Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Right Hemisphere Dysfunction and Metaphor Comprehension in Young Adults with Asperger Syndrome

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study examined whether the known difficulties in metaphor comprehension exhibited by persons with Asperger syndrome (AS) can be explained by a dysfunctional right hemisphere (RH). Using the divided visual field paradigm, 27 AS participants and 36 matched controls were presented with word pairs of four types (literal, conventional metaphors, novel metaphors, and unrelated word pairs), and were asked to perform a semantic judgment task. The main hypothesis was that whereas the control group participants will show RH superiority for novel metaphor processing, no RH superiority will be found in the AS group. Results indeed indicate much less RH contribution to novel metaphor comprehension in AS, and are discussed in light of linguistic models and the neurobiology of autism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anaki, D., Faust, M., & Kravetz, S. (1998). Cerebral hemisphereic asymmetries in processing lexical metaphors. Neuropsychologia, 36, 339–350.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arzouan, Y., Goldstein, A., & Faust, M. (2007a). Dynamics of hemispheric activity during metaphor comprehension: Electrophysiological measures. NeuroImage, 36, 222–231.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Arzouan, Y., Goldstein, A., & Faust, M. (2007b). Brainwaves are stethoscopes: ERP correlates of novel metaphor comprehension. Brain Research, 1160, 69–81.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Attwood, T. (1998). Asperger`s syndrome: A guide for parents and professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baltaxe, C. A. M., & Simmons, J. Q. (1992). A comparison of language issues in high functioning autism and related disorders with onset in childhood and adolescence. In E. Schopler & G. B. Mesibov (Eds.), High-functioning individuals with autism (pp. 201–225). New-York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E. (2001). The autism-spectrum quotient: Evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31(1), 5–17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berthier, M. L., Starkstein, S. E., & Leiguarda, R. (1990). Developmental cortical anomalies in Asperger’s syndrome: Neuroradiological findings in two patients. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 2(2), 197–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beeman, M., Friedman, R. B., Grafman, J., Perez, E., et al. (1994). Summation priming and coarse semantic coding in the right hemisphere. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 6(1), 26–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berthier, M. L., Bayes, A., & Tolosa, E. S. (1993). Magnetic resonance imaging in patients with concurrent Tourette`s disorder and Asperger syndrome. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 633–639.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bottini, G., Corcoran, R., Sterzi, R., Paulesu, E., Schenone, P., Scarpa, P., et al. (1994). The role of the right hemisphere in the interpretation of figurative aspects of language. A positron emission tomography activation study. Brain, 117(6), 1241–1253.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bowdle, B. F., & Gentner, D. (2005). The career of metaphor. Psychological Review, 112, 193–216.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burgess, C., & Simpson, G. (1988). Cerebral hemispheric mechanisms in the retrieval of ambiguous word meanings. Brain and Language, 3, 86–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiarello, C. (1991). Interpretation of word meanings in the cerebral hemispheres: One is not enough. In P. J. Schwanenflugel (Ed.), The psychology of word meanings (pp. 251–275). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiarello, C. (2003). Parallel systems for processing language: Hemispheric complementarity in the normal brain. In M. T. Banich & M. Mack (Eds.), Mind, brain and language (pp. 229–247). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chugani, D. C. (2004). Serotonin in autism and pediatric epilepsies. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disorders Research Reviews, 10, 112–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chwilla, D. J. & Kolk, H. H. J. (1999). ERP and RT evidence for inhibition between alternative meanings of ambiguous words, Poster presented at the 40th annual meeting of the Psychnomic Society.

  • Courchesne, E., Townsend, J., Akahoomoff, N. A., Saitoh, O., Yeung-Courchesne, R., Lincoln, A. J., et al. (1994). Impairment in shifting attention in autistic and cerebellar patients. Behavioral Neuroscience, 108, 848–865.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dennis, M., Lazenby, A. L., & Lockyer, L. (2001). Inferential language in highfunctioning children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31(1), 47–54.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, H. D., Ellis, D. M., Fraser, W., & Deb, S. (1994). A preliminary study of right hemisphere cognitive deficit and impaired social judgments among young people with Asperger syndrome. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 3, 255–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emerich, D. M., Creaghead, N. A., Grether, S. M., Murray, D., & Grasha, C. (2003). The comprehension of humorous materials by adolescents with high functioning autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33(3), 253–257.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Faust, M., & Lavidor, M. (2003). Semantically convergent and semantically divergent priming in cerebral hemispheres: Lexical decision and semantic judgment. Cognitive and Brain Research, 17, 585–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faust, M., & Mashal, N. (2007). The role of the right cerebral hemisphere in processing novel metaphoric expressions taken from poetry: A divided visual field study. Neuropsychologia, 45, 860–870.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fine, J., Bartolucci, G., Ginsberg, G., & Szatmari, P. (1991). The use of intonation to communicate in pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 32(5), 771–782.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghaziuddin, M., Thomas, P., Napier, E., Kearny, G., Tsai, L., Welch, K., et al. (2000). Brief report: Brief syntactic analysis in Asperger syndrome: A preliminary study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30(1), 67–70.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gillberg, C., & Gillberg, I. C. (1989). Asperger syndrome—Some epidemiological considerations: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30, 631–638.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Giora, R. (1997). Understanding figurative and literal language: The graded salience hypothesis. Cognitive Linguistics, 7, 183–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giora, R. (2003). On our mind: Salience, context and figurative language. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giora, R., Zaidel, E., Soroker, N., Batori, G., & Kasher, A. (2000). Differential effects of right- and left- hemisphere damage on understanding sarcasm and metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol, 15, 63–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golan, O., Gold, R., & Fridenzon, S. (2009). The Hebrew version of the autism spectrum quotient (AQ-Heb) as a screening instrument for adults with autism spectrum conditions, Poster presented at the 8th annual international meeting for autism research (IMFAR), Chicago.

  • Gunter, H. L., Ghaziuddin, M., & Ellis, H. D. (2002). Asperger syndrome: Test of right hemisphere and interhemispheric communication. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32(4), 263–281.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, M. R., Ziegler, D. A., Makris, N., Filipek, P. A., Kemper, T. L., Normandin, J. J., et al. (2004). Localization of white matter volume increase in autism and developmental language disorder. Annals of Neurology, 55, 530–540.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hutsler, J., & Galuske, R. A. W. (2003). Hemispheric asymmetries in cerebral cortical networks. Trends in Neurosciences, 26(8), 429–435.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Inui, N., & Suzuki, K. (1998). Practice and serial reaction time of adolescents with autism. Perception and Motor Skills, 86, 403–410.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jansson-Verkasalo, E., Ceponiene, R., Kielinen, M., Suominen, K., Jantti, V., Linna, S. L., et al. (2003). Deficient auditory processing in children with Asperger syndrome, as indexed by event-related potentials. Neuroscience Letters, 338(3), 197–200.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jolliffe, T., & Baron-Cohen, S. (1999a). A test of central coherence theory: Linguistic processing in high-functioning adults with autism or Asperger syndrome: Is local coherence impaired? Cognition, 71(2), 149–185.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jolliffe, T., & Baron-Cohen, S. (1999b). The strange stories test: A replication with high-functioning adults with autism or Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 29(5), 395–406.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jolliffe, T., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2000). Linguistic processing in high-functioning adults with autism or Asperger’s syndrome. Is global coherence impaired? Psychological Medicine, 30(5), 1169–1187.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jung-Beeman, M. (2005). Bilateral brain processes for comprehending natural language. Trends in Cognitive Neuroscience, 9(11), 512–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Just, M. A., Cherkassky, V. L., Keller, T. A., & Minshew, N. J. (2004). Cortical activation and synchronization during sentence comprehension in high functioning autism: Evidence of underconnectivity. Brain, 127, 1811–1821.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klin, A., Volkmar, F. R., Sparrow, S. S., Ciccetti, D. V., & Rourke, B. P. (1995). Validity and neuropsychological characterization of Asperger syndrome. Journal Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36(7), 1127–1140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kracke, I. (1994). Developmental prosopagnosia in Asperger`s syndrome: Presentation and discussion of an individual case. Developmental and Medical Child Neurology, 36, 873–886.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kujala, T., Lepisto, T., Nieminen-von Wendt, T., Näätänen, P., & Näätänen, R. (2005). Neurophysiological evidence for cortical discrimination impairment of prosody in Asperger syndrome. Neuroscience Letters, 383, 260–265.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kurita, H., Koyama, T., & Osada, H. (2005). Autism spectrum quotient: Japanese version and its short forms for screening normally intelligent persons with pervasive developmental disorders. Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 59, 490–496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lombardo, M. V., Barnes, J. L., Wheelwright, S. J., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2007). Self referential cognition and empathy in autism. PLoS-One, 2(9), e883.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Losh, M., & Capps, L. (2003). Narrative ability in high-functioning children with autism or Asperger`s syndrome. Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders, 33(3), 239–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKay, G., & Shaw, A. (2004). A comparative study of figurative language in children with autistic spectrum disorders. Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 20(1), 13–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, I., & McDonald, S. (2004). An exploration of non-literal language problems in individuals with Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(3), 311–328.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mashal, N., & Faust, M. (2008). Right hemisphere sensitivity to novel metaphoric relations: Application of the signal detection theory. Brain and Language, 104, 103–112.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mashal, N., Faust, M., & Hendler, T. (2005). Processing conventional vs. novel metaphors by the two cerebral hemispheres: Application of principle component analysis to fMRI data. Neuropsychologia, 43, 2084–2100.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mashal, N., Faust, M., Hendler, T., & Jung-Beeman, M. (2007). An fMRI investigation of the neural correlates underlying the processing of novel metaphoric expressions. Brain and Language, 100, 115–126.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McKelvey, J. R., Lambert, R., Mottron, L., & Shevell, M. I. (1995). Right-hemisphere dysfunction in Asperger`s syndrome. Journal of Child Neurology, 10(4), 310–314.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Minshew, N. J., & Williams, D. L. (2007). The new neurobiology of autism—Cortex, connectivity, and neuronal organization. Archives of Neurology, 64(7), 945–950.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield, D. J. (1971). The assessment of handedness: The Edinburgh inventory. Neuropsychologia, 9, 97–113.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ovadia, R. (1991). A linguistic characterization of Asperger’s syndrome. Thesis. Department of English, Bar-Ilan University.

  • Ozonoff, S., Rogers, S., & Pennington, B. F. (2006). Asperger’s syndrome: Evidence of an empirical distinction from high-functioning autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32(7), 1107–1122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pobric, G., Mashal, N., Faust, M., & Lavidor, M. (2008). The role of the right cerebral hemisphere in processing novel metaphoric expressions: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(1), 170–181.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rinehart, N. J., Bradshaw, J. L., Brereton, A. V., & Tonge, B. J. (2002). A clinical and neurobehavioral review of high functioning autism and Asperger’s disorder. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 36(6), 762–770.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rinehart, N. J., Bradshaw, J. L., Moss, S. A., Ereton, A. V., & Tonge, B. J. (2000). Atypical interference of local detail on global processing in high-functioning autism and Asperger disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41(6), 769–778.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sabbagh, M. A. (1999). Communicative intentions and language: Evidence from right hemisphere damage and autism. Brain Language, 70, 29–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seldon, H. L. (1982). Structure of human auditory cortex. III. Statistical analysis of dendritic trees. Brain Research, 249, 211–221.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strandburg, R. J., Marsh, J. T., Brown, W. S., Asarnow, R. F., Guthriet, D., & Higa, J. (1993). Event-related potentials in high-functioning adult autistics: Linguistic and nonlinguistic visual information processing tasks. Neuropsychologia, 31(5), 413–434.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, D. (1997). WAIS-III administration and scoring manual. San-Antonio: Harcourt Brace and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weintraub, S., & Mesulam, M. M. (1983). Developmental learning disabilities of the right hemisphere. Archive of Neurology, 40, 463–468.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehouse, D., & Harris, J. C. (1984). Hyperlexia in infantile autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 14(3), 281–289.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woodbury-Smith, M., Robinson, J., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2005). Screening adults for Asperger syndrome using the AQ: Diagnostic validity in clinical practice. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35, 331–335.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Chen Kleinman, Efrat Levitan and Adi Yust for the useful assistance in conducting the experiments. The authors thank the Asperger syndrome research participants and their families for their cooperation and interest in this study. The authors thank the Israel Asperger Syndrome Association and Beit Ekstein organization for their assistance in recruiting the Asperger syndrome participants. This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) grant (number 724/09) to Miriam Faust.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Rinat Gold & Miriam Faust

  2. Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University, 52900, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Miriam Faust

Authors
  1. Rinat Gold
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Miriam Faust
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miriam Faust.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 4.

Table 4 Examples of eight items from each condition
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gold, R., Faust, M. Right Hemisphere Dysfunction and Metaphor Comprehension in Young Adults with Asperger Syndrome. J Autism Dev Disord 40, 800–811 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0930-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0930-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation