Dataset Information

Young Children's Comprehension of Temporal Relations in Complex Sentences: The Influence of Memory on Performance.

ABSTRACT: The present study investigated 3- to 7-year-olds' (N = 91) comprehension of two-clause sentences containing the temporal connectives before or after. The youngest children used an order of mention strategy to interpret the relation between clauses: They were more accurate when the presentation order matched the chronological order of events: "He ate his lunch, before he played in the garden" (chronological) versus "Before he played in the garden, he ate his lunch" (reverse). Between 4 and 6 years, performance was influenced by a combination of factors that influenced processing load: connective type and presentation order. An independent measure of working memory was predictive of performance. The study concludes that the memory demands of some sentence structures limits young children's comprehension of sentences containing temporal connectives.

SUBMITTER: Blything LP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4975597 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Young Children's Comprehension of Temporal Relations in Complex Sentences: The Influence of Memory on Performance.

Blything Liam P LP Davies Robert R Cain Kate K

Child development 20150826 6

The present study investigated 3- to 7-year-olds' (N = 91) comprehension of two-clause sentences containing the temporal connectives before or after. The youngest children used an order of mention strategy to interpret the relation between clauses: They were more accurate when the presentation order matched the chronological order of events: "He ate his lunch, before he played in the garden" (chronological) versus "Before he played in the garden, he ate his lunch" (reverse). Between 4 and 6 year ...[more]

PMID: 26309072

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Dataset Information

Young Children's Comprehension of Temporal Relations in Complex Sentences: The Influence of Memory on Performance.

Publications

Young Children's Comprehension of Temporal Relations in Complex Sentences: The Influence of Memory on Performance.

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