Autism spectrum disorder and cognitive flexibility: A cognitive neuropsychological study

Brahim Nadir, Abdellatif El Farahi

Accepted August 31, 2025

First published August 31, 2025

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent difficulties
in social communication and social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviours, activities and/
or interests. These symptoms generally appear before early childhood. Cognitive flexibility (CF) is the ability to shift from
one task to another, where the new task is unfamiliar and novel. CF was assessed in this study among children with ASD
compared to typical development (TD). The sample for both groups consisted of children aged between 6-12 years,
with each group comprising 54 children. This study employed three tests to evaluate CF, including the Trail Making
Test (TMT), the Playing Cards Test (PCT), and the New Card Sorting Test (NCST). Results indicated that individuals with
ASD suffer from impairments in CF compared to TD, as children with ASD take longer (slow response) and make more
errors (the total number of errors) and tended to make more perseveration errors (repeat response) compared to TD. Our
findings may explain many of the problems that these children suffer from, especially with regard to interaction, social
communication, and stereotypical behavior, which deserves further research.

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Nadir Brahim . El Farahi Abdellatif . Autism spectrum disorder and cognitive flexibility: A cognitive neuropsychological study. BPA Applied Psychology Bulletin. 2025;303(1):2-11.

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Autism spectrum disorder and cognitive flexibility: A cognitive neuropsychological study

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