Dis/Associations Between Language and In-the-Moment Mental Rotation Effort in Autism.

Researchers studied how language skills relate to visual-thinking tasks in autistic and non-autistic children. They measured eye responses during shape rotation tasks. While both groups used similar amounts of mental effort overall, there was an important difference: autistic children with better grammar skills were less efficient at these visual tasks, while non-autistic children with better grammar were more efficient. This suggests that in autism, language and visual-thinking skills work more separately from each other.

This study examined the relationship between language skills and visuospatial processing effort in 25 autistic children/young adults and 25 neurotypical peers using pupillometry during mental rotation tasks. While overall cognitive effort patterns were similar between groups, the association between grammar skills and efficiency of cognitive effort differed significantly. In autistic individuals, better grammar skills were linked to less efficient deployment of cognitive effort during visuospatial tasks, whereas neurotypical individuals showed the opposite pattern - better grammar was associated with more efficient cognitive effort. These findings suggest that language and visuospatial systems operate more independently (are more dissociated) in autism compared to neurotypical development.

Findings suggest that language and visuospatial abilities may develop more independently in autism, which could inform assessment practices and intervention planning. Clinicians should consider evaluating these domains separately rather than assuming skills transfer between them in autistic individuals.

Small sample size (25 per group) limits generalizability. Single study design without replication. Abstract doesn't specify age ranges or autism severity levels. Pupillometry methodology details not provided in abstract.

In-the-moment dissociations between language and visuospatial systems in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may explain notable heterogeneity observed in both language and visuospatial skills. The current study used pupillometry, a physiological measure of in-the-moment cognitive effort, during a mental rotation task to examine associations between structural language and visuospatial cognition. Participants were 25 children and young adults with ASD and 25 age- and IQ-matched neurotypical (NT) peers. The mental rotation task involved four conditions: two- and three-dimensional figures, and two- and three-dimensional objects.

We measured structural language using the grammar subscale from the Test of Language Development: Intermediate. Growth-curve mixed-effects model results indicated no overall group differences in average pupil dilation or the time course of cognitive effort. Group differences were evident in the association between grammar skills and latency of cognitive effort for stimuli in the objects, 3D, and, more narrowly, 3D objects conditions. Autistic individuals with relatively better grammar skills deployed cognitive effort less efficiently, whereas, NT individuals with relatively better grammar skills deployed cognitive effort more efficiently.

These findings suggest that language and visuospatial systems are more dissociated in autistic individuals than in NT peers. This work underscores the importance of examining the time course of how language and cognition interact in ASD.