Memory consolidation in children with specific language impairment: Delayed gains and susceptibility to interference in implicit sequence learning

In this study, the time course of the procedural learning of a visuomotor sequence skill was followed over a 24-hour and a 1-week time period in children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Two aspects of memory consolidation in implicit sequence learning were examined: the evolution of post-training gains in sequence knowledge (Experiment 1) and the susceptibility to interference (Experiment 2). In the first experiment, 18 children with SLI and 17 control children matched for sex, age, and nonverbal intelligence completed a serial reaction-time (SRT) task and were tested 24 hours and 1 week after practicing. The two groups of children attained an equal level of sequence knowledge in the training session, but the children with SLI lacked the consolidation gains displayed by the control children in the two post-training sessions. Working with a new group of children, 17 with SLI and 17 control peers, Experiment 2 examined resistance to interference by introducing a second sequence 15 min after the first training session. Similar results were obtained for the performance of both groups in the training session. However, although the performance of the control group improved in the post-training sessions, the performance of the SLI group deteriorated significantly during the consolidation phase due to the interfering sequence. These findings suggest that the consolidation phase of sequence learning is impaired in children with SLI.