title: Monitoring in language perception in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder: evidence from event-related potentials.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impaired global language processing, whereas local language processing often appears intact. Recent psycholinguistic research suggests that the quality of language perception relies on monitoring, an aspect of executive control. The aim of the study was to examine monitoring in people with ASD of (a) local, orthographic violations, and (b) global, syntactic violations, when provided with single level versus dual level task instructions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recorded event-related potentials and compared P600 effects to the linguistic violations relative to correct words in 14 adults with ASD and 14 matched controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In control participants, local errors elicited a monitoring response as tapped by the P600 effect in both conditions. For global errors, the P600 effect was present only at one centroposterior site in the single level condition, whereas in the dual level condition a broadly distributed effect was obtained. People with ASD, however, showed a monitoring response to local and global errors both in the single and dual level condition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The main ERP finding suggests that when instructed people with ASD monitor global aspects of language already under simple circumstances, whereas people without ASD mainly do so under more complex circumstances.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest that language problems in ASD should not be studied in terms of a linguistic dysfunction as such, but in light of the use of executive resources during language comprehension.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: s.koolen@pwo.ru.nl.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koolen
authors.affiliation: Centre of Excellence for Neuropsychiatry, Vincent van Gogh Institute for Psychiatry, Stationsweg 46, 5803 AC Venray, The Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognition, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C Th W M
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Vissers
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Centre of Excellence for Neuropsychiatry, Vincent van Gogh Institute for Psychiatry, Stationsweg 46, 5803 AC Venray, The Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognition, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J I M
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Egger
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Verhoeven
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D032882:Comprehension; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D013067:Speech Perception
keywords: Attention; Autism; Event-related potentials; Language; Monitoring; P600 effect