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Use of Emotional Cues for Lexical Learning: A Comparison of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Fragile X Syndrome

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Abstract

The present study evaluated the ability of males with fragile X syndrome (FXS), nonsyndromic autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or typical development to learn new words by using as a cue to the intended referent an emotional reaction indicating a successful (excitement) or unsuccessful (disappointment) search for a novel object. Performance for all groups exceeded chance-levels in both search conditions. In the Successful Search condition, participants with nonsyndromic ASD performed similarly to participants with FXS after controlling for severity of ASD. In the Unsuccessful Search condition, participants with FXS performed significantly worse than participants with nonsyndromic ASD, after controlling for severity of ASD. Predictors of performance in both search conditions differed between the three groups. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Subsets of participants with FXS and with nonsyndromic ASD were created utilizing the same matching procedures described in the Method section to create a samples of participants with FXS and participants with nonsyndromic ASD matched on nonverbal cognitive ability, utilizing only the participants with FXS who met study criteria for a comorbid diagnosis of ASD (previously described). The same pattern of findings was obtained. When initially compared, performance at the group level was significantly better for participants with FXS + ASD than for participants with nonsyndromic ASD on Successful Search performance (U = 137.00, z = 2.538, p = .011, r = .38). However, there was no significant difference between the groups after controlling for autism symptom severity (F(2,54) = 2.92, p = .09).

  2. The same pattern of findings was obtained when comparing participants with FXS + ASD to participants with nonsyndromic ASD matched on nonverbal cognitive ability. When initially compared, no between-group differences on Unsuccessful Search performance were observed (U = 296.50, z = 1.33, p = .19, r = .20); however, after controlling for autism symptom severity, participants with nonsyndromic ASD performed significantly better than participants with FXS + ASD (F(2,54) = 7.39, p = .008).

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Grant R01 HD054764 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. We wish to thank the children and their families for their participation in this study. We also thank David Benjamin, Susan Harris, Beth Goodlin-Jones, Claire Hauser, Sara Lifson, Eileen Haebig, Ashley Oakes, and Cecilia Compton for assisting with data collection and Susen Schroeder for coordinating all study visits. Leonard Abbeduto has received financial support to develop and implement outcome measures for fragile X syndrome clinical trials from F. Hoffman-LaRoche, Ltd., Roche TCRC, Inc. and Neuren Pharmaceuticals Limited. Randi J. Hagerman has received funding from Novartis, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Curemark, Forest, and Seaside Therapeutics to carry out treatment studies in fragile X syndrome and autism. She has also consulted with Roche/Genetech and Novartis regarding treatment studies in fragile X syndrome. No other authors have financial disclosures to make.

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Thurman, A.J., McDuffie, A., Kover, S.T. et al. Use of Emotional Cues for Lexical Learning: A Comparison of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Fragile X Syndrome. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 1042–1061 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2260-1

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