Eye Say: Investigating language production processes in typical and atypical development

Language impairments are common in developmental disorders such as specific language impairment and autism spectrum disorder.
This research will use eye-tracking techniques to assess language production in these groups by recording children's eye-movements as they describe pictures. Research with adults has revealed remarkably consistent eye-movement patterns; speakers quickly scan the scene to 'get the gist' of the event before looking at elements of the scene in the order that they are mentioned. Fluent speakers shift their gaze to the next item in the sequence before they’ve finished pronouncing the current word. Also the time spent gazing at an object reflects the time needed to access the object's name from the mental dictionary. Thus eye-movements reveal the time course of decisions about what to say and quantify the amount of effort involved in saying it.
Six studies are planned in which factors contributing to decisions about what to say and factors that influence how easy it is to say it are varied. This makes it possible to pinpoint group differences in planning, organising and producing verbal language. This information will inform efforts to remediate expressive language difficulties across developmental disorders.