INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 10 Program Schedule 02/17/2024 09:00 am - 10:15 am Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 10: Neurodevelopmental \| Congenital Conditions Final Abstract #57 Narrative Ability in Autism Spectrum Disorder and First-Degree Relatives: A Comparative Study Across Contexts and Cultures Emily Landau, Northwestern University, Chicago, United States Kritika Nayar, Northwestern University, Chicago, United States Jiayin Xing, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States Gary Martin, St. John's University, Staten Island, United States Cassandra Stevens, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States Xin Kang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Janna Guilfoyle, Northwestern University, Chicago, United States Joseph Lau, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States Patrick Wong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Molly Losh, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States Category: Autism Spectrum Disorders/Developmental Disorders/Intellectual Disability Keyword 1: autism spectrum disorder Keyword 2: language Objective: Narration, or storytelling, is a fundamental aspect of social communication that is often impacted in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Autistic individuals also show differences in the allocation of social attention, which impacts how events are perceived and subsequently narrated. Narrative differences have also been reported across cultures in ASD, highlighting the influence of culture in shaping language. Subtle narrative differences have also been observed among parents of autistic individuals, suggesting that narration is a skill likely impacted by autism-related genetic variation. This study aims to comprehensively assess narrative ability in ASD and first-degree relatives (parents and siblings) across multiple contexts (high and low structure) and cultures/languages (United States/English and Hong Kong/Cantonese), and assess its relationship with visual attention. Participants and Methods: Participants included 359 English-speaking individuals from the United States (US) and 75 Cantonese-speaking individuals from Hong Kong (HK). The US sample included 54 autistic individuals (US-ASD), 41 siblings of autistic individuals (US-ASD-Sib), 156 parents of autistic individuals (US-ASD-Par), 49 typically developing controls (US-TD), and 59 parent controls (US-TD-Par). The Hong Kong group included 24 autistic individuals (HK-ASD) and 51 typically developing individuals (HK-TD). Participants narrated a wordless storybook presented on an eye tracker (First Telling task; high structure) about a boy searching for his lost frog (Mayer et al., 1969) and retold their narrative after a delay without visual cues (Retell task; low structure). Key aspects of narrative quality were coded (e.g., thoughts/emotions of the characters, causal attributions). Percent of fixations towards the storybook’s social elements were analyzed in relationship to narratives. Results: Descriptions of characters’ thoughts/emotions emerged as a domain that was impacted in all ASD and first-degree relative groups (ps<.05), with notable cultural differences. The US-ASD, US-ASD-Sib, and US-ASD-Par groups produced narratives with fewer descriptions of thoughts/emotions relative to respective control groups, while the HK-ASD group used more descriptions of thoughts/emotions than the HK-TD group. Additionally, the US-ASD and US-ASD-Sib groups did not show expected context differences (i.e., they did not benefit from viewing the illustration in the First Telling), with comparable narratives across contexts, while other groups showed the expected decline from the First Telling to the Retell. Cross-cultural effects emerged in associations with visual attention where greater social attention was associated with more causal attributions in the HK groups and fewer causal attributions in the US groups. Conclusions: The absence of contextual differences in the US-ASD and US-ASD-Sib groups suggests that they did not benefit from visual support in the same way that the control and HK groups did. Results are in line with previous research highlighting reduced usage of cognitive/emotional terms in ASD and extends this work to siblings. Similar narrative patterns in first-degree relatives of autistic individuals provides evidence of a potential genetic link, but evidence of cultural effects was also strong. Variable gaze-narrative associations between groups may suggest differential approaches to integrating visual attention and language. Collectively, findings implicate key features of narrative ability that are impacted in ASD, first-degree relatives, and across cultures, and others that are malleable to environmental (cultural) and linguistic influences.

Poster

02/17/2024
09:00 am - 10:15 am
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 10: Neurodevelopmental | Congenital Conditions

Final Abstract #57

Narrative Ability in Autism Spectrum Disorder and First-Degree Relatives: A Comparative Study Across Contexts and Cultures

Emily Landau, Northwestern University, Chicago, United States
Kritika Nayar, Northwestern University, Chicago, United States
Jiayin Xing, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States
Gary Martin, St. John's University, Staten Island, United States
Cassandra Stevens, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States
Xin Kang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
Janna Guilfoyle, Northwestern University, Chicago, United States
Joseph Lau, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States
Patrick Wong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
Molly Losh, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States

Category: Autism Spectrum Disorders/Developmental Disorders/Intellectual Disability

Keyword 1: autism spectrum disorder
Keyword 2: language

Objective:

Narration, or storytelling, is a fundamental aspect of social communication that is often impacted in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Autistic individuals also show differences in the allocation of social attention, which impacts how events are perceived and subsequently narrated. Narrative differences have also been reported across cultures in ASD, highlighting the influence of culture in shaping language. Subtle narrative differences have also been observed among parents of autistic individuals, suggesting that narration is a skill likely impacted by autism-related genetic variation. This study aims to comprehensively assess narrative ability in ASD and first-degree relatives (parents and siblings) across multiple contexts (high and low structure) and cultures/languages (United States/English and Hong Kong/Cantonese), and assess its relationship with visual attention.

Participants and Methods:

Participants included 359 English-speaking individuals from the United States (US) and 75 Cantonese-speaking individuals from Hong Kong (HK). The US sample included 54 autistic individuals (US-ASD), 41 siblings of autistic individuals (US-ASD-Sib), 156 parents of autistic individuals (US-ASD-Par), 49 typically developing controls (US-TD), and 59 parent controls (US-TD-Par). The Hong Kong group included 24 autistic individuals (HK-ASD) and 51 typically developing individuals (HK-TD). Participants narrated a wordless storybook presented on an eye tracker (First Telling task; high structure) about a boy searching for his lost frog (Mayer et al., 1969) and retold their narrative after a delay without visual cues (Retell task; low structure). Key aspects of narrative quality were coded (e.g., thoughts/emotions of the characters, causal attributions). Percent of fixations towards the storybook’s social elements were analyzed in relationship to narratives.

Results:

Descriptions of characters’ thoughts/emotions emerged as a domain that was impacted in all ASD and first-degree relative groups (ps<.05), with notable cultural differences. The US-ASD, US-ASD-Sib, and US-ASD-Par groups produced narratives with fewer descriptions of thoughts/emotions relative to respective control groups, while the HK-ASD group used more descriptions of thoughts/emotions than the HK-TD group. Additionally, the US-ASD and US-ASD-Sib groups did not show expected context differences (i.e., they did not benefit from viewing the illustration in the First Telling), with comparable narratives across contexts, while other groups showed the expected decline from the First Telling to the Retell. Cross-cultural effects emerged in associations with visual attention where greater social attention was associated with more causal attributions in the HK groups and fewer causal attributions in the US groups.

Conclusions:

The absence of contextual differences in the US-ASD and US-ASD-Sib groups suggests that they did not benefit from visual support in the same way that the control and HK groups did. Results are in line with previous research highlighting reduced usage of cognitive/emotional terms in ASD and extends this work to siblings. Similar narrative patterns in first-degree relatives of autistic individuals provides evidence of a potential genetic link, but evidence of cultural effects was also strong. Variable gaze-narrative associations between groups may suggest differential approaches to integrating visual attention and language. Collectively, findings implicate key features of narrative ability that are impacted in ASD, first-degree relatives, and across cultures, and others that are malleable to environmental (cultural) and linguistic influences.