Reduced deficits observed in children and adolescents with developmental language disorder using proper nonverbalizable span tasks

Arslan, Seçkin; Broc, Lucie; Olive, Thierry; Mathy, Fabien

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103522

Cited by 10 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The children with DLD, nevertheless, performed within their TD peers' ranges in the GAL-V and BEM-NV conditions. It is thus conceivable that the difficulty with storing visual information in those with DLD is not a unitary problem, and these difficulties are modulated by stimulus characteristics and task demands, as reported by Botting et al (2013) and Arslan et al (2020). Our prediction was that when visual images had low verbalizability, children with DLD might perform comparable to their TD peers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…If visual recall in children with DLD is constrained by a difficulty in verbal encoding, as discussed by Botting et al. (2013) and Arslan et al. (2020), then we should observe no group difference between DLD and TD groups with visual stimuli with low verbalizability compared to visual stimuli with relatively more verbalizability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Arslan et al (2020) showed that visuospatial storage capacity (as measured by the Corsi blocks task in forward recall) was typical, while more complex processing capacity (as measured by the Corsi blocks task in backward recall) was impaired in children with DLD aged 7 to 11 years. The absence of processing difficulties in adolescents experiencing DLD (Arslan et al, 2020) suggested that visuospatial WM difficulties in DLD could reflect delays in cognitive developmental trajectory (see also Hick et al, 2005 for a similar argumentation). Furthermore, Botting et al (2013) used a block recall and picture sequence tasks task to examine 6-to 12-year-olds with and without DLD and found no significant group differences for the block recall task.…”

Section: Visual Wm In Dldmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Lower verbalizability of visual stimuli modulates differences in estimates of working memory capacity between children with and without developmental language disorders

Arslan

Broc

Mathy

2020

Autism & Developmental Language Impairments

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Background and aims Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) often perform below their typically developing peers on verbal memory tasks. However, the picture is less clear on visual memory tasks. Research has generally shown that visual memory can be facilitated by verbal representations, but few studies have been conducted using visual materials that are not easy to verbalize. Therefore, we attempted to construct non-verbalizable stimuli to investigate the impact of working memory capacity. Method and results We manipulated verbalizability in visual span tasks and tested whether minimizing verbalizability could help reduce visual recall performance differences across children with and without developmental language disorder. Visuals that could be easily verbalized or not were selected based on a pretest with non-developmental language disorder young adults. We tested groups of children with developmental language disorder (N = 23) and their typically developing peers (N = 65) using these high and low verbalizable classes of visual stimuli. The memory span of the children with developmental language disorder varied across the different stimulus conditions, but critically, although their storage capacity for visual information was virtually unimpaired, the children with developmental language disorder still had difficulty in recalling verbalizable images with simple drawings. Also, recalling complex (galaxy) images with low verbalizability proved difficult in both groups of children. An item-based analysis on correctly recalled items showed that higher levels of verbalizability enhanced visual recall in the typically developing children to a greater extent than the children with developmental language disorder. Conclusions and clinical implication: We suggest that visual short-term memory in typically developing children might be mediated with verbal encoding to a larger extent than in children with developmental language disorder, thus leading to poorer performance on visual capacity tasks. Our findings cast doubts on the idea that short-term storage impairments are limited to the verbal domain, but they also challenge the idea that visual tasks are essentially visual. Therefore, our findings suggest to clinicians working with children experiencing developmental language difficulties that visual memory deficits may not necessarily be due to reduced non-verbal skills but may be due to the high amount of verbal cues in visual stimuli, from which they do not benefit in comparison to their peers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Visual Wm In Dldmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Lower verbalizability of visual stimuli modulates differences in estimates of working memory capacity between children with and without developmental language disorders

Arslan

Broc

Mathy

2020

Autism & Developmental Language Impairments

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Further, application of this neural network approach to understanding visual processing reduces much of the variability found in past research relating to DLD children. For instance, most previous studies examining spatio-temporal block tapping tasks or spatial arrays (requiring dorsal visual stream processing) reported no differences between DLD children and neurotypical age-matched controls (Archibald & Gathercole, 2006b;Arslan et al, 2020;Botting et al, 2013;Briscoe & Rankin, 2009;Hutchinson et al, 2012;Lukács et al, 2016;Lum et al, 2012;Petruccelli et al, 2012;Vugs et al, 2017;Williams et al, 2000;although see Bavin et al, 2005, and Hick et al, 2005a, 2005b for evidence of spatial memory impariment in DLD). In contrast, most studies examining visuo-perceptual memory tasks (requiring individuals to attend to on and recall specific visual details, such as colour, shape, or object, and requiring ventral visual stream processing) do report that DLD children perform worse than neurotypical peers, suggesting a deficit in visuo-perceptual memory (Bavin et al, 2005;Botting et al, 2013;Kleemans et al, 2012;Leclercq et al, 2012).…”

Section: A Role For Visual Memory In Vocabulary Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, consideration of the existing research from the viewpoint of spatial versus visuoperceptual processing assists in better understanding of the apparent variability in the existing literature examining visual memory abilities in children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). For instance, one of the most consistent findings is that DLD children perform comparatively to (and, in some cases, above) their age-matched neurotypical peers on spatio-temporal span tasks, such as Corsi-style block tapping tasks (Archibald & Gathercole, 2006bArslan et al, 2020;Botting et al, 2013;Briscoe & Rankin, 2009;Hutchinson et al, 2012;Lukács et al, 2016;Lum et al, 2012;Petruccelli et al, 2012;Williams et al, 2000; although see Bavin et al, 2005, andJackson et al, 2020, for contrary evidence). Results regarding spatial array tasks are less clear, with some studies finding DLD children are impaired on such tasks (recalling the locations of sharks presented on a grid) relative to age-matched neurotypical peers (a deficit which appears to widen over time; Hick et al, 2005aHick et al, , 2005b), yet others finding that DLD children perform comparatively to their peers on two different spatial array tasks (recalling locations of dots in a grid, and recalling paths through a maze; Hutchinson et al, 2012;Lum et al, 2012;Vugs et al, 2017).…”

Section: Important Aspects Of Visual Memory Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Role for Visual Memory in Vocabulary Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Pickering¹,

Peters²,

Crewther³

2021

Preprint

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Literature examining the role of visual memory in vocabulary development during childhood is limited, despite it being well known that preverbal infants rely on their visual abilities to form memories and learn new words. Hence, this systematic review and meta-analysis utilised a cognitive neuroscience perspective to examine the association between visual memory and vocabulary development, including moderators such as age and task selection, in neurotypical children aged 2- to 12-years. Visual memory tasks were classified as spatio-temporal span tasks, visuo-perceptual or spatial concurrent array tasks, and executive judgment tasks. Visuo-perceptual concurrent array tasks expected to rely on ventral visual stream processing showed a moderate association with vocabulary, while tasks measuring spatio-temporal spans expected to be associated with dorsal visual stream processing, and executive judgments (central executive), showed only weak correlations with vocabulary. These findings have important implications for all health professionals and researchers interested in language, as they can support the development of more targeted language learning interventions that require ventral visual stream processing.

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A Role for Visual Memory in Vocabulary Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Pickering

Peters

2022

Neuropsychol Rev

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Although attention and early associative learning in preverbal children is predominantly driven by rapid eye-movements in response to moving visual stimuli and sounds/words (e.g., associating the word “bottle” with the object), the literature examining the role of visual attention and memory in ongoing vocabulary development across childhood is limited. Thus, this systematic review and meta-analysis examined the association between visual memory and vocabulary development, including moderators such as age and task selection, in neurotypical children aged 2-to-12 years, from the brain-based perspective of cognitive neuroscience. Visual memory tasks were classified according to the visual characteristics of the stimuli and the neural networks known to preferentially process such information, including consideration of the distinction between the ventral visual stream (processing more static visuo-perceptual details, such as form or colour) and the more dynamic dorsal visual stream (processing spatial temporal action-driven information). Final classifications included spatio-temporal span tasks, visuo-perceptual or spatial concurrent array tasks, and executive judgment tasks. Visuo-perceptual concurrent array tasks, reliant on ventral stream processing, were moderately associated with vocabulary, while tasks measuring spatio-temporal spans, associated with dorsal stream processing, and executive judgment tasks (central executive), showed only weak correlations with vocabulary. These findings have important implications for health professionals and researchers interested in language, as they advocate for the development of more targeted language learning interventions that include specific and relevant aspects of visual processing and memory, such as ventral stream visuo-perceptual details (i.e., shape or colour).

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Reduced deficits observed in children and adolescents with developmental language disorder using proper nonverbalizable span tasks

Cited by 10 publications

References 45 publications

Lower verbalizability of visual stimuli modulates differences in estimates of working memory capacity between children with and without developmental language disorders

Lower verbalizability of visual stimuli modulates differences in estimates of working memory capacity between children with and without developmental language disorders

A Role for Visual Memory in Vocabulary Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

A Role for Visual Memory in Vocabulary Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

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