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Abstract
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.
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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