Sequential Learning and Gesture Production in Children with Specific Language Impairment
Open Access
- Author:
- Manocchio, Christina Marie
- Area of Honors:
- Communication Sciences and Disorders
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. Carol Anne Miller, Thesis Honors Advisor
Erinn Heer Finke, Faculty Reader
Dr. Carol Anne Miller, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Carol Anne Miller, Thesis Honors Advisor
Erinn Heer Finke, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- specific language impairment
gesture production
motor skills
sequential learning
implicit learning
communication - Abstract:
- Implicit learning is defined as learning without awareness. Previous studies have tested children with specific language impairment (SLI)’s ability to exhibit implicit learning in a Serial Reaction Time (SRT) Task. Stemming from the idea that children with SLI often have problems with motor skills in addition to language, our study consisted of an SRT task containing four different gestures as the stimuli. Our task was given to college-aged adults and children both with and without language impairment. It was anticipated that normally developing participants’ gesture production would vary from the random sections to the sequential portions of the task. If implicit learning was exhibited, participants performed the sequential portion quicker than the random portions. In addition, the study examined the errors the children produced while participating in the task, examining if the motor aspect was an explanation for slower performance and reaction times. The adults who participated in our study exhibited the components of sequential learning, validating the usability of our task. When administering the task to the children, sequential learning was shown in two out of the five children. There are multiple variables to look at when considering the reason why we found mixed results and not all children exhibited sequential learning. This pilot data can be used in order to alter the task for future research that looks at larger a population of children who have a diagnosis of SLI.