Principal component analysis study of visual and verbal metaphoric comprehension in children with autism and learning disabilities

Nira Mashal, Anat Kasirer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

This research extends previous studies regarding the metaphoric competence of autistic and learning disable children on different measures of visual and verbal non-literal language comprehension, as well as cognitive abilities that include semantic knowledge, executive functions, similarities, and reading fluency. Thirty seven children with autism (ASD), 20 children with learning disabilities (LD), and 21 typically developed (TD) children participated in the study. Principal components analysis was used to examine the interrelationship among the various tests in each group. Results showed different patterns in the data according to group. In particular, the results revealed that there is no dichotomy between visual and verbal metaphors in TD children but rather metaphor are classified according to their familiarity level. In the LD group visual metaphors were classified independently of the verbal metaphors. Verbal metaphoric understanding in the ASD group resembled the LD group. In addition, our results revealed the relative weakness of the ASD and LD children in suppressing irrelevant information.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)274-282
Number of pages9
JournalResearch in Developmental Disabilities
Volume33
Issue number1
Early online date15 Oct 2011
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2012

Keywords

  • Autism
  • Learning disabilities
  • Principal component analysis
  • Semantic knowledge
  • Visual metaphors

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