Conference Proceedings

2011 BPS Annual Conference

Conference Venue: Marriott Hotel, Glasgow
British Psychological Society

From: 04 May 2011
To: 06 May 2011

 
Poster(s)

Perception of speech in high functioning adults with autism

Jennifer Mayer
Goldsmiths College, University of London

Pamela Heaton
Goldsmiths College, University of London


Whilst disturbances in speech perception are likely to contribute to the communication deficits characterising Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) relatively little is known about the nature and prevalence of these difficulties in high-functioning adults. Previous research has shown superior pitch discrimination and memory in ASD individuals and subsequent findings have revealed abnormalities in those aspects of speech perception that involve pitch components. In two experimental studies, 20 high-functioning adults with ASD and age and intelligence matched controls were assessed on pitch discrimination and speech perception tasks. Experiment one aimed to test reduced domain specificity at a sensory level, and to increase understanding of the behavioural bases of speech perception in ASD. Results revealed superior pitch perception in adults with ASD across word and non-speech pitch contour analogues. Experiment two was designed to test the effect of pitch manipulations on prosodic processing during sentence repetition. Results from experiments 1 and 2 are discussed in terms of the extent to which superior pitch processing in ASD leads to increased perceptual capture in speech processing. Participants’ performance on the experimental tasks will be correlated with background measures of symptom severity, sensory processing abnormalities, and social and communication difficulties. The implications of how symptom severity relates to a typical auditory perception are discussed.