The relationship between open-air memory and social functions of autobiographical memory in individuals with autistic traits

It has been reported that autobiographical memories have a social function that promotes conversation by using past events as conversation materials for non-autistic people. Autistic people and those with high autistic traits who were not diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) used social functions less frequently than those without autism. Thus, this study seeks to answer the question of whether autistic people and those with high levels of autistic traits who were not diagnosed with ASD and who use the social function of autobiographical memory less frequently do so because they have diminished open-air memory. To achieve this, university students who were not diagnosed with ASD were divided into high and low groups based on the number of autistic traits; open-air and laboratory encoding were conducted. Furthermore, we examined the correlation between memory performance and the social functions of autobiographical memory. The results showed that the performance of open-air encoding was better than that of laboratory encoding, regardless of the group. There was no significant correlation between performance in open-air encoding and the social function of the autobiographical memory. These findings emphasise the importance of actual experience in memory formation, even in an increasingly digitalised world.