TY - JOUR
T1 - The influence of cognitive abilities on article choice and scrambling performance in Dutch-speaking children with autism
AU - Schaeffer, Jeannette
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Amsterdam Brain & Cognition Network at the University of Amsterdam. I am grateful to Amsterdam Brain & Cognition at the University of Amsterdam for making this research financially possible. Furthermore, I thank my research assistants Jorik Geutjes, Doatske de Haan, Sybren Spit, Kim Schoof, Irene Rademaker, and Merel van Witteloostuijn for helping to recruit participants and collecting and analyzing data. Of course this research could not have been possible without the participation of all the children, their parents, and our adult participants - thank you! Last but not least, I am indebted to Naomi van Bergen, who helped me with the statistics for the current study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - This study addresses the question as to what cognitive abilities influence performance on article choice and direct object scrambling in high-functioning Dutch-speaking children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Schaeffer (2016/2018) shows that a group of 27 high-functioning Dutch-speaking children with ASD, aged 5–14, overgenerates the indefinite article, and fails to scramble significantly more often than TD age-mates. As article choice, direct object scrambling, and false belief are all hypothesized to rely on perspective taking, we first predict a correlation between scores on article choice, direct object scrambling, and false belief. Furthermore, hypothesizing that article choice and direct object scrambling require holding the previous discourse in mind, it is predicted that memory abilities predict article choice and direct object scrambling performance. Surprisingly, the results reveal no correlation between article choice, direct object scrambling, and false belief. Moreover, no influence of working memory was found, nor of inhibition or morphosyntax, which were also tested. Phonological memory turns out to be the only cognitive ability that predicts scores on direct object scrambling (but not on article choice!). It is suggested that another cognitive skill may contribute to article choice and/or direct object scrambling, namely, central coherence.
AB - This study addresses the question as to what cognitive abilities influence performance on article choice and direct object scrambling in high-functioning Dutch-speaking children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Schaeffer (2016/2018) shows that a group of 27 high-functioning Dutch-speaking children with ASD, aged 5–14, overgenerates the indefinite article, and fails to scramble significantly more often than TD age-mates. As article choice, direct object scrambling, and false belief are all hypothesized to rely on perspective taking, we first predict a correlation between scores on article choice, direct object scrambling, and false belief. Furthermore, hypothesizing that article choice and direct object scrambling require holding the previous discourse in mind, it is predicted that memory abilities predict article choice and direct object scrambling performance. Surprisingly, the results reveal no correlation between article choice, direct object scrambling, and false belief. Moreover, no influence of working memory was found, nor of inhibition or morphosyntax, which were also tested. Phonological memory turns out to be the only cognitive ability that predicts scores on direct object scrambling (but not on article choice!). It is suggested that another cognitive skill may contribute to article choice and/or direct object scrambling, namely, central coherence.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079717388&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10489223.2020.1724293
DO - 10.1080/10489223.2020.1724293
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85079717388
VL - 28
SP - 166
EP - 194
JO - Language Acquisition
JF - Language Acquisition
SN - 1048-9223
IS - 2
ER -