A Study On The Relationship Between Universal Quantifier Semantic Comprehension And Cognitive Flexibility In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

The universal quantifier means that something is true for all objects in the scope and means "all or every...".Universal quantifier provides a criterion for judging whether a sentence is true or false in specific context.Children’s learning of universal quantifier contributes to their logical reasoning and pragmatic development.Children with autism spectrum disorders have "semantic-pragmatic difficulties" and typical characteristics of cognitive stereotype.The lack of comprehension ability of universal quantifiers makes it difficult for them to flexibly infer the speaker’s intention and judge the truth or falseness of information according to the language environment,which further leads to communication difficulties.There are few studies on the universal quantifiers of children with autism spectrum in China.Therefore,this study selected High Function autism aged 4-9 and Typically Developing matching their language age,physiology age children as the research objects,based on the classic paradigm of the universal quantifier "true value judgment task",using the self-designed materials to investigate the semantic comprehension ability of the universal quantifier "mei" and its characteristics under different test conditions;The cognitive flexibility of children was investigated by using "flexible item selection task".The relationship between cognitive flexibility and semantic comprehension of universal quantifier was analyzed.It aims to provide theoretical and specific strategies for the rehabilitation training of language ability and cognitive reasoning ability of autistic children.The main conclusions of this study are as follows:1.semantic comprehension ability and characteristics of universal quantifier in children with autism:First: overall ability(1)Both HFA and TD children are capable of "logical interpretation" of universal quantifier,and can make general linear interpretation of "mei";But all children were affected by the extra objects in the test material and made incorrect judgments about sentences;(2)Under the language age matched,there wasno significant difference in the semantic understanding ability of universal quantifier between the two groups;(3)Under the physiological age matched,the semantic comprehension ability of TD children’s is significantly better than HFA children.Second: Different extra Objects(1)The semantic comprehension ability of universal quantifier about all children will be affected by the property of extra objects in the test materials;(2)All children showed: when the extra object is the subject,the semantic comprehension ability is significantly better than the extra object is the object;(3)In the physiological age matched,the property of extra object has a greater impact on the semantic comprehension of HFA children.There was no significant difference between the two groups in language age matched.Third: Number and location are different of extra objects(1)All children show that the semantic comprehension of universal quantifier is affected by the number of extra objects,but not by the location of extra object;(2)All children showed: when the extra object is multiple,it is significantly better than single;(3)Under the physiological age matched,the number of extra object has a greater impact on the semantic comprehension of HFA children.There was no significant difference between the two groups in language age matched.2.Cognitive flexibility of autistic children:(1)The development of cognitive flexibility of HFA children and TD children showed great individual differences;(2)The cognitive flexibility of TD children is significantly better than HFA children under physiological age matched;There was no significant difference in cognitive flexibility development between the two groups with language age matched.3.The relationship between cognitive flexibility and semantic comprehension of universal quantifier in children with autism:(1)Correlation analysis shows that the cognitive flexibility of HFA children is significantly positively correlated with their semantic comprehension,while TDchildren are moderately correlated with them;(2)Regression analysis shows that the cognitive flexibility of the two types of children can better explain the semantic comprehension ability of universal quantifier.The cognitive flexibility of HFA children has a stronger explanatory force on the semantic comprehension than TD children(HFA :R2=0.597>TD:R2=0.355).The innovation and significance of this study: 1.The comprehension ability and characteristics of universal quantifier about children with autism spectrum in the Chinese language system are investigated,which enriches the content of language research on autism spectrum children from the logical semantic;2.Combined with the development of cognition,the importance of cognitive flexibility in the logical semantic understanding was investigated to provide ideas for the training of logical reasoning ability of children with autism;3.Based on the characteristics of children’s logical semantic comprehension under different test conditions,this study proposes that the preparation of logical semantic training materials should follow "linear isomorphic interpretation".