The asObject(value) function is more commonly called using the special syntax valueas {an} object or valueas {a} property list.
When the target is not already an object / property list (or a tree), its text string value is evaluated as an object expression (equivalent to calling the value() function) to obtain the object value. If the target is a tree, it is converted to a property list representation of that tree, as governed by the treeFormat's useStandardFormat property.