Weighting of Visual and Auditory Stimuli in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Loading...
Date
2014-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
Word learning requires the ability to integrate auditory information (e.g. an object’s name) and visual information (e.g. the object itself). Previous research has shown that children with typical development are likely to rely on auditory information when their recognition of novel auditory-visual stimuli is tested; however, no comparable test has been administered to children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this study is to determine whether children with ASD follow the same pattern of information processing as children who are typically developing. Because children with ASD’s visual processing abilities are superior to their auditory processing abilities, we hypothesize that children with ASD will differ from their typically developing peers and weight the visual component of auditory-visual stimuli. In the present study, one child with ASD under four years of age was matched on language and cognitive skills with one typically developing pilot subject. Both of the children were tested on a computerized task. During the computerized task, the children were presented with auditory, visual, and combined auditory-visual stimuli and trained to look for a auditory-visual “prize” that appears in specific locations corresponding with the stimulus presented; then, their eye gazes were recorded and coded frame-by-frame. Data from the typically developing pilot subject revealed that they weighted the visual component of the combined stimuli, which was not anticipated. Contrary to our predictions, the participant with ASD also displayed a visual preference. Continued data collection will reveal whether this trend is observed across participants with ASD and will increase our understanding of language development in children with ASD.
Description
Keywords
autism spectrum disorders, auditory-visual processing, language development, information processing, child language