Event-related potential (ERP) evidence demonstrates that preschool-aged children selectively attend to informative moments such as word onsets during speech perception. Although this observation indicates a role for attention in language processing, it is unclear whether this type of attention is part of basic speech perception mechanisms, higher-level language skills, or general cognitive abilities. The current study examined these possibilities by measuring ERPs from 5-year-old children listening to a narrative containing attention probes presented before, during, and after word onsets as well as at random control times. Children also completed behavioral tests assessing verbal and nonverbal skills. Probes presented after word onsets elicited a more negative ERP response beginning around 100 ms after probe onset than control probes, indicating increased attention to word-initial segments. Crucially, the magnitude of this difference was correlated with performance on verbal tasks, but showed no relationship to nonverbal measures. More specifically, ERP attention effects were most strongly correlated with performance on a complex metalinguistic task involving grammaticality judgments. These results demonstrate that effective allocation of attention during speech perception supports higher-level, controlled language processing in children by allowing them to focus on relevant information at individual word and complex sentence levels.

事件相关电位 (ERP) 证据表明，学龄前儿童在言语感知期间有选择地关注信息性时刻，例如单词开始。尽管这一观察表明注意力在语言处理中的作用，但尚不清楚这种类型的注意力是基本语音感知机制、高级语言技能还是一般认知能力的一部分。当前的研究通过测量 5 岁儿童的 ERP 来检验这些可能性，这些儿童听包含在单词出现之前、期间和之后以及随机控制时间呈现的注意力探针的叙述。儿童还完成了评估语言和非语言技能的行为测试。在词开始后出现的探针比对照探针在探针开始后 100 毫秒左右开始引起更负面的 ERP 响应，表明对词首段的关注度增加。至关重要的是，这种差异的大小与语言任务的表现相关，但与非语言测量没有关系。更具体地说，ERP 注意力效应与涉及语法判断的复杂元语言任务的表现最密切相关。这些结果表明，语音感知过程中注意力的有效分配通过让他们专注于单个单词和复杂句子级别的相关信息来支持儿童更高级别的受控语言处理。ERP 注意力效应与涉及语法判断的复杂元语言任务的表现最密切相关。这些结果表明，语音感知过程中注意力的有效分配通过让他们专注于单个单词和复杂句子级别的相关信息来支持儿童更高级别的受控语言处理。ERP 注意力效应与涉及语法判断的复杂元语言任务的表现最密切相关。这些结果表明，语音感知过程中注意力的有效分配通过让他们专注于单个单词和复杂句子级别的相关信息来支持儿童更高级别的受控语言处理。