Quantifier spreading (Q-spreading), children’s incorrect falsification of a universally-quantified sentence based on an ‘extra-object’ picture, may persist beyond childhood, and children adhere to Q-spreading without changing responses throughout testing. We examined the error patterns across wider age groups (aged 4-79) with a picture-sentence verification eye-tracking task. We also examined whether prosodic emphasis affects their comprehension and processing of universally-quantified sentences. Whereas adults’ comprehension was ceiling, children/adolescents (aged 4-17) showed various comprehension patterns, splitting into: ‘Adult-like responders’ (consistently adult-like), ‘Q-spreaders’ (consistently showing Q-spreading), and ‘Switchers’ (shifted from Q-spreading to adult-like). While adults rarely looked at the extra-object, ‘Q-spreaders’ showed frequent looks throughout testing, and both ‘Switchers’ and ‘Adult-like responders’ exhibited reduced looks to the extra-object, suggesting that avoidance and correction of Q-spreading requires inhibition of the visual attention to the extra-object. The effect of prosodic emphasis on eye movement emerged later for children/adolescents than adults.

中文翻译：

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儿童、青少年和成人对全称量词的理解和处理

问量词传播（Q-传播），儿童对基于“额外对象”图片的普遍量化句子的错误伪造可能会持续到童年之后，并且儿童在整个测试过程中坚持 Q 传播而不改变反应。我们通过图画句验证眼动追踪任务检查了更广泛年龄组（4-79 岁）的错误模式。我们还研究了韵律强调是否影响他们对普遍量化句子的理解和处理。虽然成人的理解能力有限，但儿童/青少年（4-17 岁）却表现出不同的理解模式，分为：“类似成人的反应者”（始终像成人一样）、“Q 传播者”（始终表现出 Q 传播）、和“Switchers”（从 Q-spreading 转变为类似成人）。虽然成年人很少看额外物体，但“Q-传播者”在整个测试过程中表现出频繁的注视，而“转换者”和“类似成人的反应者”都表现出减少对额外物体的注视，这表明避免和纠正 Q-传播需要抑制对额外物体的视觉注意。儿童/青少年的韵律强调对眼球运动的影响比成人晚出现。