Article
BUCLD2017_proceedings_Brooks et al. (1).pdf
BUCLD 41 Proceedings, Cascadilla Press, 2017.
(2017)
Abstract
Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) exhibit weak semantic-priming effects in spoken-word production/recognition relative to children with typical language development (TLD). We explored whether underutilization of semantic cues in lexical access might stem from variation in the structure of children’s semantic networks. Children with SLI and age-matched TLD controls (N=20 per group; ages 7;10–10;8) performed a repeated word-association task, producing the first word that came to mind in response to 24 cue-words over 4 list repetitions. Children with SLI produced more weakly related responses to the cue-words than TLD controls, and greater numbers of perseverative responses. Network models explored possible differences in connectivity patterns for SLI and TLD, using the shared associations to the cue-words within each group as input. Both networks displayed small-world properties compared to random networks; however, SLI networks had more global and less local connectivity, which might contribute to less efficient lexical search in SLI.
Keywords
- Repeated associations,
- SLI,
- semantic cues,
- networks,
- smallworld
Disciplines
Publication Date
2017
Citation Information
Patricia Brooks, Josita Maouene, Kevin Sailor and Liat Seiger-Gardner. "BUCLD2017_proceedings_Brooks et al. (1).pdf" BUCLD 41 Proceedings, Cascadilla Press, 2017. (2017) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/maouenej/37/