Davison Kelsey E, Liu Talia, Belisle Rebecca M, Perrachione Tyler K, Qi Zhenghan, Gabrieli John D E, Tager-Flusberg Helen, Zuk Jennifer
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, MA.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2025 Jun 5;68(6):2685-2699. doi: 10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00548. Epub 2025 May 19.
Converging research suggests that speech timing, including altered rate and pausing when speaking, can distinguish autistic individuals from nonautistic peers. Although speech timing can impact effective social communication, it remains unclear what mechanisms underlie individual differences in speech timing in autism.
The present study examined the organization of speech- and language-related neural pathways in relation to speech timing in autistic and nonautistic children (24 autistic children, 24 nonautistic children [ages: 5-17 years]). Audio recordings from a naturalistic language sampling task (via narrative generation) were transcribed to extract speech timing features (speech rate, pause duration). White matter organization (as indicated by fractional anisotropy [FA]) was estimated for key tracts bilaterally (arcuate fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus [SLF], inferior longitudinal fasciculus [ILF], frontal aslant tract [FAT]).
Results indicate associations between speech timing and right-hemispheric white matter organization (FA in the right ILF and FAT) were specific to autistic children and not observed among nonautistic controls. Among nonautistic children, associations with speech timing were specific to the left hemisphere (FA in the left SLF).
Overall, these findings enhance understanding of the neural architecture influencing speech timing in autistic children and, thus, carry implications for understanding potential neural mechanisms underlying speech timing differences in autism.
越来越多的研究表明，言语时机，包括说话语速的改变和停顿，能够区分自闭症个体与非自闭症同龄人。尽管言语时机可能会影响有效的社交沟通，但自闭症患者言语时机的个体差异背后的机制仍不清楚。
本研究调查了自闭症和非自闭症儿童（24名自闭症儿童，24名非自闭症儿童[年龄：5 - 17岁]）与言语时机相关的言语和语言神经通路的组织情况。对自然语言采样任务（通过叙事生成）的音频记录进行转录，以提取言语时机特征（语速、停顿持续时间）。双侧估计关键神经束的白质组织（以分数各向异性[FA]表示）（弓状束、上纵束[SLF]、下纵束[ILF]、额斜束[FAT]）。
结果表明，言语时机与右半球白质组织（右ILF和FAT中的FA）之间的关联是自闭症儿童特有的，在非自闭症对照组中未观察到。在非自闭症儿童中，与言语时机的关联特定于左半球（左SLF中的FA）。
总体而言，这些发现增进了我们对影响自闭症儿童言语时机的神经结构的理解，因此，对理解自闭症言语时机差异背后的潜在神经机制具有启示意义。
