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Sensitivity to word order cues by normal and language/learning disabled adults
Elena Plante1, Rebecca Gomez, LouAnn Gerken
1Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. eplante@u.arizona.edu
Journal of Communication Disorders
|August 27, 2002
Summary
Adults with language/learning disabilities (L/LD) struggle with rapidly learning word order rules. This study shows L/LD adults performed significantly worse than controls on an artificial grammar task, indicating a deficit in this crucial language skill.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Language/learning disabilities (L/LD) can impact various linguistic skills.
- Understanding rule-based learning is crucial for identifying cognitive differences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess rapid learning of word order rules in adults with and without L/LD.
- To compare the performance of L/LD adults to a control group using an artificial grammar paradigm.
Main Methods:
- Participants (16 L/LD adults, 16 controls) were exposed to an artificial grammar for 5 minutes.
- Participants then judged novel word strings for grammatical correctness based on learned word order rules.
Main Results:
- L/LD participants performed significantly below the control group.
- This indicates a difficulty in acquiring and applying word order rules.
Conclusions:
- Adults with L/LD exhibit deficits in rapidly learning word order, a skill typically acquired early in development.
- The findings suggest a specific difficulty with grammatical rule acquisition in L/LD adults.