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Inhibitory control and lexical alignment in children with an autism spectrum disorder

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 08:29 authored by Zoë Hopkins, Nicola YuillNicola Yuill, Holly P Branigan
Background: Two experiments investigated the contribution of conflict inhibition to pragmatic deficits in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Typical adults’ tendency to re-use interlocutors’ referential choices (lexical alignment) implicates communicative perspective-taking, which is regulated by conflict inhibition. We examined whether children with ASD spontaneously lexically aligned, and whether conflict inhibition mediated alignment. Methods: Children with ASD and chronological- and verbal-age-matched typically-developing controls played a picture-naming game. We manipulated whether the experimenter used a preferred or dispreferred name for each picture, and examined whether children subsequently used the same name. Results: Children with ASD spontaneously lexically aligned, to the same extent as typically-developing controls. Alignment was unrelated to conflict inhibition in both groups. Conclusions: Children with ASD’s referential communication is robust to impairments in conflict inhibition under some circumstances. Their pragmatic deficits may be mitigated in a highly structured interaction.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

ISSN

0021-9630

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

10

Volume

58

Page range

1155-1165

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-10-27

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2018-08-24

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-10-27

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