Working, declarative, and procedural memory in DLD (Jackson et al., 2020)

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 S1. Groups of children with and without SRT data (demographic features and means and standard deviations on participant selection measures).Supplemental Material S2. Results of bivariate correlations between all variables.Supplemental Material S3. Covariate factors in MANCOVAs for working, declarative, and procedural memory analyses. Jackson, E., Leitão, S., Claessen, M., & Boyes, M. (2020). Working, declarative, and procedural memory in children with developmental language disorder. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00135

研究目的：针对儿童发展性语言障碍（DLD）患者的工作记忆、陈述性记忆和程序性记忆系统的研究先前结果不一致。本研究旨在描绘DLD患者及其发育正常的同龄人的这些记忆系统。研究方法：104名5至8岁的儿童参与了本研究，其中50名患有DLD，54名发育正常。通过非词重复测试和儿童工作记忆测试电池的子测试，评估了工作记忆系统（包括言语短期记忆、言语工作记忆和视觉-空间短期记忆）的各个方面。使用儿童记忆量表测量言语和视觉-空间陈述性记忆，并使用视听序列反应时间任务评估程序性记忆。研究结果：DLD患者表现出言语短期记忆、工作记忆、视觉-空间短期记忆、言语陈述性记忆和程序性记忆的显著损害。然而，在控制工作记忆和非言语智商后，言语陈述性记忆和程序性记忆的损害不再显著。视觉-空间信息的陈述性记忆未受损害。研究结论：这些发现表明，DLD儿童在工作记忆系统中存在缺陷。虽然言语陈述性记忆和程序性记忆似乎也存在损害，但这些缺陷在很大程度上可以归因于工作记忆技能。这些结果对我们理解DLD人群认知过程中语言障碍的认知过程具有启示意义；然而，需要进一步研究使用测量长期间隔学习的任务来探究记忆系统之间的关系。补充材料S1：具有和没有SRT数据的儿童群体（人口统计学特征以及参与选择指标的平均值和标准差）。补充材料S2：所有变量之间的双变量相关结果。补充材料S3：工作记忆、陈述性记忆和程序性记忆分析的MANCOVA中的协变量因素。Jackson, E., Leitão, S., Claessen, M., & Boyes, M. (2020). 发展性语言障碍儿童的认知、陈述性记忆和程序性记忆。言语、语言和听力研究杂志。https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00135