Scientific article
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English

Syntactic revision in wh-questions: developmental trajectory and the role of cognitive control

Published inLanguage, cognition and neuroscience, vol. 39, no. 6, p. 713-734
Publication date2024-05-28
First online date2024-05-28
Abstract

In our study, we examine children’s and adults’ interpretation of argument wh-questions requiring syntactic revision using a questions-after-stories procedure, leading to three major findings. First, children aged 7–8 years, but not 5–6-year-olds, were found to preferably attach the fronted wh-element to the first available gap, rather than the second, indicating an adultlike incremental parsing strategy of active gap filling. Second, older children show a similar rate of revision as adults, higher than younger children, although a substantial rate of misinterpretations remains. Third, we find a significant link between the rate of revision and cognitive control skills measured with an N-back task. Implications for theories of language development and parsing are discussed.

Keywords
  • Parsing
  • Syntactic revision
  • Active gap filling
  • Wh-questions
  • Cognitive control
Citation (ISO format)
LASSOTTA, Romy et al. Syntactic revision in wh-questions: developmental trajectory and the role of cognitive control. In: Language, cognition and neuroscience, 2024, vol. 39, n° 6, p. 713–734. doi: 10.1080/23273798.2024.2355218
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Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Journal ISSN2327-3798
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