Use of Emotional Cues for Lexical Learning: A Comparison of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Fragile X Syndrome: A Comparison of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Fragile X Syndrome

A. Thurman, A. McDuffie, S. Kover, R. Hagerman, M. Channell, Ann Mastergeorge, L. Abbeduto

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

The present study evaluated the ability of males with fragile X syndrome (FXS), nonsyndromic autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or typical development to learn new words by using as a cue to the intended referent an emotional reaction indicating a successful (excitement) or unsuccessful (disappointment) search for a novel object. Performance for all groups exceeded chance-levels in both search conditions. In the Successful Search condition, participants with nonsyndromic ASD performed similarly to participants with FXS after controlling for severity of ASD. In the Unsuccessful Search condition, participants with FXS performed significantly worse than participants with nonsyndromic ASD, after controlling for severity of ASD. Predictors of performance in both search conditions differed between the three groups. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1042-1061
Number of pages20
JournalJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume45
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 20 2015

Keywords

  • Autism spectrum disorder
  • Emotion
  • Fast mapping
  • Fragile X syndrome
  • Lexical learning

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