Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T04:15:03.352Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Impact of Visual Complexity on Visual Short-Term Memory in Children with Specific Language Impairment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2012

Anne-Lise Leclercq ,
Christelle Maillart ,
Sarah Pauquay  and
Steve Majerus
Anne-Lise Leclercq*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology: Cognition and Behavior, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium Fund of Scientific Research, Belgium
Christelle Maillart
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology: Cognition and Behavior, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium
Sarah Pauquay
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology: Cognition and Behavior, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium
Steve Majerus
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology: Cognition and Behavior, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium Fund of Scientific Research, Belgium
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Anne-Lise Leclercq, University of Liege, Department of Psychology: Behaviour and Cognition, 30 rue de l'Aunaie, B.38, 4000 Liege, Belgium. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many studies have assessed visual short-term memory (VSTM) abilities in children with specific language impairment (SLI), with contrasting results: some studies observed preserved VSTM capacities, while others reported impaired VSTM. The present study explores the hypothesis that the complexity of the visual information to be encoded and stored might underlie these discrepancies. Four VSTM conditions were administered to a group of 15 children with SLI, as well as to two groups of typically developing children, matched for chronological age and for VSTM capacity for visually simple stimuli, respectively. The stimuli to be remembered varied in their visual similarity and in the number of their visual features. Across the four VSTM conditions, children with SLI showed significantly reduced performance relative to an age-matched control group, and they were more strongly affected by visual similarity and number of features when compared to a control group matched for VSTM capacity for visually simple stimuli. The present results support the hypothesis that stimulus complexity is a determining factor of the poor VSTM performances in children with SLI. (JINS, 2012, 18, 501–510)

Keywords

Working memoryLanguage delayLanguage development disordersMental processesForm perceptionPattern recognitionVisual
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , May 2012 , pp. 501 - 510
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alloway, T.P., Archibald, L. (2008). Working memory and learning in children with developmental coordination disorder and specific language impairment. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 41(3), 251–262.Google Scholar
Alloway, T.P., Rajendran, G., Archibald, L. (2009). Working memory in children with developmental disorders. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 42(4), 372–382.Google Scholar
Alvarez, G., Cavanagh, P. (2004). The capacity of visual short term memory is set both by visual information load and by number of objects. Psychological Science, 15(2), 106–111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andrade, J., Kemps, E., Werniers, Y., May, J., Szmalec, A. (2002). Insensitivity of visual short-term memory to irrelevant visual information. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. A, Human Experimental Psychology, 3(3), 753–774.Google Scholar
Archibald, L.M., Gathercole, S.E. (2006). Visuospatial immediate memory on specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49(2), 265–277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Archibald, L.M., Gathercole, S.E. (2007). The complexities of complex memory span: Storage and processing deficits in specific language impairment. Journal of Memory and Language, 57(2), 177–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avons, S., Mason, A. (1999). Effects of visual similarity on serial report and item recognition. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. A, Human Experimental Psychology, 1(1), 217–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A. (2003). Working memory and language: An overview. Journal of Communication Disorders, 36(3), 189–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bavin, E.L., Wilson, P.H., Maruff, P., Sleeman, F. (2005). Spatio-visual memory of children with specific language impairment: Evidence for generalized processing problems. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 40(3), 319–332.Google Scholar
Bishop, D. (1997). Cognitive neuropsychology and developmental disorders: Uncomfortable bedfellows. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. A, Human Experimental Psychology, 4(4), 899–923.Google Scholar
Bishop, D.V., Norbury, C.F. (2005). Executive functions in children with communication impairments, in relation to autistic symptomatology 2: Response inhibition. Autism, 9(1), 29–43.Google Scholar
Della Sala, S., Logie, R. (2002). Neuropsychological impairments of visual ans spatial working memory. In A. Baddeley, M.D. Kopelman, & B.A. Wilson (Eds.), The handbook of memory disorders. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Dunn, L., Thériault-Whalen, C., Dunn, L. (1993). Échelle de Vocabulaire en Images Peabody. Toronto: Psycan.Google Scholar
Edwards, J., Munson, B. (2009). Speech perception and production in child language disordersHandbook of child language disorders (pp. 216–231). New York, NY: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Eng, H.Y., Chen, D., Jiang, Y. (2005). Visual working memory for simple and complex visual stimuli. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12(6), 1127–1133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, J.L. (2002). Variability in comprehension strategy use in children with SLI: A dynamical systems account. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 37(2), 95–116.Google Scholar
Fazio, B.B. (1998). The effect of presentation rate on serial memory in young children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41(6), 1375–1383.Google Scholar
Finneran, D.A., Francis, A.L., Leonard, L.B. (2009). Sustained attention in children with specific language impairment (SLI). Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52(4), 915–929.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forsythe, A. (2009). Visual complexity: Is that all there is? Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics, HCII 2009, 5639, pp. 158–166.Google Scholar
Gathercole, S.E. (2006). Nonword repetition and word learning: The nature of the relationship. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27(4), 513–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hick, R., Botting, N., Conti-Ramsden, G. (2005). Cognitive abilities in children with specific language impairment: Consideration of visuo-spatial skills. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 40(2), 137–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoffman, L.M., Gillam, R.B. (2004). Verbal and spatial information processing constraints in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47(1), 114–125.Google Scholar
Im-Bolter, N., Johnson, J., Pascual-Leone, J. (2006). Processing limitations in children with specific language impairment: The role of executive function. Child Development, 77(6), 1822–1841.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khomsi, A. (2001). Evaluation du langage oral. Paris: ECPS.Google Scholar
Lecocq, P. (1996). Epreuve de Compréhension Syntaxico-Sémantique. Villeneuve d'Ascq Presses universitaires du Septentrion.Google Scholar
Leonard, L.B., Weismer, S.E., Miller, C.A., Francis, D.J., Tomblin, J., Kail, R.V. (2007). Speed of processing, working memory, and language impairment in children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50(2), 408–428.Google Scholar
Lin, P.-H., Luck, S.J. (2008). The influence of similarity on visual working memory representations. Visual Cognition, 17(3), 356–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logie, R.H., Della Sala, S., Wynn, V., Baddeley, A.D. (2000). Visual similarity effects in immediate verbal serial recall. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. A, Human Experimental Psychology, 3(3), 626–646.Google Scholar
Lum, J.A., Conti-Ramsden, G., Lindell, A.K. (2007). The attentional blink reveals sluggish attentional shifting in adolescents with specific language impairment. Brain and Cognition, 63(3), 287–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luria, R., Sessa, P., Gotler, A., Jolicoeur, P., DellAcqua, R. (2010). Visual short-term memory capacity for simple and complex objects. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(3), 496–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Majerus, S., D'Argembeau, A., Perez, T., Belayachi, S., Van der Linden, M., Collette, F., Maquet, P. (2010). The commonality of neural networks for verbal and visual short-term memory. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(11), 2570–2593.Google Scholar
Majerus, S., Poncelet, M., Van Der Linden, M., Albouy, G., Salmon, E., Sterpenich, V., Maquet, P. (2006). The left intraparietal sulcu and verbal short-term memory: Focus of attention or serial order ? Neuroimage, 32, 880–891.Google Scholar
Marton, K. (2006). Commentaries: Do nonword repetition errors in children with specific language impairment reflect a weakness in an unidentified skill specific to nonword repetition or a deficit in simultaneous processing? [Comment/Reply]. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27(4), 569–573.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marton, K., Schwartz, R.G. (2003). Working memory capacity and language processes in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46(5), 1138–1153.Google Scholar
Mate, J., Baques, J. (2009). Visual similarity at encoding and retrieval in an item recognition task. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62(7), 1277–1284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, C.A., Kail, R., Leonard, L.B., Tomblin, J. (2001). Speed of processing in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 44(2), 416–433.Google Scholar
Montgomery, J.W. (2005). Effects of input rate and age on the real-time language processing of children with specific language impairment. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 40(2), 171–188.Google Scholar
Montgomery, J.W. (2008). Role of auditory attention in the real-time processing of simple grammar by children with specific language impairment: A preliminary investigation. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 43(5), 499–527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nairne, J.S., Kelley, M.R. (2004). Separating item and order information through process dissociation. Journal of Memory and Language, 50(2), 113–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nickisch, A., von Kries, R. (2009). Short-term memory (STM) constraints in children with specific language impairment (SLI): Are there differences between receptive and expressive SLI? Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52(3), 578–595.Google Scholar
Noterdaeme, M., Amorosa, H., Mildenberger, K., Sitter, S., Minow, F. (2001). Evaluation of attention problems in children with autism and children with a specific language disorder. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 10(1), 58–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poirier, M., Saint-Aubin, J. (1996). Immediate serial recall, word frequency, item identity and item position. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale, 50(4), 408–412.Google Scholar
Poirier, M., Saint-Aubin, J., Musselwhite, K., Mohanadas, T., Mahammed, G. (2007). Visual similarity effects on short-term memory for order: The case of verbally labeled pictorial stimuli. Memory & Cognition, 35(4), 711–723.Google Scholar
Poncelet, M., van der Linden, M. (2003). Assessing the phonological store of working memory: Elaboration of a nonword repetition test for a French-speaking population. Revue de Neuropsychologie, 13(3), 377–407.Google Scholar
Powell, R., Bishop, D. (1992). Clumsiness and perceptual problems in children with specific language impairment. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 34(9), 755–765.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romani, C., Ward, J., Olson, A. (1999). Developmental surface dysgraphia: What is the underlying cognitive impairment? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. A, Human Experimental Psychology, 1(1), 97–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, W., Eschmann, A., Zuccolotto, A. (2002). E-Prime user's guide. Pittsburgh: Psychology Software Tools.Google Scholar
Schul, R., Stiles, J., Wulfeck, B., Townsend, J. (2004). How ‘generalized’ is the ‘slowed processing’ in SLI? The case of visuospatial attentional orienting. Neuropsychologia, 42(5), 661–671.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tallal, P., Stark, R., Kallman, C., Mellits, D. (1981). A reexamination of some nonverbal perceptual abilities of language-impaired and normal children as a function of age and sensory modality. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research, 24(3), 351–357.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (2005). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children 4e Edition. Paris: ECPA.Google Scholar
Weismer, S.E., Hesketh, L.J. (1996). Lexical learning by children with specific language impairment: Effects of linguistic input presented at varying speaking rates. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research, 39(1), 177–190.Google Scholar
Weismer, S.E., Plante, E., Jones, M., Tomblin, J. (2005). A functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of verbal working memory in adolescents with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48(2), 405–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Windsor, J., Kohnert, K. (2004). The search for common ground: Part I. Lexical performance by linguistically diverse learners. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47(4), 877–890.Google Scholar
Wood, J.N. (2011). A core knowledge architecture of visual working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 37(2), 357–381.Google Scholar
Xu, Y. (2007). The role of the superior intraparietal sulcus in supporting visual short-term memory for multifeature objects. The Journal of Neuroscience, 27(43), 11676–11686.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xu, Y., Chun, M.M. (2006). Dissociable neural mechanisms supporting visual short-term memory for objects. Nature, 440(7080), 91–95.Google Scholar
Xu, Y., Chun, M.M. (2009). Selecting and perceiving multiple visual objects. [Column/Opinion]. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(4), 167–174.Google Scholar