Disambiguation Effect:› Ambiguity task with a familiar object and an
unfamiliar object › Children choose the unfamiliar object when
presented with an unfamiliar name
Children as young as 15 months disambiguate (Markman, Wasow, & Hansen, 2003)
Phonetic similarity disrupts disambiguation (Merriman & Schuster, 1991)
Preschoolers disambiguate even when the adult gestures toward the familiar object (Jaswal & Hansen, 2006)
To investigate how children with SLI resolve ambiguity in a disambiguation task given three word conditions: › a phonetically distinct (PD) word, › a phonetically similar (PS) word, › and an oppositional gesture (OG) combined
with a PD word
36 object pairs : one familiar object and one unfamiliar object › 30 experimental trials
(10 PD, 10 PS, 10 OG) › 6 real word foils
The OG trial: pointing to the familiar object (e.g., the bowl) while simultaneously asking for an object with a PD word (e.g., “Get the clird”)
15 Children: 10 Boys and 5 Girls 3 Groups: SLI, TD Chronological Age (CA)
peers, and TD Language Age (LA) peers
Groups Age Age
Equivalent
NDW
SLI
n = 5
5;0 to 6;11
M = 72
42-64
M = 51
62-95
M = 75
CA
n = 5
5;0 to 6;11
M = 72
72-84
M = 81
89-108
M = 98
LA
n = 5
3;5 to 5;0
M = 48
39-76
M = 61
69-95
M = 83
Participants
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10
11
=SLI<CA5 LA
Participants
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Se
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1
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10
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=SLI<CA5 LA
Participants
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Se
lectio
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=SLI<CA5 LA
5 and 6 year olds with SLI selected unfamiliar objects more than chance but significantly less often than same-age typically developing children
Could explain fast mapping deficits
SLI: select familiar objects with PS words
TD: show varied responses
May be explained by › differences in lexical and phonological
activation› limited processing capacity
7/10 TD children selected unfamiliar objects, overriding the gesture to the familiar object
SLI made random selections
Multiple factors in the event may be processed more flexibly by TD children
Christina H. Fikes, M.S. [email protected]
Julie M. Estis, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Brenda L. Beverly. Ph.D., CCC-SLP [email protected]