To what extent is the contribution of language to learning via instructions modulated by the expression of autism traits?
When we learn new tasks, we often do this by hearing or reading a set of instructions that tell us what we need to do. Previous research has shown that our language skills help us to internalise these instructions, helping us to learn. Other work has indicated that autistic individuals may be less likely to use this form of internalised speech than neurotypical issues, raising the question of whether this would impact learning by instruction. However, in this research we found no evidence that degree of autistic traits within the general population related to the degree of learning by instruction.
The research team included Chris Jarrold (School of Psychological Science)