Berman, Jared M. J.Chambers, Craig G.Graham, Susan2020-04-202020-04-202010-06Berman, J. M. J., Chambers, C. G., & Graham, S. A. (2010). Preschoolers' appreciation of speaker vocal affect as a cue to referential intent. "Journal of Experimental Child Psychology", 107 (2010). 87-99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2010.04.012http://hdl.handle.net/1880/111821https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/43617An eye-tracking methodology was used to evaluate 3- and 4-year-old children's sensitivity to speaker affect when resolving referential ambiguity. Children were presented with pictures of three objects on a screen (including two referents of the same kind, e.g., an intact doll and a broken doll, and one distracter item), paired with a prerecorded referentially ambiguous instruction (e.g., "Look at the doll"). The intonation of the instruction varied in terms of the speaker's vocal affect: positive-sounding, negative-sounding, or neutral. Analyses of eye gaze patterns indicated that 4-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, were more likely to look to the referent whose state matched the speaker's vocal affect as the noun was heard (e.g., looked more often to the broken doll referent in the negative affect condition). These findings indicate that 4-year-olds can use speaker affect to help identify referential mappings during on-line comprehension.engUnless otherwise indicated, this material is protected by copyright and has been made available with authorization from the copyright owner. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.journal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2010.04.012