Inner speech impairments in autism.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Three experiments investigated the role of inner speech deficit in cognitive performances of children with autism.

METHODS:
Experiment 1 compared children with autism with ability-matched controls on a verbal recall task presenting pictures and words. Experiment 2 used pictures for which the typical names were either single syllable or multisyllable. Two encoding conditions manipulated the use of verbal encoding. Experiment 3 employed a task-switching paradigm for which performance has been shown to be contingent upon inner speech.

RESULTS:
In Experiment 1, children with autism demonstrated a lower picture-superiority effect compared to controls. In Experiment 2, the children with autism showed a lower word-length effect when pictures were presented alone, but a more substantial word-length effect in a condition requiring overt labelling. In Experiment 3, articulatory suppression affected the task-switching performance of the control participants only.

CONCLUSIONS:
Individuals with autism have limitations in their use of inner speech.

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Author information

Author/s: Whitehouse, Andrew J O (AJ); Maybery, Murray T (MT); Durkin, Kevin (K);

Affiliation: University of Western Australia, Australia. andrew.whitehouse(-atsign-)psy.ox.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines (J Child Psychol Psychiatry), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Aug; vol 47 (issue 8) : pp 857-65

Dates: Created 2006/08/10; Completed 2006/12/15;

PMID: 16899000, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Attention
Autistic Disorder - diagnosis; psychology
Child
Female
Humans
Inhibition (Psychology)
Intelligence Tests
Internal-External Control
Language Development Disorders - diagnosis; psychology

Male
Mental Recall
Pattern Recognition, Visual
Problem Solving
Reference Values
Semantics
Speech Disorders - diagnosis; psychology
Verbal Behavior
Verbal Learning

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