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

Coderre, Emily L.; Cohn, Neil; Slipher, Sally K.; Chernenok, Mariya; Ledoux, Kerry; Gordon, Barry

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2018.09.001

Cited by 37 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 88 publications

(198 reference statements)

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“…Furthermore, visual narrative sequences can modulate the N400 effect to words that replace Peak panels (Manfredi, Cohn, & Kutas, ), suggesting cross‐modal semantic resources. In addition, attenuation of N400 effects has been shown to both visual and verbal narratives in individuals with autism compared to neurotypical controls, implicating similar processing mechanisms across modalities (Coderre et al., ).…”

Section: Further Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Your Brain on Comics: A Cognitive Model of Visual Narrative Comprehension

Cohn¹

2019

Topics in Cognitive Science

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The past decade has seen a rapid growth of cognitive and brain research focused on visual narratives like comics and picture stories. This paper will summarize and integrate this emerging literature into the Parallel Interfacing Narrative‐Semantics Model (PINS Model)—a theory of sequential image processing characterized by an interaction between two representational levels: semantics and narrative structure. Ongoing semantic processes build meaning into an evolving mental model of a visual discourse. Updating of spatial, referential, and event information then incurs costs when they are discontinuous with the growing context. In parallel, a narrative structure organizes semantic information into coherent sequences by assigning images to categorical roles, which are then embedded within a hierarchic constituent structure. Narrative constructional schemas allow for specific predictions of structural sequencing, independent of semantics. Together, these interacting levels of representation engage in an iterative process of retrieval of semantic and narrative information, prediction of upcoming information based on those assessments, and subsequent updating based on discontinuity. These core mechanisms are argued to be domain‐general—spanning across expressive systems—as suggested by similar electrophysiological brain responses (N400, P600, anterior negativities) generated in response to manipulation of sequential images, music, and language. Such similarities between visual narratives and other domains thus pose fundamental questions for the linguistic and cognitive sciences.

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Section: Further Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Your Brain on Comics: A Cognitive Model of Visual Narrative Comprehension

Cohn¹

2019

Topics in Cognitive Science

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“…Children with ASD also provide shorter narrations of picture stories than typically developing children (Tager-Flusberg, 1995). Finally, an ERP study found that semantic processing (the N400) was attenuated for (2016) AccuracyNarrative structure Greater tolerance of incongruity for greater fluency Cohn et al (2016) Ratings Morphological familiarity and interpretations Less tolerance of incongruity for greater fluency Bateman et al (2018) Eye movements Layout More fluency associated with more consistent reading paths across panels Kirtley et al (2018) Eye movements Text-image relationships Larger saccades within panels for greater fluency incongruities in both verbal and visual narratives for individuals with ASD compared to neurotypical controls (Coderre et al, 2018).…”

Section: Autism Spectrum Disordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual narrative comprehension: Universal or not?

Cohn

2019

Psychon Bull Rev

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Visual narratives of sequential imagesas found in comics, picture stories, and storyboardsare often thought to provide a fairly universal and transparent message that requires minimal learning to decode. This perceived transparency has led to frequent use of sequential images as experimental stimuli in the cognitive and psychological sciences to explore a wide range of topics. In addition, it underlines efforts to use visual narratives in science and health communication and as educational materials in both classroom settings and across developmental, clinical, and non-literate populations. Yet, combined with recent studies from the linguistic and cognitive sciences, decades of research suggest that visual narratives involve greater complexity and decoding than widely assumed. This review synthesizes observations from cross-cultural and developmental research on the comprehension and creation of visual narrative sequences, as well as findings from clinical psychology (e.g., autism, developmental language disorder, aphasia). Altogether, this work suggests that understanding the visual languages found in comics and visual narratives requires a fluency that is contingent on exposure and practice with a graphic system.

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“…In a study using electroencephalography (EEG), Coderre et al () examined visual narrative comprehension in adults with ASD and NT controls. Narratives ended in a panel that was either semantically congruent or incongruent with the preceding story.…”

Section: Tests Of the Visual Ease Assumptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dismantling the “Visual Ease Assumption:" A Review of Visual Narrative Processing in Clinical Populations

Coderre

2019

Topics in Cognitive Science

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Visual narratives, such as wordless picture books and picture sequences like comics, have a long history in clinical testing, research, and intervention settings. The widespread “Visual Ease Assumption” rests on the premise that visual narratives, given their non‐linguistic nature, may alleviate processing difficulties in populations that struggle with language. In this paper, I review the evidence for and against this Visual Ease Assumption in three clinical populations in which language deficits are common or diagnostic: autism spectrum disorder (ASD), specific language impairment (SLI; now known as Developmental Language Disorder, DLD), and aphasia. I first redefine the Visual Ease Assumption as two testable predictions: (a) that visual narrative processing should be unimpaired for clinical populations compared to neurotypical (NT) populations; and (b) that in clinical populations, visual narrative processing should be less impaired than linguistic narrative processing. Through a review of the limited evidence available to test these predictions in ASD, SLI, and aphasia, I show that the Visual Ease Assumption is largely unsupported in empirical studies. Furthermore, I outline three additional limitations of the Visual Ease Assumption regarding the complexity of narrative processing, visual narrative tasks, and cognitive deficits in different clinical populations. Therefore, visual narratives should not be assumed to be “easier” for clinical populations that struggle with language; instead, a more thorough consideration of the cognitive processes involved in visual narrative processing is needed.

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

Cited by 37 publications

References 88 publications

Your Brain on Comics: A Cognitive Model of Visual Narrative Comprehension

Your Brain on Comics: A Cognitive Model of Visual Narrative Comprehension

Visual narrative comprehension: Universal or not?

Dismantling the “Visual Ease Assumption:" A Review of Visual Narrative Processing in Clinical Populations

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