Meaningful gestures enhance degraded speech comprehension in neurotypical adults, but it is unknown whether this is the case for neurodivergent populations, such as autistic individuals. Previous research demonstrated atypical multisensory and speech-gesture integration in autistic individuals, suggesting that integrating speech and gestures may…

Language plays a fundamental role in enabling flexible, goal-directed behaviour. This study investigated whether the contribution of language to instruction encoding is modulated by the expression of autism traits, as measured by the Autism Spectrum Quotient (ASQ) questionnaire. Participants (N = 108) completed six choice reaction time tasks, with…

Societal expectations for social-emotional behavior differ across sexes; however, diagnostic definitions of autism do not account for this when delineating "typical" versus "atypical." This study examines sex differences in autism in one behavior associated with strong gender biases: smiling. Computer vision was used to…

Purpose: The present study explored the extent to which early prelinguistic communication skills predict expressive language in toddlers with autistic siblings (Sibs-autism), who are known to be at high likelihood for autism and language disorder, and a comparison group of toddlers with non-autistic older siblings (Sibs-NA). Method: Participants…

Purpose: We investigate the extent to which automated audiovisual metrics extracted during an affect production task show statistically significant differences between a cohort of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing controls. Method: Forty children with ASD and 21 neurotypical controls interacted with a…

Understanding and interpreting non-verbal actions are critical components of social cognition, which are often challenging for autistic individuals. Oxytocin, a neuropeptide known to modulate social behavior and enhance the salience of social stimuli, is being explored as a therapeutic option for improving social mirroring. However, its effects…

Eye gaze is widely recognised as an important element in managing social interactions, receiving information from others and communicating information about ourselves. Atypical eye gaze is one of the characteristic hallmarks of autism. Experimental research has contributed significantly to our knowledge of eye-gaze in autism, however, there is a…

Autism spectrum condition (ASC) is characterized by atypical attention to eyes and faces, but the onset and impact of these atypicalities remain unclear. This prospective longitudinal study examined face perception in infants who develop ASC (N = 22, female = 5, 100% White) compared with typically developing infants (N = 131, female = 65, 55.6%…

A core feature of Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) is the presence of difficulties in social interactions. This can be explained by an atypical attentional processing of social information: individuals with ASC may show problems with orienting attention to socially relevant stimuli and/or inhibiting their attentional responses to irrelevant ones.…

This study centres on the experiences of autistic librarians in academic library workplaces, delving into how they become information literate--an intricate process influenced by social, epistemic, and physical modalities. Through a qualitative approach combining survey responses from 43 participants and detailed interviews with two autistic…

Purpose: Differences in emotional experience and expression have long been recognized as common in the presentation of autism, yet research examining emotional expression in early childhood is limited, with mixed findings. Understanding emotional reactivity and expression in autism in early life is an essential step towards uncovering the…

Purpose: This study examined how subgroups of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental language disorder (DLD) perform on theory of mind (ToM) tasks and comprehend mental terms. Method: Eighty Hebrew-speaking children aged 5-6 years were divided into four groups: children with DLD, ASD and language impairment (ASD-LI), and…

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) describes different ways to communicate that supplement or compensate for the impairment of individuals with complex communication needs. AAC can utilize computerized devices, with visual scene display (VSD) or video visual scene display (VVSD) as a communication mode. Recent literature…

Keeping a conversation going is the social glue of friendships. The DSM criteria for autism list difficulties with back-and-forth conversation but does not necessitate that all autistic children will be equally impacted. We carried out three studies (two pre-registered) with verbally fluent school children (age 5-9 years) to investigate how…

Purpose: Intentional communication acts, or purposefully directed vocalizations and gestures, are particularly difficult for infants at elevated likelihood for eventual diagnosis of autism. The ability to measure and track intentional communication in infancy thus has the potential to aid early identification and intervention efforts. This study…