Word Processing in Scene Context: An Event-Related Potential Study in Young Children

ABSTRACT

Semantic priming has been demonstrated in object or word contexts in toddlers. However, less is known about semantic priming in scene context. In this study, 24-month-olds with high and low vocabulary skills were presented with visual scenes (e.g., kitchen) followed by semantically consistent (e.g., spoon) or inconsistent (e.g., bed) spoken words. Inconsistent scene-word pairs evoked a larger N400 component over the frontal areas. Low-producers presented a larger N400 over the right while high-producers over the left frontal areas. Our results suggest that contextual information facilitates word processing in young children. Additionally, children with different linguistic skills activate different neural structures.

Acknowledgments

We thank all families for their participation and contribution to this research.

Funding

This research was funded by PME DIM Cerveau et Pensée 2013 (MOBIBRAIN), and LABEX EFL (ANR-10- LABX-0083). A. Helo was supported by the doctoral fellowship from CONICYT, Chile.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by PME DIM Cerveau et Pensée 2013 (MOBIBRAIN), and LABEX EFL (ANR-10- LABX-0083). A. Helo was supported by the doctoral fellowship from CONICYT, Chile.