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

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Stefaniak ◽  
Véronique Baltazart ◽  
Christelle Declercq

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.

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Barham ◽  
Jarrad A. G. Lum ◽  
Russell Conduit ◽  
Lara Fernadez ◽  
Peter G. Enticott ◽  
...  

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.


1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL T. ULLMAN ◽  
MYRNA GOPNIK

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 4162-4178
Author(s):  
Emily Jackson ◽  
Suze Leitão ◽  
Mary Claessen ◽  
Mark Boyes

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


Author(s):  
Joshua Buffington ◽  
Alexander P. Demos ◽  
Kara Morgan-Short

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Frank J. van Schalkwijk ◽  
Walter R. Gruber ◽  
Laurie A. Miller ◽  
Eugen Trinka ◽  
Yvonne Höller

Memory complaints are frequently reported by patients with epilepsy and are associated with seizure occurrence. Yet, the direct effects of seizures on memory retention are difficult to assess given their unpredictability. Furthermore, previous investigations have predominantly assessed declarative memory. This study evaluated within-subject effects of seizure occurrence on retention and consolidation of a procedural motor sequence learning task in patients with epilepsy undergoing continuous monitoring for five consecutive days. Of the total sample of patients considered for analyses (N = 53, Mage = 32.92 ± 13.80 y, range = 18–66 y; 43% male), 15 patients experienced seizures and were used for within-patient analyses. Within-patient contrasts showed general improvements over seizure-free (day + night) and seizure-affected retention periods. Yet, exploratory within-subject contrasts for patients diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy (n = 10) showed that only seizure-free retention periods resulted in significant improvements, as no performance changes were observed following seizure-affected retention. These results indicate general performance improvements and offline consolidation of procedural memory during the day and night. Furthermore, these results suggest the relevance of healthy temporal lobe functioning for successful consolidation of procedural information, as well as the importance of seizure control for effective retention and consolidation of procedural memory.


2016 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 212-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy S. Finn ◽  
Priya B. Kalra ◽  
Calvin Goetz ◽  
Julia A. Leonard ◽  
Margaret A. Sheridan ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Christopher A. Was ◽  
Dan J. Woltz

There is clear evidence that aging has an effect on memory. However, not all memory processes suffer as one ages. In the current chapter, the authors review the distinctions between explicit memory (i.e., effortful storage and retrieval of information) and implicit memory (i.e., learning and memory that do not require conscious effort). They then review the evidence indicating that implicit memory does not decline at the same rate as explicit memory. They authors then discuss the possibility of using implicit memory processes (e.g. procedural memory), to aid explicit memory processes (e.g., declarative memory). Finally, they discuss the need and the opportunity to incorporate information and communications technologies into the lives of older adults in order to support memory and learning.


SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Prehn-Kristensen ◽  
Hong-Viet V Ngo ◽  
Luisa Lentfer ◽  
Julia Berghäuser ◽  
Lena Brandes ◽  
...  

Abstract Study Objectives Slow oscillations (SO) during slow-wave sleep foster the consolidation of declarative memory. Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) display deficits in the sleep-associated consolidation of declarative memory, possibly due to an altered function of SO. The present study aimed at enhancing SO activity using closed-looped acoustic stimulation during slow-wave sleep in children with ADHD. Methods A total of 29 male children (14 with ADHD; aged 8–12 years) participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study trial. Children spent two experimental nights in a sleep lab, one stimulation night and one sham night. A declarative learning task (word-pair learning) with a reward condition was used as a primary outcome. Secondary outcome variables were a procedural memory (serial reaction time) and working memory (WM; n-back) task. Encoding of declarative and procedural memory took place in the evening before sleep. After sleep, the retrieval took place followed by the n-back task. Results The stimulation successfully induced SO activity during sleep in children with and without ADHD. After stimulation, only healthy children performed better on high-rewarded memory items (primary outcome). In contrast, there were indications that only children with ADHD benefitted from the stimulation with respect to procedural as well as WM performance (secondary outcome). Conclusions We were able to show that the acoustic closed-loop stimulation can be applied to enhance SO activity in children with and without ADHD. Our data indicate that SO activity during sleep interacts with subsequent memory performance (primary outcome: rewarded declarative memory; secondary outcome: procedural and WM) in children with and without ADHD.


1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 772-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Eichenbaum ◽  
Tim Otto ◽  
Neal J. Cohen

AbstractContinuing commentary raised several issues concerning our proposal that the hippocampus, parahippocampal region, and cortical association areas mediate different aspects of memory function. Recent relevant findings strengthen our argument that neocortical areas and the parahippocampal region maintain persistent encodings of specific single items and that the hippocampus mediates representations of the relations among these items. The reciprocally and closely interconnected structures that compose the hippocampal memory system work interactively to support flexible memory expression that is relevant to the natural behavior of animals and to conscious recollection in humans.


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