How Does Understanding of Social Situations and Other's Intention Contribute to Idiom and Irony Comprehension in Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Figurative language is a central tool for enriching spoken and written languages, and it is important for building social relationships. Difficulties in figurative language understanding may impair social adjustment. Some studies have found more gaps in the understanding of irony and idioms among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to those of their peers with typical development (TD).

Suppressing contextually irrelevant meanings of homophonic versus heterophonic homographs: A tDCS study targeting LIFG.

Readers frequently encounter homographs (e.g., bank) whose resolution requires selection-suppression processes: selecting the contextually relevant meaning, while suppressing the irrelevant one.

The effect of reappraisal on the emotional regulation of shame in young adults with ASD and typical peers.

Young adults with ASD experience shame in social interactions, and if poorly mishandled, it may interfere with their attempts to participate in their social environment. One strategy to reduce shame is cognitive reappraisal, yet the efficacy of this strategy was not examined in ASD. Here, we investigated the effect of reappraisal in reducing feelings of shame in ASD and the thematic contents used.

What does metaphoric language say about aggression? The relationships between metaphoric language, impulsivity, and aggression.

Aggressive behavior among adolescents has been identified as a serious worldwide problem, especially when combined with trait impulsivity. This study investigates the impact of an overlooked aspect of language, namely, metaphor comprehension, on impulsivity and aggression in adolescents. A total of 204 adolescents completed self-reported questionnaires assessing impulsivity and aggression and underwent tests assessing familiar and less familiar metaphor comprehension.

The Relationship between Semantic Joke and Idiom Comprehension in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Semantic jokes involve resolving an incongruity emerging from wordplay or from a violation of world knowledge. The research has shown individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate a lower performance on humor tasks involving social situations; however, less is known about their semantic joke comprehension. This study examines semantic joke comprehension among adolescents with ASD and its possible relationship to vocabulary size, theory of mind (ToM), and idiom comprehension.

Personality traits and environment: The effects of observing visual art on verbal creativity.

Figurative language is one of the most prevalent expressions of verbal creativity, and use of novel metaphors is the most significant source of verbal innovation. As environmental and personality trait factors can impact creativity, the current study aimed to examine whether exposure to an environment rich in visual stimuli (artwork) and verbal stimuli (novel metaphors) contributes to verbal creativity, taking into account the personality trait of "openness to experience." Study participants (132) were divided into three groups: (1) a group exposed to a creative verbal environment (reading novel metaphors), (2) a group exposed to a visually creative environment (observing abstract and figurative artwork), and (3) a group not exposed to any creative environment.

Social Anxiety and Shame Among Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder Compared to Typical Adults.

Social anxiety (SA) is common among young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While shame feelings predict SA among typical adults, the relationship between shame and SA in ASD remains unclear. The current study compared the relationship between SA and shame in ASD.

Enhancing creativity by altering the frontoparietal control network functioning using transcranial direct current stimulation.

The left angular gyrus (AG), part of the frontotemporal network, is implicated in creative thinking, including verbal creativity tasks such as novel metaphor generation. The current study tested the effects of tDCS over the left AG on two metaphor generation tasks. The study was a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, crossover study of anodal vs.

Verbal and Figural Creativity in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development.

Previous studies have shown that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate lower performance on creativity tasks. Yet, recent findings suggest that individuals with ASD are not necessarily impaired in verbal creativity, as measured by the novel metaphor generation task. The current study investigates verbal and figural creativity in 40 children with ASD (aged 11-14 years) and 39 peers with typical development (TD) (aged 11-15 years).

Elucidating the role of selective attention, divergent thinking, language abilities, and executive functions in metaphor generation.

Metaphoric language is one of the most common expressions of creative cognition in everyday life. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying metaphor generation remain largely unexplained. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between various cognitive functions and both novel and conventional metaphor generation.

Different Factors Predict Idiom Comprehension in Children and Adolescents with ASD and Typical Development.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with deficient comprehension of figurative language and, specifically, idioms. Theories ascribe this to deficits in specific abilities (e.g.

Lexical decision performance using the divided visual field technique following training in adults with intellectual disabilities with and without Down syndrome.

Studies of brain lateralization in individuals with non-specific intellectual disability and Down syndrome suggest atypical brain lateralization to speech perception. According to the biological dissociation model, the right hemisphere (RH) mediates speech perception and the left hemisphere (LH) mediates motor control in Down syndrome. The current study aimed to test, for the first time, brain lateralization in both non-specific intellectual disability and Down syndrome, compared to individuals with typical development.

New information on the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on n-back task performance.

The n-back task is prototypical tool widely used to evaluate working memory (WM) abilities in healthy and clinical populations. Previous studies finding beneficial effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on n-back task performance were limited by the number of n-back "memory loads" utilized and the assessment of performance only immediately following stimulation. Our aims were to investigate both the immediate and lasting effects of six sessions of bilateral tDCS over the DLPFC on n-back performance.

Increased reliance on a right hemispheric mechanism during idiom processing in adults with dyslexia.

Previous studies on adults with dyslexia (DYS) have indicated difficulties in the comprehension of figurative language. Using the divided visual field paradigm, the present study investigated the hemispheric processing of idioms among 22 adults with DYS and 21 regular reader (RR) adults. Participants performed a lexical decision task for a target word related to either a literal or a figurative interpretation of an idiom.

Enhancing the comprehension of visual metaphors in individuals with intellectual disability with or without down syndrome.

This study is the first to investigate the effectiveness of deep and shallow intervention programs in the acquisition of visual metaphor comprehension in individuals with non-specific intellectual disability (NSID; aged 15-59, N = 53) or Down syndrome (DS; aged 15-52, N = 50). The deep intervention program was based on dynamic assessment model for enhancing analogical thinking. The shallow intervention program involves memorizing a metaphorical relationship between pairs of pictures.

Improving Naming Abilities Among Healthy Young-Old Adults Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive tool to facilitate brain plasticity and enhance language abilities. Our study aims to search for a potential beneficial influence of tDCS on a cognitive linguistic task of naming which found to decline during aging. A group of fifteen healthy old adults [Formula: see text] were tested in naming 50 pictures of objects.

Comprehension and Hemispheric Processing of Irony in Schizophrenia.

Studies focusing on the comprehension of figurative language among schizophrenia patients (SZ) reveal their difficulties comprehending such language and their tendency to interpret it literally. The present study investigated hemispheric processing and comprehension of irony in 16 SZ patients and 18 typically developing (TD) adults. Two experimental tasks were used: an online divided visual field experiment and an offline irony questionnaire.

Attenuated hemispheric asymmetry in metaphor processing among adults with ADHD.

Objective: To characterize the hemispheric processing of metaphors in adults with ADHD compared to controls.

Method: We investigated the hemispheric processing of metaphors in 24 adult participants diagnosed with ADHD and 24 control participants. The hemispheric processing was examined using a divided visual field paradigm, in which different kinds of metaphors as well as literal word pairs and unrelated word pairs were presented either to the right visual field/left hemisphere (RVF/LH) or to the left visual field/right hemisphere (LVF/RH).

Comprehension and Generation of Metaphoric Language in Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Dyslexia.

Difficulties with figurative language comprehension were documented in adult dyslexia (DYS). In the present research, we investigated the comprehension and generation of metaphors in 37 children, 35 adolescents, and 34 adults with and without DYS. We also tested the contribution of executive function to metaphor processing.

When pumpkin is closer to onion than to squash: The structure of the second language lexicon.

The current research investigated the organization of the second language mental lexicon. Twenty-seven English-Hebrew bilingual speakers (who spoke Hebrew as their second language) completed a semantic fluency task in each of their languages, and 24 native Hebrew speakers completed the task in Hebrew. Responses were compared within and across groups, using computational tools.

The effects of transcranial direct current stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex on cognitive inhibition.

The present study examines the effects of bilateral transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) (anodal over left and cathodal over right DLPFC). This study describes the long-term effects of tDCS on cognitive inhibition, using the Hayling task. Twenty volunteers participated in the study and were assigned to either an active or a sham group.

Semantic conflicts are resolved differently by adults with and without ADHD.

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common neurobehavioral disorder characterized by various behavioral and cognitive difficulties. Previous studies indicated that children with ADHD have language difficulties, including difficulties in metaphor understanding but the relation between metaphor processing and specific cognitive functions needs further investigation. In the current study we examined how adults with and without ADHD resolve semantic conflicts between a metaphorical prime and a metaphorical or literal target sentence.

The effects of intervention on the comprehension of irony and on hemispheric processing of irony in adults with ASD.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience difficulty in comprehending figurative language in general and irony in particular. The current study measured the effectiveness of a short-term intervention in enhancing the comprehension of irony. Twenty-nine adults with ASD and 22 typically developing (TD) adults participated in the study.

Hemispheric Processing of Idioms and Irony in Adults With and Without Pervasive Developmental Disorder.

Previous studies on individuals with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) have pointed to difficulties in comprehension of figurative language. Using the divided visual field paradigm, the present study examined hemispheric processing of idioms and irony in 23 adults with PDD and in 24 typically developing (TD) adults. The results show that adults with PDD were relatively unimpaired in understanding figurative language.

Participation in recreation and cognitive activities as a predictor of cognitive performance of adults with/without Down syndrome.

Objective: The Cognitive Activity Theory suggests an association between participation in cognitive activities during midlife and cognitive functioning in the short term. We examined the impact of participation in cognitively stimulating activities conveyed during leisure activities on crystallized and fluid tests' performance among adults with intellectual disabilities (ID).

Method: Adults (n = 32; chronological age = 25-55) with non-specific ID and with Down syndrome rated the frequency of their participation in leisure activities.