Abstract
Sentence comprehension relies on the abilities to rapidly integrate different types of linguistic and non-linguistic information. The present study investigated whether Mandarin-speaking preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are able to use verb information predictively to anticipate the upcoming linguistic input during real-time sentence comprehension. 26 five-year-olds with ASD, 25 typically developing (TD) five-year-olds and 24 TD four-year-olds were tested using the visual world eye-tracking paradigm. The results showed that the 5-year-olds with ASD, like their TD peers, exhibited verb-based anticipatory eye movements during real-time sentence comprehension. No difference was observed between the ASD and TD groups in the time course of their eye gaze patterns, indicating that Mandarin-speaking preschool children with ASD are able to use verb information as effectively and rapidly as TD peers to predict the upcoming linguistic input.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China [16BYY076] to Peng Zhou. The authors would like to thank the children, the parents and the teachers at the Enqi Autism Platform and at the Taolifangyuan Kindergarten, Beijing, China, for their assistance and support in running the study. The authors are also grateful to the reviewer for the thoughtful comments and suggestions.
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Appendix
Appendix
Target and filler sentences in the study (two target sentences were recorded for each visual image, one with a ‘bias’ verb and one with a ‘neutral’ verb); the first 16 pairs are target sentences.
(1) a. | Kangkang | yao qu | chi | di-shang-de | dangao. |
Kangkang | will go | eat | floor-top | cake | |
‘Kangkang is going to eat the cake on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Kangkang | yao qu | zhao | di-shang-de | dangao. |
Kangkang | will go | find | floor-top | cake | |
‘Kangkang is going to find the cake on the floor.’ | |||||
(2) a. | Kangkang | yao qu | wei | di-shang-de | tuzi. |
Kangkang | will go | feed | floor-top | rabbit | |
‘Kangkang is going to feed the rabbit on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Kangkang | yao qu | zhao | di-shang-de | tuzi. |
Kangkang | will go | find | floor-top | rabbit | |
‘Kangkang is going to find the rabbit on the floor.’ | |||||
(3) a. | Kangkang | yao qu | ti | di-shang-de | piqiu. |
Kangkang | will go | kick | floor-top | ball | |
‘Kangkang is going to kick the ball on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Kangkang | yao qu | mai | di-shang-de | piqiu. |
Kangkang | will go | buy | floor-top | ball | |
‘Kangkang is going to buy the ball on the floor.’ | |||||
(4) a. | Kangkang | yao qu | kai | di-shang-de | qiche. |
Kangkang | will go | drive | floor-top | car | |
‘Kangkang is going to drive the car on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Kangkang | yao qu | mai | di-shang-de | qiche. |
Kangkang | will go | buy | floor-top | car | |
‘Kangkang is going to buy the car on the floor.’ | |||||
(5) a. | Kangkang | yao qu | du | di-shang-de | baozhi. |
Kangkang | will go | read | floor-top | newspaper | |
‘Kangkang is going to read the newspaper on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Kangkang | yao qu | zhao | di-shang-de | baozhi. |
Kangkang | will go | find | floor-top | newspaper | |
‘Kangkang is going to find the newspaper on the floor.’ | |||||
(6) a. | Kangkang | yao qu | wan | di-shang-de | wanju. |
Kangkang | will go | play | floor-top | toy | |
‘Kangkang is going to play the toy on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Kangkang | yao qu | mai | di-shang-de | wanju. |
Kangkang | will go | buy | floor-top | toy | |
‘Kangkang is going to buy the toy on the floor.’ | |||||
(7) a. | Kangkang | yao qu | zhai | di-shang-de | xiaohua. |
Kangkang | will go | pick | floor-top | flower | |
‘Kangkang is going to pick the flower on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Kangkang | yao qu | zhao | di-shang-de | xiaohua. |
Kangkang | will go | find | floor-top | flower | |
‘Kangkang is going to find the flower on the floor.’ | |||||
(8) a. | Kangkang | yao qu | qi | di-shang-de | xiaoche. |
Kangkang | will go | ride | floor-top | bike | |
‘Kangkang is going to ride the bike on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Kangkang | yao qu | zhao | di-shang-de | xiaoche. |
Kangkang | will go | find | floor-top | bike | |
‘Kangkang is going to find the bike on the floor.’ | |||||
(9) a. | Meimei | yao qu | chui | di-shang-de | lazhu. |
Meimei | will go | blow | floor-top | candle | |
‘Meimei is going to blow the candle on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Meimei | yao qu | zhao | di-shang-de | lazhu. |
Meimei | will go | find | floor-top | candle | |
‘Meimei is going to find the candle on the floor.’ | |||||
(10) a. | Meimei | yao qu | chi | di-shang-de | xiangjiao. |
Meimei | will go | eat | floor-top | banana | |
‘Meimei is going to eat the banana on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Meimei | yao qu | mai | di-shang-de | xiangjiao. |
Meimei | will go | buy | floor-top | banana | |
‘Meimei is going to buy the banana on the floor.’ | |||||
(11) a. | Meimei | yao qu | he | di-shang-de | guozhi. |
Meimei | will go | drink | floor-top | juice | |
‘Meimei is going to drink the juice on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Meimei | yao qu | mai | di-shang-de | guozhi. |
Meimei | will go | buy | floor-top | juice | |
‘Meimei is going to buy the juice on the floor.’ | |||||
(12) a. | Meimei | yao qu | zhua | di-shang-de | xiaoyu. |
Meimei | will go | catch | floor-top | fish | |
‘Meimei is going to catch the fish on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Meimei | yao qu | mai | di-shang-de | xiaoyu. |
Meimei | will go | buy | floor-top | fish | |
‘Meimei is going to buy the fish on the floor.’ | |||||
(13) a. | Meimei | yao qu | chi | di-shang-de | dangao. |
Meimei | will go | eat | floor-top | cake | |
‘Meimei is going to eat the cake on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Meimei | yao qu | zhao | di-shang-de | dangao. |
Meimei | will go | find | floor-top | cake | |
‘Meimei is going to find the cake on the floor.’ | |||||
(14) a. | Meimei | yao qu | bao | di-shang-de | xiaomao. |
Meimei | will go | hug | floor-top | cat | |
‘Meimei is going to hug the cat on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Meimei | yao qu | zhao | di-shang-de | xiaomao. |
Meimei | will go | find | floor-top | cat | |
‘Meimei is going to find the cat on the floor.’ | |||||
(15) a. | Meimei | yao qu | qi | di-shang-de | xiaoma. |
Meimei | will go | ride | floor-top | horse | |
‘Meimei is going to ride the horse on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Meimei | yao qu | zhao | di-shang-de | xiaoma. |
Meimei | will go | find | floor-top | horse | |
‘Meimei is going to find the horse on the floor.’ | |||||
(16) a. | Meimei | yao qu | cai | di-shang-de | xiaohua. |
Meimei | will go | pick | floor-top | flower | |
‘Meimei is going to pick the flower on the floor.’ | |||||
b. | Meimei | yao qu | zhao | di-shang-de | xiaohua. |
Meimei | will go | find | floor-top | flower | |
‘Meimei is going to find the flower on the floor.’ | |||||
(17) | Meimei | you | yi-pi | xiaoma. |
Meimei | have | one-Classifier | horse | |
‘Meimei has a horse.’ | ||||
(18) | Meimei | you | yi-ge | dangao. |
Meimei | have | one-Classifier | cake | |
‘Meimei has a cake.’ | ||||
(19) | Meimei | you | yi-ge | tiantong. |
Meimei | have | one-Classifier | ice cream | |
‘Meimei has a ice cream.’ | ||||
(20) | Meimei | you | yi-ge | zuqiu. |
Meimei | have | one-Classifier | soccer ball | |
‘Meimei has a soccer ball.’ | ||||
(21) | Meimei | you | yi-wan | mifan. |
Meimei | have | one-Classifier | rice | |
‘Meimei has a bowl of rice.’ | ||||
(22) | Meimei | you | yi-bei | guozhi. |
Meimei | have | one-Classifier | juice | |
‘Meimei has a glass of juice.’ | ||||
(23) | Kangkang | you | yi-ge | qiqiu. |
Kangkang | have | one-Classifier | balloon | |
‘Kangkang has a balloon.’ | ||||
(24) | Kangkang | you | yi-pen | xiaohua. |
Kangkang | have | one-Classifier | flower | |
‘Kangkang has a flower.’ | ||||
(25) | Kangkang | you | yi-chuan | xiangjiao. |
Kangkang | have | one-Classifier | banana | |
‘Kangkang has a bunch of bananas.’ | ||||
(26) | Kangkang | you | yi-zhi | xiaomao. |
Kangkang | have | one-Classifier | cat | |
‘Kangkang has a cat.’ | ||||
(27) | Kangkang | you | yi-tiao | xiaoyu. |
Kangkang | have | one-Classifier | fish | |
‘Kangkang has a fish.’ | ||||
(28) | Kangkang | you | yi-ge | pingguo. |
Kangkang | have | one-Classifier | apple | |
‘Kangkang has an apple.’ | ||||
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Zhou, P., Zhan, L. & Ma, H. Predictive Language Processing in Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study. J Psycholinguist Res 48, 431–452 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-018-9612-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-018-9612-5