Journal article
The Development of Lexical Inhibition in Spoken Word Recognition
Developmental psychology, Vol.59(1), pp.186-206
01/2023
DOI: 10.1037/dev0001457
PMCID: PMC11022823
PMID: 36227288
Abstract
Public Significance Statement This study suggests that inhibition between words during spoken word recognition shows development across the school years, with younger children showing less reliable engagement of lexical inhibition while older children and adults show consistent engagement. Thus, development of lexical inhibition may help to explain the increases in efficiency of spoken word recognition that continue through adolescence.
As a spoken word unfolds over time, similar sounding words (cap and cat) compete until one word "wins". Lexical competition becomes more efficient from infancy through adolescence. We examined one potential mechanism underlying this development: lexical inhibition, by which activated candidates suppress competitors. In Experiment 1, younger (7-8 years) and older (12-13 years) children heard words (cap) in which the onset was manipulated to briefly boost competition from a cohort competitor (cat). This was compared to a condition with a nonword (cack) onset that would not inhibit the target. Words were presented in a visual world task during which eye movements were recorded. Both groups showed less looking to the target when perceiving the competitor-splice relative to the nonword-splice, showing engagement of lexical inhibition. Exploratory analyses of linguistic adaptation across the experiment revealed that older children demonstrated consistent lexical inhibition across the experiment and younger children did not, initially showing no effect in the first half of trials and then a robust effect in the latter half. In Experiment 2, adults also displayed consistent lexical inhibition in the same task. These findings suggest that younger children do not consistently engage lexical inhibition in typical listening but can quickly bring it online in response to certain linguistic experiences. Computational modeling showed that age-related differences are best explained by increased engagement of inhibition rather than growth in activation. These findings suggest that continued development of lexical inhibition in later childhood may underlie increases in efficiency of spoken word recognition.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Development of Lexical Inhibition in Spoken Word Recognition
- Creators
- Christina Blomquist - Univ Maryland, Dept Hearing & Speech Sci, 0121 Taliaferro Hall, College Pk, MD 20740 USABob McMurray - Univ Iowa, Dept Psychol & Brain Sci, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Developmental psychology, Vol.59(1), pp.186-206
- DOI
- 10.1037/dev0001457
- PMID
- 36227288
- PMCID
- PMC11022823
- NLM abbreviation
- Dev Psychol
- ISSN
- 0012-1649
- eISSN
- 1939-0599
- Publisher
- Amer Psychological Assoc
- Number of pages
- 22
- Grant note
- DC008089 / National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute on Deafness & Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 10/13/2022
- Date published
- 01/2023
- Academic Unit
- Communication Sciences and Disorders; Linguistics; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Otolaryngology
- Record Identifier
- 9984306659902771
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