Reduced Context Effect on Lexical Tone Normalization in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Speech-Specific Mechanism.

Existing literature has demonstrated that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit atypical use of contextual information in their surroundings. However, there is limited understanding regarding their integration of contextual cues in speech processing. This study aims to explore how...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders Vol. 56; no. 8; pp. 2934 - 2950
Main Authors: Kuang, Chen, Chen, Fei, Yan, Jinting, Peng, Gang
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Springer Nature Aug2026
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=195542275&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ccm
    uiTerm: 195542275
    longDbName: CINAHL Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    dissinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        01623257
        AUT
      jtl: Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders
      issn: 01623257
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Aug2026
      vid: 56
      iid: 8
      pid: 237
      pub: Springer Nature
      place: New York, New York
    artinfo:
      ui:
        195542275
        183482472
        195542275
        195542275
        10.1007/s10803-025-06775-2
        195542275
      ppf: 2934
      ppct: 16
      formats:
        fmt:
          – @attributes:
              type: T
          – @attributes:
              type: P
      tig:
        atl: Reduced Context Effect on Lexical Tone Normalization in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Speech-Specific Mechanism.
      aug:
        au:
          Kuang, Chen
          Chen, Fei
          Yan, Jinting
          Peng, Gang
        affil: https://ror.org/05htk5m33 School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Lushannan Road No. 2, Yuelu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province, China
      sug:
        subj:
          Autism Spectrum Disorder Physiopathology
          Speech Perception
          Speech Physiology
          Cognition
          Language
          Human
          Case Control Studies
          Intelligence
          Memory, Short Term
          Scales
          Communication
          Auditory Perception
          Child
          Female
          Male
          China
          Task Performance and Analysis
          Descriptive Statistics
          Data Analysis Software
          Funding Source
          Cues
          Intelligence Tests
          Nonverbal Communication
          Child: 6-12 years
          Female
          Male
      ab: Existing literature has demonstrated that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit atypical use of contextual information in their surroundings. However, there is limited understanding regarding their integration of contextual cues in speech processing. This study aims to explore how Mandarin-speaking children with and without ASD identify lexical tones in speech and nonspeech contexts, and to determine whether the size of context effect would be modulated by children's cognitive abilities. Twenty-five children with ASD and 25 typically developing (TD) children were asked to identify Mandarin lexical tones preceded by three types of contexts (speech, nonspeech, and nonspeech-flattened contexts). We also tested child participants' verbal intelligence, nonverbal intelligence, and working memory capacity. Results revealed that the context effect was only observed in the speech contexts, where Mandarin-speaking children with ASD exhibited a reduced context effect compared to TD children. Moreover, TD children with higher verbal intelligence demonstrated a diminished context effect. However, nonverbal intelligence and working memory capacity were not significantly associated with the size of context effect in either group. These findings revealed a subtle yet important difference between ASD and TD children's utilization of speech contexts in lexical tone identification, and validated a speech-specific mechanism underpinning children's lexical tone normalization.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
    refInfo:
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N