Torkildsen, J. v. K. 1 , Arciuli, J. 2 , Haukedal, C. L. 3 , Gismarvik, M. E. 3 & Wie, O. B. 1, 3
1 University of Oslo
2 University of Sydney
3 Oslo University Hospital
While diagnostic criteria for specific language impairment (SLI) and hearing impairment (HI) primarily involve auditory symptoms, some recent studies have reported difficulties with visual statistical learning in individuals with HI (Conway et al. 2011; Lévesque et al. 2014) and SLI (Tomblin et al. 2007), suggesting a domain general learning problem . The present study aimed to compare visual statistical learning abilities in typically developing children to those of children with SLI and HI. Fifty-one children aged 7-13 years (19 HI, 10 SLI and 22 controls) participated in the present study. (The data collection is ongoing, and additional participants will be tested until April 1st). The test battery included a visual statistical learning experiment, and tests measuring auditory and visual working memory, visual attention and language abilities. Children with SLI performed significantly worse than age-matched controls on the visual statistical learning task. While HI children also had a lower mean score on the statistical learning task than controls, this difference was not statistically significant. The results suggest that oral language deficits may be related to impairments in basic computational mechanisms encompassing the visual domain.