Adults with Asperger syndrome are less sensitive to intonation than control persons when listening to speech

Grice, Martine; Vogeley, Kai; Krüger, Martina

doi:10.1007/s40167-016-0035-6

Journal Article

FZJ-2017-02134

Adults with Asperger syndrome are less sensitive to intonation than control persons when listening to speech

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

2016
Springer Berlin

Culture and brain 4(1), 38 - 50 (2016) [10.1007/s40167-016-0035-6]

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Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.1007/s40167-016-0035-6

Abstract: In conversation, speakers typically draw attention to items that are meant to be informative by pronouncing the words referring to these items in a particular way. These words have a distinct intonation, and are accented—typically involving a rise or fall in vocal pitch on the stressed syllable. Listeners use this information to know which part of the sentence is new, and therefore worthy of attention. In a perception study, adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) and a group of control persons were instructed to rate the informativeness of words, based on how they sounded. The AS group showed a reduced sensitivity to intonation and subsequently based their judgement less on the way the word was pronounced and more on word frequency and semantic features of the words themselves. This finding is in concordance with a general reduced sensitivity to non-verbal cues in social encounters and to a propensity towards literal interpretation in the group of persons with AS.

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