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Impact of cognitive and linguistic ability on gaze behavior in children with hearing impairment.

Sandgren, Olof LU orcid ; Andersson, Richard LU ; van de Weijer, Joost LU orcid ; Hansson, Kristina LU orcid and Sahlén, Birgitta LU (2013) In Frontiers in Psychology 4.
Abstract
In order to explore verbal-nonverbal integration, we investigated the influence of cognitive and linguistic ability on gaze behavior during spoken language conversation between children with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment (HI) and normal-hearing (NH) peers. Ten HI-NH and 10 NH-NH dyads performed a referential communication task requiring description of faces. During task performance, eye movements and speech were tracked. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model associations between performance on cognitive and linguistic tasks and the probability of gaze to the conversational partner's face. Analyses compare the listeners in each dyad (HI: n = 10, mean age = 12; 6 years, SD = 2; 0, mean better ear pure-tone average 33.0... (More)
In order to explore verbal-nonverbal integration, we investigated the influence of cognitive and linguistic ability on gaze behavior during spoken language conversation between children with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment (HI) and normal-hearing (NH) peers. Ten HI-NH and 10 NH-NH dyads performed a referential communication task requiring description of faces. During task performance, eye movements and speech were tracked. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model associations between performance on cognitive and linguistic tasks and the probability of gaze to the conversational partner's face. Analyses compare the listeners in each dyad (HI: n = 10, mean age = 12; 6 years, SD = 2; 0, mean better ear pure-tone average 33.0 dB HL, SD = 7.8; NH: n = 10, mean age = 13; 7 years, SD = 1; 11). Group differences in gaze behavior - with HI gazing more to the conversational partner than NH - remained significant despite adjustment for ability on receptive grammar, expressive vocabulary, and complex working memory. Adjustment for phonological short term memory, as measured by non-word repetition, removed group differences, revealing an interaction between group membership and non-word repetition ability. Stratified analysis showed a twofold increase of the probability of gaze-to-partner for HI with low phonological short term memory capacity, and a decreased probability for HI with high capacity, as compared to NH peers. The results revealed differences in gaze behavior attributable to performance on a phonological short term memory task. Participants with HI and low phonological short term memory capacity showed a doubled probability of gaze to the conversational partner, indicative of a visual bias. The results stress the need to look beyond the HI in diagnostics and intervention. Acknowledgment of the finding requires clinical assessment of children with HI to be supported by tasks tapping phonological processing. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Frontiers in Psychology
volume
4
article number
856
publisher
Frontiers Media S. A.
external identifiers
  • pmid:24302915
  • wos:000331581400001
  • scopus:84889670193
  • pmid:24302915
ISSN
1664-1078
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00856
project
Thinking in Time: Cognition, Communication and Learning
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Logopedics, Phoniatrics and Audiology (013020000), Cognitive Science (015001004), Linguistics and Phonetics (015010003), Humanities Lab (015101200)
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2a8477f4-f627-46bd-86bf-7b97b9a847af (old id 4225263)
alternative location
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24302915?dopt=Abstract
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 15:06:26
date last changed
2023-11-13 16:37:12
@article{2a8477f4-f627-46bd-86bf-7b97b9a847af,
  abstract     = {{In order to explore verbal-nonverbal integration, we investigated the influence of cognitive and linguistic ability on gaze behavior during spoken language conversation between children with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment (HI) and normal-hearing (NH) peers. Ten HI-NH and 10 NH-NH dyads performed a referential communication task requiring description of faces. During task performance, eye movements and speech were tracked. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model associations between performance on cognitive and linguistic tasks and the probability of gaze to the conversational partner's face. Analyses compare the listeners in each dyad (HI: n = 10, mean age = 12; 6 years, SD = 2; 0, mean better ear pure-tone average 33.0 dB HL, SD = 7.8; NH: n = 10, mean age = 13; 7 years, SD = 1; 11). Group differences in gaze behavior - with HI gazing more to the conversational partner than NH - remained significant despite adjustment for ability on receptive grammar, expressive vocabulary, and complex working memory. Adjustment for phonological short term memory, as measured by non-word repetition, removed group differences, revealing an interaction between group membership and non-word repetition ability. Stratified analysis showed a twofold increase of the probability of gaze-to-partner for HI with low phonological short term memory capacity, and a decreased probability for HI with high capacity, as compared to NH peers. The results revealed differences in gaze behavior attributable to performance on a phonological short term memory task. Participants with HI and low phonological short term memory capacity showed a doubled probability of gaze to the conversational partner, indicative of a visual bias. The results stress the need to look beyond the HI in diagnostics and intervention. Acknowledgment of the finding requires clinical assessment of children with HI to be supported by tasks tapping phonological processing.}},
  author       = {{Sandgren, Olof and Andersson, Richard and van de Weijer, Joost and Hansson, Kristina and Sahlén, Birgitta}},
  issn         = {{1664-1078}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Psychology}},
  title        = {{Impact of cognitive and linguistic ability on gaze behavior in children with hearing impairment.}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/4341355/4438257}},
  doi          = {{10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00856}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}