Identification of Differences in Verb Learning between Late Talkers and Typically Developing Children

识别晚说话者和正常发育儿童之间动词学习的差异

• 批准号: 10577014
• 负责人: Sabrina Elise Horvath
• 金额: $ 18.88万
• 依托单位: MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-16 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10577014
• 关键词: 2 year old; 6 year old; Age; Child; Data; Development; Etiology; Event; Failure; Foundations; Future; Goals; Hearing; Individual; Intervention; Knowledge; Label; Language; Language Development; Language Disorders; Learning; Linguistics; Literature; Longevity; Longitudinal Studies; Longitudinal trends; Measures; Outcome; Pathologist; Pattern; Performance; Play; Process; Production; Regression Analysis; Research; Research Personnel; Risk; Role; Running; Sampling; Sign Language; Speech; Structure; Testing; Toddler; Training; Vocabulary; design; developmental disease; effective intervention; efficacious intervention; executive function; hearing impairment; individual response; insight; language disorder diagnosis; language outcome; language processing; lexical; literacy; novel; outcome prediction; peer; processing speed; skills; social skills; success; syntax; visual tracking; word learning

PROJECT SUMMARY Absent known deficits such as hearing loss or developmental disorder, approximately 15% of two-year-olds nevertheless have atypically small expressive vocabularies. These “late talkers” (LTs) are at increased risk for a later diagnosis of language disorder, and even those LTs who are not diagnosed still have poorer long-term language outcomes as compared to their typically developing peers (TDs). At present, we do not know why some children struggle to develop their vocabularies, and we are unable to predict which LTs are at greatest risk for language disorder. This project focuses on toddlers’ verb vocabularies because of the role that verbs play in developing grammar. Difficulty with verbs is considered a warning sign for later language disorder, and children with language disorder in turn struggle particularly with verbs. To learn new verbs, toddlers use information derived from the surrounding linguistic context, such as sentence structure. However, this ability is predicated on preexisting knowledge of verbs. Concerningly, our prior research indicates that LTs and TDs differ in early verb knowledge: LTs have more result verbs (i.e., verbs that denote the result of an event, such as “break”) than manner verbs (i.e., verbs that denote how an event unfolds, such as “run”) in their vocabularies. This pattern mimics biases for result over manner meanings observed in older children with language disorder. However, TDs have more manner than result verbs throughout development. In contexts where verb learning is dependent on knowledge of manner versus result meanings, LTs and TDs are likely to perform differently. In Aim 1/Study 1, we consider one such manipulation: Whether the sequencing of the linguistic information (i.e., the verb) and its referent action impacts verb learning. TDs appear to learn manner verbs best when the verb precedes the action, but they learn result verbs best when the verb follows the action. However, older children with language disorder better learn verbs when they follow the action, irrespective of verb meaning. We hypothesize that LTs will show the same pattern as older children with language disorder because they also have a bias for result over manner verbs. If true, this would be the first demonstrated verb learning difference between LTs and TDs. Learning a verb’s meaning from its linguistic context also requires that children be able to process the given linguistic information. Conversely, children who do not process the linguistic context fail to learn new verb meanings. It has been hypothesized that children who are faster linguistic processors are better verb learners, but this has not yet been demonstrated experimentally. In Aim 2/Study 2, we consider the relationship between concurrent processing of familiar words and performance on a verb-learning task (i.e., Study 1). We hypothesize that for both LTs and TDs, those who are faster to process familiar words will also be better at verb learning. The final sample will include 52 toddlers (26 LTs; 26 TDs, ages 24.0 – 30.9 months) who will complete both studies. Data will be collected using eye tracking, and regression analyses will be used to test our hypotheses. Results from Aim 1/Study 1 will support future research on verb-learning interventions for LTs. Results from Aim 2/Study 2 will provide the basis for future longitudinal studies aimed at predicting outcomes for LTs.

项目概要 大约 15% 的两岁儿童不存在听力损失或发育障碍等已知缺陷 然而，这些“迟到的说话者”（LT）的表达词汇量较小，因此迟到的风险更大。 诊断出语言障碍，即使那些未诊断出的 LT 的长期语言结果仍然较差 与正常发育的同龄人 (TD) 相比，目前我们不知道为什么有些孩子难以发育。 他们的词汇量，我们无法预测哪些 LT 出现语言障碍的风险最大。 该项目重点关注幼儿的动词词汇，因为动词在语法发展中发挥着重要作用。 动词困难被认为是以后语言障碍的警告信号，反过来，患有语言障碍的儿童 为了学习新动词，幼儿需要使用来自周围语言学的信息。 然而，这种能力是以预先存在的动词知识为基础的。 我们之前的研究表明，LT 和 TD 在早期动词知识方面有所不同：LT 有更多结果动词（即，动词 表示事件的结果，例如“break”）比方式动词（即表示事件如何展开的动词，例如 这种模式模仿了在年龄较大的儿童中观察到的结果优于方式含义的偏见。 然而，在动词发展的过程中，TD 的方式动词比结果动词更多。 学习取决于对方式与结果意义的了解，LT 和 TD 的表现可能不同。 在目标 1/研究 1 中，我们考虑这样一种操作：是否对语言信息进行排序（即 动词）及其所指动作会影响动词学习，当动词位于动词之前时，TD 似乎能最好地学习方式动词。 动作，但当动词跟随动作时，他们学习结果动词最好。但是，年龄较大的孩子有语言障碍。 当动词遵循动作时，可以更好地学习动词，无论动词含义如何，LT 都会显示相同的内容。 模式与患有语言障碍的年龄较大的孩子一样，因为他们对结果也有偏见，而不是方式动词。 这将是 LT 和 TD 之间动词学习差异的第一个展示。 从语言环境中学习动词的含义还要求孩子能够处理给定的动词 离线的语言信息，不处理语言上下文的孩子无法学习新的动词含义。 人们重新认识到，语言处理速度更快的孩子学习动词的能力更好，但这一点尚未得到证实。 在目标 2/研究 2 中，我们通过实验考虑了熟悉的并发处理之间的关系。 动词学习任务中的单词和表现（即研究 1） 更快地处理熟悉的单词也会更好地学习动词。 最终样本将包括 52 名幼儿（26 名 LT；26 名 TD，年龄 24.0 – 30.9 个月），他们将完成这两项任务 研究。将使用眼动追踪收集数据，并使用回归分析来检验我们的假设结果。 目标 1/研究 1 将支持未来对 LT 动词学习干预的研究。目标 2/研究 2 的结果将支持。 为未来旨在预测 LT 结果的纵向研究提供基础。