Entrainment, the unconscious process leading to coordination between communication partners, is an important dynamic human behavior that helps us connect with one another. Difficulty developing and sustaining social connections is a hallmark of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Subtle differences in social behaviors have also been noted in first-degree relatives of autistic individuals and may express underlying genetic liability to ASD. In-depth examination of verbal entrainment was conducted to examine disruptions to entrainment as a contributing factor to the language phenotype in ASD. Results revealed distinct patterns of prosodic and lexical entrainment in individuals with ASD. Notably, subtler entrainment differences in prosodic and syntactic entrainment were identified in parents of autistic individuals. Findings point towards entrainment, particularly prosodic entrainment, as a key process linked to social communication difficulties in ASD and reflective of genetic liability to ASD.
Narrative is an important communication skill for sharing personal experiences and connecting with others. Narrative skills are often impacted in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and have important consequences for social interactions and relationships. Subtle differences in narrative have also been reported among first-degree relatives of autistic individuals, suggesting that narrative may also be an etiologically important language-related skill that is influenced by genes associated with ASD. This study examined narrative ability and related visual attention during narration in ASD and first-degree relatives of individuals with ASD (siblings and parents) to understand how narrative and related attentional styles may be variably impacted across the spectrum of ASD genetic influence. Participants included 56 autistic individuals, 42 siblings of autistic individuals, 49 controls, 161 parents of autistic individuals, and 61 parent controls. Narratives were elicited using a wordless picture book presented on an eye tracker to record concurrent gaze. Findings revealed parallel patterns of narrative differences among ASD and sibling groups in the use of causal language to connect story elements and the use of cognitive and affective language. More subtle differences within the domain of causal language were evident in ASD parents. Parallel patterns in the ASD and sibling groups were also found for gaze during narration. Findings implicate causal language as a critical narrative skill that is impacted in ASD and may be reflective of ASD genetic influence in relatives. Gaze patterns during narration suggest similar attentional mechanisms associated with narrative among ASD families.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10526972
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer Science + Business Media
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- ISSN:
- 0162-3257
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Differences in prosody (e.g., intonation, rhythm) are among the most obvious language‐related impairments in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and significantly impact communication. Subtle prosodic differences have also been identified in a subset of clinically unaffected first‐degree relatives of individuals with ASD, and may reflect genetic liability to ASD. This study investigated the neural basis of prosodic differences in ASD and first‐degree relatives through analysis of feedforward and feedback control involved in the planning, production, self‐monitoring, and self‐correction of speech by using a pitch‐perturbed auditory feedback paradigm during sustained vowel and speech production. Results revealed larger vocal response magnitudes to pitch‐perturbed auditory feedback across tasks in ASD and ASD parent groups, with differences in sustained vowel production driven by parents who displayed subclinical personality and language features associated with ASD (i.e., broad autism phenotype). Both ASD and ASD parent groups exhibited increased response onset latencies during sustained vowel production, while the ASD parent group exhibited decreased response onset latencies during speech production. Vocal response magnitudes across tasks were associated with prosodic atypicalities in both individuals with ASD and their parents. Exploratory event‐related potential (ERP) analyses in a subgroup of participants during the sustained vowel task revealed reduced P1 ERP amplitudes in the ASD group, with similar trends observed in parents. Overall, results suggest underdeveloped feedforward systems and neural attenuation in detecting audio‐vocal feedback may contribute to ASD‐related prosodic atypicalities. Importantly, results implicate atypical audio‐vocal integration as a marker of genetic risk to ASD, evident in ASD and among clinically unaffected relatives.
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