There is preliminary evidence to suggest that a specific memory deficit in Aspergers is unlike that found in depression as it is not typically compromised by an overgeneral retrieval style. This might be because in depression, overgeneral memory is due, in part, to a ruminative self-focus which encourages events to be encoded in over-inclusive emotion frameworks where as in Asperger syndrome, the self and emotion may play a less role in encoding events.
This project will examine how depressed mood in adults with Asperger syndrome affects autobiographical memory processes and the consequences that this has for social functioning. Initial studies will manipulate the types of words used to cue autobiographical memory in order to establish whether the conditions under which memory is typically shifted towards a general mode of representation are similar or different in Asperger syndrome. Further studies might examine how autobiographical memory biases are related to social function.

TEMPORAL COGNITION AND AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY IN AUTISTIC SPECTRUM DISORDERS (ASD)

Diachronic thinking refers to the ability to think forwards and backward in time. Previous research (e.g., Boucher et al, 2007) has shown that children with ASD are impaired in this ability and that this may contribute to episodic memory deficits.  Autobiographical memory is typically episodic in nature and research with adults with ASD has demonstrated that access to specific experiences is impaired.
Diachronic thinking also appears to impact on social problem-solving ability. Poor social problem-solving is ubiquitous in ASD and research with adults has demonstrated that the nature of these difficulties are related to problems in formulating solutions across a time frame (Goddard et al. 2007) This project will extend these findings by examining the developmental pathway of deficits in autobiographical memory and social problem-solving and examine how they relate to diachronic thinking styles.