SynthesisAutism : the international journal of research and practice2018
Figurative language comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A meta-analytic review.
Synthesis in Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 263 citations in OpenAlex.
- Brain activation patterns of figurative language comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Mentalizing impairments across 11 psychiatric conditions: A transdiagnostic systematic review and network meta-analysis of tasks with static illustrations.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Pooled it
- On the inherent yet dynamic link between metaphor and Theory of Mind in middle childhood: meta-analytic evidence from a research programme bridging experimental pragmatics and developmental psychology.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Pooled it
- On markers of linguistic impairment in autism and their implementation.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026Review
- Comparative profiles of anomalous self-experiences and social cognition in clinical high risk for psychosis and autism spectrum disorder.Schizophrenia research. Cognition · 2026Article
- Some (but not all) Pragmatic Inferences are Difficult for Autistic Children.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Indirect Pathways to Social Functioning in Autistic Children: The Roles of Verbal Comprehension, Task-Based Theory of Mind, and Caregiver-Perceived Theory of Mind.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Irony Comprehension in Monolingual and Bilingual Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- "Shutdowns Are Like You're Stuck on the Blue Screen of Death": A Metaphor Analysis of Autistic Shutdowns.Autism in adulthood · 2026Article
- How Autism and Sex Influence Perspective-Taking in Pragmatic Inferences.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Atypical Tactile Expressions Using Japanese Ideophones in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Processing of Emotional Words in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Exploring Metalinguistic Awareness in School-Aged Autistic Children: Insights from Grammatical Judgment.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Observational
- Online Metaphor Comprehension in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Eye Tracking Study.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Opening New Worlds of Meaning-A Scoping Review of Figurative Language in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The Relationship Between Theory of Mind and Listening Comprehension Among Chinese Preschoolers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- Associations between pragmatic language and Theory of Mind in individuals with a history of autism and those who have lost the autism diagnosis.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Pragmatic communication and Theory of Mind.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Contributions of Executive Functions To Listening Comprehension and Mediation Effects of Verbal IQ among Chinese Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Article
- White matter correlates of language ability in chinese boys with autism spectrum disorder: a diffusional kurtosis imaging study.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We present a meta-analysis of studies that compare figurative language comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder and in typically developing controls who were matched based on chronological age or/and language ability. A total of 41 studies and 45 independent effect sizes were included based on predetermined inclusion criteria. Group matching strategy, age, types of figurative language, and cross-linguistic differences were examined as predictors that might explain heterogeneity in effect sizes. Overall, individuals with autism spectrum disorder showed poorer comprehension of figurative language than their typically developing peers (Hedges' g = -0.57). A meta-regression analysis showed that group matching strategy and types of figurative language were significantly related to differences in effect sizes, whereas chronological age and cross-linguistic differences were not. Differences between the autism spectrum disorder and typically developing groups were small and nonsignificant when the groups were matched based on the language ability. Metaphors were more difficult to comprehend for individuals with autism spectrum disorder compared with typically developing controls than were irony and sarcasm. Our findings highlight the critical role of core language skills in figurative language comprehension. Interventions and educational programmes designed to improve social communication skills in individuals with autism spectrum disorder may beneficially target core language skills in addition to social skills.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.