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Deficits of Learning in Procedural Memory and Consolidation in Declarative Memory in Adults With Developmental Language Disorder.

ABSTRACT: Purpose This study examined procedural and declarative learning and consolidation abilities in adults with developmental language disorder (DLD) relative to their typical language (TD) peers. Method A total of 100 young adults (age 18-24 years) with (n = 21) and without (n = 79) DLD participated across two sites. Performance measures on a recognition memory task and a serial reaction time task were used to assess declarative and procedural memory, respectively. Performance was measured shortly after learning (8 a.m.) and again after a 12-hr, overnight delay (8 a.m.). Results Linear mixed-effects modeling was used to examine the effects of time and group membership on task performance. For the serial reaction time task, there were significant effects of group (TD > DLD) and time (Day 1 > Day 2), but no interaction between them. For the recognition memory task, there was a significant interaction between group and time, driven by overnight gains in the TD group, combined with stable performance across days by those with DLD. Conclusions In procedural memory, adults with DLD demonstrate a learning deficit relative to adults without DLD, but appear to have comparable retention of learned information. In declarative memory, adults with DLD demonstrate a deficit in the overnight enhancement of memory retrieval, despite typical-like learning exhibited when tested shortly after encoding. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13626485.

SUBMITTER: Earle FS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8632504 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Background and aimsPrevious research into word learning in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) indicates that the learning of word forms and meanings, rather than form-referent links, is problematic. This difficulty appears to arise with impaired encoding, while retention of word knowledge remains intact. Evidence also suggests that word learning skills may be related to verbal working memory. We aimed to substantiate these findings in the current study by exploring word learning over a series of days.MethodsFifty children with DLD (mean age 6; 11, 72% male) and 54 age-matched typically developing (TD) children (mean age 6; 10, 56% male) were taught eight novel words across a four-day word learning protocol. Day 1 measured encoding, Days 2 and 3 measured re-encoding, and Day 4 assessed retention. At each day, word learning success was evaluated using Naming, Recognition, Description, and Identification tasks.ResultsChildren with DLD showed comparable performance to the TD group on the Identification task, indicating an intact ability to learn the form-referent links. In contrast, children with DLD performed significantly worse for Naming and Recognition (signifying an impaired ability to learn novel word forms), and for Description, indicating problems establishing new word meanings. These deficits for the DLD group were apparent at Days 1, 2, and 3 of testing, indicating impairments with initial encoding and re-encoding; however, the DLD and TD groups demonstrated a similar rate of learning. All children found the retention assessments at Day 4 difficult, and there were no significant group differences. Finally, verbal working memory emerged as a significant moderator of performance on the Naming and Recognition tasks, such that children with DLD and poor verbal working memory had the lowest levels of accuracy.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that children with DLD struggle with learning novel word forms and meanings, but are unimpaired in their ability to establish new form-referent links. The findings suggest that the word learning deficit may be attributed to problems with encoding, rather than with retention, of new word knowledge; however, further exploration is required given the poor performance of both groups for retention testing. Furthermore, we found evidence that an impaired ability to learn word forms may only be apparent in children who have DLD and low levels of verbal working memory.ImplicationsWhen working with children with DLD, speech-language pathologists should assess word learning using tasks that evaluate the ability to learn word forms, meanings, and form-referent links to develop a profile of individual word learning strengths and weaknesses. Clinicians should also assess verbal working memory to identify children at particular risk of word learning deficits. Future research should explore the notion of optimal intervention intensity for facilitating word learning in children with poor language and verbal working memory.

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Deficits of Learning in Procedural Memory and Consolidation in Declarative Memory in Adults With Developmental Language Disorder.

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