The main aim of this study was to test which cognitive competences predict the processing of idiomatic language. Two groups of high functioning autistic participants (ASD) were compared with age- and verbal comprehension matched controls in a sentence-picture matching task. Our results suggest that different linguistic and non-linguistic predictors, exert an influence on the processing of idiomatic language at different stages of development in the autistic and control groups. Furthermore, we found that both control groups appear to have more developed understanding of idiomatic expressions and are at a stage beyond which structural language skills in general. However, receptive grammar seems to be the main basis for both control groups in order to achieve a successful idiomatic language integration. These results are consistent with those of other research, demonstrating that figurative language development reaches a plateau after age 10-12 [1], [2]. In a surprising contrast, figurative language comprehension no longer appears to be developing in the adult autistic groups of participants, and core language skills no longer exert an influence on performance in idiomatic processing in this age group.

Author: Sobh Chahboun

• Date of Conference: 4-6 November 2024
• DOI: 10.20533/WCSNE.2024.0006
• ISBN: 978-1-913572-75-4
• Conference Location: St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK