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Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Published in: Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research

Verbal labels increase the salience of novel objects for preschoolers with typical development and Williams syndrome, but not in autism

Authors: Giacomo Vivanti, Darren R. Hocking, Peter Fanning, Cheryl Dissanayake

Published in: Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders | Issue 1/2016

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Abstract

Background

Early research has documented that young children show an increased interest toward objects that are verbally labeled by an adult, compared to objects that are presented without a label. It is unclear whether the same phenomenon occurs in neurodevelopmental disorders affecting social development, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS).

Methods

The present study used a novel eye-tracking paradigm to determine whether hearing a verbal label increases the salience of novel objects in 35 preschoolers with ASD, 18 preschoolers with WS, and 20 typically developing peers.

Results

We found that typically developing children and those with WS, but not those with ASD, spent significantly more time looking at objects that are verbally labeled by an adult, compared to objects that are presented without a label.

Conclusions

In children without ASD, information accompanied by the speaker’s verbal label is accorded a “special status,” and it is more likely to be attended to. In contrast, children with ASD do not appear to attribute a special salience to labeled objects compared to non-labeled objects. This result is consistent with the notion that reduced responsivity to pedagogical cues hinders social learning in young children with ASD.
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Metadata
Title
Verbal labels increase the salience of novel objects for preschoolers with typical development and Williams syndrome, but not in autism
Authors
Giacomo Vivanti
Darren R. Hocking
Peter Fanning
Cheryl Dissanayake
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders / Issue 1/2016
Print ISSN: 1866-1947
Electronic ISSN: 1866-1955
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s11689-016-9180-7

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