Project Summary/Abstract
This project will investigate a topic of significance in advancing linguistic research in ASD: the ability to
navigate across-talker variability in speech prosody (e.g., rhythm, intonation, tones). Although the importance
of studying receptive prosody in ASD has been recognized for decades, the literature remains relatively small
and findings often inconclusive. One fundamental aspect of receptive prosody, which has so far been largely
overlooked, is the variability of human speech. Depending on their age, gender, and other physiological and
cultural factors, talkers can differ substantially in how they use prosody to express meaning. Receptive
prosody therefore needs to be adaptive, compensating for these differences. This insight has significant
implications for individuals with ASD, whose perception has been found to be highly accurate locally and less
impacted by top-down knowledge and global changes in statistics. If their receptive prosody is not appropriately
modulated according to the across-talker variability that is ubiquitous in natural language, it would severely limit
the accuracy of their comprehension. This is the hypothesis we test, for the first time, in this proposal.
Experiments proposed here capitalize on a recent innovation made by our team, testing adaptation of
receptive grammatical and pragmatic prosody in large samples of neurotypical (NT) adults. Our research
demonstrates that, when exposed to a novel talker whose prosodic productions are slightly different from
what is normally expected given the general statistics of the input, adult listeners robustly recalibrate how
they categorize the talker’s meaning (e.g., Is this a statement or a question?) after only 10 minutes of
exposure. Building on this innovation, we will examine similar abilities to perceive, categorize, and adapt to
subtle acoustic variations in receptive prosody in adolescents with ASD and matched NT controls. To better
account for heterogeneity among individual subjects, as well as examine possible ASD subgroups (e.g., with
and without language impairment), we will obtain the same measurements locally via laboratory-based
testing as well as nationwide, by leveraging a new web-delivered testing paradigm launched under this
project. This will be the largest perceptual experiment of receptive prosody to date, providing the foundation
of a novel research framework for investigating core mechanisms underlying receptive prosody in ASD and
the causes of deficits hampering their linguistic and pragmatic communication. Beyond expanding conceptual
understanding, the new knowledge about adaptivity and plasticity of receptive prosody in adolescents with
ASD can inform the development of novel intervention programs. The web-delivered experiments will serve
as a prototype for future research in our labs and beyond, facilitating effective testing of a diverse population
across the country. This paradigm can be further developed to facilitate effective telehealth diagnoses and
online interventions that meet the perceptual and cognitive needs of children and adults with ASD.