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Priming the Meaning of Homographs in Typically Developing Children and Children with Autism

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Abstract

Two explanations for deficits underlying autism were tested: weak central coherence (WCC) and executive dysfunction. Consistent with WCC, Happé (British Journal of Developmental Psychology 15 (1997) 1) found that children with autism failed to use sentence context in pronouncing homographs. In an alternate approach, we investigated whether children with autism can use meanings of related word primes. We presented children with autism and controls with primes for homographs, semantically related, and unrelated targets. Children with autism used primes to correctly pronounce homographs upon first presentation but showed difficulty inhibiting prior responses upon later presentation of the homographs with different primes. Children with autism also showed semantic priming effects. We conclude that children with autism do not show an absolute deficit in ability to use contextual information.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the parents, staff and children at Janus Academy, Autism Calgary Association, the Echo, Renfrew Educational Services, Society for Treatment of Autism, ACH-Knob Hill Day Care, Capitol Hill Adventurers, Edgemont Child Care, SOKO, and the City of Calgary YMCA Afterschool Programs. Special gratitude is extended to Christa Leibel, Annette Henderson, Jennie Baxter, Lorraine Reggin, Jodi Edwards, Jennifer Trew, and Greg Holyk for their assistance with this project. This research project was supported by a University of Calgary Collaborative Research Grant and Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada operating grants held by Drs. Suzanne Hala and Penny M. Pexman.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, T2N 1N4, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Suzanne Hala, Penny M. Pexman & Melanie Glenwright

Authors
  1. Suzanne Hala
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  2. Penny M. Pexman
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  3. Melanie Glenwright
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Correspondence to Suzanne Hala.

Appendices

Appendix A: Primes and Nonhomograph Target Words Presented on Test Trials

Semantically related

Semantically unrelated

DAY

NIGHT

TREE

COAT

FAST

SLOW

POT

HAND

HOT

COLD

BALL

TRAIN

BLACK

WHITE

MOON

HOUSE

IN

OUT

HAT

COW

MOTHER

FATHER

RIDE

CAKE

SPIDER

WEB

SNOW

DOLL

FORK

SPOON

FIRE

HARD

SOCK

SHOE

STICK

DROP

CAT

DOG

LION

BREAD

Appendix B: Prime-Target Pairs Presented on Practice Trials

Semantically related

Semantically unrelated

ON

OFF

JAM

SKY

DOCTOR

NURSE

JAIL

SUN

LONG

SHORT

GO

FLY

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Hala, S., Pexman, P.M. & Glenwright, M. Priming the Meaning of Homographs in Typically Developing Children and Children with Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 37, 329–340 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0162-6

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