Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often face unique challenges in storytelling, particularly when it comes to incorporating descriptive details about characters’ thoughts and feelings into their narratives. A recent study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders investigated the narrative skills of autistic individuals and their first-degree relatives.
Research found that autistic individuals and their siblings tend to use fewer causal explanations when telling a story and focus more on concrete details, such as plot events. This is particularly evident in the way they organize their stories into a clear beginning, middle, and end. In contrast, non-autistic family members do not exhibit this same pattern of reduced causal language.
However, autistic individuals do display strong memory for facts and provide narratives rich in precise information. The study’s findings suggest that causal language may be an important narrative skill impacted by ASD genetics, and attentional mechanisms during narration differ between autistic families compared to non-autistic control groups.
While the study contributes valuable insights into the cognitive characteristics of individuals with autism, researchers acknowledge that eye-tracking metrics used in this study might have masked certain patterns of gaze that could unfold over time. The investigation highlights the importance of exploring narrative skills in individuals with ASD and their relatives, shedding light on the complexities of storytelling and communication in these contexts.
Source: https://www.psypost.org/researchers-uncover-a-distinct-narrative-pattern-in-autistic-people-and-their-siblings