University of Texas at Dallas, TX, USA.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2013 Apr;56(2):388-403. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2012/11-0186). Epub 2012 Aug 15.
To examine whether semantic access by speech requires attention in children.
Children (N = 200) named pictures and ignored distractors on a cross-modal (distractors: auditory-no face) or multimodal (distractors: auditory-static face and audiovisual-dynamic face) picture word task. The cross-modal task had a low load, and the multimodal task had a high load (i.e., respectively naming pictures displayed on a blank screen vs. below the talker's face on his T-shirt). Semantic content of distractors was manipulated to be related vs. unrelated to the picture (e.g., picture "dog" with distractors "bear" vs. "cheese"). If irrelevant semantic content manipulation influences naming times on both tasks despite variations in loads, Lavie's (2005) perceptual load model proposes that semantic access is independent of capacity-limited attentional resources; if, however, irrelevant content influences naming only on the cross-modal task (low load), the perceptual load model proposes that semantic access is dependent on attentional resources exhausted by the higher load task.
Irrelevant semantic content affected performance for both tasks in 6- to 9-year-olds but only on the cross-modal task in 4- to 5-year-olds. The addition of visual speech did not influence results on the multimodal task.
Younger and older children differ in dependence on attentional resources for semantic access by speech.
检验言语的语义通达是否需要儿童集中注意力。
通过跨模态（干扰项：听觉无面部）或多模态（干扰项：听觉静态面部和视听动态面部）图片词任务，让 200 名儿童对图片进行命名并忽略干扰项。跨模态任务的负载较低，而多模态任务的负载较高（即分别在空白屏幕上显示图片与在说话者 T 恤上的面部下方显示图片进行命名）。干扰项的语义内容被操纵为与图片相关或不相关（例如，图片“狗”的干扰项为“熊”或“奶酪”）。如果无关的语义内容干扰在两种任务中都影响命名时间，尽管负载存在差异，那么 Lavie（2005）的知觉负载模型就提出语义通达是独立于容量有限的注意力资源的；然而，如果无关内容仅影响到跨模态任务（低负载），那么知觉负载模型就提出语义通达依赖于高负载任务所消耗的注意力资源。
6 至 9 岁儿童在两种任务中都受到无关语义内容的影响，但在 4 至 5 岁儿童中仅在跨模态任务中受到影响。添加视觉语音并没有影响多模态任务的结果。
年幼和年长的儿童在言语语义通达时对注意力资源的依赖程度不同。
