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A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on metaphor comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: Do task properties matter?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2019

Tamar Kalandadze Open the ORCID record for Tamar Kalandadze [Opens in a new window] ,
Valentina Bambini Open the ORCID record for Valentina Bambini [Opens in a new window]  and
Kari-Anne B. Næss Open the ORCID record for Kari-Anne B. Næss [Opens in a new window]
Tamar Kalandadze*
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Norway Knowledge Centre for Education, University of Stavanger, Norway
Valentina Bambini
Affiliation:
University School for Advanced Studies IUSS Pavia, Italy
Kari-Anne B. Næss
Affiliation:
University of Oslo, Norway
*
*Corresponding author. Email: tamar.kalandadze@isp.uio.no/tamar.kalandadze@uis.no
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Abstract

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience difficulty in comprehending metaphors compared to individuals with typical development (TD). However, there is a large variation in the results across studies, possibly related to the properties of the metaphor tasks. This preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis (a) explored the properties of the metaphor tasks used in ASD research, and (b) investigated the group difference between individuals with ASD and TD on metaphor comprehension, as well as the relationship between the task properties and any between-study variation. A systematic search was undertaken in seven relevant databases. Fourteen studies fulfilled our predetermined inclusion criteria. Across tasks, we detected four types of response format and a great variety of metaphors in terms of familiarity, syntactic structure, and linguistic context. Individuals with TD outperformed individuals with ASD on metaphor comprehension (Hedges’ g = −0.63). Verbal explanation response format was utilized in the study showing the largest effect size in the group comparison. However, due to the sparse experimental manipulations, the role of task properties could not be established. Future studies should consider and report task properties to determine their role in metaphor comprehension, and to inform experimental paradigms as well as educational assessment.

Keywords

autism spectrum disorderexperimental pragmaticsfigurative languageresponse format
Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 40 , Issue 6 , November 2019 , pp. 1421 - 1454
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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