Links between children’s visual attention and language production
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2023/14/0010/000604Keywords:
Language acquisition, Language production, Attention, Cueing, Eye-trackingAbstract
We investigated whether the allocation of attention can influence language production in preschool children. Children were asked to name two characters in terms of a conjoined noun phrase while their gaze patterns were monitored via eye-tracking. We manipulated children’s allocation of attention by means of a brief visual cue located in the place where the left character was about to appear. Our results showed that the visual cue was highly effective in modulating children’s eye gaze patterns. We also found that children were more likely to start an utterance with a character that was cued and hence in their spotlight of attention. Taken together, our results provide first evidence of close links between visual attention and language production in children.
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Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
