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Semantic Organization of the Mental Lexicon in Children with Autism

Dana Battaglia1, Liat Seiger1,2& Richard G. Schwartz1

1.The Graduate Center of The City University of New York

2. Lehman College, The City University of New YorkRationale

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have limited lexicons

(Wilkinson, 1998).

Children with ASD also may differ from typically developing peers in

the semantic organization of their mental lexicon (Minshew, et al., 1995)

Children with ASD exhibit repetition priming, but have atypical

semantic priming (Gerenser, 2004).

Semantic Organization in Children with Autism

Children with ASD have lexical representations that are limited to the

prototypical referents of specific words (Tager-Flusberg, 1985).

Most associations are stored according to initial learning situations,

yielding limited flexibility in vocabulary representation. (Fay &

Schuler, 1980).

Example:

The first time an individual with ASD sees a chair, it is large and

pink. This representation of a chair is stored, rather than the

actual features of a chair (i.e. something with four legs that you

sit on).

Some word-associations are based on perceptual details of noun

referents rather than on more typical semantic (categorical,

functional) features (Vogindroukas, Papageorgiou & Vostanis, 2003).

A circular object with hands (watch) may be perceived as a

compass

Limitations of Previous Research

Research interpretations have been based on accuracy of selected

target, rather than theprocessof selection.

Semantic priming studies have been conducted with adolescents

and adults, but not with school aged children.

On-line (timed) studies on individuals with autism have not been

conducted with school aged children.

Participants

Group

Native

language

Age Hearing

Screening

Nonverbal IQ Language Testing

16 ASD English 7;3-12;2 80 8-93

Stimuli 20 black & white line drawings of common objects (Snodgrass &

Vanderwart,1980)

20 auditory Interfering Stimuli (IS)

Types of IS: Unrelated (U) & Related (R)

SA (Stimulus Asynchronies): -150, 0, +150

Future Directions

Increase number of kids in each subgroup

Add a phonological condition

Investigate degrees of semantic relatedness

Repetition of task to evaluate consistent selection of targets

Acknowledgements

Robert A. Domingo, Ph.D. & the Northport-East Northport UFSD for providing space; Lisa Gagliano, MA, CCC-SLP; for assistance with subject recruitment. Support provided by NIDCD Grant5R01DC003885. Dana Battaglia, MA, CCC-SLP. Ph.D. Program in Speech & Hearing Sciences, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave. New York, NY, 10016, USA. E-mail: dbattaglia@gc.cuny.edu

Purpose

To investigate semantic processing during lexical production in

children with ASD using the on-line task of cross-modal

picture-word interference paradigm

To determine whether the time course of semantic processing

during lexical production is similar in children with ASD and

children with TLD or SLI.

The Cross Modal Picture-Word Interference

Paradigm

(Taken from Seiger & Schwartz, 2005)

INTRODUCTION

METHOD

Discussion

Findings

The children with ASD did not demonstrate signifi cant effects for related vs.

unrelated priming conditions.

When further divided into subg roups Autism, PDD, Aspergers Syndrome, no

significant effects for related vs. unrelated primes were found

All groups revealed a main effect for SA

7 children with ASD out of the 16 demonstrated inhibition at -150 SA (same as TLD

& SLI) and showed a trend toward facilitation at +150 SA.

Interpretations

Semantic processing in children with SLI was found to be similar to that of

TLD in the early SAs of 150 and 0. Semantic processing in children with

ASD, however, revealed different patterns:

Half of the children with ASD revealed similar early semantic inhibition

at SA-150, whereas the rest revealed no effects at all.

It is suggested that the half that showed no effects may not have

processed the distractors.

The main effect observed for the dis tractor time of presentation (SA)

suggests that the timing at which information is presented to children with

ASD may affect their processing.

Children with ASD were faster in naming pictures when the distractors

were presented prior to the presentation of the pictures than when they

were presented with or after the pictures.

RESULTS

Semantic Processing in ASD

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

SA

MeanRT(M

sec)

Related 882 1178.7 1223.9

Unrelated 903 1182.1 1260.2

-150 0 150

Previous findings of priming experiments:

In typically developing children, semantically related distractors that are presented before the

presentation of the target pictures (SA -150) or with the pictures (SA 0) inhibit production

(slower response time). When they are presented after the presentation of the pictures (at

SA+150), we see no effects of interfering stimulus (Seiger & Schwartz, 2005)

In children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) there are lingering semantic effects at all SAs from

150 to +500 milliseconds.

In adults, inhibition is apparent only when the distractors are presented prior to the presentation of the

pictures (i.e., -150).

PDD - 3 Children

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

SA

M

eanRT(Msec)

Related 933 1213.333 1144

Unrelated 878.6667 1243.167 1258

-150 0 150

Inhibition at -150 Subgroup

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

SA

MeanRT(Msec)

Related 908.5 1131 1147.286

Unrelated 7 99 .8 57 1 1 12 6. 42 9 1 26 1. 78 6

-150 0 150

Autism - 10 Children

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

1300

1400

1500

SA

MeanRT(Msec)

Related 888.25 1203.65 1253.05

Unrelated 903.95 1241.6 1289.8

-150 0 150

Semantic Processing in Typically Developing Children

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

SA

MeanRTinmilliseconds

Unrelated 696 905 866

Related 766 959 848

-150 0 150