Discourse effects on older children’s interpretations of complement control and temporal adjunct control

The reference of understood subjects (ecs) in complement control (John persuaded Peteri eci to read the book) and temporal adjunct control (Johni tapped Peter while eci reading the book) has long been described as restricted to the object and subject of the main clause respectively. These restrictions have shaped the grammatical targets proposed for children, most of whom are reported as having acquired both sub-types by seven. Using three picture-selection tasks, 76 children’s (34 girls; aged 6;9-11;8) interpretations of the ecs were tested. Task 1 established their base-line preferences. Task 2 weakly cued the ecs towards an alternative referent and Task 3 strongly towards an alternative referent. Complement control responses were consistent across all tasks but in adjunct control they shifted significantly towards the object in Task 3 – a pattern mirrored by 15 adults. Responses in adjunct control also exhibited a degree of fluctuation in the baseline condition that complement control did not. A follow-up study on adjunct control showed that neither children nor adults permitted an external-referent reading, even when strongly cued in that direction. Two alternative proposals are discussed: one in which the results are viewed solely as the product of a parser’s sensitivity to activation and another that proposes two possible structures for adjunct control; this permits the evident interpretation shift yet gives precedence to the highly preferred subject-oriented reading

An Altered Scaffold for Information Processing: Cognitive Control Development in Adolescents With Autism

We investigated how cognitive neuroscientific studies during the last decade have advanced understanding of cognitive control from adolescence to young adulthood in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To do so, we conducted a selective review of the larger structural, resting state, and diffusion imaging studies of brain regions and networks related to cognitive control that have been conducted since 2007 in individuals with ASD and typical development (TYP) ages 10 to 30 years that examined how these regions and networks support behavioral and task-based fMRI performance on tasks assessing cognitive control during this period. Longitudinal structural studies reveal overgrowth of the anterior cingulate (ACC) and slower white matter development in the parietal cortex in adolescents with ASD versus TYP. Cross-sectional studies of the salience, executive control and default mode resting state functional connectivity networks, which mediate cognitive control, demonstrate patterns of connectivity that differ from TYP through adolescence. Finally, white matter tracts underlying these control-related brain regions continue to show reduced diffusion properties compared to TYP. It is thus not surprising that cognitive control tasks performance improves less during adolescence in ASD versus TYP. This review illustrates that a cognitive neuroscientific approach produces insights about the mechanisms of persistent cognitive control deficits in individuals with ASD from adolescence into young adulthood not apparent with neuropsychological methods alone, and draws attention to the great need for longitudinal studies of this period in those with ASD. Further investigation of ACC and fronto-parietal neural circuits may help specify pathophysiology and treatment options