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Verbal/non-verbal asynchrony in adolescents with high-functioning Autism

Award Number: R01DC012774
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/01/2013
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2018

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Verbal/non-verbal asynchrony in adolescents with high-functioning Autism - DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Adolescents with high-functioning autism (HFA) have significant deficits in non-verbal social communication, which often lead to depression and social withdrawal. These deficits are particularly apparent in their ability to process and produce qualitatively appropriate facial expressions. It has been suggested that a lack of synchrony between verbal and non-verbal speech acts may significantly contribute to this social awkwardness. And yet, very little attention has been paid to the interaction between receptive and expressive non-verbal communication and their integration with verbal language. In the receptive domain, evidence from eyetracking studies increasingly shows that participants with HFA have subtle, qualitative differences in their scan paths for communicative facial expressions. Production of non-verbal communication in this population is still very poorly understood, but preliminary evidence points to expressions that are categorically accurate, but qualitatively awkward and less synchronous with verbal language than those of their typically developing (TD) peers. In a highly innovative approach the proposed project will quantify the qualitative differences of facial expression processing and production by adolescents with HFA. We will use eyetracking and motion-capture methodologies to record objective measures of facial expression production and processing and relate them to the subjective appearance of awkwardness recorded by TD peers. We will specifically aim to determine the contribution of an underlying verbal/non-verbal synchrony deficit in adolescents with HFA to this social communication awkwardness. Eyetracking and motion-capture data will be correlated with behavioral measures and diagnostic severity for each participant. Motion-capture data will also be correlated with judgments of awkwardness by na¿ve TD observers and will analyze qualitative components for expressive and receptive social communication skills and their synchrony with verbal language. The importance of this work lies in establishing the relationship between specific, quantifiable features of non-verbal communication and the social communication success of each participant with HFA, as measured by symptom severity and by qualitative perceptions of TD coders. We hypothesize that adolescents with HFA have reduced verbal/non- verbal synchrony in receptive and expressive modalities, and that individuals with higher ASD symptom severity will show increased asynchrony in receptive and expressive tasks. In addition to documenting fine- grained deficits, we will also ascertain whether individuals with HFA are able to improve their productions in response to temporal-spatial cueing. This component of our proposed project will ultimately lead to improved social communication intervention by creating more clearly defined intervention targets, such as verbal/nonverbal synchrony.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2019	2016	UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS	55 LAKE AVE NORTH	WORCESTER	MA	01655	WORCESTER	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	4	2/19/2019	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2017 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2017	2016	UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS	55 LAKE AVE N	WORCESTER	MA	01655	WORCESTER	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	4	3/20/2017	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$159,161
2017	2015	UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS	55 LAKE AVE N	WORCESTER	MA	01655	WORCESTER	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	3	3/20/2017	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$159,161
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2016 ( Subtotal = $379,851 )
2016	2016	EMERSON COLLEGE	120 BOYLSTON STREET	BOSTON	MA	02116	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	4	8/17/2016	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$379,851
														Subtotal = $379,851

Issue Date FY: 2015 ( Subtotal = $376,077 )
2015	2015	EMERSON COLLEGE	120 BOYLSTON STREET	BOSTON	MA	02116	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	3	7/9/2015	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$376,077
														Subtotal = $376,077

Issue Date FY: 2014 ( Subtotal = $381,620 )
2014	2014	EMERSON COLLEGE	120 BOYLSTON STREET	BOSTON	MA	02116	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	2	7/8/2014	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$381,620
														Subtotal = $381,620

Issue Date FY: 2013 ( Subtotal = $402,978 )
2013	2013	EMERSON COLLEGE	120 BOYLSTON STREET	BOSTON	MA	02116	SUFFOLK	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	7/5/2013	NEW	$402,978
														Subtotal = $402,978

Grand Total All Awards = $1,540,526

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Verbal/non-verbal asynchrony in adolescents with high-functioning Autism

Award Number: R01DC012774

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 08/01/2013

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2018

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