Paper Info
Title
Understanding indirect requests for information in high-functioning autism
Abstract
Few works have addressed the processing of indirect requests in High-Functioning Autism (HFA), and results are conflicting. Some studies report HFA individuals' difficulties in indirect requests comprehension; others suggest that it might be preserved in HFA. Furthermore, the role of Theory of Mind in understanding indirect requests is an open issue. The goal of this work is twofold: first, assessing whether comprehension of indirect requests for information is preserved in HFA; second, exploring whether mind-reading skills predict this ability. We tested a group of (n = 14; 9-12 years) HFA children and two groups of younger (n = 19; 5-6 years) and older (n = 28; 9-12 years) typically developing (TD) children in a semi-structured task involving direct, indirect and highly indirect requests for information. Results suggested that HFA can understand indirect and highly indirect requests, as well as TD children. Yet, while Theory of Mind skills seem to enhance older TD children understanding, this is not the case for HFA children. Therefore, interestingly, they could rely on different interpretative strategies.
Year
DOI
Venue
2022
10.1007/s10339-021-01056-z
COGNITIVE PROCESSING
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Experimental pragmatics, Indirect requests, High-functioning autism, Development, Theory of mind
Journal
23
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
1
1612-4782
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Eleonora Marocchini100.34
Simona Di Paola200.34
Greta Mazzaggio300.34
Filippo Domaneschi401.01