What's the Story? A Computational Analysis of Narrative Competence in Autism

Autor/inn/en	Lee, Michelle; Martin, Gary E.; Hogan, Abigail; Hano, Deanna; Gordon, Peter C.; Losh, Molly
Titel	What's the Story? A Computational Analysis of Narrative Competence in Autism
Quelle	In: Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, 22 (2018) 3, S.335-344 (10 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1362-3613
DOI	10.1177/1362361316677957
Schlagwörter	Autism; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Story Telling; Personal Narratives; Coding; Computational Linguistics; Projective Measures; Psychological Testing; Control Groups; Experimental Groups; Qualitative Research; Participant Characteristics; Interpersonal Competence; Diagnostic Tests; Observation; Intelligence Tests; Adults; Statistical Analysis; Thematic Apperception Test; Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule; Wechsler Intelligence Scales Short Forms; Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Autismus; Erlebniserzählung; Codierung; Programmierung; Linguistics; Computerlinguistik; Projective test; Projektiver Test; Psychological test; psychological tests; Psychological examination; Psychologischer Test; Qualitative Forschung; Interpersonale Kompetenz; Diagnostic test; Diagnostischer Test; Beobachtung; Intelligence test; Intelligenztest; Statistische Analyse
Abstract	Individuals with autism spectrum disorder demonstrate narrative (i.e. storytelling) difficulties which can significantly impact their ability to form and maintain social relationships. However, existing research has not comprehensively documented these impairments in more open-ended, emotionally evocative situations common to daily interactions. Computational linguistic measures offer a promising complement to traditional hand-coding methods of narrative analysis and in this study were applied together with hand coding of narratives elicited with emotionally salient scenes from the Thematic Apperception Test. In total, 19 individuals with autism spectrum disorder and 14 typically developing controls were asked to tell stories about six images from the Thematic Apperception Test. Both structural and qualitative aspects of narrative were assessed using a hand-coding system and Latent Semantic Analysis, an automated computational measure of semantic similarity. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder demonstrated significant difficulties with the use of complex syntax to integrate their narratives and problems explaining characters' intentions. These and other key narrative skills were strongly related to narrative competence scores derived from Latent Semantic Analysis, which also distinguished the autism spectrum disorder group from controls. Together, results underscore key narrative impairments in autism spectrum disorder and support the promise of Latent Semantic Analysis as a valuable tool for the quantitative assessment of complex language abilities. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01