Procedural Learning in Adolescents With and Without Specific Language Impairment

Abstract

Deficits in procedural learning have been hypothesized to contribute to the language and in particular grammatical difficulties of individuals with specific language impairment (SLI). This study tested this hypothesis by examining serial reaction time (SRT) learning in adolescents with and without SLI. The SRT task involved blocks of random sequences and pattern sequences. Response times for correct trials showed that responses for both groups improved in the trial blocks containing the pattern sequence. Adolescents with SLI showed slower learning rates during the pattern learning in comparison to the controls. When the language impairment was defined in terms of grammar impairments similar slower learning rates were found, but when language impairment was based on vocabulary group differences were not found. The results suggest that deficits in procedural learning system may account for some of the individual differences in language and grammar learning as well as problems of individuals with SLI.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research reported in this paper was supported by grants from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (P50 DC 2746, Tomblin, P.I.). We thank Marlea O'Brien, Connie Ferguson, Wendy Fick, Juanita Limas, Marcia St. Clair, and Amy Schminke for their invaluable work in completing the study. Finally, we are most grateful to the adolescents who participated in the study.

Notes

¹We consider the classification of children into groups as simply a categorical assignment based on relative standing on specified language measures. Thus the terms “impaired” and “normal” are not being used to refer to invariant traits of the children, but rather assigned status that can vary depending upon among other things the language measures used. Thus, the group status of children can and will change. Throughout this paper SLI will refer to an assignment based on language measures spanning vocabulary, sentence use and narration.

²The third block was used because it was the midpoint in the trial series for the two random conditions. This same block was used for the pattern condition to allow comparison of intercept and slope values at the same time point across the random and pattern conditions.

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