Getting the timing right: Factors affecting gap length in children’s responses to questions

Young children respond to their interlocutors more slowly than adults do, and their timing skills tend to break down further as more speakers join the conversation (Lieberman and Garvey, 1977; Garvey and Berninger, 1981; Dunn and Shatz, 1989; Smith, 2010). In learning to time their utterances in an adult-like way, children must firmly grasp timing conventions, the ability to project turn-end boundaries, and how to plan appropriate responses. Some suggest that, because of their limited turn-taking skills and long latencies, young children may not be able to project turn-end boundaries (e.g. Gearhart and Newman (1977)). However, most studies have investigated latencies in child-child conversation, even though caregiver-child interaction is ordinarily taken as primary. In responding to questions, children face variability in the length and complexity of the questions and answers, as well as the types of question at hand (e.g. wh-, yes/no, a or b, etc.), and the question functions (expected responses, e.g. label, locate, confirm, etc.). Factors such as these have rarely been studied since Garvey and Berninger (1981), but likely mediate the variability in children’s response latencies. The current study addresses these issues, reaching toward the larger question of what cues children use in processing information to take turns. It was found that response latencies decreased as the children grew older, indicating an increase in ability to track the adult’s turn and plan their own response in a timely manner. More interestingly, response latencies were significantly affected by answer length and question function, indicating that children’s conversational timing varies with the amount of work that must go into both comprehending the question and, especially, forming a relevant response. Children often get the timing right by the age of four, and thus may already be able to project turn-end boundaries. If so, the current results imply that children master turn-projection skills relatively early in comparison to their production capabilities.