TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatial language difficulties reflect the structure of intact spatial representation
T2 - Evidence from high-functioning autism
AU - Bochynska, Agata
AU - Vulchanova, Mila
AU - Vulchanov, Valentin
AU - Landau, Barbara
N1 - Funding Information:
We are very grateful to all participants and their families for participating in the study, as well as Autism Society in Norway for their assistance in the recruitment process. We also would like to cordially thank Bruno Laeng for his invaluable help and support in data collection at the University of Oslo. Finally, we would also like to acknowledge Lene Nys?ter and Maria Boer Johannessen for their help with the transcriptions and ratings of the participants? responses, and Camilla Hellum Foyn for her help with the recruitment of the control participants. This work was supported by the Norwegian Graduate Researcher School in Linguistics and Philology (LingPhil; Mobility Grant awarded to Agata Bochynska).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2020/2
Y1 - 2020/2
N2 - Previous studies have shown that the basic properties of the visual representation of space are reflected in spatial language. This close relationship between linguistic and non-linguistic spatial systems has been observed both in typical development and in some developmental disorders. Here we provide novel evidence for structural parallels along with a degree of autonomy between these two systems among individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, a developmental disorder with uneven cognitive and linguistic profiles. In four experiments, we investigated language and memory for locations organized around an axis-based reference system. Crucially, we also recorded participants’ eye movements during the tasks in order to provide new insights into the online processes underlying spatial thinking. Twenty-three intellectually high-functioning individuals with autism (HFA) and 23 typically developing controls (TD), all native speakers of Norwegian matched on chronological age and cognitive abilities, participated in the studies. The results revealed a well-preserved axial reference system in HFA and weakness in the representation of direction within the axis, which was especially evident in spatial language. Performance on the non-linguistic tasks did not differ between HFA and control participants, and we observed clear structural parallels between spatial language and spatial representation in both groups. However, there were some subtle differences in the use of spatial language in HFA compared to TD, suggesting that despite the structural parallels, some aspects of spatial language in HFA deviated from the typical pattern. These findings provide novel insights into the prominence of the axial reference systems in non-linguistic spatial representations and spatial language, as well as the possibility that the two systems are, to some degree, autonomous.
AB - Previous studies have shown that the basic properties of the visual representation of space are reflected in spatial language. This close relationship between linguistic and non-linguistic spatial systems has been observed both in typical development and in some developmental disorders. Here we provide novel evidence for structural parallels along with a degree of autonomy between these two systems among individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder, a developmental disorder with uneven cognitive and linguistic profiles. In four experiments, we investigated language and memory for locations organized around an axis-based reference system. Crucially, we also recorded participants’ eye movements during the tasks in order to provide new insights into the online processes underlying spatial thinking. Twenty-three intellectually high-functioning individuals with autism (HFA) and 23 typically developing controls (TD), all native speakers of Norwegian matched on chronological age and cognitive abilities, participated in the studies. The results revealed a well-preserved axial reference system in HFA and weakness in the representation of direction within the axis, which was especially evident in spatial language. Performance on the non-linguistic tasks did not differ between HFA and control participants, and we observed clear structural parallels between spatial language and spatial representation in both groups. However, there were some subtle differences in the use of spatial language in HFA compared to TD, suggesting that despite the structural parallels, some aspects of spatial language in HFA deviated from the typical pattern. These findings provide novel insights into the prominence of the axial reference systems in non-linguistic spatial representations and spatial language, as well as the possibility that the two systems are, to some degree, autonomous.
KW - Autism spectrum disorders
KW - Axial reference system
KW - Eye-movements
KW - Eye-tracking
KW - Spatial language
KW - Spatial memory
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2019.101249
DO - 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2019.101249
M3 - Article
C2 - 31743869
AN - SCOPUS:85074987382
VL - 116
JO - Cognitive Psychology
JF - Cognitive Psychology
SN - 0010-0285
M1 - 101249
ER -