Self-referential memory in autism spectrum disorder and typical development: Exploring the ownership effect

Owned objects occupy a privileged cognitive processing status and are viewed almost as extensions of the self. It has been demonstrated that items over which a sense of ownership is felt will be better recalled than other items. As autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterised by an impaired self-concept, people with ASD may not demonstrate this ownership effect. Two experiments were conducted which replicate Cunningham, Turk, Macdonald, & Macrae (2008). In Experiment 1, neurotypical adults completed a card sorting task and cards belonging to the ‘self’ were better remembered than cards belonging to the ‘other’. In the second experiment, adults with ASD recalled self- and other-referent items equally well. These results shed light both on the nature of the self-concept in ASD and the relationship between sense of self and the ownership effect.