Mutual Exclusivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Testing the Pragmatic Hypothesis
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Mutual Exclusivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Testing the Pragmatic Hypothesis
| Title: | Mutual Exclusivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Testing the Pragmatic Hypothesis |
| Author: |
Snedeker, Jesse; de Marchena, Ashley; Eigsti, Inge-Marie; Worek, Amanda; Ono, Kim Emiko
Note: Order does not necessarily reflect citation order of authors. |
| Citation: | De Marchena, Ashley, Inge-Marie Eigsti, Amanda Worek, Kim Emiko Ono, and Jesse Snedeker. 2010. Mutual exclusivity in autism spectrum disorders: testing the pragmatic hypothesis. Cognition 119(1): 96-113. |
| Full Text & Related Files: |
Snedeker_MutualExclusivity.pdf (262.4Kb; PDF) 
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| Abstract: | While there is ample evidence that children treat words as mutually exclusive, the cognitive basis of this bias is widely debated. We focus on the distinction between pragmatic and lexical constraints accounts. High-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) offer a unique perspective on this debate, as they acquire substantial vocabularies despite impoverished social-pragmatic skills. We tested children and adolescents with ASD in a paradigm examining mutual exclusivity for words and facts. Words were interpreted contrastively more often than facts. Word performance was associated with vocabulary size; fact performance was associated with social-communication skills. Thus mutual exclusivity does not appear to be driven by pragmatics, suggesting that it is either a lexical constraint or a reflection of domain-general learning processes. |
| Published Version: | doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2010.12.011 |
| Terms of Use: | This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Open Access Policy Articles, as set forth at http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of-use#OAP |
| Citable link to this page: | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:5132922 |
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FAS Scholarly Articles [5171]
Peer reviewed scholarly articles from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University
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