Attribution of subjective experience to geometric figures in narratives by autistic children and children with developmental language disorder

Narratives from autistic children, children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and typically developing children were compared for attributions of intentionality in descriptions of two animations, one inviting descriptions of social events like fighting, another one inviting descriptions of...

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Main Authors: Mads Nielsen, Rikke Vang Christensen, Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2025-01-01
Series:Language and Cognition
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Online Access:https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1866980825100057/type/journal_article
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author Mads Nielsen
Rikke Vang Christensen
Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen
author_facet Mads Nielsen
Rikke Vang Christensen
Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen
author_sort Mads Nielsen
collection DOAJ
description Narratives from autistic children, children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and typically developing children were compared for attributions of intentionality in descriptions of two animations, one inviting descriptions of social events like fighting, another one inviting descriptions of physical events like orbiting planets. The analysis was based on a semantic and syntactic classification of clauses in terms of whether the verbs require their arguments to refer to beings with subjective experience, that is, intentionality attribution as a first step in the understanding of others as beings with mental states and processes. The autistic children did not have difficulties attributing intentionality to geometric figures. Moreover, the children with DLD made more intentionality attributions in their descriptions of the physical animation than the typically developing peers. Both diagnostic groups reported fewer relevant events than the typically developing children, which is interpreted as difficulties with narrative macrostructure. The results are discussed in relation to earlier studies and with respect to what they tell us about intentionality attribution and narrative structure in autism.
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spelling doaj-art-efd8c32d9cf24f47880bc24f84dd55022025-08-20T02:09:52ZengCambridge University PressLanguage and Cognition1866-98081866-98592025-01-011710.1017/langcog.2025.10005Attribution of subjective experience to geometric figures in narratives by autistic children and children with developmental language disorderMads Nielsen0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5134-7624Rikke Vang Christensen1Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5017-0305Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, https://ror.org/035b05819 University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen, DenmarkDepartment of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, https://ror.org/035b05819 University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen, DenmarkDepartment of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, https://ror.org/035b05819 University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen, DenmarkNarratives from autistic children, children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and typically developing children were compared for attributions of intentionality in descriptions of two animations, one inviting descriptions of social events like fighting, another one inviting descriptions of physical events like orbiting planets. The analysis was based on a semantic and syntactic classification of clauses in terms of whether the verbs require their arguments to refer to beings with subjective experience, that is, intentionality attribution as a first step in the understanding of others as beings with mental states and processes. The autistic children did not have difficulties attributing intentionality to geometric figures. Moreover, the children with DLD made more intentionality attributions in their descriptions of the physical animation than the typically developing peers. Both diagnostic groups reported fewer relevant events than the typically developing children, which is interpreted as difficulties with narrative macrostructure. The results are discussed in relation to earlier studies and with respect to what they tell us about intentionality attribution and narrative structure in autism.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1866980825100057/type/journal_articleautismdevelopmental language disorderintentionality attributionnarrativesocial attribution
spellingShingle Mads Nielsen
Rikke Vang Christensen
Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen
Attribution of subjective experience to geometric figures in narratives by autistic children and children with developmental language disorder
Language and Cognition
autism
developmental language disorder
intentionality attribution
narrative
social attribution
title Attribution of subjective experience to geometric figures in narratives by autistic children and children with developmental language disorder
title_full Attribution of subjective experience to geometric figures in narratives by autistic children and children with developmental language disorder
title_fullStr Attribution of subjective experience to geometric figures in narratives by autistic children and children with developmental language disorder
title_full_unstemmed Attribution of subjective experience to geometric figures in narratives by autistic children and children with developmental language disorder
title_short Attribution of subjective experience to geometric figures in narratives by autistic children and children with developmental language disorder
title_sort attribution of subjective experience to geometric figures in narratives by autistic children and children with developmental language disorder
topic autism
developmental language disorder
intentionality attribution
narrative
social attribution
url https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1866980825100057/type/journal_article
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