Anticipatory gaze and argument structure building in children with specific language impairment

Abstract

A listening paradigm was employed in an eye-tracking study to establish differences in argument structure building between children with typical language development (TLD) and children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). The pictures presented to the participants triggered anticipatory eye movements due to the nature of their relation to the verb and its argument structure (syntactic or semantic). The difference between the two groups of children reveals the compensatory strategy of children with SLI.