Turn-taking in free-play interactions: A cross-sectional study from 3 to 5 years

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Linguistics
• Communication Sciences

Background:

• Childhood turn-transition timing research often aggregates temporal measures like gap and overlap.
• Infancy studies analyze gap and overlap durations independently, offering a different perspective.
• Investigating continuities between infant and childhood turn-taking requires distinct temporal analyses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate continuities in turn-transition timing between infancy and childhood.
• To analyze gap and overlap durations independently in mother-child vocal interactions.
• To assess the developmental trajectories of independent temporal measures in childhood turn-taking.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional analysis of 44 mother-child free-play interactions (ages 3-5).
• Measurement of vocalization frequency and duration for gaps and overlaps, and aggregated floor-transfer offset (FTO).
• Generalized linear mixed modeling to assess effects of child age and turn-transition direction.

Main Results:

• No significant effect of child's age on FTO, gap, or overlap durations.
• Significant effect of turn-transition direction on FTO and gap durations.
• Mother-to-child transitions showed longer FTO and gap durations than child-to-mother transitions; overlap durations were similar.

Conclusions:

• Gaps and overlaps exhibit different developmental trajectories in childhood.
• Overlap duration in turn-taking converges towards adult standards by age three.
• Using complementary metrics (FTO, gap, overlap) provides a more inclusive understanding of childhood turn-transition timing.