Emotional Arousal-Induced Episodic Memory Benefits Are Attenuated in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Especially in Older Age

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder associated with episodic memory impairment. Although emotional factors such as arousal, as well as age and depression symptoms, are known to influence episodic memory in neurotypical (NT) populations, how these factors affect memory processes in ASD, which is associated with a higher prevalence of depression, remains unclear. In this large-scale online study, 326 adults (ages 18–67) with or without ASD (n = 163 per group) and varying levels of depressive symptoms rated their experienced arousal of positive, negative, and neutral images and performed a recognition task 48 h later. Adults with ASD reported lower arousal for positive images and exhibited reduced arousal-enhanced memory benefits for both positive and negative images compared to NT adults, independent of depression severity. Age further exacerbated this reduced arousal memory benefit in the ASD group, specifically for positive stimuli. These findings underscore the role of atypical emotional arousal in ASD on episodic memory, with age-related declines suggesting accelerated vulnerability in positive memory retention.