Visual Narratives and Inference Generation in Individuals Across the Autism Spectrum
Conference Year
January 2022
Abstract
One area of language processing in which individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) commonly exhibit difficulties is in the comprehension of narratives. Narrative comprehension requires, among other cognitive processes, the generation of inferences to understand story elements that are not explicitly stated. Here, we used a self-paced viewing paradigm with visual narratives (i.e., comic strips) to test whether individuals with ASD exhibited differences in inference generation abilities compared to neurotypical participants. Contrary to our predictions, we did not find any group differences, suggesting that inferencing abilities may not be as affected as suggested by prior literature.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Dr. Emily Coderre
Faculty/Staff Collaborators
Dr. Neil Cohn
Status
Graduate
Student College
College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Program/Major
Human Functioning and Rehabilitation Science
Primary Research Category
Health Sciences
Visual Narratives and Inference Generation in Individuals Across the Autism Spectrum
One area of language processing in which individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) commonly exhibit difficulties is in the comprehension of narratives. Narrative comprehension requires, among other cognitive processes, the generation of inferences to understand story elements that are not explicitly stated. Here, we used a self-paced viewing paradigm with visual narratives (i.e., comic strips) to test whether individuals with ASD exhibited differences in inference generation abilities compared to neurotypical participants. Contrary to our predictions, we did not find any group differences, suggesting that inferencing abilities may not be as affected as suggested by prior literature.