Content area
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience difficulties with language, particularly higher-level functions like semantic integration. Yet some studies indicate that semantic processing of non-linguistic stimuli is not impaired, suggesting a language-specific deficit in semantic processing. Using a semantic priming task, we compared event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to lexico-semantic processing (written words) and visuo-semantic processing (pictures) in adults with ASD and adults with typical development (TD). The ASD group showed successful lexico-semantic and visuo-semantic processing, indicated by similar N400 effects between groups for word and picture stimuli. However, differences in N400 latency and topography in word conditions suggested different lexico-semantic processing mechanisms: an expectancy-based strategy for the TD group but a controlled post-lexical integration strategy for the ASD group.
Details
Semantic priming;
Priming;
Semantic processing;
Autistic children;
Topography;
Language;
Autism;
Brain research;
Expectancy;
Neurosciences;
Cognition & reasoning;
Studies;
Event-related potentials;
Linguistics;
Information processing;
Integration;
Semantics;
Written language;
Stimuli;
Adult development;
Lexical semantics;
Disorders;
Adults;
Groups
1 Division of Cognitive Neurology/Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
2 Division of Cognitive Neurology/Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
3 Division of Cognitive Neurology/Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Cognitive Science, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA