title: Eye-tracking measurements of language processing: developmental differences in children at high risk for ASD.
abstract: To explore how being at high risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), based on having an older sibling diagnosed with ASD, affects word comprehension and language processing speed, 18-, 24- and 36-month-old children, at high and low risk for ASD were tested in a cross- sectional study, on an eye gaze measure of receptive language that measured how accurately and rapidly the children looked at named target images. There were no significant differences between the high risk ASD group and the low risk control group of 18- and 24-month-olds. However, 36-month-olds in the high risk for ASD group performed significantly worse on the accuracy measure, but not on the speed measure. We propose that the language processing efficiency of the high risk group is not compromised, but other vocabulary acquisition factors might have lead to the high risk 36-month-olds to comprehend significantly fewer nouns on our measure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 64 Cummington Street, Boston, MA, 02215, USA. meia@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Meia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chita-Tegmark
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Sudha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arunachalam
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Sciences, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.|Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA, USA.|Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 64 Cummington Street, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tager-Flusberg
mesh_terms: D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D014825:Vocabulary
keywords: Autism; Development; Eye tracking; Processing speed; Word comprehension