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.

Q词语传播 （Q-spreading），即儿童根据“额外宾语”图片对普遍量化的句子的错误伪造，可能会持续到童年之后，儿童坚持 Q 传播而在整个测试过程中没有改变反应。我们通过图片句子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。我们还研究了韵律重读是否会影响他们对普遍量化句子的理解和处理。虽然成年人的理解能力是天花板，但儿童/青少年（4-17 岁）表现出各种理解模式，分为：“成人样反应者”（始终像成人一样）、“Q 传播者”（始终显示 Q 传播）和 “转换者”（从 Q 传播转变为成人）。虽然成年人很少看外宾语，但 “Q-spreaders” 在整个测试过程中表现出频繁的眼神，而 “Switchers” 和 “Adult-like responders” 都表现出对外宾语的看向减少，这表明避免和纠正 Q -扩散需要抑制对外宾语的视觉注意。韵律强调对眼球运动的影响在儿童/青少年中比在成人中出现得晚。