title: Lexical Processing in Toddlers with ASD: Does Weak Central Coherence Play a Role?
abstract: This study investigated whether vocabulary delays in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) can be explained by a cognitive style that prioritizes processing of detailed, local features of input over global contextual integration-as claimed by the weak central coherence (WCC) theory. Thirty toddlers with ASD and 30 younger, cognition-matched typical controls participated in a looking-while-listening task that assessed whether perceptual or semantic similarities among named images disrupted word recognition relative to a neutral condition. Overlap of perceptual features invited local processing whereas semantic overlap invited global processing. With the possible exception of a subset of toddlers who had very low vocabulary skills, these results provide no evidence that WCC is characteristic of lexical processing in toddlers with ASD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Goodnight Hall, 1975 Willow Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA. susan.ellisweismer@wisc.edu.|Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53705, USA. susan.ellisweismer@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ellis Weismer
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Goodnight Hall, 1975 Willow Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA.|Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53705, USA.|Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Science, Purdue University, Lyles-Porter Hall, 715 Clinic Drive, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Haebig
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Goodnight Hall, 1975 Willow Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA.|Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53705, USA.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53705, USA.|Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Brogden Hall, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI, 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Saffran
authors.affiliation: Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53705, USA.
authors.forename: Courtney E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Venker
mesh_terms: D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D012660:Semantics; D060685:Sense of Coherence; D014825:Vocabulary
keywords: Autism; Lexical processing; Receptive vocabulary; Toddlers; Weak central coherence