Semantic Processing in Adults with High Functioning Autism

This study examined the semantic processing of 19 adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) and 18 age and verbal-IQ matched controls using language tasks that varied in the demand for simple or integrative processing. On standardized measures, the individuals with autism had relatively intact vocabulary skills compared to controls, whereas the comprehension and use of figurative language was relatively weaker. The adults with HFA were relatively insensitive to context and incorrectly completed sentences with a commonly associated word pair rather than a semantically appropriate response. On a 3-letter word stem completion task, the autism group provided a similar mean number of words for each word stem as the controls. The individuals with autism had a significantly longer reaction time when choosing a real word versus nonword compared to the control group. Semantic processing skills are relatively intact in individuals with HFA but are affected by demands for integration and time constraints.

Name thesis:degree_name

MS

Level thesis:degree_level

Immediate Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Speech-Language Pathology (SLP)

Year dc:date.available

2010

Author dc:creator

• Deragon, Katherine

Contributors dc:contributor

• Diane Williams
• Yang Chen

• autism
• semantics

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/480

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dsc.duq.edu:etd-1493