Measuring the Relationship between Bilingual Exposure and Social Attentional Preferences in Autistic Children
Background: Autistic children show reduced attentional preferences to social stimuli early in development, and these differences have consequences on a range of social domains. One factor that could influence development in those processes is bilingualism. Parents and practitioners frequently voice...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/8/1/27 |
| _version_ | 1797610686361108480 |
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| author | Rachael Davis Hugh Rabagliati Lewis Montgomery Antonella Sorace Sue Fletcher-Watson |
| author_facet | Rachael Davis Hugh Rabagliati Lewis Montgomery Antonella Sorace Sue Fletcher-Watson |
| author_sort | Rachael Davis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Autistic children show reduced attentional preferences to social stimuli early in development, and these differences have consequences on a range of social domains. One factor that could influence development in those processes is bilingualism. Parents and practitioners frequently voice unfounded concerns that bilingualism could cause delays in autistic children, yet there is little evidence to dispute this idea. While there are studies focusing on the impact of bilingualism on cognition in autistic children, no research has focused on the relationship between bilingualism and social attention. Aims: This study therefore investigated the impact of bilingual exposure on social attention in autistic (<i>n</i> = 33) and neurotypical children (<i>n</i> = 42) aged 6–13 years. Rather than a monolingual/bilingual comparison, participants had varying degrees of bilingual exposure, and exposure was treated as a continuous variable. Participants completed an eye-tracking task measuring visual attention to interacting versus non-interacting human figures. Results: Bilingual exposure did not affect dwell time to interacting or non-interacting figures for the neurotypical or autistic groups. However, there was a three-way interaction between diagnosis, figure type and vocabulary scores on dwell time. Conclusions: Higher vocabulary scores in neurotypical participants was associated with significantly less dwell time to non-interacting stimuli. This is the first study to assess the effects of bilingualism on social attention; here, concerns of bilingualism are not upheld. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:18:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ebaaa886ef5f498987fb86292de84cac |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T06:18:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-ebaaa886ef5f498987fb86292de84cac2023-11-17T12:08:51ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2023-01-01812710.3390/languages8010027Measuring the Relationship between Bilingual Exposure and Social Attentional Preferences in Autistic ChildrenRachael Davis0Hugh Rabagliati1Lewis Montgomery2Antonella Sorace3Sue Fletcher-Watson4Division of Psychology, Sociology & Education, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh EH21 6UU, UKSchool of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, UKThe Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, 5th Floor, Kennedy Tower, Morningside Place, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, UKSchool of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, UKThe Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, 5th Floor, Kennedy Tower, Morningside Place, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, UKBackground: Autistic children show reduced attentional preferences to social stimuli early in development, and these differences have consequences on a range of social domains. One factor that could influence development in those processes is bilingualism. Parents and practitioners frequently voice unfounded concerns that bilingualism could cause delays in autistic children, yet there is little evidence to dispute this idea. While there are studies focusing on the impact of bilingualism on cognition in autistic children, no research has focused on the relationship between bilingualism and social attention. Aims: This study therefore investigated the impact of bilingual exposure on social attention in autistic (<i>n</i> = 33) and neurotypical children (<i>n</i> = 42) aged 6–13 years. Rather than a monolingual/bilingual comparison, participants had varying degrees of bilingual exposure, and exposure was treated as a continuous variable. Participants completed an eye-tracking task measuring visual attention to interacting versus non-interacting human figures. Results: Bilingual exposure did not affect dwell time to interacting or non-interacting figures for the neurotypical or autistic groups. However, there was a three-way interaction between diagnosis, figure type and vocabulary scores on dwell time. Conclusions: Higher vocabulary scores in neurotypical participants was associated with significantly less dwell time to non-interacting stimuli. This is the first study to assess the effects of bilingualism on social attention; here, concerns of bilingualism are not upheld.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/8/1/27autismbilingualismsocial attentionlanguage |
| spellingShingle | Rachael Davis Hugh Rabagliati Lewis Montgomery Antonella Sorace Sue Fletcher-Watson Measuring the Relationship between Bilingual Exposure and Social Attentional Preferences in Autistic Children Languages autism bilingualism social attention language |
| title | Measuring the Relationship between Bilingual Exposure and Social Attentional Preferences in Autistic Children |
| title_full | Measuring the Relationship between Bilingual Exposure and Social Attentional Preferences in Autistic Children |
| title_fullStr | Measuring the Relationship between Bilingual Exposure and Social Attentional Preferences in Autistic Children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Measuring the Relationship between Bilingual Exposure and Social Attentional Preferences in Autistic Children |
| title_short | Measuring the Relationship between Bilingual Exposure and Social Attentional Preferences in Autistic Children |
| title_sort | measuring the relationship between bilingual exposure and social attentional preferences in autistic children |
| topic | autism bilingualism social attention language |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/8/1/27 |
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