Event perception by children in the early stages of language production.
The distribution of attention to the actors in a visual event and the influence of linguistic variables on attention were studied. 1-word and 2-word children viewed a filmed event that portrayed a brief agent-action-recipient sequence in the presence of a nonparticipant. The event was accompanied by linguistic input that was general or named an actor. A habituation paradigm was used with a cardiac response measure. Response recovery to brief occlusions of the actors in the test trials indicated the existence of a neutral period before the action began during which attention was evenly distributed across the actors. During and after the action, the agent commanded a priority in the distribution of attention. Naming an actor had a strong directing influence on attention in the neutral period and more limited effects on attention during and after the action. There were no effects of sex or language status.
D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child; D013067:Speech Perception; D014796:Visual Perception