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Intact Inner Speech use in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from a Short-Term Memory Task

Williams, David M. (2008) Intact Inner Speech use in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from a Short-Term Memory Task. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49 (1). pp. 51-58. ISSN 0021-9630. (doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01836.x) (KAR id:33527)

Abstract

Background: Inner speech has been linked to higher-order cognitive processes including ‘theory of mind’, self-awareness and executive functioning, all of which are impaired in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Individuals with ASD, themselves, report a propensity for visual rather than verbal modes of thinking. This study explored the extent to which children with ASD used inner speech or visual imagery to support recall from short-term memory.

Method: Twenty-five children with ASD and 20 comparison children with moderate learning disabilities completed an immediate serial recall task, in which stimuli consisted of items with either phonologically similar features, visuo-spatially similar features or control items which were neither visuo-spatially nor phonologically similar.

Results: ASD and comparison participants, with verbal mental ages above 7 years, recalled phonologically similar stimuli less well than control stimuli, indicating that both groups were using inner speech to recode visually presented information into a phonological code. In contrast, those participants with verbal mental ages below 7 years, whether with ASD or not, recalled visuo-spatially similar stimuli less well than control stimuli, indicating visual rather than phonological coding. This developmental pattern mirrors that found in typically developing children.

Conclusions: Under experimental conditions, individuals with ASD use inner speech to the same extent as individuals without ASD of a comparable mental age.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01836.x
Uncontrolled keywords: Autistic disorder; inner speech; phonological processing; visuo-spatial functioning; memory; cognition
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User: David Williams
Date Deposited: 05 Apr 2013 09:58 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:10 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/33527 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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