EL COMPONENTE PRAGMÁTICO EN ADULTOS CON SÍNDROME DE ASPERGER: ACTOS DE HABLA INDIRECTOS, METÁFORAS Y COERCIÓN ASPECTUAL

This study explores the performance of adults with Asperger Syndrome (SA) in three linguistic tasks that involve a pragmatic component: the comprehension of indirect speech acts, metaphors, and clauses with exocentric aspectual coercion. Using the relevant sections of the Spanish version of the Protocole Montreal d'Evaluation de la Communication, MEC (Ferreres et al., 2007), and the aspectual coercion test designed by Reyes (2012), it compares the performance of SA (N=5) and neurotypical (N=5) subjects. The results show that contextual information does not improve the performance of SA subjects. The difference between both groups may result from a deficit in the relevance principle in adults with SA. The results agree with three neurocognitive theories of SA: hyper-systemising theory, weak central coherence theory, and, more indirectly, theory of mind deficit.