Atypical vocal imitation of speech and song in autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from Mandarin speakers / Li WANG ; Peter Q. Pfordresher ; Cunmei JIANG ; Fang LIU in Autism, 29-2 (February 2025)  

Public ISBD [article]  inAutism > 29-2 (February 2025) . - p.408-423 Titre : Atypical vocal imitation of speech and song in autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from Mandarin speakers : Autism Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Li WANG, Auteur ; Peter Q. Pfordresher, Auteur ; Cunmei JIANG, Auteur ; Fang LIU, Auteur Article en page(s) : p.408-423 Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : acoustics  autism  song  speech  vocal imitation Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Vocal imitation in English-speaking autistic individuals has been shown to be atypical. Speaking a tone language such as Mandarin facilitates vocal imitation skills among non-autistic individuals, yet no studies have examined whether this effect holds for autistic individuals. To address this question, we compared vocal imitation of speech and song between 33 autistic Mandarin speakers and 30 age-matched non-autistic peers. Participants were recorded while imitating 40 speech and song stimuli with varying pitch and duration patterns. Acoustic analyses showed that autistic participants imitated relative pitch (but not absolute pitch) less accurately than non-autistic participants for speech, whereas for song the two groups performed comparably on both absolute and relative pitch matching. Regarding duration matching, autistic participants imitated relative duration (inter-onset interval between consecutive notes/syllables) less accurately than non-autistic individuals for both speech and song, while their lower performance on absolute duration matching of the notes/syllables was presented only in the song condition. These findings indicate that experience with tone languages does not mitigate the challenges autistic individuals face in imitating speech and song, highlighting the importance of considering the domains and features of investigation and individual differences in cognitive abilities and language backgrounds when examining imitation in autism. Lay abstract Atypical vocal imitation has been identified in English-speaking autistic individuals, whereas the characteristics of vocal imitation in tone-language-speaking autistic individuals remain unexplored. By comparing speech and song imitation, the present study reveals a unique pattern of atypical vocal imitation across speech and music domains among Mandarin-speaking autistic individuals. The findings suggest that tone language experience does not compensate for difficulties in vocal imitation in autistic individuals and extends our understanding of vocal imitation in autism across different languages. En ligne : https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13623613241275395 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=547 [article] Atypical vocal imitation of speech and song in autism spectrum disorder: Evidence from Mandarin speakers : Autism [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Li WANG, Auteur ; Peter Q. Pfordresher, Auteur ; Cunmei JIANG, Auteur ; Fang LIU, Auteur . - p.408-423. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Autism > 29-2 (February 2025) . - p.408-423 Mots-clés : acoustics  autism  song  speech  vocal imitation Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Vocal imitation in English-speaking autistic individuals has been shown to be atypical. Speaking a tone language such as Mandarin facilitates vocal imitation skills among non-autistic individuals, yet no studies have examined whether this effect holds for autistic individuals. To address this question, we compared vocal imitation of speech and song between 33 autistic Mandarin speakers and 30 age-matched non-autistic peers. Participants were recorded while imitating 40 speech and song stimuli with varying pitch and duration patterns. Acoustic analyses showed that autistic participants imitated relative pitch (but not absolute pitch) less accurately than non-autistic participants for speech, whereas for song the two groups performed comparably on both absolute and relative pitch matching. Regarding duration matching, autistic participants imitated relative duration (inter-onset interval between consecutive notes/syllables) less accurately than non-autistic individuals for both speech and song, while their lower performance on absolute duration matching of the notes/syllables was presented only in the song condition. These findings indicate that experience with tone languages does not mitigate the challenges autistic individuals face in imitating speech and song, highlighting the importance of considering the domains and features of investigation and individual differences in cognitive abilities and language backgrounds when examining imitation in autism. Lay abstract Atypical vocal imitation has been identified in English-speaking autistic individuals, whereas the characteristics of vocal imitation in tone-language-speaking autistic individuals remain unexplored. By comparing speech and song imitation, the present study reveals a unique pattern of atypical vocal imitation across speech and music domains among Mandarin-speaking autistic individuals. The findings suggest that tone language experience does not compensate for difficulties in vocal imitation in autistic individuals and extends our understanding of vocal imitation in autism across different languages. En ligne : https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13623613241275395 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=547

Emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder across age groups: A cross-sectional investigation of various visual and auditory communicative domains / Florence Y. N. LEUNG in Autism Research, 16-4 (April 2023)  

Public ISBD [article]  inAutism Research > 16-4 (April 2023) . - p.783-801 Titre : Emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder across age groups: A cross-sectional investigation of various visual and auditory communicative domains Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Florence Y. N. LEUNG, Auteur ; Vesna STOJANOVIK, Auteur ; Martina MICAI, Auteur ; Cunmei JIANG, Auteur ; Fang LIU, Auteur Article en page(s) : p.783-801 Langues : Anglais (eng) Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Abstract Previous research on emotion processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has predominantly focused on human faces and speech prosody, with little attention paid to other domains such as nonhuman faces and music. In addition, emotion processing in different domains was often examined in separate studies, making it challenging to evaluate whether emotion recognition difficulties in ASD generalize across domains and age cohorts. The present study investigated: (i) the recognition of basic emotions (angry, scared, happy, and sad) across four domains (human faces, face-like objects, speech prosody, and song) in 38 autistic and 38 neurotypical (NT) children, adolescents, and adults in a forced-choice labeling task, and (ii) the impact of pitch and visual processing profiles on this ability. Results showed similar recognition accuracy between the ASD and NT groups across age groups for all domains and emotion types, although processing speed was slower in the ASD compared to the NT group. Age-related differences were seen in both groups, which varied by emotion, domain, and performance index. Visual processing style was associated with facial emotion recognition speed and pitch perception ability with auditory emotion recognition in the NT group but not in the ASD group. These findings suggest that autistic individuals may employ different emotion processing strategies compared to NT individuals, and that emotion recognition difficulties as manifested by slower response times may result from a generalized, rather than a domain-specific underlying mechanism that governs emotion recognition processes across domains in ASD. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2896 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=499 [article] Emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder across age groups: A cross-sectional investigation of various visual and auditory communicative domains [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Florence Y. N. LEUNG, Auteur ; Vesna STOJANOVIK, Auteur ; Martina MICAI, Auteur ; Cunmei JIANG, Auteur ; Fang LIU, Auteur . - p.783-801. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Autism Research > 16-4 (April 2023) . - p.783-801 Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Abstract Previous research on emotion processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has predominantly focused on human faces and speech prosody, with little attention paid to other domains such as nonhuman faces and music. In addition, emotion processing in different domains was often examined in separate studies, making it challenging to evaluate whether emotion recognition difficulties in ASD generalize across domains and age cohorts. The present study investigated: (i) the recognition of basic emotions (angry, scared, happy, and sad) across four domains (human faces, face-like objects, speech prosody, and song) in 38 autistic and 38 neurotypical (NT) children, adolescents, and adults in a forced-choice labeling task, and (ii) the impact of pitch and visual processing profiles on this ability. Results showed similar recognition accuracy between the ASD and NT groups across age groups for all domains and emotion types, although processing speed was slower in the ASD compared to the NT group. Age-related differences were seen in both groups, which varied by emotion, domain, and performance index. Visual processing style was associated with facial emotion recognition speed and pitch perception ability with auditory emotion recognition in the NT group but not in the ASD group. These findings suggest that autistic individuals may employ different emotion processing strategies compared to NT individuals, and that emotion recognition difficulties as manifested by slower response times may result from a generalized, rather than a domain-specific underlying mechanism that governs emotion recognition processes across domains in ASD. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2896 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=499

Investigating implicit emotion processing in autism spectrum disorder across age groups: A cross-modal emotional priming study / Florence Y. N. LEUNG in Autism Research, 17-4 (April 2024)  

Public ISBD [article]  inAutism Research > 17-4 (April 2024) . - p.824-837 Titre : Investigating implicit emotion processing in autism spectrum disorder across age groups: A cross-modal emotional priming study Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Florence Y. N. LEUNG, Auteur ; Vesna STOJANOVIK, Auteur ; Cunmei JIANG, Auteur ; Fang LIU, Auteur Article en page(s) : p.824-837 Langues : Anglais (eng) Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Abstract Cumulating evidence suggests that atypical emotion processing in autism may generalize across different stimulus domains. However, this evidence comes from studies examining explicit emotion recognition. It remains unclear whether domain-general atypicality also applies to implicit emotion processing in autism and its implication for real-world social communication. To investigate this, we employed a novel cross-modal emotional priming task to assess implicit emotion processing of spoken/sung words (primes) through their influence on subsequent emotional judgment of faces/face-like objects (targets). We assessed whether implicit emotional priming differed between 38 autistic and 38 neurotypical individuals across age groups as a function of prime and target type. Results indicated no overall group differences across age groups, prime types, and target types. However, differential, domain-specific developmental patterns emerged for the autism and neurotypical groups. For neurotypical individuals, speech but not song primed the emotional judgment of faces across ages. This speech-orienting tendency was not observed across ages in the autism group, as priming of speech on faces was not seen in autistic adults. These results outline the importance of the delicate weighting between speech- versus song-orientation in implicit emotion processing throughout development, providing more nuanced insights into the emotion processing profile of autistic individuals. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3124 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=526 [article] Investigating implicit emotion processing in autism spectrum disorder across age groups: A cross-modal emotional priming study [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Florence Y. N. LEUNG, Auteur ; Vesna STOJANOVIK, Auteur ; Cunmei JIANG, Auteur ; Fang LIU, Auteur . - p.824-837. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Autism Research > 17-4 (April 2024) . - p.824-837 Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : Abstract Cumulating evidence suggests that atypical emotion processing in autism may generalize across different stimulus domains. However, this evidence comes from studies examining explicit emotion recognition. It remains unclear whether domain-general atypicality also applies to implicit emotion processing in autism and its implication for real-world social communication. To investigate this, we employed a novel cross-modal emotional priming task to assess implicit emotion processing of spoken/sung words (primes) through their influence on subsequent emotional judgment of faces/face-like objects (targets). We assessed whether implicit emotional priming differed between 38 autistic and 38 neurotypical individuals across age groups as a function of prime and target type. Results indicated no overall group differences across age groups, prime types, and target types. However, differential, domain-specific developmental patterns emerged for the autism and neurotypical groups. For neurotypical individuals, speech but not song primed the emotional judgment of faces across ages. This speech-orienting tendency was not observed across ages in the autism group, as priming of speech on faces was not seen in autistic adults. These results outline the importance of the delicate weighting between speech- versus song-orientation in implicit emotion processing throughout development, providing more nuanced insights into the emotion processing profile of autistic individuals. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3124 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=526

Linguistic and Musical Syntax Processing in Autistic and Non-Autistic Individuals: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study / Anna PETROVA ; Zivile BERNOTAITE ; Maleeha SUJAWAL ; Chen ZHAO ; Hiba AHMED ; Cunmei JIANG ; Fang LIU in Autism Research, 18-6 (June 2025)  

Public ISBD [article]  inAutism Research > 18-6 (June 2025) . - p.1245-1256 Titre : Linguistic and Musical Syntax Processing in Autistic and Non-Autistic Individuals: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Anna PETROVA, Auteur ; Zivile BERNOTAITE, Auteur ; Maleeha SUJAWAL, Auteur ; Chen ZHAO, Auteur ; Hiba AHMED, Auteur ; Cunmei JIANG, Auteur ; Fang LIU, Auteur Article en page(s) : p.1245-1256 Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : autism  language  music  P600  syntax Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : ABSTRACT Syntactic processing in both language and music involves combining elements?such as words or chords?into coherent structures. The Shared Syntactic Integration Resource Hypothesis (SSIRH) was introduced based on observations of similar neural responses to syntactic violations across both domains. This hypothesis suggests that difficulties in syntactic processing in one domain may result in similar challenges in the other. The current study tested the SSIRH in autism, a neurodevelopmental condition often associated with language difficulties but relatively preserved musical abilities. Thirty-one autistic and 31 non-autistic participants judged the acceptability of syntactically congruent and incongruent sentences and musical sequences while their neural responses were recorded using electroencephalography. Autistic participants exhibited a reduced and delayed P600 effect?a marker of syntactic integration?across both domains, despite achieving similar behavioral accuracy to the non-autistic group. These findings suggest parallel difficulties in syntactic processing in autism for both language and music, providing support for the SSIRH. This is the first study to directly examine real-time syntactic integration in both domains in autistic individuals, offering novel insights into cross-domain syntactic processing in autism and contributing to a deeper understanding of language and music processing more broadly. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70038 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=558 [article] Linguistic and Musical Syntax Processing in Autistic and Non-Autistic Individuals: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Anna PETROVA, Auteur ; Zivile BERNOTAITE, Auteur ; Maleeha SUJAWAL, Auteur ; Chen ZHAO, Auteur ; Hiba AHMED, Auteur ; Cunmei JIANG, Auteur ; Fang LIU, Auteur . - p.1245-1256. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Autism Research > 18-6 (June 2025) . - p.1245-1256 Mots-clés : autism  language  music  P600  syntax Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : ABSTRACT Syntactic processing in both language and music involves combining elements?such as words or chords?into coherent structures. The Shared Syntactic Integration Resource Hypothesis (SSIRH) was introduced based on observations of similar neural responses to syntactic violations across both domains. This hypothesis suggests that difficulties in syntactic processing in one domain may result in similar challenges in the other. The current study tested the SSIRH in autism, a neurodevelopmental condition often associated with language difficulties but relatively preserved musical abilities. Thirty-one autistic and 31 non-autistic participants judged the acceptability of syntactically congruent and incongruent sentences and musical sequences while their neural responses were recorded using electroencephalography. Autistic participants exhibited a reduced and delayed P600 effect?a marker of syntactic integration?across both domains, despite achieving similar behavioral accuracy to the non-autistic group. These findings suggest parallel difficulties in syntactic processing in autism for both language and music, providing support for the SSIRH. This is the first study to directly examine real-time syntactic integration in both domains in autistic individuals, offering novel insights into cross-domain syntactic processing in autism and contributing to a deeper understanding of language and music processing more broadly. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.70038 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=558

Mental representations of speech and musical pitch contours reveal a diversity of profiles in autism spectrum disorder / Li WANG in Autism, 27-3 (April 2023)  

Public ISBD [article]  inAutism > 27-3 (April 2023) . - p.629-646 Titre : Mental representations of speech and musical pitch contours reveal a diversity of profiles in autism spectrum disorder Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Li WANG, Auteur ; Jia Hoong ONG, Auteur ; Emmanuel PONSOT, Auteur ; Qingqi HOU, Auteur ; Cunmei JIANG, Auteur ; Fang LIU, Auteur Article en page(s) : p.629-646 Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : autism spectrum disorder,mental representation,music,pitch processing,reverse correlation,speech Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : As an information-bearing auditory attribute of sound, pitch plays a crucial role in the perception of speech and music. Studies examining pitch processing in autism spectrum disorder have produced equivocal results. To understand this discrepancy from a mechanistic perspective, we used a novel data-driven method, the reverse-correlation paradigm, to explore whether the equivocal findings in autism spectrum disorder have high-level origins in top-down comparisons of internal mental representations of pitch contours. Thirty-two Mandarin-speaking autistic individuals and 32 non-autistic individuals undertook three subtasks testing mental representations of pitch contours in speech, complex tone and melody, respectively. The results indicate that while the two groups exhibited similar representations of pitch contours across the three conditions, the autistic group showed a significantly higher intra-group variability than the non-autistic group. In addition, the two groups did not differ significantly in internal noise, a measure of the robustness of participant responses to external variability, suggesting that the present findings translate genuinely qualitative differences and similarities between groups in pitch processing. These findings uncover for the first time that pitch patterns in speech and music are mentally represented in a similar manner in autistic and non-autistic individuals, through domain-general top-down mechanisms.Lay abstractAs a key auditory attribute of sounds, pitch is ubiquitous in our everyday listening experience involving language, music and environmental sounds. Given its critical role in auditory processing related to communication, numerous studies have investigated pitch processing in autism spectrum disorder. However, the findings have been mixed, reporting either enhanced, typical or impaired performance among autistic individuals. By investigating top-down comparisons of internal mental representations of pitch contours in speech and music, this study shows for the first time that, while autistic individuals exhibit diverse profiles of pitch processing compared to non-autistic individuals, their mental representations of pitch contours are typical across domains. These findings suggest that pitch-processing mechanisms are shared across domains in autism spectrum disorder and provide theoretical implications for using music to improve speech for those autistic individuals who have language problems. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221111207 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=499 [article] Mental representations of speech and musical pitch contours reveal a diversity of profiles in autism spectrum disorder [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Li WANG, Auteur ; Jia Hoong ONG, Auteur ; Emmanuel PONSOT, Auteur ; Qingqi HOU, Auteur ; Cunmei JIANG, Auteur ; Fang LIU, Auteur . - p.629-646. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Autism > 27-3 (April 2023) . - p.629-646 Mots-clés : autism spectrum disorder,mental representation,music,pitch processing,reverse correlation,speech Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : As an information-bearing auditory attribute of sound, pitch plays a crucial role in the perception of speech and music. Studies examining pitch processing in autism spectrum disorder have produced equivocal results. To understand this discrepancy from a mechanistic perspective, we used a novel data-driven method, the reverse-correlation paradigm, to explore whether the equivocal findings in autism spectrum disorder have high-level origins in top-down comparisons of internal mental representations of pitch contours. Thirty-two Mandarin-speaking autistic individuals and 32 non-autistic individuals undertook three subtasks testing mental representations of pitch contours in speech, complex tone and melody, respectively. The results indicate that while the two groups exhibited similar representations of pitch contours across the three conditions, the autistic group showed a significantly higher intra-group variability than the non-autistic group. In addition, the two groups did not differ significantly in internal noise, a measure of the robustness of participant responses to external variability, suggesting that the present findings translate genuinely qualitative differences and similarities between groups in pitch processing. These findings uncover for the first time that pitch patterns in speech and music are mentally represented in a similar manner in autistic and non-autistic individuals, through domain-general top-down mechanisms.Lay abstractAs a key auditory attribute of sounds, pitch is ubiquitous in our everyday listening experience involving language, music and environmental sounds. Given its critical role in auditory processing related to communication, numerous studies have investigated pitch processing in autism spectrum disorder. However, the findings have been mixed, reporting either enhanced, typical or impaired performance among autistic individuals. By investigating top-down comparisons of internal mental representations of pitch contours in speech and music, this study shows for the first time that, while autistic individuals exhibit diverse profiles of pitch processing compared to non-autistic individuals, their mental representations of pitch contours are typical across domains. These findings suggest that pitch-processing mechanisms are shared across domains in autism spectrum disorder and provide theoretical implications for using music to improve speech for those autistic individuals who have language problems. En ligne : https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221111207 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=499

Perception and Production of Statement-Question Intonation in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Developmental Investigation / Li WANG in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52-8 (August 2022)  

Permalink

Perception of Melodic Contour and Intonation in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence From Mandarin Speakers / Jun JIANG in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45-7 (July 2015)  

Permalink

Predictive processing of music and language in autism: Evidence from Mandarin and English speakers / Jia Hoong ONG ; Anamarija VEIC ; Aniruddh D. PATEL ; Cunmei JIANG ; Allison R. FOGEL ; Li WANG ; Qingqi HOU ; Dipsikha DAS ; Cara CRASTO ; Bhismadev CHAKRABARTI ; Tim I. WILLIAMS ; Ariadne LOUTRARI ; Fang LIU in Autism Research, 17-6 (June 2024)  

Permalink

The Relationship Between Autism and Pitch Perception is Modulated by Cognitive Abilities / Chen ZHAO ; Alex BACON ; Florence Yik Nam LEUNG ; Anamarija VEIC ; Li WANG ; Cunmei JIANG ; Fang LIU in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 54-9 (September 2024)  

Permalink

---

1 (1 - 9 / 9)