Frizelle Pauline, Fletcher Paul
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2015 Feb;24(1):47-59. doi: 10.1044/2014_AJSLP-13-0153.
This study investigated the relationship between 2 components of memory--phonological short-term memory (pSTM) and working memory (WM)--and the control of relative clause constructions in children with specific language impairment (SLI).
Children with SLI and 2 control groups--an age-matched and a younger group of children with typical development--repeated sentences, including relative clauses, representing 5 syntactic roles and 2 levels of matrix clause complexity. The Working Memory Test Battery for Children was administered.
All 3 groups showed significant associations between pSTM and both types of matrix clause construction. For children with SLI, significant associations emerged between (a) WM and more complex matrix clause constructions, (b) WM and relative clauses including a range of syntactic roles, and (c) pSTM and the least difficult syntactic role. In contrast, the age-matched control group could repeat almost all syntactic roles without invoking the use of either memory component.
The role of pSTM and WM in the production of relative clauses by children with SLI is influenced by the degree of difficulty of the structure to be recalled. In therapy, the effect of WM limitations can be minimized by approaching each structure within the context of a simple matrix clause.
本研究调查了记忆的两个组成部分——语音短期记忆（pSTM）和工作记忆（WM）——与特定语言障碍（SLI）儿童中关系从句结构控制之间的关系。
患有SLI的儿童和两个对照组——一组年龄匹配的儿童以及一组年龄较小的发育正常儿童——重复包含关系从句的句子，这些句子代表5种句法角色和2种主句复杂程度水平。对儿童进行了儿童工作记忆测试组套。
所有3组儿童的pSTM与两种类型的主句结构之间均显示出显著关联。对于患有SLI的儿童，在以下方面出现了显著关联：（a）WM与更复杂的主句结构；（b）WM与包含一系列句法角色的关系从句；（c）pSTM与难度最小的句法角色。相比之下，年龄匹配的对照组几乎可以重复所有句法角色，而无需调用任何一种记忆成分。
pSTM和WM在患有SLI的儿童生成关系从句中的作用受待回忆结构难度程度的影响。在治疗中，通过在简单主句的语境中处理每个结构，可以将WM限制的影响降至最低。
