Abstract
Challenges to verbal encoding may affect the ability of autistic individuals to express their ideas. Therefore, visuospatial expression may represent a person’s knowledge and skills more accurately than spoken language. To test this hypothesis, we asked seven autistic adults to linguistically retell and visuospatially reenact several animated clips. On average, visuospatial responses contained more correct elements than spoken responses. The level of intention of the three stimulus categories did not systematically affect response accuracy. Participants who produced visuospatial responses before spoken responses and those who had watched a greater number of stimuli assigned higher intentionality to shapes in the animations that were designed to elicit mentalizing. The modality used for expression may affect accuracy of responses by autistic individuals.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the participants and the people who supported their participation. We thank the undergraduate research assistants who contributed to this project, including Alexis Basciano, Breanna Corle, Temitope R. Agbaje, Taylor Freed, and Olivia M. Sarracino.
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Both authors contributed to the study conceptualization and design. KLC prepared materials, implemented study procedures, collected and analyzed the data, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. DLW supervised study implementation and data analysis and contributed to the writing of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Coburn, K.L., Williams, D.L. Brief Report: Visuospatial and Spoken Language Recall in Autism: Preliminary Findings. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 2831–2837 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05143-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05143-0