New Learning Method for People with Autism

A new study from Tel Aviv University proposes a new learning method for people with autism that may accelerate the learning process and significantly improve capabilities in terms of visual perception. According to the researchers, improving the perceptual capacity of people with autism is often a challenge, and usually requires long and tedious training alongside additional learning challenges that characterizes autism, such as the ability to generalize learning to new situations.

The study was conducted by doctoral student Shira Klorfeld-Auslender and Prof. Nitzan Censor from the School of Psychological Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Prof. Ilan Dinstein and his team from Ben-Gurion University. The study was published in the journal Current Biology.

"A large part of learning does not happen in formal training settings but afterwards, through processes of assimilation and reinforcement of memory that occur in an 'offline' state; for example, when our brain is asleep."

Longer Not Necessarily Better

The new method proposed by the researchers is based on utilizing "memory flashes," by exposing a person for just a few seconds to a task that has already been learned. While standard teaching practice reinforce length and repetition of new skills, the new method improved both visual perception capabilities and the generalization of learning through helping the subjects excel in the same tasks, under different conditions.

"In my laboratory, we focus on the study of learning in humans, and we know that a large part of learning does not happen in formal training settings but afterwards, through processes of assimilation and reinforcement of memory that occur in an 'offline' state; for example, when our brain is asleep," explains Prof. Censor.

"However, standard teaching methods still advocate an approach where longer practice equals better learning: if you want to play the piano, you should practice playing the piano for many hours every day until the playing becomes second nature to you. We have identified an alternative learning mechanism that uses 'memory flashes' – a brief exposure to a task that has already been learned –to assimilate and generalize skill developed."

Prof. Nitzan Censor

Effective with Added Value

In the study, 30 high-functioning adults with autism were asked to learn a visual task (for example, identifying the direction of lines that appear for a few milliseconds on the screen). However, instead of repeating the task for a long time each day, the examinees in the main experimental group learned the task in depth on the first day, and in the following days they were exposed to the visual stimulus for only a few seconds. At the end of the process, although the study participants studied the task for a minimal amount of time, their performance improved significantly, by about 20–25%, which was a similar result to those subjected to multiple-repetition learning and to the achievements of subjects without autism.

"We have shown that it does not take prolonged practice time to assimilate the task – it is enough to flash it for a few seconds to stimulate the relevant brain network, and the brain will then assimilate the material on its own."

Moreover, even when presented with the task under new conditions (for example, when the stimulus was learned in a new location), the examinees who learned with the memory flash method performed better than those in the control group - they knew how to generalize the skills learned in the first task. The participants' success in generalizing the learning to other situations is considered significant, as these are skills that people with autism tend to struggle with.

"We have already proven in previous studies that processes of learning assimilation can be improved through flashes of memory," says Prof. Censor. "We have shown that it does not take prolonged practice time to assimilate the task – it is enough to flash it for a few seconds to stimulate the relevant brain network, and the brain will then assimilate the material on its own."

"In this case, we tested people with autism. People with autism often have difficulty learning and generalizing repetitive learning, that is, using tools that have also been learned when executing new tasks. Through short flashes of visual stimulus of a task learned, we were able to produce learning that is identical to repetitive learning in terms of its effectiveness; meaning, we significantly shortened the learning time. The added value is the ability to generalize: the examinees performed a task under new conditions, as if they had fully learned it. "

According to Prof. Censor, the new method may have significant potential implications in a wide range of areas. The new study could pave the way for more meaningful approaches to learning for people with autism, and in a wide variety of tasks. Moreover, the method may contribute to shorten rehabilitation after neurological injuries.