Small Semantic Networks in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder Without Intellectual Impairment: A Verbal Fluency Approach.
Felicitas Ehlen, Stefan Roepke, Fabian Klostermann and 5 others
PMID 32198662WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with autism spectrum disorder without intellectual impairment did not show a reliable difference from non-ASD adults on verbal fluency after the study applied a strict threshold.
Small differences in semantic clusters did not hold up.
Key findings
01After the study applied a strict threshold, no group differences in semantic or letter verbal fluency were reliable.
02Semantic relatedness between consecutive words was stronger within clusters than outside clusters across both groups, but it did not differ between groups.
03The ASD and non-ASD groups did not differ in the number of words produced for human features or verbs.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study ran many comparisons, so the threshold for a reliable group difference was very strict. Small uncorrected differences may not be trustworthy. The sample may have been too small to detect real differences, and the authors note low power. Only one letter fluency condition was compared with three semantic conditions, and the task conditions were less comparable. The participants were adults without intellectual impairment, so results may not apply to people with ASD and lower language or cognitive ability. The study did not account for word typicality or frequency, which can affect word production.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the smaller semantic clusters as proof of a semantic network difference. The study applied a strict threshold, and that difference did not reach it.