1
|
Helo A, Guerra E, Coloma CJ, Aravena-Bravo P, Rämä P. Do Children With Developmental Language Disorder Activate Scene Knowledge to Guide Visual Attention? Effect of Object-Scene Inconsistencies on Gaze Allocation. Front Psychol 2022; 12:796459. [PMID: 35069387 PMCID: PMC8776641 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.796459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Our visual environment is highly predictable in terms of where and in which locations objects can be found. Based on visual experience, children extract rules about visual scene configurations, allowing them to generate scene knowledge. Similarly, children extract the linguistic rules from relatively predictable linguistic contexts. It has been proposed that the capacity of extracting rules from both domains might share some underlying cognitive mechanisms. In the present study, we investigated the link between language and scene knowledge development. To do so, we assessed whether preschool children (age range = 5;4–6;6) with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), who present several difficulties in the linguistic domain, are equally attracted to object-scene inconsistencies in a visual free-viewing task in comparison with age-matched children with Typical Language Development (TLD). All children explored visual scenes containing semantic (e.g., soap on a breakfast table), syntactic (e.g., bread on the chair back), or both inconsistencies (e.g., soap on the chair back). Since scene knowledge interacts with image properties (i.e., saliency) to guide gaze allocation during visual exploration from the early stages of development, we also included the objects’ saliency rank in the analysis. The results showed that children with DLD were less attracted to semantic and syntactic inconsistencies than children with TLD. In addition, saliency modulated syntactic effect only in the group of children with TLD. Our findings indicate that children with DLD do not activate scene knowledge to guide visual attention as efficiently as children with TLD, especially at the syntactic level, suggesting a link between scene knowledge and language development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Helo
- Departamento de Fonoaudiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Departamento de Neurociencias, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación, Instituto de Educación-IE, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Ernesto Guerra
- Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación, Instituto de Educación-IE, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Carmen Julia Coloma
- Departamento de Fonoaudiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación, Instituto de Educación-IE, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Paulina Aravena-Bravo
- Departamento de Fonoaudiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.,Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Pia Rämä
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center (UMR 8002), CNRS, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Russo S, Calignano G, Dispaldro M, Valenza E. An Integrated Perspective on Spatio-Temporal Attention and Infant Language Acquisition. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:1592. [PMID: 33567567 PMCID: PMC7915013 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18041592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Revised: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 02/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Efficiency in the early ability to switch attention toward competing visual stimuli (spatial attention) may be linked to future ability to detect rapid acoustic changes in linguistic stimuli (temporal attention). To test this hypothesis, we compared individual performances in the same cohort of Italian-learning infants in two separate tasks: (i) an overlap task, measuring disengagement efficiency for visual stimuli at 4 months (Experiment 1), and (ii) an auditory discrimination task for trochaic syllabic sequences at 7 months (Experiment 2). Our results indicate that an infant's efficiency in processing competing information in the visual field (i.e., visuospatial attention; Exp. 1) correlates with the subsequent ability to orient temporal attention toward relevant acoustic changes in the speech signal (i.e., temporal attention; Exp. 2). These results point out the involvement of domain-general attentional processes (not specific to language or the sensorial domain) playing a pivotal role in the development of early language skills in infancy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Russo
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy; (G.C.); (E.V.)
| | - Giulia Calignano
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy; (G.C.); (E.V.)
| | - Marco Dispaldro
- Regionale Beratungs- und Unterstützungszentren (ReBUZ), 28213 Bremen, Germany;
| | - Eloisa Valenza
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padua, 35131 Padua, Italy; (G.C.); (E.V.)
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Calignano G, Dispaldro M, Russo S, Valenza E. Attentional engagement during syllable discrimination: The role of salient prosodic cues in 6- to 8-month-old infants. Infant Behav Dev 2020; 62:101504. [PMID: 33254088 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Revised: 11/01/2020] [Accepted: 11/02/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Prosodic cues drive speech segmentation and guide syllable discrimination. However, less is known about the attentional mechanisms underlying an infant's ability to benefit from prosodic cues. This study investigated how 6- to 8-month-old Italian infants allocate their attention to strong vs. weak syllables after familiarization with four repeats of a single CV sequence with alternating strong and weak syllables (different syllables on each trial). In the discrimination test-phase, either the strong or the weak syllable was replaced by a pure tone matching the suprasegmental characteristics of the segmental syllable, i.e., duration, loudness and pitch, whereas the familiarized stimulus was presented as a control. By using an eye-tracker, attention deployment (fixation times) and cognitive resource allocation (pupil dilation) were measured under conditions of high and low saliency that corresponded to the strong and weak syllabic changes, respectively. Italian learning infants were found to look longer and also to show, through pupil dilation, more attention to changes in strong syllable replacement rather than weak syllable replacement, compared to the control condition. These data offer insights into the strategies used by infants to deploy their attention towards segmental units guided by salient prosodic cues, like the stress pattern of syllables, during speech segmentation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Calignano
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy.
| | - Marco Dispaldro
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy; Rebuz Ost, Die Senatorin für Kinder und Bildung, Bremen, Germany
| | - Sofia Russo
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy
| | - Eloisa Valenza
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Mento G, Astle DE, Scerif G. Cross-frequency Phase–Amplitude Coupling as a Mechanism for Temporal Orienting of Attention in Childhood. J Cogn Neurosci 2018; 30:594-602. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Temporal orienting of attention operates by biasing the allocation of cognitive and motor resources in specific moments in time, resulting in the improved processing of information from expected compared with unexpected targets. Recent findings have shown that temporal orienting operates relatively early across development, suggesting that this attentional mechanism plays a core role for human cognition. However, the exact neurophysiological mechanisms allowing children to attune their attention over time are not well understood. In this study, we presented 8- to 12-year-old children with a temporal cueing task designed to test (1) whether anticipatory oscillatory dynamics predict children's behavioral performance on a trial-by-trial basis and (2) whether anticipatory oscillatory neural activity may be supported by cross-frequency phase–amplitude coupling as previously shown in adults. Crucially, we found that, similar to what has been reported in adults, children's ongoing beta rhythm was strongly coupled with their theta rhythm and that the strength of this coupling distinguished validly cued temporal intervals, relative to neutral cued trials. In addition, in long trials, there was an inverse correlation between oscillatory beta power and children's trial-by-trial reaction, consistent with oscillatory beta power reflecting better response preparation. These findings provide the first experimental evidence that temporal attention in children operates by exploiting oscillatory mechanism.
Collapse
|
5
|
Mento G, Vallesi A. Spatiotemporally dissociable neural signatures for generating and updating expectation over time in children: A High Density-ERP study. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2016; 19:98-106. [PMID: 26946428 PMCID: PMC6988099 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.02.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2015] [Revised: 01/26/2016] [Accepted: 02/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
8–12-year-old children can generate and update expectancy over time. Cue- and SOA-related ERPs reflect expectancy generation and updating, respectively. Only cue-related ERPs are correlated with age. Distinct cortical networks underlie cue- and SOA-related ERP effects. The neural bases of temporal expectation only partially differ in children and adults.
Temporal orienting (TO) is the allocation of attentional resources in time based on the a priori generation of temporal expectancy of relevant stimuli as well as the a posteriori updating of this expectancy as a function of both sensory-based evidence and elapsing time. These processes rely on dissociable cognitive mechanisms and neural networks. Yet, although there is evidence that TO may be a core mechanism for cognitive functioning in childhood, the developmental spatiotemporal neural dynamics of this mechanism are little understood. In this study we employed a combined approach based on the application of distributed source reconstruction on a high spatial resolution ERP data array obtained from eighteen 8- to 12-year-old children completing a TO paradigm in which both the cue (Temporal vs. Neutral) and the SOA (Short vs. Long) were manipulated. Results show both cue (N1) and SOA (CNV, Omission Detection Potential and Anterior Anticipatory Index) ERP effects, which were associated with expectancy generation and updating, respectively. Only cue-related effects were correlated with age, as revealed by a reduction of the N1 delta effect with increasing age. Our data suggest that the neural correlates underlying TO are already established at least from 8 to 12 years of age.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Mento
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia, 8, 35131, Padova (PD), Italy.
| | - Antonino Vallesi
- Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani, 5, 35128, Padova (PD), Italy; Centro di Neuroscienze Cognitive, University of Padova, Italy
| |
Collapse
|