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Veritable Untruths: Autistic Traits and the Processing of Deception.
Wei Li1, Hannah Rohde2, Martin Corley3
1Psychology, PPLS, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK.
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
|November 18, 2021
Summary
We explored how people process spoken language, especially when instructions are unclear. Higher autism quotient scores correlated with different real-time interpretation strategies, even when the final meaning was understood.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Psycholinguistics
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Understanding spoken language involves real-time interpretation of meaning.
- Disfluencies in speech can impact comprehension processes.
- Individual differences, such as autism quotient scores, may influence language processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the real-time comprehension processes of spoken language.
- To examine how speech disfluencies affect interpretation.
- To explore the relationship between autism quotient scores and language processing strategies.
Main Methods:
- Eye-tracking was used to record participants' visual attention during comprehension tasks.
- Participants responded to potentially misleading spoken instructions.
- Autism quotient scores were collected for correlation analysis.
Main Results:
- Participants were less likely to select the named object when instructions were disfluent.
- Increased autism quotient scores were associated with an earlier fixation on the named object during disfluent utterances.
- Despite equivalent understanding, interpretation processes varied across individuals.
Conclusions:
- Spoken language comprehension involves dynamic, real-time processes.
- Speech disfluencies can alter interpretation pathways.
- Individual differences, particularly related to autism, manifest in distinct language processing mechanisms, even with shared understanding.
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