Journal Article

FZJ-2025-00783

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Backchannels in conversations between autistic adults are less frequent and less diverse prosodically and lexically

Wehrle, S. (Corresponding author) ; Vogeley, K.FZJ* ; Grice, M.

2024
Cambridge Univ. Press Cambridge

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Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.1017/langcog.2023.21  doi:10.34734/FZJ-2025-00783

Abstract: Backchannels (BCs; listener signals such as ‘mmhm’ or ‘okay’) are a ubiquitous and essentialfeature of spoken interaction. They are used by listeners predominantly to support theongoing turn of their interlocutor and to signal understanding and agreement. Listenersseem to be highly sensitive to the exact realisations of BCs and to judge deviations fromtypical forms as negative. Very little is known about the use of BCs by speakers diagnosedwith autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In dialogue recordings of 28 German adults in twogroups of disposition-matched dyads (i.e., both interlocutors were either autistic or nonautistic),we found that the ASD group was characterised by (1) a lower rate of BCs perminute (particularly in the early stages of conversation), (2) less diversity in the lexicalrealisation of BCs and (3) a less diverse and flexible mapping of different intonation contoursto different BC types. We interpret these results as reflecting more general characteristics ofautistic as compared to non-autistic individuals, namely different strategies in signallingattention towards an interlocutor and less flexible behaviour in social interaction.

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Contributing Institute(s):

1. Kognitive Neurowissenschaften (INM-3)

Research Program(s):

1. 5251 - Multilevel Brain Organization and Variability (POF4-525) (POF4-525)
2. DFG project 281511265 - SFB 1252: Prominenz in Sprache (281511265) (281511265)

Appears in the scientific report 2024

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