Cognitive Control Skills Are Related to Ambiguity Awareness in French‐Learning 5‐to‐6‐Year‐Olds: Implications for Reading Development

Fuente: Wiley Open Access
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Violette Bigot, John Trueswell, Alex de Carvalho
Natura: Artículo Open Access
Pubblicazione: Wiley 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1867006467871080448
author Violette Bigot
John Trueswell
Alex de Carvalho
author_facet Violette Bigot
John Trueswell
Alex de Carvalho
Violette Bigot
John Trueswell
Alex de Carvalho
collection Wiley Open Access
contents Cognitive Control Skills Are Related to Ambiguity Awareness in French‐Learning 5‐to‐6‐Year‐Olds: Implications for Reading Development Violette Bigot John Trueswell Alex de Carvalho Cognitive Science AbstractFive‐to‐six‐year‐olds’ abilities to detect and solve ambiguities in spoken language have been found to be a predictor of their later reading abilities in first‐to‐third grade. However, the origins of this relationship remain unclear. Success in ambiguity detection may be reflective of overall language attainment, which varies with socioeconomic status (SES) and is known to predict reading. Yet, it is also possible that children's ability to detect ambiguity is explained by domain‐general cognitive control skills, which can also vary with SES and predict literacy attainment. In this cross‐sectional study, we examined within the same children the contributions of overall language knowledge, SES, and cognitive control skills to their ability to detect ambiguities in speech. Five‐to‐six‐year‐old French‐learning preschoolers (n = 38) performed three different tasks: ambiguity detection, a cognitive control (Flanker/No‐Go) task, and standard assessments of vocabulary and oral language comprehension in French (BSEDS). Years of maternal education after the end of high school were used as a proxy of family SES. Individual differences in the ability to detect ambiguity were strongly related to children's cognitive control abilities, as indexed by congruency effects in the Flanker task. No relations with SES or language assessment were observed. These results lend support to the idea that children's reading development may hinge upon their ability to deal effectively with temporary lexical, syntactic, and semantic ambiguities that pervade real‐time sentence interpretation and that their ability to deal with representational conflict in speech is reflective of their domain‐general cognitive control skills. 10.1111/cogs.70089 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
doi_str_mv 10.1111/cogs.70089
format Artículo Open Access
id wiley_oa_10_1111_cogs_70089
institution Wiley Open Access
license_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
publishDate 2025
publisher Wiley
record_format wiley_oa
spellingShingle Cognitive Control Skills Are Related to Ambiguity Awareness in French‐Learning 5‐to‐6‐Year‐Olds: Implications for Reading Development
Violette Bigot
John Trueswell
Alex de Carvalho
Cognitive Science
Cognitive Control Skills Are Related to Ambiguity Awareness in French‐Learning 5‐to‐6‐Year‐Olds: Implications for Reading Development Violette Bigot John Trueswell Alex de Carvalho Cognitive Science AbstractFive‐to‐six‐year‐olds’ abilities to detect and solve ambiguities in spoken language have been found to be a predictor of their later reading abilities in first‐to‐third grade. However, the origins of this relationship remain unclear. Success in ambiguity detection may be reflective of overall language attainment, which varies with socioeconomic status (SES) and is known to predict reading. Yet, it is also possible that children's ability to detect ambiguity is explained by domain‐general cognitive control skills, which can also vary with SES and predict literacy attainment. In this cross‐sectional study, we examined within the same children the contributions of overall language knowledge, SES, and cognitive control skills to their ability to detect ambiguities in speech. Five‐to‐six‐year‐old French‐learning preschoolers (n = 38) performed three different tasks: ambiguity detection, a cognitive control (Flanker/No‐Go) task, and standard assessments of vocabulary and oral language comprehension in French (BSEDS). Years of maternal education after the end of high school were used as a proxy of family SES. Individual differences in the ability to detect ambiguity were strongly related to children's cognitive control abilities, as indexed by congruency effects in the Flanker task. No relations with SES or language assessment were observed. These results lend support to the idea that children's reading development may hinge upon their ability to deal effectively with temporary lexical, syntactic, and semantic ambiguities that pervade real‐time sentence interpretation and that their ability to deal with representational conflict in speech is reflective of their domain‐general cognitive control skills. 10.1111/cogs.70089 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
title Cognitive Control Skills Are Related to Ambiguity Awareness in French‐Learning 5‐to‐6‐Year‐Olds: Implications for Reading Development
topic Cognitive Science
url https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cogs.70089