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Related Concept Videos

Language Development01:22

Language Development

1.1K
Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
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Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

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Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
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Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood01:25

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development from Childhood into Adulthood

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Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development emphasizes the role of thinking in a child's learning process, suggesting that children are naturally curious about their environment. His approach to development is discontinuous, proposing that cognitive abilities progress through distinct stages, each with unique characteristics. Central to Piaget's theory is schemata—mental structures that allow individuals to understand and interpret the world.
Schemata: Building Blocks of Knowledge
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Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

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The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
Exploration...
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Information Processing Approach01:30

Information Processing Approach

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The information-processing theory of cognitive development centers on fundamental mental processes, including attention, memory, and problem-solving skills. Researchers in this field examine how cognitive abilities, such as working memory, evolve and influence children's overall development. Studies indicate that children with stronger working memory tend to excel in reading comprehension, math, and problem-solving compared to peers with less efficient memory skills. Low working memory is...
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Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition01:24

Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition

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A revisionist approach to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development has brought new insights that challenge and reinterpret his established ideas. Piaget proposed that the formal operational stage, emerging in adolescence, represents the culmination of cognitive maturity. During this stage, individuals are said to develop abstract thinking, engage in systematic problem-solving, and show a form of egocentrism, believing others are as preoccupied with their behavior as they are...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 5, 2026

Portable Intermodal Preferential Looking IPL: Investigating Language Comprehension in Typically Developing Toddlers and Young Children with Autism
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"Whatdunit?" Developmental changes in children's syntactically based sentence interpretation abilities and

James W Montgomery1, Julia L Evans2, Ronald B Gillam3

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Summary

Children aged 7-11 show improved sentence interpretation with word order as they age. A new "whatdunit?" task effectively measures these skills and is reliable for future studies.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Psychometrics

Background:

  • Understanding how children interpret sentences is crucial for language development research.
  • Assessing sentence interpretation abilities in children, particularly those with specific language impairment, requires reliable and valid tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate developmental changes in syntactic sentence interpretation and word order sensitivity in typically developing English-speaking children.
  • To evaluate the psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of a novel sentence interpretation task for potential use with children with specific language impairment.

Main Methods:

  • A "whatdunit?" agent selection task was employed with 256 children aged 7-11.
  • Participants listened to semantically implausible sentences with controlled noun animacy and event probability, presented in both canonical and noncanonical word orders.
  • Children rapidly selected the picture of the noun performing the action, assessing interpretation accuracy and speed.

Main Results:

  • Children demonstrated significantly greater accuracy and speed in interpreting sentences with canonical word order compared to noncanonical word order.
  • Older children (mean age 10y 8m) were more accurate and faster than younger children (mean age 8y 1m) across all sentence structures.
  • Error patterns were consistent between age groups, and the task showed strong validity and reliability.

Conclusions:

  • Sentence interpretation abilities and sensitivity to word order develop significantly between ages 7 and 11.
  • The "whatdunit?" task is a psychometrically sound instrument suitable for assessing sentence interpretation in children, including those with specific language impairment.