Search for: All records

Abstract Visual-world eye-tracking has long been a useful tool for measuring young children’s real-time interpretation of words and sentences. Recently, researchers have extended this method to virtual platforms to reduce equipment costs and recruit more diverse participants. However, there is currently limited guidance on best practices, which require individual researchers to invent their own methodologies and may prevent broader adoption. Here, we present three broad approaches for implementing nine remote visual-world eye-tracking studies, and show that this method is highly feasible for assessing fine-grained language processing across populations of varying ages, clinical statuses, and socioeconomic status backgrounds. We outline strategic methods for conducting this research effectively, including strategies for experimental design, data collection, and data analysis given the variable conditions outside of a lab setting. We adopt four criteria for evaluating success for this method: 1) Minimal subject attrition relative to in-person studies, 2) Minimal track loss relative to conventional eye-tracking, 3) Conceptual replication of previous findings, and 4) Evidence of broadening participation. These case studies provide a thorough guide to future researchers looking to conduct remote eye-tracking research with developmental populations. Ultimately, we conclude that visual-world eye-tracking using internet-based methods is feasible for research with young children and may provide a relatively inexpensive option that can reach a broader, more diverse set of participants. 

Abstract Statistical learning (SL) is the ability to detect and learn regularities from input and is foundational to language acquisition. Despite the dominant role of SL as a theoretical construct for language development, there is a lack of direct evidence supporting the shared neural substrates underlying language processing and SL. It is also not clear whether the similarities, if any, are related to linguistic processing, or statistical regularities in general. The current study tests whether the brain regions involved in natural language processing are similarly recruited during auditory, linguistic SL. Twenty-two adults performed an auditory linguistic SL task, an auditory nonlinguistic SL task, and a passive story listening task as their neural activation was monitored. Within the language network, the left posterior temporal gyrus showed sensitivity to embedded speech regularities during auditory, linguistic SL, but not auditory, nonlinguistic SL. Using a multivoxel pattern similarity analysis, we uncovered similarities between the neural representation of auditory, linguistic SL, and language processing within the left posterior temporal gyrus. No other brain regions showed similarities between linguistic SL and language comprehension, suggesting that a shared neurocomputational process for auditory SL and natural language processing within the left posterior temporal gyrus is specific to linguistic stimuli.