Investigating children's valuation of authentic and inauthentic objects: Visible object properties vs. invisible ownership history.

In human culture, an object's value is influenced by tangible properties (e.g. visual desirability and constituent materials) and intangible ownership history (e.

Does implicit mentalizing involve the representation of others' mental state content? Examining domain-specificity with an adapted Joint Simon task.

Implicit mentalizing involves the automatic awareness of others' perspectives, but its domain-specificity is debated. The Joint Simon task demonstrates implicit mentalizing as a Joint Simon effect (JSE), proposed to stem from spontaneous action co-representation of a social partner's frame of reference in the Joint (but not Individual) task. However, evidence also shows that any sufficiently salient entity (not necessarily social) can induce the JSE.

The Brunswik Lens Model: a theoretical framework for advancing understanding of deceptive communication in autism.

Due to differences in social communication and cognitive functioning, autistic adults may have greater difficulty engaging in and detecting deception compared to neurotypical adults. Consequently, autistic adults may experience strained social relationships or face increased risk of victimization. It is therefore crucial that research investigates the psychological mechanisms that are responsible for autistic adults' difficulties in the deception process in order to inform interventions required to reduce risk.

Susceptibility to geometrical visual illusions in Parkinson's disorder.

Parkinson's disorder (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder affecting approximately 1-3% of the population aged 60 years and older. In addition to motor difficulties, PD is also marked by visual disturbances, including depth perception, abnormalities in basal ganglia functioning, and dopamine deficiency. Reduced ability to perceive depth has been linked to an increased risk of falling in this population.

How do Autistic and Neurotypical Children's Interests Influence their Accuracy During Novel Word Learning?

Word learning depends on attention - children must focus on the right things at the right times. However, autistic children often display restricted interests, limiting their intake of stimuli during word learning. This study investigates how category interests influence word learning in autism and neurotypical development.

Multiple Mechanisms of Word Learning in Late-Talking Children: A Longitudinal Study.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify variability in word-learning mechanisms used by late-talking children using a longitudinal study design, which may explain variability in late-talking children's outcomes.

Method: A cohort of typically developing children ( = 40) and children who were classified as late-talking children at age 2;0 (years;months; ≤ 10th percentile on expressive vocabulary, = 21) were followed up at ages 3;0 and 3;6. We tested the cohort across tasks designed to isolate different mechanisms involved in word learning: encoding and producing spoken forms of words (using a nonword repetition task), identifying referents for words (using a fast mapping task), and learning associations between words and referents (using a cross-situational word-learning task).

Exploring the Influence of Object Similarity and Desirability on Children's Ownership Identification and Preferences in Autism and Typical Development.

This study investigated how ownership identification accuracy and object preferences in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are influenced by visual distinctiveness and relative desirability. Unlike typically developing (TD) children matched on receptive language (M age equivalents: 58.8-59.

Receptive and expressive language ability differentially support symbolic understanding over time: Picture comprehension in late talking and typically developing children.

Symbols are a hallmark of human communication, and a key question is how children's emerging language skills relate to their ability to comprehend symbols. In particular, receptive and expressive vocabulary may have related, but distinct, roles across early development. In a longitudinal study of late talking (LT) and typically developing (TD) children, we differentiated the extent to which expressive and receptive language skills predicted symbolic understanding as reflected in picture comprehension and how language skills inter-related with social skills.

Caregivers use gesture contingently to support word learning.

Children learn words in environments where there is considerable variability, both in terms of the number of possible referents for novel words, and the availability of cues to support word-referent mappings. How caregivers adapt their gestural cues to referential uncertainty has not yet been explored. We tested a computational model of cross-situational word learning that examined the value of a variable gesture cue during training across conditions of varying referential uncertainty.

Does Autism Affect Children's Identification of Ownership and Defence of Ownership Rights?

This study investigated how autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacts children's ability to identify ownership from linguistic cues (proper nouns vs. possessive pronouns) and their awareness of ownership rights. In comparison to typically developing (TD) children matched on receptive language (M age equivalents: 53-56 months), children with ASD were less accurate at tracking owner-object relationships based on possessive pronouns and were less accurate at identifying the property of third parties.

Are Children With Autism More Likely to Retain Object Names When Learning From Colour Photographs or Black-and-White Cartoons?

For the first time, this study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children matched on language comprehension (M age equivalent =  ~ 44 months) are more likely to retain words when learning from colour photographs than black-and-white cartoons. Participants used mutual exclusivity to fast map novel word-picture relationships and retention was assessed following a 5-min delay. Children with ASD achieved significantly greater retention accuracy when learning from photographs rather than cartoons and, surprisingly, responded more accurately than TD children when learning from photographs.

Comparing cross-situational word learning, retention, and generalisation in children with autism and typical development.

Word learning is complicated by referential ambiguity - there are often multiple potential targets for a newly-heard word. While typically developing (TD) children can accurately infer word meanings from cross-situational statistics, specific difficulties tracking word-object co-occurrences may contribute to language impairments in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we investigate cross-situational word learning as an integrated system including mapping, retention, and generalisation in both typical development and autism.

Exploring the influence of ownership history on object valuation in typical development and autism.

Items with special histories (e.g. celebrity owners) or qualities (e.

Investigating the relationship between fast mapping, retention, and generalisation of words in children with autism spectrum disorder and typical development.

While many studies have investigated how autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacts how children identify the meanings of new words, this task alone does not constitute learning. Here we investigate fast (referent selection) and slow (retention, generalisation) word learning processes as an integrated system and explore relationships between these mechanisms in ASD and typical development. In Study 1, children with ASD and typically developing (TD) children matched on receptive vocabulary utilised mutual exclusivity to identify referents of unfamiliar words, but showed substantially reduced accuracy on delayed retention and generalisation trials.

Do Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Share Fairly and Reciprocally?

This study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children matched on receptive language share resources fairly and reciprocally. Children completed age-appropriate versions of the Ultimatum and Dictator Games with real stickers and an interactive partner. Both groups offered similar numbers of stickers (preferring equality over self-interest), offered more stickers in the Ultimatum Game, and verbally referenced 'fairness' at similar rates.

Mine is better than yours: Investigating the ownership effect in children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children.

Ownership has a unique and privileged influence on human psychology. Typically developing (TD) children judge their objects to be more desirable and valuable than similar objects belonging to others. This 'ownership effect' is due to processing one's property in relation to 'the self'.

Investigating the relationship between language and picture understanding in children with autism spectrum disorder.

Previous studies report that minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder show impaired picture comprehension when matched to typically developing controls on language comprehension. Here, we compare picture comprehension and picture production abilities in linguistically delayed children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing controls matched on language comprehension language production. Participants were 20 children with autism spectrum disorder ( age: 11.

iPads and the Use of "Apps" by Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Do They Promote Learning?

The advent of electronic tablets, such as Apple's iPad, has opened up the field of learning via technology, and the use of electronic applications ("apps") on these devices continues to dramatically rise. Children with communication and social impairment, specifically those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), often use educational and recreational apps within the context of their home and school settings. Here we examine in which contexts learning via this medium may be beneficial, and outline recommendations for the use of electronic tablets and the design features for apps to promote learning in this population that is characterized by a unique profile of needs and heterogeneous ability levels.

Do iPads promote symbolic understanding and word learning in children with autism?

The use of the Apple iPad has skyrocketed in educational settings, along with largely unsubstantiated claims of its efficacy for learning and communication in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we examine whether children with ASD are better able to learn new word-referent relations using an iPad or a traditional picture book. We also examine the hypothesis that presenting multiple, differently colored, exemplars of a target referent will promote adaptive label generalization compared to the use of a single exemplar.

Iconicity influences how effectively minimally verbal children with autism and ability-matched typically developing children use pictures as symbols in a search task.

Previous word learning studies suggest that children with autism spectrum disorder may have difficulty understanding pictorial symbols. Here we investigate the ability of children with autism spectrum disorder and language-matched typically developing children to contextualize symbolic information communicated by pictures in a search task that did not involve word learning. Out of the participant's view, a small toy was concealed underneath one of four unique occluders that were individuated by familiar nameable objects or unfamiliar unnamable objects.

Brief report: generalisation of word-picture relations in children with autism and typically developing children.

We investigated whether low-functioning children with autism generalise labels from colour photographs based on sameness of shape, colour, or both. Children with autism and language-matched controls were taught novel words paired with photographs of unfamiliar objects, and then sorted pictures and objects into two buckets according to whether or not they were also referents of the newly-learned labels. Stimuli matched depicted referents on shape and/or colour.

Intentions vs. resemblance: understanding pictures in typical development and autism.

Research has debated whether children reflect on artists' intentions when comprehending pictures, or instead derive meaning entirely from resemblance. We explore these hypotheses by comparing how typically developing toddlers and low-functioning children with autism (a population impaired in intentional reasoning) interpret abstract pictures. In Experiment 1, both groups mapped familiar object names onto abstract pictures, however, they related the same representations to different 3-D referents.

Symbolic understanding of pictures in low-functioning children with autism: the effects of iconicity and naming.

This research investigated whether symbolic understanding of pictures in low-functioning children with autism is mediated by iconicity and language. In Experiment 1, participants were taught novel words paired with unfamiliar pictures that varied in iconicity (black-and-white line drawings, greyscale photographs, colour line drawings, colour photographs). Unlike mental-age matched typically developing peers, children with autism generally mapped words onto pictures rather than depicted referents, however, they generalised labels more frequently in colour picture conditions.