Eye movements during spoken word recognition in Russian children

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Spoken word recognition involves processing speech sounds incrementally.
• Developmental differences exist in language processing, particularly in children's ability to manage competing information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate incremental spoken word recognition in Russian 5- and 6-year-old children and adults.
• To examine how cohort competition (words sharing initial sounds) affects processing in different age groups.
• To compare coarse-grain and fine-grain eye movement analyses for developmental insights.

Main Methods:

• Free-viewing eye-tracking was used with participants viewing scenes of familiar objects.
• A cohort condition featured object names with identical three-phoneme onsets; a noncohort condition had unique onsets.
• Participants clicked on a target object named in a spoken instruction.

Main Results:

• Adults showed more competitor eye movements in the cohort condition than the noncohort condition.
• Children did not show significant cohort competition in coarse-grain analyses, likely due to exploratory eye movements.
• Fine-grain analyses revealed similar eye movement time courses but longer lingering on competitors in children.

Conclusions:

• Developmental comparisons in language processing require considering multiple behavioral measures, such as both coarse- and fine-grain eye movements.
• Children's spoken word recognition may exhibit delayed competition resolution compared to adults.
• Eye-tracking methodologies need careful selection to accurately capture developmental differences in language processing.