What do children's errors tell us about the strategies used during a word inferencing task?

A vital and often overlooked aspect of word learning is the ability to establish deep semantic knowledge by adjusting and fine-tuning new word meanings as information becomes available. Here we studied differences in children's ability to update incorrect or incomplete word meanings by studying error types in a word inferencing task. The participants, 45 8- and 9-year-olds, read three sentences that all ended with the same nonsense word and were asked to identify the meaning of the last word. Importantly, the third sentence always provided the most useful information about the word's meaning. When children made errors, two types of responses were of interest. The first was when children gave a response that ignored the third sentence but fit one or two of the earlier ones. This suggests that the children had failed to update the meaning accurately. The second was when children were given enough information in the three sentences yet said that they were still unable to identify a word meaning. This suggests that the children would not attempt to infer a word when they were unsure of the answer. When controlling for number of correct responses, we found that children with smaller vocabularies were significantly more likely to fail to incorporate the third sentence, whereas children with large vocabularies were more likely to say that they were still unable to identify a meaning. These findings indicate that children with smaller vocabularies may be at risk of incorrectly inferring a new word's meaning rather than seeking further information to ensure accuracy.

Gender differences in mothers' spatial language use and children's mental rotation abilities in Preschool and Kindergarten.

Mental rotation has emerged as an important predictor of success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). By the age of 4.5 years, boys outperform girls in these abilities. Because parents use less spatial language with girls at this age (Pruden and Levine, 2017), the amount of spatial language that children are exposed to at home is believed to be one potential contributor to this disparity in preschool age children. To date, it is unclear if this gender difference continues when children enter school. To address this question in this study, children not yet in kindergarten (PreK) and kindergarten and first grade children (K+) were recorded playing with their mothers using magnetic tile toys followed by children's completion of a mental rotation task. As expected, mothers used more spatial language with PreK boys than girls; however, this relationship reversed in K+, with mothers using significantly more spatial language with girls than boys. Surprisingly, despite this, boys outperformed girls on the mental rotation task. These findings suggest that although girls' exposure to spatial language is higher after entry into school, this language difference is not reflected in increases in mental rotation abilities. Thus, earlier exposure to spatial language may be vital for the development of mental rotation abilities.

Using the N400 event-related potential to study word learning from context in children from low- and higher-socioeconomic status homes.

Children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) homes have significantly smaller vocabularies than their higher-SES peers, a gap that increases over the course of the school years. One reason for the increase in this vocabulary gap during the school years is that children from low-SES homes learn fewer words from context than their higher-SES peers. To better understand how the process of word learning from context might differ in children related to SES, we investigated changes in the N400 event-related potential (ERP) as children from low- and higher-SES homes learned new words using only the surrounding linguistic context. There were no differences in the N400 response to known words related to SES. In response to the target word being learned, children from higher-SES homes, like adults in previous studies, exhibited an attenuation of the N400 across exposures as they attached meaning to it. Children from low-SES homes did not show this same attenuation. These findings support previous work showing that children from low-SES homes may have differences or more variability in the neural components supporting language processing, and they extend previous work to illustrate how this variability may relate to word learning and, ultimately, vocabulary growth.

Developmental differences in the neural correlates supporting semantics and syntax during sentence processing.

School-aged and adolescent children continue to demonstrate improvements in how they integrate and comprehend real-time, auditory language over this developmental time period, which can have important implications for academic and social success. To better understand developmental changes in the neural processes engaged during language comprehension in this age group, we use electroencephalography to investigate how 8-9 year old, 12-13 year olds, and adults process semantics and syntax in naturally paced, auditory sentences. Participants listened to semantically and syntactically correct and incorrect sentences and were asked to complete an acceptability judgment task. When processing a semantic error, developmental differences were observed in theta, but not the N400, suggesting that the N400 may be too gross a measure to identify more subtle aspects of semantic development that occur in the school years. For the syntactic task, errors resulted in a larger P600 and greater beta decrease than correct sentences, but the amplitude and location of the P600 and amplitude of beta decreases differed as a function of age, suggesting specialization of syntactic skills is ongoing through adolescence. The current findings shed new light on the development of the neural oscillations supporting language comprehension and suggest that the neural substrates underlying semantic processing reach adult-like levels at a younger age than those underlying syntactic processing.

Socioeconomic status related differences in resting state EEG activity correspond to differences in vocabulary and working memory in grade school.

There is increasing evidence that children from low income homes exhibit differences in brain, language and cognitive development. To better understand these differences and how they relate to one another, we compared the resting state EEG of forty-five 8-15-year-olds from low-income homes and 45 age and sex matched children from higher income homes who completed a battery of language and cognitive assessments. Children from low income homes performed worse on language tasks and exhibited differences in resting state EEG including more theta and less alpha power. To investigate the relationship between language, cognition and resting state EEG we performed multiple regression analyses. Better working memory was related to lower resting state theta power. There was an interaction between alpha and vocabulary, such that only for children from low income homes, greater resting state alpha was related to higher vocabulary scores. Both relationships held when controlling for resting state changes in the other frequency band, indicating they are somewhat independent effects. These findings shed new light on SES, neural development and cognitive and language outcomes in school-aged children.

Vocabulary knowledge mediates the link between socioeconomic status and word learning in grade school.

The relationship between children's slow vocabulary growth and the family's low socioeconomic status (SES) has been well documented. However, previous studies have often focused on infants or preschoolers and primarily used static measures of vocabulary at multiple time points. To date, there is no research investigating whether SES predicts a child's word learning abilities in grade school and, if so, what mediates this relationship. In this study, 68 children aged 8-15 years performed a written word learning from context task that required using the surrounding text to identify the meaning of an unknown word. Results revealed that vocabulary knowledge significantly mediated the relationship between SES (as measured by maternal education) and word learning. This was true despite the fact that the words in the linguistic context surrounding the target word are typically acquired well before 8 years of age. When controlling for vocabulary, word learning from written context was not predicted by differences in reading comprehension, decoding, or working memory. These findings reveal that differences in vocabulary growth between grade school children from low and higher SES homes are likely related to differences in the process of word learning more than knowledge of surrounding words or reading skills. Specifically, children from lower SES homes are not as effective at using known vocabulary to build a robust semantic representation of incoming text to identify the meaning of an unknown word.

Do acting out verbs with dolls and comparison learning between scenes boost toddlers' verb comprehension?

To better understand how toddlers integrate multiple learning strategies to acquire verbs, we compared sensorimotor recruitment and comparison learning because both strategies are thought to boost children's access to scene-level information. For sensorimotor recruitment, we tested having toddlers use dolls as agents and compared this strategy with having toddlers observe another person enact verbs with dolls. For comparison learning, we compared providing pairs of: (a) training scenes in which animate objects with similar body-shapes maintained agent/patient roles with (b) scenes in which objects with dissimilar body-shapes switched agent/patient roles. Only comparison learning boosted verb comprehension.

Lexical Retrieval of Nouns and Verbs in a Sentence Completion Task.

This study explored noun and verb retrieval using a sentence completion task to expand upon previous findings from picture naming tasks. Participants completed sentences missing either a target noun or verb in the final position. Non-target responses were coded for substitution type, imageability and frequency. Like picture naming, nouns and verbs differed in non-target substitution type-within-category substitutions were primarily nouns and out-of-category substitutions were primarily verbs. Imageability predicted multiple substitution types for both word classes, whereas frequency predicted noun substitution types but not verbs. Findings support theories of noun and verb differences in semantic retrieval, showing the robustness of this effect across methodologies, and shed new light on the influence of imageability and frequency during semantic retrieval.

Inhibitory control gains from higher-order cognitive strategy training.

The present study examined the transfer of higher-order cognitive strategy training to inhibitory control. Middle school students enrolled in a comprehension- and reasoning-focused cognitive strategy training program and passive controls participated. The training program taught students a set of steps for inferring essential gist or themes from materials. Both before and after training or a comparable duration in the case of the passive controls, participants completed a semantically cued Go/No-Go task that was designed to assess the effects of depth of semantic processing on response inhibition and components of event-related potentials (ERP) related to response inhibition. Depth of semantic processing was manipulated by varying the level of semantic categorization required for response selection and inhibition. The SMART-trained group showed inhibitory control gains and changes in fronto-central P3 ERP amplitudes on inhibition trials; whereas, the control group did not. The results provide evidence of the transfer of higher-order cognitive strategy training to inhibitory control and modulation of ERPs associated with semantically cued inhibitory control. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for cognitive strategy training, models of cognitive abilities, and education.

The Necessity of Taking Culture and Context into Account When Studying the Relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Brain Development.

Decades of research has revealed a relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and brain development at the structural and functional levels. Of particular note is the distinction between income and maternal education, two highly correlated factors which seem to influence brain development through distinct pathways. Specifically, while a families' income-to-needs ratio is linked with physiological stress and household chaos, caregiver education influences the day-to-day language environment a child is exposed to. Variability in either one of these environmental experiences is related to subsequent brain development. While this work has the potential to inform public policies in a way that benefits children, it can also oversimplify complex factors, unjustly blame low-SES parents, and perpetuate a harmful deficit perspective. To counteract these shortcomings, researchers must consider sociodemographic differences in the broader cultural context that underlie SES-based differences in brain development. This review aims to address these issues by (a) identifying how sociodemographic mechanisms associated with SES influence the day-to-day experiences of children, in turn, impacting brain development, while (b) considering the broader cultural contexts that may differentially impact this relationship.

Neural oscillations during predictive sentence processing in young children.

The neural correlates of predictive processing in language, critical for efficient sentence comprehension, is well documented in adults. Specifically, adults exhibit alpha power (9-12 Hz) suppression when processing high versus low predictability sentences. This study explores whether young children exhibit similar neural mechanisms. We analyzed EEG data from 29 children aged 3-5 years listening to sentences of varying predictability. Our results revealed significant neural oscillation differences in the 5-12 Hz range between high and low predictability sentences, similar to adult patterns. Crucially, the degree of these differences correlated with children's language abilities. These findings are the first to demonstrate the neural basis of predictive processing in young children and its association with language development.

Rethinking household size and children's language environment.

The number of U.S. children living in households with extended families has greatly increased in the last 4 decades. This demographic shift calls for a reevaluation of the impact of household size on children's development. Household density (HHD), measured as the ratio of people to bedrooms in a home, has been shown to negatively relate to children's language. Here, we propose that while greater HHD may result in poorer language abilities, more adults in relation to the number of children in the home may have a positive impact on children's language. To test this hypothesis, we studied relations between HHD and adult-to-child ratio with children's vocabulary scores, as well as whether maternal education and household chaos accounted for these associations. Participants included families from a range of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds (N = 275; Mage = 10.85; 51% female; 51% Hispanic; annual income range less than $10,000-over $100,000). In general, higher HHD was related to lower child vocabulary scores. Conversely, higher adult-to-child ratio was related to higher child vocabulary and lower household chaos. These patterns were primarily driven by effects in Hispanic families. Our results suggest that a reevaluation of household size is needed, as more adults in the home can be protective for children's language development in larger families, an effect that may vary by culture. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Age and vocabulary knowledge differentially influence the N400 and theta responses during semantic retrieval.

Using electroencephalography (EEG) to study the neural oscillations supporting language development is increasingly common; however, a clear understanding of the relationship between neural oscillations and traditional Event Related Potentials (ERPs) is needed to disentangle how maturation of language-related neural networks supports semantic processing throughout grade school. Theta and the N400 are both thought to index semantic retrieval but, in adults, are only weakly correlated with one another indicating they may measure somewhat unique aspects of retrieval. Here, we studied the relationship between the N400 amplitude and theta power during semantic retrieval with key indicators of language abilities including age, vocabulary, reading comprehension and phonological memory in 226 children ages 8-15 years. The N400 and theta responses were positively correlated over posterior areas, but negatively correlated over frontal areas. When controlling for the N400 amplitude, the amplitude of the theta response was predicted by age, but not by language measures. On the other hand, when controlling theta amplitude, the amplitude of the N400 was predicted by both vocabulary knowledge and age. These findings indicate that while there is a clear relationship between the N400 and theta responses, they may each index unique aspects of development related to semantic retrieval.

Development of Gamma Oscillation during Sentence Processing in Early Adolescence: Insights into the Maturation of Semantic Processing.

Children's ability to retrieve word meanings and incorporate them into sentences, along with the neural structures that support these skills, continues to evolve throughout adolescence. Theta (4-8 Hz) activity that corresponds to word retrieval in children decreases in power and becomes more localized with age. This bottom-up word retrieval is often paired with changes in gamma (31-70 Hz), which are thought to reflect semantic unification in adults. Here, we studied gamma engagement during sentence processing using EEG time-frequency in children (ages 8-15) to unravel the developmental trajectory of the gamma network during sentence processing. Children heavily rely on semantic integration for sentence comprehension, but as they mature, semantic and syntactic processing units become distinct and localized. We observed a similar developmental shift in gamma oscillation around age 11, with younger groups (8-9 and 10-11) exhibiting broadly distributed gamma activity with higher amplitudes, while older groups (12-13 and 14-15) exhibited smaller and more localized gamma activity, especially over the left central and posterior regions. We interpret these findings as support for the argument that younger children rely more heavily on semantic processes for sentence comprehension than older children. And like adults, semantic processing in children is associated with gamma activity.

Neural patterns elicited by lexical processing in adolescents with specific language impairment: support for the procedural deficit hypothesis?

BACKGROUND: Deficits in procedural memory have been proposed to account for the language deficits in specific language impairment (SLI). A key aspect of the procedural deficit hypothesis (PDH) account of SLI is that declarative memory is intact and functions as a compensatory mechanism in the acquisition of language in individuals with SLI. The current study examined the neural correlates of lexical-phonological and lexical-semantic processing with respect to these predictions in a group of adolescents with SLI with procedural memory impairment and a group of chronologically age-matched (CA) normal controls. METHODS: Participants completed tasks designed to measure procedural and declarative memory and two ERP tasks designed to assess lexical-semantic and lexical-phonological processing in the auditory modality. Procedural memory was assessed using a statistical learning task. Lexical-semantic processing was assessed using a sentence judgment task modulating semantic congruency and lexical-phonological processing was assessed using a word/nonword decision task modulating word frequency. Behavioral performance on the tasks, mean amplitude of the cortical response, and animated topographs were examined. RESULTS: Performance on the statistical word-learning task was at chance for the adolescents with SLI, whereas declarative memory was no different from the CA controls. Behavioral accuracy on the lexical-semantic task was the same for the adolescents with SLI and CA controls but accuracy on the lexical-phonological task was significantly poorer for the adolescents with SLI as compared to the CA controls. An N400 component was elicited in response to semantic congruency on the lexical-semantic task for both groups but differences were noted in both the location and time course of the cortical response for the SLI and CA groups. An N400 component was elicited by word frequency on the lexical-phonological task for the CA controls not for the adolescents with SLI. In contrast, post hoc analysis revealed a cortical response based on imageability for the adolescents with SLI, but not CA controls. Statistical word learning was significantly correlated with speed of processing on the lexical decision task for the CA controls but not for the adolescents with SLI. In contrast, statistical word learning ability was not correlated with the modulation of the N400 on either task for either group. CONCLUSION: The behavioral data suggests intact semantic conceptual knowledge, but impaired lexical phonological processing for the adolescents with SLI, consistent with the PDH. The pattern of cortical activation in response to semantic congruency and word frequency suggests, however, that the processing of lexical-semantic and lexical-phonological information by adolescents with a history of SLI may be supported by both overlapping and nonoverlapping neural generators to those of CA controls, and a greater reliance on declarative memory strategies. Taken together, the findings from this study suggest that the underlying representations of words in the lexicons of adolescents with a history of SLI may differ qualitatively from those of their typical peers, but these differences may only be evident when behavioral data and neural cortical patterns of activation are examined together.

Temporal and topographical changes in theta power between middle childhood and adolescence during sentence comprehension.

Time frequency analysis of the EEG is increasingly used to study the neural oscillations supporting language comprehension. Although this method holds promise for developmental research, most existing work focuses on adults. Theta power (4-8 Hz) in particular often corresponds to semantic processing of words in isolation and in ongoing text. Here we investigated how the timing and topography of theta engagement to individual words during written sentence processing changes between childhood and adolescence (8-15 years). Results show that topographically, the theta response is broadly distributed in children, occurring over left and right central-posterior and midline frontal areas, and localizes to left central-posterior areas by adolescence. There were two notable developmental shifts. First, in response to each word, early (150-300 msec) theta engagement over frontal areas significantly decreases between 8 and 9 years and 10-11 years. Second, throughout the sentence, theta engagement over the right parietal areas significantly decreases between 10 and 11 years and 12-13 years with younger children's theta response remaining significantly elevated between words compared to adolescents'. We found no significant differences between 12 and 13 years and 14-15 years. These findings indicate that children's engagement of the language network during sentence processing continues to change through middle childhood but stabilizes into adolescence.

How semantic categorization influences inhibitory processing in middle-childhood: an Event Related Potentials study.

Throughout middle-childhood, inhibitory processes, which underlie many higher order cognitive tasks, are developing. Little is known about how inhibitory processes change as a task becomes conceptually more difficult during these important years. In adults, as Go/NoGo tasks become more difficult there is a systematic decrease in the P3NoGo response, indicating the use of effective inhibitory strategies (Maguire et al., 2009). This paper investigates the age at which children employ similar inhibitory strategies by studying behavioral and Event Related Potential (ERP) measures of response inhibition for three Go/NoGo tasks. Seventeen 7-8 year-olds and twenty 10-11-year-olds completed three Go/NoGo tasks that differed in the level of categorization necessary to respond. Both age groups displayed slower reaction times as the tasks became more difficult. Further, both groups displayed the predicted Go vs. NoGo P3 amplitude differences in the two simplest tasks, but no significant P3 differences for the most complex task. The reason for this pattern of responses was different in the different age groups. Similar to adults in previous work, the oldest children showed an attenuation of the P3 NoGo response with task difficulty, and no corresponding changes in the Go amplitude. The younger children displayed the opposite pattern, a significant increase in the Go amplitude with task difficulty, and no changes in the NoGo response. These response patterns indicate that efficient inhibitory strategies are developing throughout middle-childhood.

Multimodal feature binding in object memory retrieval using event-related potentials: Implications for models of semantic memory.

To test the hypothesis that semantic processes are represented in multiple subsystems, we recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) as we elicited object memories using the modified Semantic Object Retrieval Test, during which an object feature, presented as a visual word [VW], an auditory word [AW], or a picture [Pic], was followed by a second feature always presented as a visual word. We performed both hypothesis-driven and data-driven analyses using event-related potentials (ERPs) time locked to the second stimulus. We replicated a previously reported left fronto-temporal ERP effect (750-1000 ms post-stimulus) in the VW task, and also found that this ERP component was only present during object memory retrieval in verbal (VW, AW) as opposed to non-verbal (Pic) stimulus types. We also found a right temporal ERP effect (850-1000 ms post-stimulus) that was present in auditory (AW) but not in visual (VW, Pic) stimulus types. In addition, we found an earlier left temporo-parietal ERP effect between 350 and 700 ms post-stimulus and a later midline parietal ERP effect between 700 and 1100 ms post-stimulus, present in all stimulus types, suggesting common neural mechanisms for object retrieval processes and object activation, respectively. These findings support multiple semantic subsystems that respond to varying stimulus modalities, and argue against an ultimate unitary amodal semantic analysis.

The influence of perceptual and semantic categorization on inhibitory processing as measured by the N2-P3 response.

In daily activities, humans must attend and respond to a range of important items and inhibit and not respond to unimportant distractions. Our current understanding of these processes is largely based on perceptually simple stimuli. This study investigates the interaction of conceptual-semantic categorization and inhibitory processing using Event Related Potentials (ERPs). Participants completed three Go-NoGo tasks that increased systematically in the degree of conceptual-semantic information necessary to respond correctly (from single items to categories of objects and animals). Findings indicate that the N2 response reflects inhibitory processing but does not change significantly with task difficulty. The P3 NoGo amplitude, on the other hand, is attenuated by task difficulty. Further, the latency of the peak of the P3 NoGo response elicited by the most difficult task is significantly later than are the peaks detected during performance of the other two tasks. Thus, the level of complexity of conceptual-semantic representations influences inhibitory processing in a systematic way. This inhibition paradigm may be a key for investigating inhibitory dysfunction in patient populations.

Event-related potentials in semantic memory retrieval.

The involvement of the left temporal lobe in semantics and object naming has been repeatedly demonstrated in the context of language comprehension; however, its role in the mechanisms and time course for the retrieval of an integrated object memory from its constituent features have not been well delineated. In this study, 19 young adults were presented with two features of an object (e.g., "desert" and "humps") and asked to determine whether these two features were congruent to form a retrieval of a specific object ("camel") or incongruent and formed no retrieval while event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded. Beginning around 750 ms the ERP retrieval and nonretrieval waveforms over the left anterior fronto-temporal region show significance differences, indicating distinct processes for retrievals and nonretrievals. In addition to providing further data implicating the left frontal-anterior temporal region in object memory/retrieval, the results provide insight into the time course of semantic processing related to object memory retrieval in this region. The likely semantic process at 750 ms in this task would be coactivation of feature representations common to the same object. The consistency of this finding suggests that the process is stable across individuals. The potential clinical applications are discussed.