Two studies test the hypotheses that individual differences in phonological memory among children younger than two years can be assessed using a non-word repetition task (NWR) and that these differences are related to the children's rates of vocabulary development. NWR accuracy, real word repetition accuracy and productive vocabulary were assessed in 15 children between 1 ; 9 and 2 ; 0 in Study...

We investigate the finite repetition threshold for k-letter alphabets, k ≥ 4, that is the smallest number r for which there exists an infinite r+-free word containing a finite number of r-powers. We show that there exists an infinite Dejean word on a 4-letter alphabet (i.e. a word without factors of exponent more than 7 5 ) containing only two 7 5 -powers. For a 5-letter alphabet, we show that ...

Several scientists have proposed different models for cortical processing of speech. Classically, the regions participating in language were thought to be modular with a linear sequence of activations. More recently, modern theoretical models have posited a more hierarchical and distributed interaction of anatomic areas for the various stages of speech processing. Traditional imaging techniques...

Three experiments are described which use RSVP (rapid serial visual presentation) to demonstrate a new cognitive phenomenon called “repetition blindness”. Subjects have difficulty detecting repeated words-even when the two occurrences are nonconsecutive and differ in case (Experiment 1). In immediate verbatim recall of sentences (Experiment 2), subjects selectively omitted second instances of r...

Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) have difficulty with, amongst other things, non-word repetition tasks. This paper presents preliminary research into the nature of the phonological deficit in SLI. We report results from four SLI children tested on a new set of non-words which, unlike previous sets, takes metrical and syllabic complexity into account. Most errors occur in non-wor...

Watching a speaker say words benefits subsequent auditory recognition of the same words. In this study, we tested whether hearing words also facilitates subsequent phonological processing from visual speech, and if so, whether speaker repetition influences the magnitude of this word repetition priming. We used long-term cross-modal repetition priming as a means to investigate the underlying lex...