The bimodal perception of speech sounds was examined in children with autism as compared to mental age-matched typically developing (TD) children. A computer task was employed wherein only the mouth region of the face was displayed and children reported what they heard or saw when presented with consonant-vowel sounds in unimodal auditory condition, unimodal visual condition, and a bimodal condition. Children with autism showed less visual influence and more auditory influence on their bimodal speech perception as compared to their TD peers, largely due to significantly worse performance in the unimodal visual condition (lip reading). Children with autism may not benefit to the same extent as TD children from visual cues such as lip reading that typically support the processing of speech sounds. The disadvantage in lip reading may be detrimental when auditory input is degraded, for example in school settings, whereby speakers are communicating in frequently noisy environments.
Potential relations between gaze cueing, social use of gaze, and ability to follow line of sight were examined in children with autism and typically developing peers. Children with autism (mean age = 10 years) demonstrated intact gaze cueing. However, they preferred to follow arrows instead of eyes to infer mental state, and showed decreased accuracy in following line of sight when several visual distracters were present. Performance across tasks was not correlated for either group. Findings suggest that children with autism are less inclined to prioritize and select eyes, particularly in visually-rich environments. Gaze-following deficits may lie at the level of selective attention, rather than cueing-a possibility that can be explored with more complex and ecologically valid tasks.
Orienting attention in the direction of another person's gaze, head turn, or finger point may represent a unique behavior that is distinct from traditionally identified types of orienting (i.e., exogenous and endogenous). This chapter explores the question of whether the attention orienting response to social cues is unique by reviewing cognitive/behavioral findings. The chapter proposes that current taxonomies do not adequately capture the construct of social orienting and present an adapted framework that is more elaborate in classifying both the degree to which orienting is consciously controlled and the extent to which learning and experience play a role in the acquisition of the social orienting response. The chapter then reviews neuro-imaging and developmental findings (including specific examples of atypical development; autism and schizophrenia) in order to ascertain whether the proposed framework is supported by findings from these research disciplines.
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