Contribution of implicit sequence learning to spoken language processing: some preliminary findings with hearing adults

Abstract

Spoken language consists of a complex, sequentially arrayed signal that contains patterns that can be described in terms of statistical relations among language units. Previous research has suggested that a domain-general ability to learn structured sequential patterns may underlie language acquisition. To test this prediction, we examined the extent to which implicit sequence learning of probabilistically structured patterns in hearing adults is correlated with a spoken sentence perception task under degraded listening conditions. Performance on the sentence perception task was found to be correlated with implicit sequence learning, but only when the sequences were composed of stimuli that were easy to encode verbally. Implicit learning of phonological sequences thus appears to underlie spoken language processing and may indicate a hitherto unexplored cognitive factor that may account for the enormous variability in language outcomes in deaf children with cochlear implants. The present findings highlight the importance of investigating individual differences in specific cognitive abilities as a way to understand and explain language in deaf learners and, in particular, variability in language outcomes following cochlear implantation.

Figure 1

Simon memory game device.

Figure 2

Artificial grammars used in the sequence learning tasks (Grammar A, top; Grammar B, middle; Grammar C, bottom).

Figure 3

Illustration of example sequence presentation (top) and response display (bottom) for the Color-Seq task. Participants view a sequence of colored squares appearing on the monitor, and then, once the response display is shown, they are required to reproduce the sequence in correct order by pressing the panels on the touch-sensitive screen. Presentation and response displays are the same for the Non-Color-Seq task except that the four squares are black rather than colored.

Figure 4

LRNs (G – UG) for individual subjects on the Color-Seq task, rank ordered from smallest to largest.

Figure 5

LRNs (G – UG) for individual subjects on the Non-Color-Seq task, rank ordered from smallest to largest.