Study 3 Learning Verbs and Pronouns

The goal of this research is to explore abilities to learn word meanings from overheard speech in children with ASD (and, as a control, typically developing children).

Specific Aim 3 (Experiment 3): Determine whether children with ASD can learn verbs and pronouns by overhearing. Most prior work on learning from overheard speech has focused on learning nouns that label objects. This experiment extends this work to study other kinds of words.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Verbs; Behavioral: Pronouns

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 179
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02116
      • Emerson College
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10012
      • New York University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years to 5 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

* children with or without a diagnosis of ASD between 24 to 71 months of age

Exclusion Criteria:

• native language is not English
• born premature (< 36 weeks)
• has uncorrected hearing or vision impairments
• has developmental disorders or medical conditions other than ASD that affect language or cognition (excepting psychiatric conditions often comorbid with ASD such as ADHD)
• has a history of photosensitive epileptic seizures

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Verbs; Children hear a novel verb in an experimental context that is personally relevant to them (e.g., addressed, of interest) or neutral.	Behavioral: Verbs; New verbs are introduced that are personally relevant to the child or neutral.
Experimental: Pronouns; Children hear a pronoun in an experimental context that is personally relevant to them (e.g., addressed, of interest) or neutral.	Behavioral: Pronouns; Pronouns are used that directly refer to the child or are neutral.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Object Preference for Verbs	Proportion of Time During Which Children's Eye Gaze is Directed Toward the Target Object in the Window from 1.0-2.5 Seconds after the Test Question	During test phase of the experimental session (within 3 seconds after the learning phase); 1.0-2.5 seconds after the test question
Object Selection for Pronouns	Proportion of trials on which children select the correct object that matches the pronoun	During test phase of the experimental session (within approx. 5 seconds of being asked the test question)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: New York University
• Collaborators: Emerson College

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 5, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): January 5, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 3, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 13, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): January 18, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 30, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 17, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: 280523

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No