Pupils Dilate More to Harder Vocabulary Words than Easier Ones.

Understanding cognitive effort expended during assessments is essential to improving efficiency, accuracy, and accessibility within these assessments. Pupil dilation is commonly used as a psychophysiological measure of cognitive effort, yet research on its relationship with effort expended specifically during language processing is limited. The present study adds to and expands on this literature by investigating the relationships among pupil dilation, trial difficulty, and accuracy during a vocabulary test. Participants (n = 63, Mage = 19.25) completed a subset of trials from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test while seated at an eye-tracker monitor. During each trial, four colored images were presented on the monitor while a word was presented via audio recording. Participants verbally indicated which image they thought represented the target word. Words were categorized into Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty. Pupil dilation during the Medium and Hard trials was significantly greater than during the Easy trials, though the Medium and Hard trials did not significantly differ from each other. Pupil dilation in comparison to trial accuracy presented a more complex pattern, with comparisons between accurate and inaccurate trials differing depending on the timing of the stimulus presentation. These results present further evidence that pupil dilation increases with cognitive effort associated with vocabulary tests, providing insights that could help refine vocabulary assessments and other related tests of language processing.

The effect of speaker reliability on word learning in monolingual and bilingual children.

The present study examined the effect of speaker reliability on novel word learning in 4- and 5-year-old English-speaking monolingual (N=25) and Spanish-English bilingual (N=25) children, using an eye-tracking paradigm. Results revealed that children retained novel labels taught by both the reliable and the unreliable speaker. Yet, time-course analyses revealed that children showed faster word recognition in the reliable condition but demonstrated more persistent looks to target in the unreliable condition. This suggests that speaker reliability impacts the time-course of retrieval, but not the ultimate retention of novel words. No group differences were observed in children's overall accuracy of novel word learning, although monolingual and bilingual children did demonstrate subtle differences in the time-course of novel word recognition. Together, the findings suggest that while speaker cues shape the process by which children recognize newly-learned words, language experience has minimal influence on this process.

Planning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Role of Verbal Mediation.

This study examined verbal mediation during planning in school-age children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relative to age- and nonverbal IQ- matched typically developing peers using a dual-task paradigm. Analyses showed no group differences in performance. However, in the condition intended to disrupt verbal mediation, language skills were associated with planning performance for the TD group, but not the ASD group. Upon examining ASD subgroups with versus without comorbid structural language impairment, children with ASD and normal language appeared to rely on verbal mediation to a greater degree than children with ASD and language impairment, but to a lesser degree than TD peers. Thus, the role of verbal mediation in planning for children with ASD differs depending on language status.

Word learning in monolingual and bilingual children: The influence of speaker eye-gaze.

The current study examined the impact of a speaker's gaze on novel-word learning in 4-5-year old monolingual (N = 23) and bilingual children (N = 24). Children were taught novel words when the speaker looked at the object both times while labeling it (consistent) and when the speaker looked at the object only the first time (inconsistent). During teaching, bilingual children differentiated between the target object (that matched the label) and non-target object (that did not match the label) earlier than the monolingual children on trials without eye-gaze information. However, during testing, monolingual children showed more robust retention of novel words than bilingual children in both conditions. Findings suggest that bilingualism shapes children's attention to eye-gaze during word learning, but that, ultimately, there is no bilingual advantage for utilizing this cue in the service of word retention.

The role of speaker eye gaze and mutual exclusivity in novel word learning by monolingual and bilingual children.

The current study examined the combined effect of a speaker's eye gaze and mutual exclusivity (ME) on novel word retention in monolingual and bilingual children. A novel object was presented with a familiar object, and children were taught new labels for objects under two conditions. In the Align condition, the speaker's gaze and the ME cue provided the same information (the speaker looked at the novel object while labeling it with a novel name). In the Conflict condition, the speaker's gaze and the ME cue provided competing information (the speaker looked at the familiar object while labeling it with a novel name). Using a visual world eye-tracking paradigm, children's retention was assessed by testing novel objects with novel labels and by testing the familiar objects with novel labels. We found that all children successfully retained the novel labels for novel objects when both eye gaze and ME provided the same information. However, when the cues conflicted, bilingual children did not perform above chance for either novel objects or familiar objects. In contrast, monolingual children demonstrated retention of novel labels for familiar objects but not for novel objects. Together, the findings suggest that redundant cues benefit word retention in all children regardless of linguistic background. Furthermore, when speaker gaze and ME conflict, bilingual children appear to disregard both cues during retention, whereas monolingual children may be more willing to retain novel labels for familiar words, suggesting that they prioritize a speaker's eye gaze over ME.

The Relationship Between Language and Planning in Children With Language Impairment.

Purpose This study examined the relationship between language and planning, a higher order executive function skill, in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing (TD) children. We hypothesized differences between groups in planning performance and in the role of verbal mediation during planning. Method Thirty-one children with SLI and 50 TD age-matched peers (8-12 years) participated in the study. We assessed language ability via a standardized language measure and planning via a dual-task Tower of London paradigm with 3 conditions: no secondary task (baseline), articulatory suppression secondary task (disrupted verbal mediation), and motor suppression secondary task (control for secondary task demand). Results We found similar overall accuracy between children with SLI and TD peers on the Tower of London. Children with SLI executed trials more slowly at baseline than TD peers but not under articulatory suppression, and children with SLI spent less time planning than TD children at baseline and under articulatory suppression. There was a significant interaction among group, language ability, and planning time under articulatory suppression. Children with SLI who had relatively better language ability spent less time planning than children with SLI who had poorer language ability when verbal mediation was disrupted. This pattern was reversed for TD children. Conclusions This study provides evidence for a relationship between language and planning, yet this relationship differed between children with SLI compared to TD peers. Findings suggest that children with SLI use nonlinguistic perceptual strategies to a greater degree than verbal strategies on visuospatial planning tasks and that intervention might address strategy use for planning.

Planning Abilities in Bilingual and Monolingual Children: Role of Verbal Mediation.

We examined the role of verbal mediation in planning performance of English-Spanish-speaking bilingual children and monolingual English-speaking children, between the ages of 9 and 12 years. To measure planning, children were administered the Tower of London (ToL) task. In a dual-task paradigm, children completed ToL problems under three conditions: with no secondary task (baseline), with articulatory suppression, and with non-verbal motor suppression. Analyses revealed generally shorter planning times for bilinguals than monolinguals but both groups performed similarly on number of moves and execution times. Additionally, bilingual children were more efficient at planning throughout the duration of the task while monolingual children showed significant gains with more practice. Children's planning times under articulatory suppression were significantly shorter than under motor suppression as well as the baseline condition, and there was no difference in planning times between monolingual and bilingual children during articulatory suppression. These results demonstrate that bilingualism influences performance on a complex EF measure like planning, and that these effects are not related to verbal mediation.

The role of nonverbal working memory in morphosyntactic processing by children with specific language impairment and autism spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND: Both children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and children with specific language impairment (SLI) have been shown to have difficulties with grammatical processing. A comparison of these two populations with neurodevelopmental disorders was undertaken to examine similarities and differences in the mechanisms that may underlie grammatical processing. Research has shown that working memory (WM) is recruited during grammatical processing. The goal of this study was to examine morphosyntactic processing on a grammatical judgment task in children who varied in clinical diagnosis and language abilities and to assess the extent to which performance is predicted by nonverbal working memory (WM). Two theoretical perspectives were evaluated relative to performance on the grammatical judgment task-the "working memory" account and the "wrap-up" account. These accounts make contrasting predictions about the detection of grammatical errors occurring early versus late in the sentence. METHODS: Participants were 84 school-age children with SLI (n = 21), ASD (n = 27), and typical development (TD, n = 36). Performance was analyzed based on diagnostic group as well as language status (normal language, NL, n = 54, and language impairment, LI, n = 30). A grammatical judgment task was used in which the position of the error in the sentence (early versus late) was manipulated. A visual WM task (N-back) was administered and the ability of WM to predict morphosyntactic processing was assessed. RESULTS: Groups differed significantly in their sensitivity to grammatical errors (TD > SLI and NL > LI) but did not differ in nonverbal WM. Overall, children in all groups were more sensitive and quicker at detecting errors occurring late in the sentence than early in the sentence. Nonverbal WM predicted morphosyntactic processing across groups, but the specific profile of association between WM and early versus late error detection was reversed for children with and without language impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Findings primarily support a "wrap up" account whereby the accumulating sentence context for errors positioned late in the sentence (rather than early) appeared to facilitate morphosyntactic processing. Although none of the groups displayed deficits in visual WM, individual differences in these nonverbal WM resources predicted proficiency in morphosyntactic processing.

The Relationship Between Executive Functions and Language Abilities in Children: A Latent Variables Approach.

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.

The concurrent use of three implicit measures (eye movements, pupillometry, and event-related potentials) to assess receptive vocabulary knowledge in normal adults.

Recent years have seen the advent and proliferation of the use of implicit techniques to study learning and cognition. One such application is the use of event-related potentials (ERPs) to assess receptive vocabulary knowledge. Other implicit assessment techniques that may be well-suited to other testing situations or to use with varied participant groups have not been used as widely to study receptive vocabulary knowledge. We sought to develop additional implicit techniques to study receptive vocabulary knowledge that could augment the knowledge gained from the use of the ERP technique. Specifically, we used a simple forced-choice paradigm to assess receptive vocabulary knowledge in normal adult participants using eye movement monitoring (EM) and pupillometry. In the same group of participants, we also used an N400 semantic incongruity ERP paradigm to assess their knowledge of two groups of words: those expected to be known to the participants (high-frequency, familiar words) and those expected to be unknown (low-frequency, unfamiliar words). All three measures showed reliable differences between the known and unknown words. EM and pupillometry thus may provide insight into receptive vocabulary knowledge similar to that from ERPs. The development of additional implicit assessment techniques may increase the feasibility of receptive vocabulary testing across a wider range of participant groups and testing situations, and may make the conduct of such testing more accessible to a wider range of researchers, clinicians, and educators.

The role of nonverbal working memory in morphosyntactic processing by school-aged monolingual and bilingual children.

The current study examined the relationship between nonverbal working memory and morphosyntactic processing in monolingual native speakers of English and bilingual speakers of English and Spanish. We tested 42 monolingual children and 42 bilingual children between the ages of 8 and 10years matched on age and nonverbal IQ. Children were administered an auditory Grammaticality Judgment task in English to measure morphosyntactic processing and a visual N-Back task and Corsi Blocks task to measure nonverbal working memory capacity. Analyses revealed that monolinguals were more sensitive to English morphosyntactic information than bilinguals, but the groups did not differ in reaction times or response bias. Furthermore, higher nonverbal working memory capacity was associated with greater sensitivity to morphosyntactic violations in bilinguals but not in monolinguals. The findings suggest that nonverbal working memory skills link more tightly to syntactic processing in populations with lower levels of language knowledge.