Categorical induction in children with autism spectrum disorder: Exploring potential sources of individual differences.

Categorical induction, the cognitive process by which the specific properties of category exemplars are extended to novel instances, is not absent in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, it appears to be partially impaired. The basis of these children's difficulties with categorical induction is not well understood. The current study examined categorical induction ability and the potential sources of individual differences from the perspectives of both linguistic and cognitive abilities. Twenty-two children with ASD and 36 age- and nonverbal IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children were tested for categorical induction, receptive vocabulary, semantic judgement, and executive function (inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility). Both groups demonstrated some understanding of category structure by extending properties to above-chance levels. However, relative to controls, children with ASD showed significantly lower consistency and overall performance. Unlike TD children's categorical induction ability, which was significantly associated with all measured linguistic and cognitive skills except inhibitory control, the ability of children with ASD was significantly related to semantic judgement, inhibitory control, and executive function. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that executive function was positively associated with categorical induction performance in the ASD group. These findings extend previous research by highlighting the associations of category-based inductive reasoning with linguistic and cognitive abilities in preschool-aged children. The present results hold significant implications for understanding individual differences in inductive reasoning in children with ASD, including potential similarities or differences between children with ASD and other populations.