Title | Atypicalities of Gesture Form and Function in Autistic Adults. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2019 |
Authors | de Marchena, A, Kim, ES, Bagdasarov, A, Parish-Morris, J, Maddox, BB, Brodkin, ES, Schultz, RT |
Journal | J Autism Dev Disord |
Volume | 49 |
Issue | 4 |
Pagination | 1438-1454 |
Date Published | 2019 Apr |
ISSN | 1573-3432 |
Keywords | Adult, Autistic Disorder, Female, Gestures, Humans, Male, Motor Skills, Semantics, Speech |
Abstract | While well-represented on clinical measures, co-speech gesture production has never been formally studied in autistic adults. Twenty-one verbally fluent autistic adults and 21 typically developing controls engaged in a controlled conversational task. Group differences were observed in both semantic/pragmatic and motoric features of spontaneously produced co-speech gestures. Autistic adults prioritized different functions of co-speech gesture. Specifically, they used gesture more than controls to facilitate conversational turn-taking, demonstrating a novel nonverbal strategy for regulating conversational dynamics. Autistic adults were more likely to gesture unilaterally than bilaterally, a motoric feature of gesture that was individually associated with autism symptoms. Co-speech gestures may provide a link between nonverbal communication symptoms and known differences in motor performance in autism. |
DOI | 10.1007/s10803-018-3829-x |
Alternate Journal | J Autism Dev Disord |
PubMed ID | 30523479 |
PubMed Central ID | PMC6451661 |
Grant List | T32NS007413 / / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke / U54 HD86984 / / National Institute of Child Health and Human Development / T32 NS007413 / NS / NINDS NIH HHS / United States R34MH104407 / / National Institute of Mental Health / R34 MH104407 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States U54 HD086984 / HD / NICHD NIH HHS / United States |