1
|
Levari T, Snedeker J. Understanding words in context: A naturalistic EEG study of children's lexical processing. JOURNAL OF MEMORY AND LANGUAGE 2024; 137:104512. [PMID: 38855737 PMCID: PMC11160963 DOI: 10.1016/j.jml.2024.104512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
When listening to speech, adults rely on context to anticipate upcoming words. Evidence for this comes from studies demonstrating that the N400, an event-related potential (ERP) that indexes ease of lexical-semantic processing, is influenced by the predictability of a word in context. We know far less about the role of context in children's speech comprehension. The present study explored lexical processing in adults and 5-10-year-old children as they listened to a story. ERPs time-locked to the onset of every word were recorded. Each content word was coded for frequency, semantic association, and predictability. In both children and adults, N400s reflect word predictability, even when controlling for frequency and semantic association. These findings suggest that both adults and children use top-down constraints from context to anticipate upcoming words when listening to stories.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tatyana Levari
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States
| | - Jesse Snedeker
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, United States
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Kaltsa M, Papadopoulou D. The Processing of Lexical Ambiguity: Evidence from Child and Adult Greek. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2024; 53:16. [PMID: 38383830 PMCID: PMC10881745 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-024-10063-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
The aim of the study is to examine the effect of sentential context on lexical ambiguity resolution in Greek adults and typically developing children. Context and word frequency are factors that can affect lexical processing, however, the role of them has not been thoroughly examined in Greek. To this aim, we assessed sentence context effects in homonym meaning activation in monolingual speakers of Greek, children and adults, using a cross-modal priming paradigm. Additionally, all participants conducted a verbal working memory task and an inhibition task so as to examine whether the use of sentential context for lexical ambiguity resolution relates to age and/or cognitive processing capacity. The data analysis showed (a) major processing differences between adults and children due to ambiguity and sentential context, (b) children's processing times affected by cognitive skills while adults' processing unaffected, and (c) visual word recognition intact for all participants.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Kaltsa
- Department of Theoretical & Applied Linguistics, School of English, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece.
| | - Despina Papadopoulou
- Department of Linguistics, School of Philology, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Blott LM, Gowenlock AE, Kievit R, Nation K, Rodd JM. Studying Individual Differences in Language Comprehension: The Challenges of Item-Level Variability and Well-Matched Control Conditions. J Cogn 2023; 6:54. [PMID: 37692192 PMCID: PMC10487189 DOI: 10.5334/joc.317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Translating experimental tasks that were designed to investigate differences between conditions at the group-level into valid and reliable instruments to measure individual differences in cognitive skills is challenging (Hedge et al., 2018; Rouder et al., 2019; Rouder & Haaf, 2019). For psycholinguists, the additional complexities associated with selecting or constructing language stimuli, and the need for appropriate well-matched baseline conditions make this endeavour particularly complex. In a typical experiment, a process-of-interest (e.g. ambiguity resolution) is targeted by contrasting performance in an experimental condition with performance in a well-matched control condition. In many cases, careful between-condition matching precludes the same participant from encountering all stimulus items. Unfortunately, solutions that work for group-level research (e.g. constructing counterbalanced experiment versions) are inappropriate for individual-differences designs. As a case study, we report an ambiguity resolution experiment that illustrates the steps that researchers can take to address this issue and assess whether their measurement instrument is both valid and reliable. On the basis of our findings, we caution against the widespread approach of using datasets from group-level studies to also answer important questions about individual differences.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lena M. Blott
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, UK
| | - Anna E. Gowenlock
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, UK
| | - Rogier Kievit
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Kate Nation
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK
| | - Jennifer M. Rodd
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Lee C, Jessop A, Bidgood A, Peter MS, Pine JM, Rowland CF, Durrant S. How executive functioning, sentence processing, and vocabulary are related at 3 years of age. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 233:105693. [PMID: 37207474 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Revised: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
There is a wealth of evidence demonstrating that executive function (EF) abilities are positively associated with language development during the preschool years, such that children with good executive functions also have larger vocabularies. However, why this is the case remains to be discovered. In this study, we focused on the hypothesis that sentence processing abilities mediate the association between EF skills and receptive vocabulary knowledge, in that the speed of language acquisition is at least partially dependent on a child's processing ability, which is itself dependent on executive control. We tested this hypothesis in longitudinal data from a cohort of 3- and 4-year-old children at three age points (37, 43, and 49 months). We found evidence, consistent with previous research, for a significant association between three EF skills (cognitive flexibility, working memory [as measured by the Backward Digit Span], and inhibition) and receptive vocabulary knowledge across this age range. However, only one of the tested sentence processing abilities (the ability to maintain multiple possible referents in mind) significantly mediated this relationship and only for one of the tested EFs (inhibition). The results suggest that children who are better able to inhibit incorrect responses are also better able to maintain multiple possible referents in mind while a sentence unfolds, a sophisticated sentence processing ability that may facilitate vocabulary learning from complex input.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Crystal Lee
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
| | - Andrew Jessop
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK
| | - Amy Bidgood
- School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
| | - Michelle S Peter
- North Thames Genomic Laboratory Hub, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London WC1N 3BH, UK
| | - Julian M Pine
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK
| | - Caroline F Rowland
- Department of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK; Language Development Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Donders Centre for Cognition, Radboud University, 6525 GD Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Samantha Durrant
- School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
MacGregor LJ, Gilbert RA, Balewski Z, Mitchell DJ, Erzinçlioğlu SW, Rodd JM, Duncan J, Fedorenko E, Davis MH. Causal Contributions of the Domain-General (Multiple Demand) and the Language-Selective Brain Networks to Perceptual and Semantic Challenges in Speech Comprehension. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:665-698. [PMID: 36742011 PMCID: PMC9893226 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Listening to spoken language engages domain-general multiple demand (MD; frontoparietal) regions of the human brain, in addition to domain-selective (frontotemporal) language regions, particularly when comprehension is challenging. However, there is limited evidence that the MD network makes a functional contribution to core aspects of understanding language. In a behavioural study of volunteers (n = 19) with chronic brain lesions, but without aphasia, we assessed the causal role of these networks in perceiving, comprehending, and adapting to spoken sentences made more challenging by acoustic-degradation or lexico-semantic ambiguity. We measured perception of and adaptation to acoustically degraded (noise-vocoded) sentences with a word report task before and after training. Participants with greater damage to MD but not language regions required more vocoder channels to achieve 50% word report, indicating impaired perception. Perception improved following training, reflecting adaptation to acoustic degradation, but adaptation was unrelated to lesion location or extent. Comprehension of spoken sentences with semantically ambiguous words was measured with a sentence coherence judgement task. Accuracy was high and unaffected by lesion location or extent. Adaptation to semantic ambiguity was measured in a subsequent word association task, which showed that availability of lower-frequency meanings of ambiguous words increased following their comprehension (word-meaning priming). Word-meaning priming was reduced for participants with greater damage to language but not MD regions. Language and MD networks make dissociable contributions to challenging speech comprehension: Using recent experience to update word meaning preferences depends on language-selective regions, whereas the domain-general MD network plays a causal role in reporting words from degraded speech.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucy J. MacGregor
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Rebecca A. Gilbert
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Zuzanna Balewski
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
| | - Daniel J. Mitchell
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Jennifer M. Rodd
- Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK
| | - John Duncan
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
| | - Matthew H. Davis
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Coemans S, Keulen S, Savieri P, Tsapkini K, Engelborghs S, Chrispeels N, Vandenborre D, Paquier P, Wilssens I, Declerck M, Struys E. Executive functions in primary progressive aphasia: A meta-analysis. Cortex 2022; 157:304-322. [PMID: 36395634 PMCID: PMC11161026 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Revised: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Executive functions (EFs) refer to a set of cognitive processes, specifically shifting, inhibition, updating of working memory, and are involved in the cognitive control of behavior. Conflicting results have been reported regarding impairments of EFs in Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). We performed a multi-level meta-analysis to confirm whether deficits of EFs exist in this population, focusing on a common EFs composite, and the components shifting, inhibition and updating separately. We included 141 studies that report on 294 EFs tasks. The overall mean weighted effect size was large (d = -1,28), indicating poorer EFs in PPA as compared to age-matched cognitively healthy controls. Differences between effect sizes of the EFs components were not significant, indicating all components are affected similarly. Overall, moderator analysis revealed that PPA variant and disease duration were significant moderators of performance, while task modality and years of education were not. The non-fluent/agrammatic PPA and the logopenic PPA variants were similarly affected, but the semantic variant was affected to a lesser extent. We discuss implications for clinical and research settings, and future research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Silke Coemans
- Brussels Centre for Language Studies (BCLS), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium.
| | - Stefanie Keulen
- Brussels Centre for Language Studies (BCLS), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Perseverence Savieri
- Interfaculty Center for Data Processing and Statistics (ICDS), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium; Biostatistics and Medical Informatics (BISI) Research Group, Department of Public Health, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Kyrana Tsapkini
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Sebastiaan Engelborghs
- Neuroprotection & Neuromodulation, Center for Neurosciences (C4N), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium; Department of Neurology, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (UZ Brussel), Brussels, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Sciences, Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Nini Chrispeels
- Brussels Centre for Language Studies (BCLS), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Dorien Vandenborre
- Department of Speech and Language Pathology, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Philippe Paquier
- Brussels Centre for Language Studies (BCLS), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium; Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences (CRCN), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium; Department of Translational Neurosciences (TNW), Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Ineke Wilssens
- Department of Speech and Language Pathology, Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Mathieu Declerck
- Brussels Centre for Language Studies (BCLS), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Esli Struys
- Brussels Centre for Language Studies (BCLS), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium; Center for Neurosciences (C4N), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Kristensen K, Lorenz KM, Zhou X, Piro-Gambetti B, Hartley SL, Godar SP, Diel S, Neubauer E, Litovsky RY. Language and executive functioning in young adults with Down syndrome. JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH : JIDR 2022; 66:151-161. [PMID: 34288180 PMCID: PMC8766869 DOI: 10.1111/jir.12868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 03/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND This study examined the association between executive functioning and language in young adults with Down syndrome (DS). METHOD Nineteen young adults with DS (aged 19-24 years) completed standardised measures of overall cognition, vocabulary, verbal fluency and executive function skills. RESULTS Friedman's analysis of variance (χ2 (3) = 28.15, P < .001) and post hoc comparisons indicated that, on average, participants had a significantly lower overall non-verbal than verbal cognitive age equivalent and lower expressive than receptive vocabulary skills. Using Spearman correlations, performance on a verbal measure of cognition inhibition was significantly negatively related to receptive vocabulary (ρ = -.529, adjusted P = .036) and verbal fluency (ρ = -.608, adjusted P = .022). Attention was significantly positively correlated with receptive (ρ = .698, adjusted-p = .005) and expressive (ρ = .542, adjusted P = .027) vocabulary. Verbal working memory was significantly positively associated with receptive vocabulary (ρ = .585, adjusted P = .022) and verbal fluency (ρ = .737, adjusted P = .003). Finally, visuospatial working memory was significantly associated with receptive vocabulary (ρ = .562, adjusted P = .027). CONCLUSIONS Verbal and non-verbal measures of executive functioning skills had important associations with language ability in young adults with DS. Future translational research is needed to investigate causal pathways underlying these relationships. Research should explore if interventions aimed at increasing executive functioning skills (e.g. attention, inhibition and working memory) have the potential to lead to increases in language for young adults with DS.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- K Kristensen
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - K M Lorenz
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - X Zhou
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - B Piro-Gambetti
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - S L Hartley
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
- School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - S P Godar
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - S Diel
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - E Neubauer
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - R Y Litovsky
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Pomper R, Kaushanskaya M, Saffran J. Change is hard: Individual differences in children's lexical processing and executive functions after a shift in dimensions. LANGUAGE LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT 2021; 18:229-247. [PMID: 35600505 PMCID: PMC9122267 DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2021.1947289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Language comprehension involves cognitive abilities that are specific to language as well as cognitive abilities that are more general and involved in a wide range of behaviors. One set of domain-general abilities that support language comprehension are executive functions (EFs), also known as cognitive control. A diverse body of research has demonstrated that EFs support language comprehension when there is conflict between competing, incompatible interpretations of temporarily ambiguous words or phrases. By engaging EFs, children and adults are able to select or bias their attention towards the correct interpretation. However, the degree to which language processing engages EFs in the absence of ambiguity is poorly understood. In the current experiment, we tested whether EFs may be engaged when comprehending speech that does not elicit conflicting interpretations. Different components of EFs were measured using several behavioral tasks and language comprehension was measured using an eye-tracking procedure. Five-year-old children (n=56) saw pictures of familiar objects and heard sentences identifying the objects using either their names or colors. After a series of objects were identified using one dimension, children were significantly less accurate in fixating target objects that were identified using a second dimension. Further results reveal that this decrease in accuracy does not occur because children struggle to shift between dimensions, but rather because they are unable to predict which dimension will be used. These effects of predictability are related to individual differences in children's EFs. Taken together, these findings suggest that EFs may be more broadly involved when children comprehend language, even in instances that do not require conflict resolution.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ron Pomper
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, USA
| | - Margarita Kaushanskaya
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, USA
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Goodnight Hall, 1975 Willow Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Jenny Saffran
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 West Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, USA
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Tapia JL, Duñabeitia JA. Improving Language Acquisition and Processing With Cognitive Stimulation. Front Psychol 2021; 12:663773. [PMID: 34054668 PMCID: PMC8160283 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.663773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2021] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- José Luis Tapia
- Centro de Ciencia Cognitiva (C3), Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jon Andoni Duñabeitia
- Centro de Ciencia Cognitiva (C3), Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid, Spain.,AcqVA Aurora Center, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Yuile AR, Sabbagh MA. Inhibitory Control and Preschoolers' Use of Irregular Past Tense Verbs. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2021; 48:480-498. [PMID: 32618529 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000920000355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
We investigated whether children's inhibitory control (IC) is associated with their ability to produce irregular past tense verb forms as well as learn from corrective feedback following overregularization errors. Forty-eight 3;6 to 4;5 year old children were tested on the irregular past tense and provided with adult corrective input via models of correct use or recasts of errors following ungrammatical responses. IC was assessed with a three-item battery of tasks that required suppressing a prepotent response in favor of a non-canonical one. Results showed that IC was associated with children's initial production of irregular forms, but not associated with their post-feedback production. Findings are discussed in terms of current theories of past tense use and acquisition.
Collapse
|
11
|
The relationship between temperamental dimensions and inhibitory control in early childhood: Implications for language acquisition. Infant Behav Dev 2020; 61:101495. [PMID: 33007605 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2020] [Revised: 08/16/2020] [Accepted: 09/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
The present study investigates the latent organization of inhibitory control in children aged between 2;3 and 3;0 years. In addition, it explores the relationships between temperament dimensions - social orientation, motor activity, and attention -, inhibitory control and language. One-hundred-twelve typically developing children were evaluated with tasks for inhibitory control and lexical skills, while ratings of temperament and language were collected from their caregivers. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis reveals that inhibitory control seems to be best described by a unitary dimension. A Structural Equation Model suggests that 78 % of the variance in vocabulary is explained by a model considering the language observed measures, the three temperamental dimensions, and inhibitory control and in which both temperamental attention and the latent dimension of inhibitory control are significantly related to vocabulary. In addition, inhibitory control does not mediate the relationship between temperament and language.
Collapse
|
12
|
Qi Z, Love J, Fisher C, Brown-Schmidt S. Referential context and executive functioning influence children's resolution of syntactic ambiguity. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2020; 46:1922-1947. [PMID: 32584080 DOI: 10.1037/xlm0000886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Classic studies reveal two striking differences between preschoolers and adults in online sentence comprehension. Adults (a) recruit referential context cues to guide syntactic parsing, interpreting an ambiguous phrase as a modifier if a modifier is needed to single out the intended referent among multiple options, and (b) use late-arriving information to recover from misinterpretation. Five-year-olds fail on both counts, appearing insensitive to the referential context and often failing to recover from parsing errors (Trueswell, Sekerina, Hill, & Logrip, 1999). But other findings suggest that 5-year-olds show delayed rather than absent sensitivity to the referential context, and that individual differences in executive functioning predict children's ability to recover from garden-path errors. In 2 experiments, we built on these findings, focusing on whether children recruit referential-context cues if given time to do so. Children heard temporarily ambiguous instructions (e.g., Put the frog on the pond into the tent), while we monitored their eye-gaze and actions. We used a slow speech rate, and manipulated referential context between rather than within subjects, to give children time to bring referential context cues into play. Across experiments, eye-movement and action analyses revealed emerging sensitivity to the referential context. Moreover, error rates and eye-movement patterns indicating failures to revise were predicted by individual differences in executive function (scores in Simon Says and Flanker tasks). These data suggest that children, like adults, use referential context information in syntactic processing under some circumstances; the findings are also consistent with a role for domain-general executive function in resolution of syntactic ambiguity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Collapse
|
13
|
Ellis Weismer S, Kaushanskaya M, Larson C, Mathée J, Bolt D. Executive Function Skills in School-Age Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Association With Language Abilities. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2018; 61:2641-2658. [PMID: 30418493 PMCID: PMC6693571 DOI: 10.1044/2018_jslhr-l-rsaut-18-0026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2018] [Accepted: 07/05/2018] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This article reviews research on executive function (EF) skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the relation between EF and language abilities. The current study assessed EF using nonverbal tasks of inhibition, shifting, and updating of working memory (WM) in school-age children with ASD. It also evaluated the association between children's receptive and expressive language abilities and EF performance. METHOD In this study, we sought to address variables that have contributed to inconsistencies in this area of research-including task issues, group comparisons, and participant heterogeneity. EF abilities in children with ASD (n = 48) were compared to typically developing controls (n = 71) matched on age, as well as when statistically controlling for group differences in nonverbal cognition, socioeconomic status, and social communication abilities. Six nonverbal EF tasks were administered-2 each to evaluate inhibition, shifting, and WM. Language abilities were assessed via a standardized language measure. Language-EF associations were examined for the ASD group as a whole and subdivided by language status. RESULTS Children with ASD exhibited significant deficits in all components of EF compared to age-mates and showed particular difficulty with shifting after accounting for group differences in nonverbal cognition. Controlling for social communication-a core deficit in ASD-eliminated group differences in EF performance. A modest association was observed between language (especially comprehension) and EF skills, with some evidence of different patterns between children on the autism spectrum with and without language impairment. CONCLUSIONS There is a need for future research to examine the direction of influence between EF and language. It would be beneficial for EF interventions with children with ASD to consider language outcomes and, conversely, to examine whether specific language training facilitates aspects of executive control in children on the autism spectrum. PRESENTATION VIDEO https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7298144.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Susan Ellis Weismer
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison
| | - Margarita Kaushanskaya
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison
| | - Caroline Larson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison
| | - Janine Mathée
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison
| | - Daniel Bolt
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Hall ML, Eigsti IM, Bortfeld H, Lillo-Martin D. Executive Function in Deaf Children: Auditory Access and Language Access. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2018; 61:1970-1988. [PMID: 30073268 PMCID: PMC6198917 DOI: 10.1044/2018_jslhr-l-17-0281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2017] [Revised: 12/28/2017] [Accepted: 04/17/2018] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Deaf children are frequently reported to be at risk for difficulties in executive function (EF); however, the literature is divided over whether these difficulties are the result of deafness itself or of delays/deficits in language that often co-occur with deafness. The purpose of this study is to discriminate these hypotheses by assessing EF in populations where the 2 accounts make contrasting predictions. Method We use a between-groups design involving 116 children, ages 5-12 years, across 3 groups: (a) participants with normal hearing (n = 45), (b) deaf native signers who had access to American Sign Language from birth (n = 45), and (c) oral cochlear implant users who did not have full access to language prior to cochlear implantation (n = 26). Measures include both parent report and performance-based assessments of EF. Results Parent report results suggest that early access to language has a stronger impact on EF than early access to sound. Performance-based results trended in a similar direction, but no between-group differences were significant. Conclusions These results indicate that healthy EF skills do not require audition and therefore that difficulties in this domain do not result primarily from a lack of auditory experience. Instead, results are consistent with the hypothesis that language proficiency, whether in sign or speech, is crucial for the development of healthy EF. Further research is needed to test whether sign language proficiency also confers benefits to deaf children from hearing families.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew L. Hall
- Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
- Department of Linguistics, University of Connecticut, Storrs
| | | | - Heather Bortfeld
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of California, Merced
| | | |
Collapse
|
15
|
Filipe MG, Frota S, Vicente SG. Executive Functions and Prosodic Abilities in Children With High-Functioning Autism. Front Psychol 2018; 9:359. [PMID: 29618997 PMCID: PMC5871685 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Accepted: 03/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Little is known about the relationship between prosodic abilities and executive function skills. As deficits in executive functions (EFs) and prosodic impairments are characteristics of autism, we examined how EFs are related to prosodic performance in children with high-functioning autism (HFA). Fifteen children with HFA (M = 7.4 years; SD = 1.12), matched to 15 typically developing peers on age, gender, and non-verbal intelligence participated in the study. The Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech-Communication (PEPS-C) was used to assess prosodic performance. The Children's Color Trails Test (CCTT-1, CCTT-2, and CCTT Interference Index) was used as an indicator of executive control abilities. Our findings suggest no relation between prosodic abilities and visual search and processing speed (assessed by CCTT-1), but a significant link between prosodic skills and divided attention, working memory/sequencing, set-switching, and inhibition (assessed by CCTT-2 and CCTT Interference Index). These findings may be of clinical relevance since difficulties in EFs and prosodic deficits are characteristic of many neurodevelopmental disorders. Future studies are needed to further investigate the nature of the relationship between impaired prosody and executive (dys)function.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marisa G Filipe
- Center of Linguistics, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.,Centre for Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Sónia Frota
- Center of Linguistics, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Selene G Vicente
- Centre for Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Kidd E, Donnelly S, Christiansen MH. Individual Differences in Language Acquisition and Processing. Trends Cogn Sci 2018; 22:154-169. [PMID: 29277256 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2017.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 112] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2017] [Revised: 11/24/2017] [Accepted: 11/28/2017] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
|
17
|
Davidson MM, Ellis Weismer S. Reading comprehension of ambiguous sentences by school-age children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Res 2017; 10:2002-2022. [PMID: 28834327 DOI: 10.1002/aur.1850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2017] [Revised: 07/21/2017] [Accepted: 07/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Weak central coherence (processing details over gist), poor oral language abilities, poor suppression, semantic interference, and poor comprehension monitoring have all been implicated to affect reading comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study viewed the contributions of different supporting skills as a collective set of skills necessary for context integration-a multi-component view-to examine individual differences in reading comprehension in school-age children (8-14 years) with ASD (n = 23) and typically developing control peers (n = 23). Participants completed a written ambiguous sentence comprehension task in which participants had to integrate context to determine the correct homonym meaning via picture selection. Both comprehension products (i.e., offline representations after reading) and processes (i.e., online processing during reading) were evaluated. Results indicated that children with ASD, similar to their TD peers, integrated the context to access the correct homonym meanings while reading. However, after reading the sentences, when participants were asked to select the meanings, both groups experienced semantic interference between the two meanings. This semantic interference hindered the children with ASD's sentence representation to a greater degree than their peers. Individual differences in age/development, word recognition, vocabulary breadth (i.e., number of words in the lexicon), and vocabulary depth (i.e., knowledge of the homonym meanings) contributed to sentence comprehension in both children with ASD and their peers. Together, this evidence supports a multi-component view, and that helping children with ASD develop vocabulary depth may have cascading effects on their reading comprehension. Autism Res 2017, 10: 2002-2022. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY Like their peers, children with ASD were able to integrate context, or link words while reading sentences with ambiguous words (words with two meanings). After reading the sentences, both groups found it hard to pick the correct meaning of the ambiguous sentence and this decision was more difficult for the participants with ASD. Older children, children with better word reading abilities, and children with higher vocabularies were better at understanding ambiguous sentences. Helping children with ASD to develop richer vocabularies could be important for improving their reading comprehension.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Meghan M Davidson
- Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders and the Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706
| | - Susan Ellis Weismer
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and Callier Center for Communication Disorders (current affiliation), The University of Texas at Dallas, 1966 Inwood Road, Dallas, TX, 75235
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Share DL, Bar-On A. Learning to Read a Semitic Abjad: The Triplex Model of Hebrew Reading Development. JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES 2017; 51:444-453. [PMID: 28703637 DOI: 10.1177/0022219417718198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
We introduce a model of Hebrew reading development that emphasizes both the universal and script-specific aspects of learning to read a Semitic abjad. At the universal level, the study of Hebrew reading acquisition offers valuable insights into the fundamental dilemmas of all writing systems-balancing the competing needs of the novice versus the expert reader (Share, 2008). At the script-specific level, pointed Hebrew initially employs supplementary vowel signs, providing the beginning reader a consistent, phonologically well-specified script while helping the expert-to-be unitize words and morphemes via (consonantal) spelling constancy. A major challenge for the developing Hebrew reader is negotiating the transition from pointed to unpointed Hebrew, with its abundance of homographs. Our triplex model emphasizes three phases of early Hebrew reading development: a progression from lower-order, phonological (sublexical) sequential spelling-to-sound translation (Phase 1, Grade 1) to higher-order, string-level (lexical) lexico-morpho-orthographic processing (Phase 2, Grade 2) followed, in the upper elementary grades, by a supralexical contextual level (Phase 3) essential for dealing with the pervasive homography of unpointed Hebrew.
Collapse
|
19
|
Kaushanskaya M, Park JS, Gangopadhyay I, Davidson MM, Weismer SE. The Relationship Between Executive Functions and Language Abilities in Children: A Latent Variables Approach. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2017; 60:912-923. [PMID: 28306755 PMCID: PMC5548084 DOI: 10.1044/2016_jslhr-l-15-0310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2015] [Revised: 02/24/2016] [Accepted: 08/09/2016] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Purpose We aimed to outline the latent variables approach for measuring nonverbal executive function (EF) skills in school-age children, and to examine the relationship between nonverbal EF skills and language performance in this age group. Method Seventy-one typically developing children, ages 8 through 11, participated in the study. Three EF components, inhibition, updating, and task-shifting, were each indexed using 2 nonverbal tasks. A latent variables approach was used to extract latent scores that represented each EF construct. Children were also administered common standardized language measures. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between EF and language skills. Results Nonverbal updating was associated with the Receptive Language Index on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition (CELF-4). When composites denoting lexical-semantic and syntactic abilities were derived, nonverbal inhibition (but not shifting or updating) was found to predict children's syntactic abilities. These relationships held when the effects of age, IQ, and socioeconomic status were controlled. Conclusions The study makes a methodological contribution by explicating a method by which researchers can use the latent variables approach when measuring EF performance in school-age children. The study makes a theoretical and a clinical contribution by suggesting that language performance may be related to domain-general EFs.
Collapse
|
20
|
Hall ML, Eigsti IM, Bortfeld H, Lillo-Martin D. Auditory Deprivation Does Not Impair Executive Function, But Language Deprivation Might: Evidence From a Parent-Report Measure in Deaf Native Signing Children. JOURNAL OF DEAF STUDIES AND DEAF EDUCATION 2017; 22:9-21. [PMID: 27624307 PMCID: PMC5189172 DOI: 10.1093/deafed/enw054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2016] [Revised: 07/18/2016] [Accepted: 08/16/2016] [Indexed: 05/14/2023]
Abstract
Deaf children are often described as having difficulty with executive function (EF), often manifesting in behavioral problems. Some researchers view these problems as a consequence of auditory deprivation; however, the behavioral problems observed in previous studies may not be due to deafness but to some other factor, such as lack of early language exposure. Here, we distinguish these accounts by using the BRIEF EF parent report questionnaire to test for behavioral problems in a group of Deaf children from Deaf families, who have a history of auditory but not language deprivation. For these children, the auditory deprivation hypothesis predicts behavioral impairments; the language deprivation hypothesis predicts no group differences in behavioral control. Results indicated that scores among the Deaf native signers (n = 42) were age-appropriate and similar to scores among the typically developing hearing sample (n = 45). These findings are most consistent with the language deprivation hypothesis, and provide a foundation for continued research on outcomes of children with early exposure to sign language.
Collapse
|
21
|
Woodard K, Pozzan L, Trueswell JC. Taking your own path: Individual differences in executive function and language processing skills in child learners. J Exp Child Psychol 2016; 141:187-209. [PMID: 26454180 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2015] [Revised: 08/14/2015] [Accepted: 08/15/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Children as old as 5 or 6 years display selective difficulties in revising initial interpretive commitments, as indicated by both online and offline measures of sentence comprehension. It is likely, however, that individual children differ in how well they can recover from misinterpretations and in the age at which they become adult-like in these abilities. To better understand the cognitive functions that support sentence processing and revision, the current work investigated how individual differences in children's ability to interpret temporarily ambiguous sentences relate to individual differences in other linguistic and domain-general cognitive abilities. Children were tested over 2 days on a battery of executive function, working memory, and language comprehension tasks. Performance on these tasks was then used to predict online and offline measures of children's ability to revise initial misinterpretations of temporarily ambiguous sentences. We found two measures of children's cognitive flexibility to be related to their ambiguity resolution abilities. These results provide converging evidence for the hypothesis that the ability to revise initial interpretive commitments is supported by domain-general executive function abilities, which are highly variable and not fully developed in children.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kristina Woodard
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Lucia Pozzan
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - John C Trueswell
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Pomper R, Saffran JR. Roses Are Red, Socks Are Blue: Switching Dimensions Disrupts Young Children's Language Comprehension. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0158459. [PMID: 27355690 PMCID: PMC4927186 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2016] [Accepted: 06/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Language is used to identify objects in many different ways. An apple can be identified using its name, color, and other attributes. Skilled language comprehension requires listeners to flexibly shift between different dimensions. We asked whether this shifting would be difficult for 3-year-olds, who have relatively immature executive function skills and struggle to switch between dimensions in card sorting tasks. In the current experiment, children first heard a series of sentences identifying objects using a single dimension (either names or colors). In the second half of the experiment, the labeling dimension was switched. Children were significantly less accurate in fixating the correct object following the dimensional switch. This disruption, however, was temporary; recognition accuracy recovered with increased exposure to the new labeling dimension. These findings provide the first evidence that children's difficulty in shifting between dimensions impacts their ability to comprehend speech. This limitation may affect children's ability to form rich, multi-dimensional representations when learning new words.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ron Pomper
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| | - Jenny R. Saffran
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Processing structure in language and music: a case for shared reliance on cognitive control. Psychon Bull Rev 2016; 22:637-52. [PMID: 25092390 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-014-0712-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The relationship between structural processing in music and language has received increasing interest in the past several years, spurred by the influential Shared Syntactic Integration Resource Hypothesis (SSIRH; Patel, Nature Neuroscience, 6, 674-681, 2003). According to this resource-sharing framework, music and language rely on separable syntactic representations but recruit shared cognitive resources to integrate these representations into evolving structures. The SSIRH is supported by findings of interactions between structural manipulations in music and language. However, other recent evidence suggests that such interactions also can arise with nonstructural manipulations, and some recent neuroimaging studies report largely nonoverlapping neural regions involved in processing musical and linguistic structure. These conflicting results raise the question of exactly what shared (and distinct) resources underlie musical and linguistic structural processing. This paper suggests that one shared resource is prefrontal cortical mechanisms of cognitive control, which are recruited to detect and resolve conflict that occurs when expectations are violated and interpretations must be revised. By this account, musical processing involves not just the incremental processing and integration of musical elements as they occur, but also the incremental generation of musical predictions and expectations, which must sometimes be overridden and revised in light of evolving musical input.
Collapse
|
24
|
Kousaie S, Laliberté C, López Zunini R, Taler V. A Behavioral and Electrophysiological Investigation of the Effect of Bilingualism on Lexical Ambiguity Resolution in Young Adults. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:682. [PMID: 26732439 PMCID: PMC4685109 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00682] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2015] [Accepted: 12/01/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research suggests that bilinguals demonstrate superior cognitive control processes than monolinguals. The goal of the current investigation was to examine whether this "bilingual advantage" is observed in a language processing task that requires inhibition, i.e., lexical ambiguity processing. Monolingual and bilingual participants read sentences that biased the reading of a terminal homonym toward the subordinate or dominant reading (e.g., The doctor asked her to step onto the scale.). A relatedness judgment was made on target words that were related to the contextually appropriate (e.g., balance) or inappropriate meaning (e.g., skin), or unrelated to either meaning (e.g., shoe) while electrophysiological recording took place. The results revealed subtle processing differences between monolinguals and bilinguals that were evident in electrophysiological measures, but not in behavioral measures. These findings suggest that monolinguals rely on context to access the contextually appropriate meaning of a homonym to a greater extent than bilinguals, while bilinguals demonstrate simultaneous activation of both meanings.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Christianne Laliberté
- Bruyère Research InstituteOttawa, ON, Canada
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of OttawaOttawa, ON, Canada
| | - Rocío López Zunini
- Bruyère Research InstituteOttawa, ON, Canada
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of OttawaOttawa, ON, Canada
| | - Vanessa Taler
- Bruyère Research InstituteOttawa, ON, Canada
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of OttawaOttawa, ON, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Dautriche I, Swingley D, Christophe A. Learning novel phonological neighbors: Syntactic category matters. Cognition 2015; 143:77-86. [PMID: 26114905 PMCID: PMC5124220 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2015.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2014] [Revised: 06/03/2015] [Accepted: 06/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Novel words (like tog) that sound like well-known words (dog) are hard for toddlers to learn, even though children can hear the difference between them (Swingley & Aslin, 2002, 2007). One possibility is that phonological competition alone is the problem. Another is that a broader set of probabilistic considerations is responsible: toddlers may resist considering tog as a novel object label because its neighbor dog is also an object. In three experiments, French 18-month-olds were taught novel words whose word forms were phonologically similar to familiar nouns (noun-neighbors), to familiar verbs (verb-neighbors) or to nothing (no-neighbors). Toddlers successfully learned the no-neighbors and verb-neighbors but failed to learn the noun-neighbors, although both novel neighbors had a familiar phonological neighbor in the toddlers' lexicon. We conclude that when creating a novel lexical entry, toddlers' evaluation of similarity in the lexicon is multidimensional, incorporating both phonological and semantic or syntactic features.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Isabelle Dautriche
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), Département d'Études Cognitives (École Normale Supérieure - PSL Research University), Paris, France; Maternité Port-Royal, AP-HP, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, France.
| | - Daniel Swingley
- Department of Psychology and Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania, United States
| | - Anne Christophe
- Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), Département d'Études Cognitives (École Normale Supérieure - PSL Research University), Paris, France; Maternité Port-Royal, AP-HP, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, France
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Spencer M, Kaschak MP, Jones JL, Lonigan CJ. Statistical Learning is Related to Early Literacy-Related Skills. READING AND WRITING 2015; 28:467-490. [PMID: 26478658 PMCID: PMC4607284 DOI: 10.1007/s11145-014-9533-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
It has been demonstrated that statistical learning, or the ability to use statistical information to learn the structure of one's environment, plays a role in young children's acquisition of linguistic knowledge. Although most research on statistical learning has focused on language acquisition processes, such as the segmentation of words from fluent speech and the learning of syntactic structure, some recent studies have explored the extent to which individual differences in statistical learning are related to literacy-relevant knowledge and skills. The present study extends on this literature by investigating the relations between two measures of statistical learning and multiple measures of skills that are critical to the development of literacy-oral language, vocabulary knowledge, and phonological processing-within a single model. Our sample included a total of 553 typically developing children from prekindergarten through second grade. Structural equation modeling revealed that statistical learning accounted for a unique portion of the variance in these literacy-related skills. Practical implications for instruction and assessment are discussed.
Collapse
|
27
|
Fedorenko E. The role of domain-general cognitive control in language comprehension. Front Psychol 2014; 5:335. [PMID: 24803909 PMCID: PMC4009428 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 132] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2012] [Accepted: 03/31/2014] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
What role does domain-general cognitive control play in understanding linguistic input? Although much evidence has suggested that domain-general cognitive control and working memory resources are sometimes recruited during language comprehension, many aspects of this relationship remain elusive. For example, how frequently do cognitive control mechanisms get engaged when we understand language? And is this engagement necessary for successful comprehension? I here (a) review recent brain imaging evidence for the neural separability of the brain regions that support high-level linguistic processing vs. those that support domain-general cognitive control abilities; (b) define the space of possibilities for the relationship between these sets of brain regions; and (c) review the available evidence that constrains these possibilities to some extent. I argue that we should stop asking whether domain-general cognitive control mechanisms play a role in language comprehension, and instead focus on characterizing the division of labor between the cognitive control brain regions and the more functionally specialized language regions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Evelina Fedorenko
- Psychiatry Department, Massachusetts General HospitalCharlestown, MA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Fedorenko E, Thompson-Schill SL. Reworking the language network. Trends Cogn Sci 2014; 18:120-6. [PMID: 24440115 PMCID: PMC4091770 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2013.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 333] [Impact Index Per Article: 33.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2013] [Revised: 12/09/2013] [Accepted: 12/11/2013] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Prior investigations of functional specialization have focused on the response profiles of particular brain regions. Given the growing emphasis on regional covariation, we propose to reframe these questions in terms of brain 'networks' (collections of regions jointly engaged by some mental process). Despite the challenges that investigations of the language network face, a network approach may prove useful in understanding the cognitive architecture of language. We propose that a language network plausibly includes a functionally specialized 'core' (brain regions that coactivate with each other during language processing) and a domain-general 'periphery' (a set of brain regions that may coactivate with the language core regions at some times but with other specialized systems at other times, depending on task demands). Framing the debate around network properties such as this may prove to be a more fruitful way to advance our understanding of the neurobiology of language.
Collapse
|
29
|
Chrysikou EG, Weber MJ, Thompson-Schill SL. A matched filter hypothesis for cognitive control. Neuropsychologia 2013; 62:341-355. [PMID: 24200920 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.10.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2013] [Revised: 10/21/2013] [Accepted: 10/28/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The prefrontal cortex exerts top-down influences on several aspects of higher-order cognition by functioning as a filtering mechanism that biases bottom-up sensory information toward a response that is optimal in context. However, research also indicates that not all aspects of complex cognition benefit from prefrontal regulation. Here we review and synthesize this research with an emphasis on the domains of learning and creative cognition, and outline how the appropriate level of cognitive control in a given situation can vary depending on the organism's goals and the characteristics of the given task. We offer a matched filter hypothesis for cognitive control, which proposes that the optimal level of cognitive control is task-dependent, with high levels of cognitive control best suited to tasks that are explicit, rule-based, verbal or abstract, and can be accomplished given the capacity limits of working memory and with low levels of cognitive control best suited to tasks that are implicit, reward-based, non-verbal or intuitive, and which can be accomplished irrespective of working memory limitations. Our approach promotes a view of cognitive control as a tool adapted to a subset of common challenges, rather than an all-purpose optimization system suited to every problem the organism might encounter.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Matthew J Weber
- Department of Psychology, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania
| | | |
Collapse
|
30
|
Henderson L, Weighall A, Brown H, Gaskell G. Online lexical competition during spoken word recognition and word learning in children and adults. Child Dev 2013; 84:1668-85. [PMID: 23432734 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Lexical competition that occurs as speech unfolds is a hallmark of adult oral language comprehension crucial to rapid incremental speech processing. This study used pause detection to examine whether lexical competition operates similarly at 7-8 years and tested variables that influence "online" lexical activity in adults. Children (n = 20) and adults (n = 17) were slower to detect pauses in familiar words with later uniqueness points. Faster latencies were obtained for words with late uniqueness points in constraining compared with neutral sentences; no such effect was observed for early unique words. Following exposure to novel competitors ("biscal"), children (n = 18) and adults (n = 18) showed competition for existing words with early uniqueness points ("biscuit") after 24 hr. Thus, online lexical competition effects are remarkably similar across development.
Collapse
|
31
|
Hussey EK, Novick JM. The benefits of executive control training and the implications for language processing. Front Psychol 2012; 3:158. [PMID: 22661962 PMCID: PMC3356880 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2011] [Accepted: 05/02/2012] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent psycholinguistics research suggests that the executive function (EF) skill known as conflict resolution – the ability to adjust behavior in the service of resolving among incompatible representations – is important for several language processing tasks such as lexical and syntactic ambiguity resolution, verbal fluency, and common-ground assessment. Here, we discuss work showing that various EF skills can be enhanced through consistent practice with working-memory tasks that tap these EFs, and, moreover, that improvements on the training tasks transfer across domains to novel tasks that may rely on shared underlying EFs. These findings have implications for language processing and could launch new research exploring if EF training, within a “process-specific” framework, could be used as a remediation tool for improving general language use. Indeed, work in our lab demonstrates that EF training that increases conflict-resolution processes has selective benefits on an untrained sentence-processing task requiring syntactic ambiguity resolution, which relies on shared conflict-resolution functions. Given claims that conflict-resolution abilities contribute to a range of linguistic skills, EF training targeting this process could theoretically yield wider performance gains beyond garden-path recovery. We offer some hypotheses on the potential benefits of EF training as a component of interventions to mitigate general difficulties in language processing. However, there are caveats to consider as well, which we also address.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Erika K Hussey
- Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland College Park, MD, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
32
|
Abstract
Age of acquisition (AoA) estimates are provided for 3,460 senses of 1,208 words (i.e., words with multiple meanings e.g., duck). The AoA rating estimates appear to be relatively consistent across participants. The Spearman-Brown split-half reliability coefficient is .95, while the correlations between each participant's ratings and the overall mean ratings yielded correlation coefficients between .325 to .794 with a mean of .69 (SD = .10). These estimates will be of use to those interested in: (a) the influence of AoA on word processing, (b) the influence of AoA on meaning access, (c) the structure of semantic memory, and (d) developmental trends in lexical ambiguity resolution. These AoA estimates can be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society's Web archive of norms, stimuli, and data at www.psychonomic.org/archive.
Collapse
|
33
|
Chrysikou EG, Novick JM, Trueswell JC, Thompson-Schill SL. The other side of cognitive control: can a lack of cognitive control benefit language and cognition? Top Cogn Sci 2011; 3:253-6. [PMID: 25164293 DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-8765.2011.01137.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive control refers to the regulation of mental activity to support flexible cognition across different domains. Cragg and Nation (2010) propose that the development of cognitive control in children parallels the development of language abilities, particularly inner speech. We suggest that children's late development of cognitive control also mirrors their limited ability to revise misinterpretations of sentence meaning. Moreover, we argue that for certain tasks, a tradeoff between bottom-up (data-driven) and top-down (rule-based) thinking may actually benefit performance in both children and adults. Specifically, we propose that a lack of cognitive control may promote important aspects of cognitive development, like language acquisition and creativity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Evangelia G Chrysikou
- Department of Psychology, University of PennsylvaniaCenter for Advanced Study of Language, University of Maryland
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|