Maes Joseph H R, Scheper Annette R, Hermans Daan, Vissers Constance T W M
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognition, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Royal Kentalis, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2025 Mar-Apr;60(2):e70017. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.70017.
The implicit learning deficit hypothesis claims that impaired implicit learning underlies deficits in social-communicative abilities associated with developmental language disorder (DLD). However, previous research testing this hypothesis revealed inconsistent results and largely used process-impure sequential learning tasks.
This study further tested the hypothesis using a novel process-pure implicit associative learning task.
The performance of 9- to 13-year-old children with (N = 60) and without DLD (typically developing, TD, N = 52) on a contingency learning task (CLT) was compared. The task entailed the incidental learning of the contingency between simultaneously presented figure-colour combinations. Also, the association of CLT performance with three aspects of social-communicative abilities was assessed: facial emotion recognition ability, social responsiveness and language abilities.
Compared to the TD group, the DLD group performed equally on the CLT but showed worse performance on the measures of emotion recognition and social abilities. In neither group was CLT performance significantly related to any of the three social-communicative abilities.
These results do not support the implicit learning deficit hypothesis. The demonstrated intact implicit learning ability suggests the potential of using interventions to improve social-communicative abilities in children with DLD that are based on incidental or implicit learning rather than on intentional or explicit learning.
What is already known on the subject Individuals with developmental language disorder (DLD) not only have linguistic problems but also impaired abilities in social and emotional domains. According to the implicit learning deficit hypothesis, these impairments are largely due to a compromised ability to incidentally or implicitly learn regularities of stimuli or events occurring in daily life. However, research examining this hypothesis has yielded mixed results. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study contributes to the discussion about the presence or absence of a domain-general implicit learning deficit in individuals with DLD, and corresponding potential clinical implications. For this, in addition to measures of language, emotion recognition and social abilities, a novel incidental learning task was used that was held to provide a more process-pure measure of incidental and implicit learning compared to previous research. The collective results do not support the claim of a domain-general implicit learning deficit underlying the social-communicative and -emotional problems in DLD. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Current interventions to improve language, social and emotional abilities in children with DLD are largely based on relatively effortful strategies involving explicit instruction and feedback. The present evidence of intact incidental and implicit learning abilities supports the examination of possible novel interventions that are based on relatively effortless implicit learning strategies, which may be more in line with how these abilities are acquired in daily life.
内隐学习缺陷假说认为，内隐学习受损是导致与发育性语言障碍（DLD）相关的社交沟通能力缺陷的潜在原因。然而，先前检验该假说的研究结果并不一致，且大多使用了过程不纯的序列学习任务。
本研究使用一种全新的过程纯内隐联想学习任务进一步检验该假说。
比较了9至13岁患有DLD（N = 60）和未患DLD（发育正常，TD，N = 52）的儿童在偶然性学习任务（CLT）中的表现。该任务要求附带学习同时呈现的图形 - 颜色组合之间的偶然性。此外，还评估了CLT表现与社交沟通能力三个方面的关联：面部情绪识别能力、社交反应能力和语言能力。
与TD组相比，DLD组在CLT中的表现相同，但在情绪识别和社交能力测量方面表现更差。在两组中，CLT表现均与三种社交沟通能力中的任何一种均无显著相关性。
这些结果不支持内隐学习缺陷假说。所证明的完整内隐学习能力表明，有可能采用基于附带或内隐学习而非有意或外显学习的干预措施来提高DLD儿童的社交沟通能力。
关于该主题的已知信息 患有发育性语言障碍（DLD）的个体不仅存在语言问题，在社交和情感领域的能力也受损。根据内隐学习缺陷假说，这些损害很大程度上是由于偶然或内隐学习日常生活中刺激或事件规律的能力受损所致。然而，检验该假说的研究结果不一。本文对现有知识的补充 本研究有助于讨论DLD个体是否存在领域通用的内隐学习缺陷以及相应的潜在临床意义。为此，除了语言、情绪识别和社交能力的测量外，还使用了一种全新的附带学习任务，与先前研究相比，该任务被认为能更纯粹地测量附带和内隐学习。总体结果不支持DLD中社交沟通和情感问题背后存在领域通用内隐学习缺陷的说法。这项工作的潜在或实际临床意义是什么？目前改善DLD儿童语言、社交和情感能力的干预措施主要基于涉及明确指导和反馈的相对费力的策略。目前关于完整附带和内隐学习能力的证据支持对基于相对轻松的内隐学习策略的可能新干预措施进行研究，这可能更符合这些能力在日常生活中的习得方式。
