Krishnan Saloni, Alcock Katherine J, Mercure Evelyne, Leech Robert, Barker Edward, Karmiloff-Smith Annette, Dick Frederic
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2013 Dec;56(6):1800-12. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2013/12-0206).
Pronouncing a novel word for the first time requires the transformation of a newly encoded speech signal into a series of coordinated, exquisitely timed oromotor movements. Individual differences in children's ability to repeat novel nonwords are associated with vocabulary development and later literacy. Nonword repetition (NWR) is often used to test clinical populations. While phonological/auditory memory contributions to learning and pronouncing nonwords have been extensively studied, much less is known about the contribution of children's oromotor skills to this process.
Two independent cohorts of children (7-13 years [N = 40] and 6.9-7.7 years [N = 37]) were tested on a battery of linguistic and nonlinguistic tests, including NWR and oromotor tasks.
In both cohorts, individual differences in oromotor control were a significant contributor to NWR abilities; moreover, in an omnibus analysis including experimental and standardized tasks, oromotor control predicted the most unique variance in NWR.
Results indicate that nonlinguistic oromotor skills contribute to children's NWR ability and suggest that important aspects of language learning and consequent language deficits may be rooted in the ability to perform complex sensorimotor transformations.
首次说出一个新单词需要将新编码的语音信号转化为一系列协调、时机精确的口部运动。儿童重复新无意义词能力的个体差异与词汇发展及后期读写能力相关。无意义词重复（NWR）常被用于测试临床人群。虽然语音/听觉记忆对学习和说出无意义词的作用已得到广泛研究，但对于儿童口部运动技能在这一过程中的作用却知之甚少。
对两组独立的儿童队列（7至13岁 [N = 40] 和6.9至7.7岁 [N = 37]）进行了一系列语言和非语言测试，包括无意义词重复和口部运动任务。
在两个队列中，口部运动控制方面的个体差异都是无意义词重复能力的重要影响因素；此外，在一项包括实验性和标准化任务的综合分析中，口部运动控制预测了无意义词重复中最独特的方差。
结果表明，非语言口部运动技能有助于儿童的无意义词重复能力，并表明语言学习的重要方面以及随之而来的语言缺陷可能源于执行复杂感觉运动转换的能力。
