Adaptation to different communicative contexts: an eye tracking study of autistic adults / Julia PARISH-MORRIS in Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 11-1 (December 2019)  

Public ISBD [article]  inJournal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders > 11-1 (December 2019) . - 5 p. Titre : Adaptation to different communicative contexts: an eye tracking study of autistic adults Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Julia PARISH-MORRIS, Auteur ; Ashley A. PALLATHRA, Auteur ; E. FERGUSON, Auteur ; B. B. MADDOX, Auteur ; A. POMYKACZ, Auteur ; L. S. PEREZ, Auteur ; Leila BATEMAN, Auteur ; J. PANDEY, Auteur ; Robert T. SCHULTZ, Auteur ; Edward S. BRODKIN, Auteur Article en page(s) : 5 p. Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : Adults  Autism spectrum disorder  Eye gaze  Face processing/perception Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Learning through social observation (i.e., watching other people interact) lays the foundation for later social skills and social cognition. However, social situations are often complex, and humans are only capable of attending to one aspect of a scene at a time. How do people choose where to allocate their visual resources when viewing complex social scenarios? For typically developing (TD) individuals, faces are often given priority. Depending upon context, however, it may be more useful to attend to other aspects of the environment, such as hands, tools, or background objects. Previous studies reported reduced face looking in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but modulation of visual attention in response to contextual differences (e.g., according to social richness, or the presence/absence of communicative behaviors between two people) has only briefly been explored. In this study, we used eye-tracking technology to test the extent to which ASD adults and TD adults use social context to guide their gaze behavior. METHODS: Fifty-five adults participated (28 with ASD). The location and duration of participants' gaze were recorded while they watched a series of naturalistic social videos. Half of the videos depicted two people engaging in non-verbal communication (rich social scenes) while playing with toys. The other half depicted two people playing with toys separately, not interacting with each other (lean social scenes). RESULTS: ASD and TD adults both increased their attention to faces in communicative contexts (rich social scenes) as compared to non-communicative contexts (lean social scenes). However, TD adults increased their attention to faces significantly more when watching two people communicate than did ASD adults, who increased their attention to a lesser degree. Further analysis revealed that ASD adults persisted in looking at hands and toys, even when observing two people communicate in a rich social scene. CONCLUSIONS: Diminished gaze to faces when observing two people communicating may lead to fewer opportunities for social learning and subsequent reductions in social knowledge. Naturalistic measures of contextual modulation could help identify areas of need for individuals learning about the social world and could become treatment targets to improve everyday social learning. En ligne : https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s11689-019-9265-1 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=409 [article] Adaptation to different communicative contexts: an eye tracking study of autistic adults [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Julia PARISH-MORRIS, Auteur ; Ashley A. PALLATHRA, Auteur ; E. FERGUSON, Auteur ; B. B. MADDOX, Auteur ; A. POMYKACZ, Auteur ; L. S. PEREZ, Auteur ; Leila BATEMAN, Auteur ; J. PANDEY, Auteur ; Robert T. SCHULTZ, Auteur ; Edward S. BRODKIN, Auteur . - 5 p. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders > 11-1 (December 2019) . - 5 p. Mots-clés : Adults  Autism spectrum disorder  Eye gaze  Face processing/perception Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Learning through social observation (i.e., watching other people interact) lays the foundation for later social skills and social cognition. However, social situations are often complex, and humans are only capable of attending to one aspect of a scene at a time. How do people choose where to allocate their visual resources when viewing complex social scenarios? For typically developing (TD) individuals, faces are often given priority. Depending upon context, however, it may be more useful to attend to other aspects of the environment, such as hands, tools, or background objects. Previous studies reported reduced face looking in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but modulation of visual attention in response to contextual differences (e.g., according to social richness, or the presence/absence of communicative behaviors between two people) has only briefly been explored. In this study, we used eye-tracking technology to test the extent to which ASD adults and TD adults use social context to guide their gaze behavior. METHODS: Fifty-five adults participated (28 with ASD). The location and duration of participants' gaze were recorded while they watched a series of naturalistic social videos. Half of the videos depicted two people engaging in non-verbal communication (rich social scenes) while playing with toys. The other half depicted two people playing with toys separately, not interacting with each other (lean social scenes). RESULTS: ASD and TD adults both increased their attention to faces in communicative contexts (rich social scenes) as compared to non-communicative contexts (lean social scenes). However, TD adults increased their attention to faces significantly more when watching two people communicate than did ASD adults, who increased their attention to a lesser degree. Further analysis revealed that ASD adults persisted in looking at hands and toys, even when observing two people communicate in a rich social scene. CONCLUSIONS: Diminished gaze to faces when observing two people communicating may lead to fewer opportunities for social learning and subsequent reductions in social knowledge. Naturalistic measures of contextual modulation could help identify areas of need for individuals learning about the social world and could become treatment targets to improve everyday social learning. En ligne : https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s11689-019-9265-1 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=409

Linguistic camouflage in girls with autism spectrum disorder / Julia PARISH-MORRIS in Molecular Autism, 8 (2017)  

Public ISBD [article]  inMolecular Autism > 8 (2017) . - 48p. Titre : Linguistic camouflage in girls with autism spectrum disorder Type de document : Texte imprimé et/ou numérique Auteurs : Julia PARISH-MORRIS, Auteur ; M. Y. LIBERMAN, Auteur ; C. CIERI, Auteur ; J. D. HERRINGTON, Auteur ; B. E. YERYS, Auteur ; Leila BATEMAN, Auteur ; J. DONAHER, Auteur ; E. FERGUSON, Auteur ; J. PANDEY, Auteur ; Robert T. SCHULTZ, Auteur Article en page(s) : 48p. Langues : Anglais (eng) Mots-clés : Autism  Disfluency  Filled pauses  Gender differences  Language  Linguistic camouflage  Pragmatic communication  Sex differences Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed more frequently in boys than girls, even when girls are equally symptomatic. Cutting-edge behavioral imaging has detected "camouflaging" in girls with ASD, wherein social behaviors appear superficially typical, complicating diagnosis. The present study explores a new kind of camouflage based on language differences. Pauses during conversation can be filled with words like UM or UH, but research suggests that these two words are pragmatically distinct (e.g., UM is used to signal longer pauses, and may correlate with greater social communicative sophistication than UH). Large-scale research suggests that women and younger people produce higher rates of UM during conversational pauses than do men and older people, who produce relatively more UH. Although it has been argued that children and adolescents with ASD use UM less often than typical peers, prior research has not included sufficient numbers of girls to examine whether sex explains this effect. Here, we explore UM vs. UH in school-aged boys and girls with ASD, and ask whether filled pauses relate to dimensional measures of autism symptom severity. METHODS: Sixty-five verbal school-aged participants with ASD (49 boys, 16 girls, IQ estimates in the average range) participated, along with a small comparison group of typically developing children (8 boys, 9 girls). Speech samples from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule were orthographically transcribed and time-aligned, with filled pauses marked. Parents completed the Social Communication Questionnaire and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. RESULTS: Girls used UH less often than boys across both diagnostic groups. UH suppression resulted in higher UM ratios for girls than boys, and overall filled pause rates were higher for typical children than for children with ASD. Higher UM ratios correlated with better socialization in boys with ASD, but this effect was driven by increased use of UH by boys with greater symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Pragmatic language markers distinguish girls and boys with ASD, mirroring sex differences in the general population. One implication of this finding is that typical-sounding disfluency patterns (i.e., reduced relative UH production leading to higher UM ratios) may normalize the way girls with ASD sound relative to other children, serving as "linguistic camouflage" for a naive listener and distinguishing them from boys with ASD. This first-of-its-kind study highlights the importance of continued commitment to understanding how sex and gender change the way that ASD manifests, and illustrates the potential of natural language to contribute to objective "behavioral imaging" diagnostics for ASD. En ligne : http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-017-0164-6 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=330 [article] Linguistic camouflage in girls with autism spectrum disorder [Texte imprimé et/ou numérique] / Julia PARISH-MORRIS, Auteur ; M. Y. LIBERMAN, Auteur ; C. CIERI, Auteur ; J. D. HERRINGTON, Auteur ; B. E. YERYS, Auteur ; Leila BATEMAN, Auteur ; J. DONAHER, Auteur ; E. FERGUSON, Auteur ; J. PANDEY, Auteur ; Robert T. SCHULTZ, Auteur . - 48p. Langues : Anglais (eng) in Molecular Autism > 8 (2017) . - 48p. Mots-clés : Autism  Disfluency  Filled pauses  Gender differences  Language  Linguistic camouflage  Pragmatic communication  Sex differences Index. décimale : PER Périodiques Résumé : BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed more frequently in boys than girls, even when girls are equally symptomatic. Cutting-edge behavioral imaging has detected "camouflaging" in girls with ASD, wherein social behaviors appear superficially typical, complicating diagnosis. The present study explores a new kind of camouflage based on language differences. Pauses during conversation can be filled with words like UM or UH, but research suggests that these two words are pragmatically distinct (e.g., UM is used to signal longer pauses, and may correlate with greater social communicative sophistication than UH). Large-scale research suggests that women and younger people produce higher rates of UM during conversational pauses than do men and older people, who produce relatively more UH. Although it has been argued that children and adolescents with ASD use UM less often than typical peers, prior research has not included sufficient numbers of girls to examine whether sex explains this effect. Here, we explore UM vs. UH in school-aged boys and girls with ASD, and ask whether filled pauses relate to dimensional measures of autism symptom severity. METHODS: Sixty-five verbal school-aged participants with ASD (49 boys, 16 girls, IQ estimates in the average range) participated, along with a small comparison group of typically developing children (8 boys, 9 girls). Speech samples from the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule were orthographically transcribed and time-aligned, with filled pauses marked. Parents completed the Social Communication Questionnaire and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. RESULTS: Girls used UH less often than boys across both diagnostic groups. UH suppression resulted in higher UM ratios for girls than boys, and overall filled pause rates were higher for typical children than for children with ASD. Higher UM ratios correlated with better socialization in boys with ASD, but this effect was driven by increased use of UH by boys with greater symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Pragmatic language markers distinguish girls and boys with ASD, mirroring sex differences in the general population. One implication of this finding is that typical-sounding disfluency patterns (i.e., reduced relative UH production leading to higher UM ratios) may normalize the way girls with ASD sound relative to other children, serving as "linguistic camouflage" for a naive listener and distinguishing them from boys with ASD. This first-of-its-kind study highlights the importance of continued commitment to understanding how sex and gender change the way that ASD manifests, and illustrates the potential of natural language to contribute to objective "behavioral imaging" diagnostics for ASD. En ligne : http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13229-017-0164-6 Permalink : https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=330

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