Preschoolers’ word prediction in active and passive sentences
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Predicting upcoming words in a sentence is important in sentence processing. Previous research has shown that children’s vocabulary size and language production skills influence prediction speed. This study investigates whether syntactic complexity affects predictive processing using eye-tracking in a picture-selection task. Three conditions were tested: baseline (object recognition), active (syntactically simple) and passive sentences (syntactically complex). Data was collected for 29 four- and five-year-old Dutch children and 10 Dutch young adults. Results show that adults predict sentence endings quickly and accurately, regardless of complexity. Children predicted in both conditions, but less strongly in passive sentences. These findings suggest that while both adults and children engage in predictive processing, syntactic complexity weakens prediction in children.
Source: Nota Bene
DOI: 10.1075/nb.00045.roo
Authors: Floria Tosca van Rooy, Atty Schouwenaars
Institution: Meertens Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4415732115