[article]
| Titre : |
Garden path processing in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Evidence from eye-tracking |
| Type de document : |
texte imprimé |
| Auteurs : |
Michaela NERANTZINI, Auteur ; Eleni PERISTERI, Auteur ; Stavroula ALEXANDROPOULOU, Auteur ; Spyridoula VARLOKOSTA, Auteur |
| Article en page(s) : |
202968 |
| Langues : |
Anglais (eng) |
| Mots-clés : |
Autism Spectrum Disorders Garden path sentences Eye-tracking Reading Executive functions |
| Index. décimale : |
PER Périodiques |
| Résumé : |
Though comprehenders use thematic fit to predict upcoming materials in discourse, the processor does not always select a felicitous parsing pathway. Syntactic processing models claim that multiple parses compete for selection at points of incremental ambiguity, and early parsing decisions often need to be overridden by engaging executive functions. Though previous studies investigated lexical and pronominal ambiguity in Autism Spectrum Disorders, there is a dearth of research on garden path sentence processing in autism. The objective of this study was to assess garden path sentence processing in autistic and age-matched typically-developing (TD) children by employing an eye-tracking-while-reading task. The task included sentences with temporary subject-object ambiguity stemming from either case syncretism or overt case marking of determiner phrases following optionally transitive verbs. Children’s executive functions were also assessed to investigate interactions between cognitive control and garden path resolution skills. We found that the autistic children experienced larger costs than their TD peers in integrating overt case cues in garden path sentences. These costs were mainly reflected in the autistic children’s significantly longer dwell time and more fixations in the determiner of the critical DPs. Also, autistic children’s garden path repair processes were modulated by their executive functions not before the wrap-up of the sentences, which is indicative of delayed cognitive control adjustment. The overall findings show that structural ambiguity resolution was more challenging for the autistic children, and that this weakness stemmed from cognitive control deficits and difficulty with the mapping of morphological cues to argument features, rather than competing syntactic representations per se. |
| En ligne : |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reia.2026.202968 |
| Permalink : |
https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=592 |
in Research in Autism > 136 (August 2026) . - 202968
[article] Garden path processing in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Evidence from eye-tracking [texte imprimé] / Michaela NERANTZINI, Auteur ; Eleni PERISTERI, Auteur ; Stavroula ALEXANDROPOULOU, Auteur ; Spyridoula VARLOKOSTA, Auteur . - 202968. Langues : Anglais ( eng) in Research in Autism > 136 (August 2026) . - 202968
| Mots-clés : |
Autism Spectrum Disorders Garden path sentences Eye-tracking Reading Executive functions |
| Index. décimale : |
PER Périodiques |
| Résumé : |
Though comprehenders use thematic fit to predict upcoming materials in discourse, the processor does not always select a felicitous parsing pathway. Syntactic processing models claim that multiple parses compete for selection at points of incremental ambiguity, and early parsing decisions often need to be overridden by engaging executive functions. Though previous studies investigated lexical and pronominal ambiguity in Autism Spectrum Disorders, there is a dearth of research on garden path sentence processing in autism. The objective of this study was to assess garden path sentence processing in autistic and age-matched typically-developing (TD) children by employing an eye-tracking-while-reading task. The task included sentences with temporary subject-object ambiguity stemming from either case syncretism or overt case marking of determiner phrases following optionally transitive verbs. Children’s executive functions were also assessed to investigate interactions between cognitive control and garden path resolution skills. We found that the autistic children experienced larger costs than their TD peers in integrating overt case cues in garden path sentences. These costs were mainly reflected in the autistic children’s significantly longer dwell time and more fixations in the determiner of the critical DPs. Also, autistic children’s garden path repair processes were modulated by their executive functions not before the wrap-up of the sentences, which is indicative of delayed cognitive control adjustment. The overall findings show that structural ambiguity resolution was more challenging for the autistic children, and that this weakness stemmed from cognitive control deficits and difficulty with the mapping of morphological cues to argument features, rather than competing syntactic representations per se. |
| En ligne : |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reia.2026.202968 |
| Permalink : |
https://www.cra-rhone-alpes.org/cid/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=592 |
|  |
Garden path processing in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Evidence from eye-tracking in Research in Autism, 136 (August 2026)
