Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Semantic Processing in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: An ERP Study

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.

Visual and linguistic narrative comprehension in autism spectrum disorders: Neural evidence for modality-independent impairments

“…Such bottom-up processing could also explain the reduced N400 effects at the anomalous final panels, in which semantic processing of anomalous stimuli may rely on the same bottom-up strategies as other units in the sequence. This would also complement our recent findings of a more bottom-up, post-lexical integration strategy of semantic processing in ASD compared to a more top-down, prediction-based strategy in TD individuals (Coderre et al, 2017).…”

“…related to language ability, but rather may represent more global impairments in understanding narrative sequences. We conclude, albeit speculatively, that prior evidence of an advantage of visuo-semantic over lexico-semantic processing in individuals with ASD (Coderre et al, 2017;Kamio & Toichi, 2000;Sahyoun et al, 2009) may not necessarily completely overcome more general difficulties with narrative comprehension in these individuals.…”

“…Basic, low-level visual processing abilities like discrimination appear to be relatively intact in individuals with ASD; for example, a recent meta-analysis of low-level visual processing abilities in individuals with ASD found that for many tasks (including visual search, block design, and embedded figures tasks), individuals with ASD do not differ in performance from their TD peers (Van der Hallen, Evers, Brewaeys, Noortgate, & Wagemans, 2015). Several studies have also suggested that semantic processing of non-linguistic stimuli is intact in individuals with ASD (Coderre, Chernenok, Gordon, & Ledoux, 2017;Kamio & Toichi, 2000;McCleery et al, 2010;Sahyoun, Soulières, Belliveau, Mottron, & Mody, 2009). For example, children with ASD performed better on a picture-word priming task than on a word-word priming task, suggesting an advantage for visuo-semantic processing (Kamio & Toichi, 2000).…”

Autistic adults anticipate and integrate meaning based on the speaker’s voice: Evidence from eye-tracking and event-related potentials.

“…This sample size was defined a-priori to match that used (for each group) in Van Berkum et al (2008), and it is comparable to or exceeds the sample sizes of previous studies that have used EEG to study language in autism (e.g. Coderre, Chernenok, Gordon, & Ledoux, 2017;Korpilahti et al, 2007;Pijnacker, Geurts, Van Lambalgen, Buitelaar, & Hagoort, 2010;Lartseva, Dijkstra Kan, & Buitelaar, 2014). Nevertheless, post-hoc power calculations showed an estimated power of approximately 38% to detect a significant 4-way interaction.…”

Unconstrained multivariate EEG decoding can help detect lexical-semantic processing in individual children

“…Recent work has used this approach to assess covert cognitive abilities in non-communicative populations (see a recent review by Harrison and Connolly, 2013). In particular, language processing has been studied using EEG including in patients with disorder of consciousness (Hinterberger et al, 2005;Kotchoubey et al, 2005), schizophrenia (Mathalon et al, 2002;Sharma et al, 2017), and autistic individuals (Coderre et al, 2017;Pijnacker et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2017). However, in these cases, EEG research has focused on the population-level, with minimal data reported on an individual-participant basis.…”