Processing of Ironic Language in Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

We examined processing of verbal irony in three groups of children: (1) 18 children with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD), (2) 18 typically- developing children, matched to the first group for verbal ability, and (3) 18 typically-developing children matched to the first group for chronological age. We utilized an irony comprehension task that minimized verbal and pragmatic demands for participants. Results showed that children with HFASD were as accurate as typicallydeveloping children in judging speaker intent for ironic criticisms, but group differences in judgment latencies, eye gaze, and humor evaluations suggested that children with HFASD applied a different processing strategy for irony comprehension; one that resulted in less accurate appreciation of the social functions of irony.

Brief Report: Difficulty in Understanding Social Acting (But Not False Beliefs) Mediates the Link Between Autistic Traits and Ingroup Relationships

“…Third, the decoupling system of children and adults with HFASD shows a pervasive deficiency, as evidenced by their difficulties in understanding not only false beliefs, as was mentioned earlier, but also pretend play, irony and sarcasm, and white lies (e.g., Happé 1994; Jolliffe and Baron-Cohen 1999; Kaland et al 2002, 2005; Li et al 2011; MacKay and Shaw 2004; Pexman et al 2011; White et al 2009). …”

“The archeologist's career ended in ruins”: Hemispheric differences in pun comprehension in autism

“…Therefore, LSFG is hypothesized to be a key component of a network underlying humor comprehension (Fried et al, 1998). Behavioral studies suggest reduced humor understanding in high-functioning children with autism when they are presented with ironic utterances (Pexman et al, 2011). Thus, reduced activation in humor-related areas in autism may highlight a potential failure in understanding the multiple meanings of pun.…”

Humor preference and the Autism Quotient in an undergraduate sample

“…The first hypothesis was that the strongest correlations with humor variables should involve those AQ sub-scales which had a particularly concern with social functioning; that is, Communication and Social Skills. This hypothesis was based on the numerous previous studies linking humor appreciation with poor social competence (e.g., Pexman et al 2011; issue; Semrud-Clikeman and Glass 2010).…”