Abstract
To efficiently learn new words, children use constraints such as mutual exclusivity (ME) to narrow the search for potential referents. The current study investigated the use of ME in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurotypical (NT) peers matched on nonverbal cognition. Thirty-two toddlers with ASD and 26 NT toddlers participated in a looking-while-listening task. Images of novel and familiar objects were presented along with a novel or familiar label. Overall, toddlers with ASD showed less efficient looking toward a novel referent when a novel label was presented compared to NT toddlers, controlling for age and familiar word knowledge. However, toddlers with ASD and higher language ability demonstrated more robust use of ME than those with lower language ability.
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Notes
We did not include the three-way interactions between Group, Receptive Language, and each time term. This omission was based on both conceptual reasons (the correlation between children’s receptive language ability and their accuracy in spoken word recognition should not differ between groups) and methodological reasons (including this interaction would force the model to extrapolate beyond the data, because a substantial number of children in the ASD group had PLS scores below the minimum for the NT group
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants NIDCD R01 DC012513 (Ellis Weismer, Edwards, & Saffran, MPIs), NIDCD R01 DC17974 (Ellis Weismer & Saffran, MPIs), and NICHD U54 HD090256 (Waisman Center core grant). This work would not have been possible without the support and commitment of the children and families who participated. We extend sincere thanks to Liz Premo, Tristan Mahr, Jessica Umhoefer, Heidi Sindberg, Kathryn Prescott and Rob Olson for their support in completing this study. The authors also thank all of the undergraduate coders in the Language Processes Lab (PI Ellis Weismer) for their contributions to this work.
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The study was conducted as part of a larger research project developed by SEW, JE, and JRS. CEV conceptualized the design of this experiment based on an adaptation of similar studies in the broader research project. Data extraction and analysis for this manuscript were completed by CL, RP and JM-S. JM-S wrote the initial draft of the manuscript as well as subsequent revisions based on co-author input. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript and made substantive contributions to the content, including the data analysis. SEW worked closely with JM-S to interpret and integrate co-author feedback. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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This manuscript is not currently under submission at another journal. It reports original data collected as part of a research project approved by the authors’ Institutional Review Board. Preliminary data from subsets of the participants in the current study were presented at the 2017 Symposium for Research on Child Language Disorders Venker, Mahr, Premo, Ellis Weismer, Saffran, & Edwards, 2017) and the 2021 Symposium for Research on Child Language Disorders (Mathée-Scott, Larson, Venker, Pomper, Edwards, Saffran, Ellis Weismer, 2021).
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Mathée-Scott, J., Larson, C., Venker, C. et al. Use of Mutual Exclusivity and its Relationship to Language Ability in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 4528–4539 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05321-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05321-0