title: Developmental differences in the influence of phonological similarity on spoken word processing in Mandarin Chinese.
abstract: The developmental trajectory of spoken word recognition has been well established in Indo-European languages, but to date remains poorly characterized in Mandarin Chinese. In this study, typically developing children (N=17; mean age 10; 5) and adults (N=17; mean age 24) performed a picture-word matching task in Mandarin while we recorded ERPs. Mismatches diverged from expectations in different components of the Mandarin syllable; namely, word-initial phonemes, word-final phonemes, and tone. By comparing responses to different mismatch types, we uncovered evidence suggesting that both children and adults process words incrementally. However, we also observed key developmental differences in how subjects treated onset and rime mismatches. This was taken as evidence for a stronger influence of top-down processing on spoken word recognition in adults compared to children. This work therefore offers an important developmental component to theories of Mandarin spoken word recognition.
authors.affiliation: Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London N6A 5B7, Canada; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven 06511, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Malins
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Danqi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston 60208, USA.
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Booth
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London N6A 5B7, Canada.
authors.forename: Marc F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Joanisse
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. Electronic address: lilyliu.bnu@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg R3B 2E9, Canada. Electronic address: a.desroches@uwinnipeg.ca.
authors.forename: Amy S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Desroches
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Development; ERPs; Incremental processing; Lexical competition; Mandarin Chinese; Spoken word recognition; Top-down processing