Lexical effects on children's speech processing: individual differences reflected in the Autism-Spectrum Quotient...

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Speech and Hearing Science

Background:

• Adult studies show lexical influence on phoneme identification correlates with Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores.
• Understanding this relationship in children is crucial for early identification and intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if children share the adult relationship between lexical effects on phoneme identification and individual variation in the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ).

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from 62 neurotypical children aged 4-7 years.
• Phoneme identification task using voice-onset time continua with real words and nonwords.
• Administration of the child's version of the AQ and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS).

Main Results:

• A significant relationship was found between the lexical shift and the AQ, specifically the Attention Switching subscale.
• No significant relationship was observed between the lexical shift and the SRS.

Conclusions:

• Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores predict lexical effects in children's speech perception.
• This suggests cognitive style, as measured by the AQ, influences speech perception in children, potentially related to information processing.
• Other measures of autism-like traits did not predict these speech perception effects.