TY - JOUR
T1 - Children retain implicitly learned phonological sequences better than adults
T2 - a longitudinal study
AU - Smalle, Eleonore H.M.
AU - Page, Mike P.A.
AU - Duyck, Wouter
AU - Edwards, Martin
AU - Szmalec, Arnaud
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a grant from the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique – FRS – FNRS (Belgium), grant “Crédit aux Chercheurs 1.A.915.14F”, to the first author. The authors thank Prahlad Gupta and Steven Smith for making the TOTimals stimulus set available (Gupta, 2003; Schwartz & Smith, 1997). The authors also thank all the teachers and pupils and, in particular, Dr Mallems, the school director of Sint-Bavo primary school (Ghent), for the time and cooperation they offered during data collection.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by a grant from the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique ? FRS ? FNRS (Belgium), grant ?Cr?dit aux Chercheurs 1.A.915.14F?, to the first author. The authors thank Prahlad Gupta and Steven Smith for making the TOTimals stimulus set available (Gupta,; Schwartz & Smith,). The authors also thank all the teachers and pupils and, in particular, Dr Mallems, the school director of Sint-Bavo primary school (Ghent), for the time and cooperation they offered during data collection.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
PY - 2018/9
Y1 - 2018/9
N2 - Whereas adults often rely on explicit memory, children appear to excel in implicit memory, which plays an important role in the acquisition of various cognitive skills, such as those involved in language. The current study aimed to test the assertion of an age-dependent shift in implicit versus explicit learning within a theoretical framework that explains the link between implicit sequence memory and word-form acquisition, using the Hebb repetition paradigm. We conducted a one-year, multiple-session longitudinal study in which we presented auditory sequences of syllables, co-presented with pictures of aliens, for immediate serial recall by a group of children (8–9 years) and by an adult group. The repetition of one Hebb sequence was explicitly announced, while the repetition of another Hebb sequence was unannounced and, therefore, implicit. Despite their overall inferior recall performance, the children showed better offline retention of the implicit Hebb sequence, compared with adults who showed a significant decrement across the delays. Adults had gained more explicit knowledge of the implicit sequence than children, but this could not explain the age-dependent decline in the delayed memory for it. There was no significant age-effect for delayed memory of the explicit Hebb sequence, with both age groups showing retention. Overall performance by adults was positively correlated with measures of post-learning awareness. Performance by children was positively correlated with vocabulary knowledge. We conclude that children outperform adults in the retention over time of implicitly learned phonological sequences that will gradually consolidate into novel word-forms. The findings are discussed in the light of maturational differences for implicit versus explicit memory systems that also play a role in language acquisition. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/G5nOfJB72t4.
AB - Whereas adults often rely on explicit memory, children appear to excel in implicit memory, which plays an important role in the acquisition of various cognitive skills, such as those involved in language. The current study aimed to test the assertion of an age-dependent shift in implicit versus explicit learning within a theoretical framework that explains the link between implicit sequence memory and word-form acquisition, using the Hebb repetition paradigm. We conducted a one-year, multiple-session longitudinal study in which we presented auditory sequences of syllables, co-presented with pictures of aliens, for immediate serial recall by a group of children (8–9 years) and by an adult group. The repetition of one Hebb sequence was explicitly announced, while the repetition of another Hebb sequence was unannounced and, therefore, implicit. Despite their overall inferior recall performance, the children showed better offline retention of the implicit Hebb sequence, compared with adults who showed a significant decrement across the delays. Adults had gained more explicit knowledge of the implicit sequence than children, but this could not explain the age-dependent decline in the delayed memory for it. There was no significant age-effect for delayed memory of the explicit Hebb sequence, with both age groups showing retention. Overall performance by adults was positively correlated with measures of post-learning awareness. Performance by children was positively correlated with vocabulary knowledge. We conclude that children outperform adults in the retention over time of implicitly learned phonological sequences that will gradually consolidate into novel word-forms. The findings are discussed in the light of maturational differences for implicit versus explicit memory systems that also play a role in language acquisition. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/G5nOfJB72t4.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85038233931&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/desc.12634
DO - 10.1111/desc.12634
M3 - Article
C2 - 29250874
AN - SCOPUS:85038233931
SN - 1363-755X
VL - 21
JO - Developmental Science
JF - Developmental Science
IS - 5
M1 - e12634
ER -