Why is language different in autism?
Year: 2021
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The social gating theory presented by Kuhl (2007) predicts that domain general statistical learning skills and domain-specific social-emotional skills are critical to language development in typically developing children. Limited research has been done to test this theory in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) due to methodological difficulties. Utilizing eye-tracking tasks designed to measure statistical learning, social interest, and emotional processing, this barrier was overcome. 73 Children with ASD, mean age 23.6 months (SD = 4.7) were presented three eye-tracking tasks, as well as standardized tests of cognitive and adaptive functioning, respectively, that included subscales measuring language. The statistical learning task included four trials of a waterfall with an object falling, the social interest task included photos containing both social and non-social scenes, and the emotional processing task included three conditions depicting different facial expressions. Associations between each of the tasks presented, including statistical learning, social interest, and emotional processing, as well as measures of expressive language were found to be significant in young children with ASD. These findings align with predictions from the social gating theory, showing this theory might be relevant to young children with ASD.
DOI: 10.17918/00000741
Authors: Abigail Oldham, Giacomo Vivanti
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4206308155