Inflectional morphology in a family with inherited specific language impairment

1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL T. ULLMAN ◽  
MYRNA GOPNIK
Keyword(s):  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Word Forms

The production of regular and irregular past tense forms was investigated among the members of an English-speaking family with a hereditary disorder of language. Unlike the control subjects, the family members affected by the disorder failed to generate overregularizations (e.g., digged) or novel regular forms (plammed, crived), whereas they did produce novel irregularizations (crive–crove). They showed word frequency effects for regular past tense forms (looked) and had trouble producing regulars and irregulars (looked, dug). This pattern cannot be easily explained by deficits of articulation or of perceptual processing, by previous simulations of impairments to a single-mechanism system, or by the extended optional infinitive hypothesis. We argue that the pattern is consistent with a three-level explanation. First, we posit a grammatical deficit of rules or morphological paradigms. This may be caused by a dysfunction of a frontal/basal-ganglia “procedural memory” system previously implicated in the implicit learning and use of motor and cognitive skills. Second, in contexts requiring inflection in the normal adult grammar, the affected subjects appear to retrieve word forms as a function of their accessibility and conceptual appropriateness (“conceptual selection”). Their acquisition and use of these word forms may rely on a “declarative memory” system previously implicated in the explicit learning and use of facts and events. Third, a compensatory strategy may be at work. Some family members may have explicitly learned a strategy of adding suffix-like endings to forms retrieved by conceptual selection. The morphological errors of young normal children appear to be similar to those of the affected family members, who may have been left stranded with conceptual selection by a specific developmental arrest. The same underlying deficit may also explain the impaired subjects' difficulties with derivational morphology.

The perfective past tense in Greek as a second language

2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 501-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Clahsen ◽  
Maria Martzoukou ◽  
Stavroula Stavrakaki
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Word Forms

This study reports results from four experiments investigating the perfective past tense of Greek in adult second language (L2) learners. The data come from L2 learners of Greek with intermediate to advanced L2 proficiency and different native language (L1) backgrounds, and L1 speakers of Greek. All participants were tested in both oral and written elicited production and acceptability judgment tasks on both existing and novel verb stimuli. The results showed that the L2 learners did not achieve native-like performance on the perfective past tense in Greek, even at an advanced level of proficiency. The L2 learners often chose verb forms that did not encode the perfective past tense. Differences to native speakers were found particularly for non-sigmatic verb forms, which contain morphological irregularities in the target language. The results of the four experiments will be discussed in the light of previous findings and accounts of inflectional morphology in adult L2 learners. Taken together, the results suggest that L2 learners rely more on stored inflected word forms and on associative generalizations than native speakers.

scholarly journals Declarative and Sequential learning in Spanish-speaking children with Language Impairment

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paloma Roa-Rojas ◽  
Juan Silva-Pereyra ◽  
Donna Jackson-Maldonado ◽  
Miguel M. A. Villa-Rodríguez ◽  
Margaret Gillon-Dowens
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Sequential Learning ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Declarative Learning

Language Impairment (LI) is a developmental disorder that mainly manifests impaired language learning and processing. Evidence, largely from English-speaking population studies, has shown that children with LI compared to typically developing (TD) children have low scores in sequential learning tasks but similar performance in declarative learning tasks. According to the declarative/procedural model, LI children compensate for their deficiency in syntactic skills (i.e., deficits in the procedural memory system) by using the declarative memory system (indispensable for vocabulary acquisition). Although there are specific deficits in children with LI depending on the language they speak, it is assumed that this model can explain the shortcomings of such pathology regardless of the language spoken. In the current study, we compared the performance of fifteen school-aged Mexican Spanish-speaking children with LI and twenty TD children during sequential and declarative learning tasks and then analyzed the relationship between their performance in these tasks and their abilities in syntax and semantics. Children with LI displayed lower scores than normal children in the sequential learning task, but no differences were found in declarative learning performance with verbal or visual stimuli. No significant correlations were observed in children with LI between their performance in sequential learning and their abilities in semantics and no significant correlations were observed in TD children between their performance in sequential learning and their abilities in syntax. In contrast, for children with LI, a significant correlation between their performance in declarative learning and their abilities in semantics was observed and for the group of TD children a significant correlation between their performance in declarative learning and their abilities in syntax was observed. This study shows that Spanish-speaking children with LI display a pattern of learning impairment that supports the declarative/procedural model hypothesis. However, they display poor verbal declarative learning skills, probably due to low verbal working memory capacity.

scholarly journals Processing Verb Meanings and the Declarative/Procedural Model: A Developmental Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Stefaniak ◽  
Véronique Baltazart ◽  
Christelle Declercq
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Developmental Study ◽  
Sequential Processing ◽  
Grammaticality Judgments ◽  
Typicality Effect ◽  
Verb Processing

According to the Declarative/Procedural Model, the lexicon depends on declarative memory while grammar relies on procedural memory. Furthermore, procedural memory underlies the sequential processing of language. Thus, this system is important for predicting the next item in a sentence. Verb processing represents a good candidate to test this assumption. Semantic representations of verbs include information about the protagonists in the situations they refer to. This semantic knowledge is acquired implicitly and used during verb processing, such that the processing of a verb preactivates its typical patients (e.g., the window for break). Thus, determining how the patient typicality effect appears during children’s cognitive development could provide evidence about the memory system that is dedicated to this effect. Two studies are presented in which French children aged 6–10 and adults made grammaticality judgments on 80 auditorily presented sentences. In Experiment 1, the verb was followed by a typical patient or by a less typical patient. In Experiment 2, grammatical sentences were constructed such that the verb was followed either by a typical patient or by a noun that could not be a patient of that verb. The typicality effect occurs in younger children and is interpreted in terms of developmental invariance. We suggest that this effect may depend on procedural memory, in line with studies that showed that meaning is necessary to allow procedural memory to learn the sequence of words in a sentence.

scholarly journals A Daytime Nap Does Not Enhance the Retention of a First-Order or Second-Order Motor Sequence

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Barham ◽  
Jarrad A. G. Lum ◽  
Russell Conduit ◽  
Lara Fernadez ◽  
Peter G. Enticott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
First Order ◽  
Daytime Nap

This study examined the effects of a daytime nap on the retention of implicitly learnt “first-order conditional” (FOC) and “second-order conditional” (SOC) motor sequences. The implicit learning and retention of a motor sequence has been linked to the neural processes undertaken by the basal ganglia and primary motor cortex (i.e., procedural memory system). There is evidence, however, suggesting that SOC learning may further rely on the hippocampus-supported declarative memory system. Sleep appears to benefit the retention of information processed by the declarative memory system, but not the procedural memory system. Thus, it was hypothesized that sleep would benefit the retention of a SOC motor sequence but not a FOC sequence. The implicit learning and retention of these sequences was examined using the Serial Reaction Time Task. In this study, healthy adults implicitly learnt either a FOC (n = 20) or a SOC sequence (n = 20). Retention of both sequences was assessed following a daytime nap and period of wakefulness. Sleep was not found to improve the retention of the SOC sequence. There were no significant differences in the retention of a FOC or a SOC sequence following a nap or period of wakefulness. The study questions whether the declarative memory system is involved in the retention of implicitly learnt SOC sequences.

scholarly journals Declarative and Sequential learning in Spanish-speaking children with Language Impairment

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paloma Roa-Rojas ◽  
Juan Silva-Pereyra ◽  
Donna Jackson-Maldonado ◽  
Miguel M. A. Villa-Rodríguez ◽  
Margaret Gillon-Dowens
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Sequential Learning ◽  
Normal Children ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Declarative Learning

Language Impairment (LI) is a developmental disorder that mainly manifests impaired language learning and processing. Evidence, largely from English-speaking population studies, has shown that children with LI compared to typically developing (TD) children have low scores in sequential learning tasks but similar performance in declarative learning tasks. According to the declarative/procedural model, LI children compensate for their deficiency in syntactic skills (i.e., deficits in the procedural memory system) by using the declarative memory system (indispensable for vocabulary acquisition). Although there are specific deficits in children with LI depending on the language they speak, it is assumed that this model can explain the shortcomings of such pathology regardless of the language spoken. In the current study, we compared the performance of fifteen school-aged Mexican Spanish-speaking children with LI and twenty TD children during sequential and declarative learning tasks and then analyzed the relationship between their performance in these tasks and their abilities in syntax and semantics. Children with LI displayed lower scores than normal children in the sequential learning task, but no differences were found in declarative learning performance with verbal or visual stimuli. No significant correlations were observed in children with LI between their performance in sequential learning and their abilities in semantics and no significant correlations were observed in TD children between their performance in sequential learning and their abilities in syntax. In contrast, for children with LI, a significant correlation between their performance in declarative learning and their abilities in semantics was observed and for the group of TD children a significant correlation between their performance in declarative learning and their abilities in syntax was observed. This study shows that Spanish-speaking children with LI display a pattern of learning impairment that supports the declarative/procedural model hypothesis. However, they display poor verbal declarative learning skills, probably due to low verbal working memory capacity.

The role of declarative and procedural memory in disorders of language

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Ullman
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Memory Impairments ◽  
Fluent Aphasia ◽  
Basal Ganglia Structures

Language is often assumed to rely on domain-specific neurocognitive substrates. However, this human capacity in fact seems to crucially depend on general-purpose memory systems in the brain. Evidence suggests that lexical memory relies heavily on declarative memory, which is specialized for arbitrary associations and is rooted in temporal lobe structures. The mental grammar instead relies largely on procedural memory, a system that underlies rules and sequences, and is rooted in frontal/basal-ganglia structures. Developmental and adult-onset disorders such as Specific Language Impairment, autism, Tourette syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and non-fluent aphasia each seem to involve particular grammatical deficits and analogous non-linguistic procedural memory impairments, as well as abnormalities of procedural memory brain structures. Lexical and declarative memory remain relatively intact in these disorders, and may play compensatory roles. In contrast, Alzheimer’s disease, semantic dementia, fluent aphasia and amnesia each affect lexical and declarative memory, and involve abnormalities of declarative memory brain structures, while leaving grammar and procedural memory largely intact. Overall, the evidence suggests that declarative and procedural memory play critical roles in language disorders, as well as in language more generally.

The neural basis of lexicon and grammar in first and second language: the declarative/procedural model

2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Ullman
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Lexical Memory ◽  
Electrophysiological Studies ◽  
Neural Bases ◽  
Basal Ganglia Structures

Theoretical and empirical aspects of the neural bases of the mental lexicon and the mental grammar in first and second language (L1 and L2) are discussed. It is argued that in L1, the learning, representation, and processing of lexicon and grammar depend on two well-studied brain memory systems. According to the declarative/procedural model, lexical memory depends upon declarative memory, which is rooted in temporal lobe structures, and has been implicated in the learning and use of fact and event knowledge. Aspects of grammar are subserved by procedural memory, which is rooted in left frontal/basal-ganglia structures, and has been implicated in the acquisition and expression of motor and cognitive skills and habits. This view is supported by psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic evidence. In contrast, linguistic forms whose grammatical computation depends upon procedural memory in L1 are posited to be largely dependent upon declarative/lexical memory in L2. They may be either memorized or constructed by explicit rules learned in declarative memory. Thus in L2, such linguistic forms should be less dependent on procedural memory, and more dependent on declarative memory, than in L1. Moreover, this shift to declarative memory is expected to increase with increasing age of exposure to L2, and with less experience (practice) with the language, which is predicted to improve the learning of grammatical rules by procedural memory. A retrospective examination of lesion, neuroimaging, and electrophysiological studies investigating the neural bases of L2 is presented. It is argued that the data from these studies support the predictions of the declarative/procedural model.

Deficits in Explicit Language Problem Solving Rather Than in Implicit Learning in Specific Language Impairment: Evidence From Learning an Artificial Morphological Rule

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 3790-3807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Ferman ◽  
Liat Kishon-Rabin ◽  
Hila Ganot-Budaga ◽  
Avi Karni
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Procedural Learning ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Language Problems ◽  
Morphological Rule ◽  
Semantic Distinction

Purpose The purpose of this study was to delineate differences between children with specific language impairment (SLI), typical age–matched (TAM) children, and typical younger (TY) children in learning and mastering an undisclosed artificial morphological rule (AMR) through exposure and usage. Method Twenty-six participants (eight 10-year-old children with SLI, 8 TAM children, and ten 8-year-old TY children) were trained to master an AMR across multiple training sessions. The AMR required a phonological transformation of verbs depending on a semantic distinction: whether the preceding noun was animate or inanimate. All participants practiced the application of the AMR to repeated and new (generalization) items, via judgment and production tasks. Results The children with SLI derived significantly less benefit from practice than their peers in learning most aspects of the AMR, even exhibiting smaller gains compared to the TY group in some aspects. Children with SLI benefited less than TAM and even TY children from training to judge and produce repeated items of the AMR. Nevertheless, despite a significant disadvantage in baseline performance, the rate at which they mastered the task-specific phonological regularities was as robust as that of their peers. On the other hand, like 8-year-olds, only half of the SLI group succeeded in uncovering the nature of the AMR and, consequently, in generalizing it to new items. Conclusions Children with SLI were able to learn language aspects that rely on implicit, procedural learning, but experienced difficulties in learning aspects that relied on the explicit uncovering of the semantic principle of the AMR. The results suggest that some of the difficulties experienced by children with SLI when learning a complex language regularity cannot be accounted for by a broad, language-related, procedural memory disability. Rather, a deficit—perhaps a developmental delay in the ability to recruit and solve language problems and establish explicit knowledge regarding a language task—can better explain their difficulties in language learning.

Working, Declarative, and Procedural Memory in Children With Developmental Language Disorder

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 4162-4178
Author(s):  
Emily Jackson ◽  
Suze Leitão ◽  
Mary Claessen ◽  
Mark Boyes
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Language Disorder ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Visual Spatial

Purpose Previous research into the working, declarative, and procedural memory systems in children with developmental language disorder (DLD) has yielded inconsistent results. The purpose of this research was to profile these memory systems in children with DLD and their typically developing peers. Method One hundred four 5- to 8-year-old children participated in the study. Fifty had DLD, and 54 were typically developing. Aspects of the working memory system (verbal short-term memory, verbal working memory, and visual–spatial short-term memory) were assessed using a nonword repetition test and subtests from the Working Memory Test Battery for Children. Verbal and visual–spatial declarative memory were measured using the Children's Memory Scale, and an audiovisual serial reaction time task was used to evaluate procedural memory. Results The children with DLD demonstrated significant impairments in verbal short-term and working memory, visual–spatial short-term memory, verbal declarative memory, and procedural memory. However, verbal declarative memory and procedural memory were no longer impaired after controlling for working memory and nonverbal IQ. Declarative memory for visual–spatial information was unimpaired. Conclusions These findings indicate that children with DLD have deficits in the working memory system. While verbal declarative memory and procedural memory also appear to be impaired, these deficits could largely be accounted for by working memory skills. The results have implications for our understanding of the cognitive processes underlying language impairment in the DLD population; however, further investigation of the relationships between the memory systems is required using tasks that measure learning over long-term intervals. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13250180

THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF PROCEDURAL MEMORY ASSESSMENTS USED IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION RESEARCH

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Joshua Buffington ◽  
Alexander P. Demos ◽  
Kara Morgan-Short
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Serial Reaction Time Task ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Serial Reaction

Abstract Evidence for the role of procedural memory in second language (L2) acquisition has emerged in our field. However, little is known about the reliability and validity of the procedural memory measures used in this research. The present study (N = 119) examined the reliability and the convergent and discriminant validity of three assessments that have previously been used to examine procedural memory learning ability in L2 acquisition, the dual-task Weather Prediction Task (DT-WPT), the Alternating Serial Reaction Time Task (ASRT), and the Tower of London (TOL). Measures of declarative memory learning ability were also collected. For reliability, the DT-WPT and TOL tasks met acceptable standards. For validity, an exploratory factor analysis did not provide evidence for convergent validity, but the ASRT and the TOL showed reasonable discriminant validity with declarative memory measures. We argue that the ASRT may provide the purest engagement of procedural memory learning ability, although more reliable dependent measures for this task should be considered. The Serial Reaction Time task also appears promising, although we recommend further consideration of this task as the present analyses were post hoc and based on a smaller sample. We discuss these results regarding the assessment of procedural memory learning ability as well as implications for implicit language aptitude.

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