Abstract
The present study analyzed the comprehension of visual narrative in a group of twelve children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Their performances were compared to a control group of fifteen children with typical development (TD) matched for age, level of formal education, and IQ. Visual narrative comprehension was assessed by administering a task that required children to understand narrative’s global coherence by arranging in the correct order the constituent parts of stories presented in pictures. Specifically, the task evaluated children’s ability to grasp how single events connected (causally and temporally) each other and how these connections led to the ending of the story. Results showed that children with ASD obtained significantly lower scores than children with TD. These results open to alternative interpretations of narrative impairments often reported in individuals with ASD, which might not be restricted to the linguistic code but stem from a deeper deficit in narrative processing that is independent from the expressive modality.
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Notes
In this paper, we use “the visual medium” with reference to the main sensory modality involved in the resolution of the task, since stimuli administered to participants were pictures. However, it is worth highlighting that, in general, verbal and visual media may not be opposites and coexist in some modes of communication.
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IA planned the study, contributed to the interpretation of the results, and wrote the paper. AC contributed to plan the study, to the interpretation of the results, and to the writing of the introduction and discussion. VD recruited the participants, administered the tasks, and contributed to the interpretation of the results. DA processed the data, contributed to the interpretation of the results, and wrote section results. SL administered the tasks. AM supervised the recruitment of the participants, contributed to the interpretation of the results and to the final manuscript. GV supervised the recruitment of the participants and the administration of the tasks. RM recruited the participants and administered the tasks. SV supervised the recruitment of the participants. FF contributed to plan the study, supervised the recruitment of the participants, and contributed to the interpretation of the results and to the writing of the introduction and discussion.
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Adornetti, I., Chiera, A., Deriu, V. et al. An investigation of visual narrative comprehension in children with autism spectrum disorders. Cogn Process 21, 435–447 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-020-00976-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-020-00976-6