Brief Report: Conveying Subjective Experience in Conversation: Production of Mental State Terms and Personal Narratives in Individuals with High Functioning Autism

Publication Date

11-24-2012

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Volume

43

DOI

10.1007/s10803-012-1716-4

First Page

1732

Last Page

1740

Abstract

Mental state terms and personal narratives are conversational devices used to communicate subjective experience in conversation. Pre-adolescents with high-functioning autism (HFA, n = 20) were compared with language-matched typically-developing peers (TYP, n = 17) on production of mental state terms (i.e., perception, physiology, desire, emotion, cognition) and personal narratives (sequenced retelling of life events) during short conversations. HFA and TYP participants did not differ in global use of mental state terms, nor did they exhibit reduced production of cognitive terms in particular. Participants with HFA produced significantly fewer personal narratives. They also produced a smaller proportion of their mental state terms during personal narratives. These findings underscore the importance of assessing and developing qualitative aspects of conversation in highly verbal individuals with autism.

Keywords

High-functioning autism, Conversation, Personal narrative, Mental state terms

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Department

Child and Adolescent Development

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