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Brief Report: Conveying Subjective Experience in Conversation: Production of Mental State Terms and Personal Narratives in Individuals with High Functioning Autism

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Abstract

Mental state terms and personal narratives are conversational devices used to communicate subjective experience in conversation. Pre-adolescents with high-functioning autism (HFA, n = 20) were compared with language-matched typically-developing peers (TYP, n = 17) on production of mental state terms (i.e., perception, physiology, desire, emotion, cognition) and personal narratives (sequenced retelling of life events) during short conversations. HFA and TYP participants did not differ in global use of mental state terms, nor did they exhibit reduced production of cognitive terms in particular. Participants with HFA produced significantly fewer personal narratives. They also produced a smaller proportion of their mental state terms during personal narratives. These findings underscore the importance of assessing and developing qualitative aspects of conversation in highly verbal individuals with autism.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a NRSA postdoctoral fellowship to Nadig, NIDCD F32‐DC007297. The mental state term and personal narrative data presented here builds on Nadig et al. 2010, which presented general descriptions of the verbal content of the same conversations, along with eye-tracking data obtained during these conversations. We would like to thank Sofia Sergyeyenko, Anjali Mulligan, and Sarah Justine Leduc-Villeneuve for assistance with reliability coding, Iris Lee for work on the original transcriptions, and Giacomo Vivanti, Pamela Richardson, Xiomara Watkins, Alaina White, and Nancy Vu for assistance with data collection. Finally, we extend our gratitude to the children and families who participated in this research.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, 1266 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, QC, H3G 1A8, Canada

    Janet Bang, Jesse Burns & Aparna Nadig

Authors
  1. Janet Bang
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  2. Jesse Burns
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  3. Aparna Nadig
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Janet Bang.

Appendix

Appendix

Examples of Personal Narratives for ASD participants

  1. 1.

    Without a mental state term

*EXP: when’s the last time you saw [participant’s sister]?

*CHI: when I missed the bus at school.

*EXP: oh.

*CHI: then she picked me up.

*EXP: oh okay.

*EXP: <was that > in the last month or before that?

*CHI: mm it’s over +…

*CHI: before the vacation.

*EXP oh before Christmas?

*CHI: no before # what Monday’s [//] holiday on Monday.

  1. 2.

    With a mental state term (in bold)

*CHI: she drives me nuts with her music.

*EXP: uhhuh.

*CHI: and she thinks I’m supposed to get used to it.

*EXP: her music?

*CHI: yeah.

*CHI: she drives me nuts playing her flute or piano everyday.

*EXP: mm so that’s what you mean by her music?

*CHI: yeah.

*CHI: and so I try and made a sound.

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Bang, J., Burns, J. & Nadig, A. Brief Report: Conveying Subjective Experience in Conversation: Production of Mental State Terms and Personal Narratives in Individuals with High Functioning Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 1732–1740 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1716-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1716-4

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