title: Phonological Priming With Nonwords in Children With and Without Specific Language Impairment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The cross-modal picture-word interference task is used to examine contextual effects on spoken-word production. Previous work has documented lexical-phonological interference in children with specific language impairment (SLI) when a related distractor (e.g., bell) occurs prior to a picture to be named (e.g., a bed). In the current study, the authors examined whether interference also arises with nonwords as distractors.
  
  
  METHODS
  In Study 1, children with SLI (N = 20; ages 7;1 [years;months] to 11;0) and age-matched controls named pictures accompanied by (a) phonologically related nonwords, (b) unrelated nonwords, or (c) the word go (baseline). Stimulus asynchrony (SA) varied across blocks with distractors occurring prior to (-300 ms, -100 ms) or after (+100 ms, +300 ms) the pictures. In Study 2, a cross-sectional sample of children (N = 48, 5;3 to 10;9) and adults (N = 16) performed the same task.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Child and adult control participants showed phonological priming (not interference) at early and late SAs, whereas children with SLI showed priming only at late SAs. Effect sizes correlated with language skills (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition scores; Semel, Wiig, & Secord, 2003). In the cross-sectional sample, anticipatory priming at SA -300 varied with age, with larger effects in older children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children with SLI utilize phonological information when it is available just in time for word production but fail to anticipate upcoming stimuli. Poor anticipatory processing may adversely affect language fluency in children with SLI.
authors.forename: Patricia J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.forename: Liat
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Seiger-Gardner
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Obeid
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: MacWhinney
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059031:Anticipation, Psychological; D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D060865:Repetition Priming; D013060:Speech; D013067:Speech Perception