# Perceptual learning and memory consolidation in adults with and without language impairment

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE · 2021 · $35,517

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The etiology of (Specific) Language Impairment (LI) has been the subject of long debate. Competing accounts
include a bottom-up impairment of grammar via impoverished phonological categories (Phonological Deficit
Hypothesis), or via broad impairment in procedural or implicit/statistical memory (Procedural Deficit Theory).
These accounts need not be mutually exclusive, in that impaired procedural/implicit memory would likely
compromise the development of robust phonological representations.
Our recent work has found that, following perceptual training on new (nonnative) acoustic-phonetic information,
sleep facilitates improved perceptual ability in adults with typical language, but not in adults with a history of LI.
How memory consolidation in perceptual learning relates to broader claims about the time course of memory
encoding in LI is not yet clear. To this end, we must establish how performance on these tasks relate to relative
strengths and weaknesses in procedural and/or declarative memory. Furthermore, we do not know what the
neural consequences are of this observed failure in overnight consolidation to the online processing of speech.
Therefore, the research outlined in this proposal aims to determine the association between perceptual
learning and declarative and procedural memory, and to identify the consequences of failure in offline
memory consolidation to the neural processing of speech. These aims will be addressed by combining
behavioral data in established procedural and declarative learning tasks with our perceptual learning task. We
will also extend our behavioral protocol on perceptual learning to investigate neural processing of speech before
and after sleep using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques. The knowledge to be gained
through this research will inform the time course of memory consolidation in individuals with LI, and inform the
cognitive substrates of speech sound acquisition in adulthood more broadly. Furthermore, by defining a
potentially critical obstacle to successful treatment, this knowledge may contribute to future endeavors to improve
remediation outcomes in this common developmental disability. The knowledge to be gained through the
proposed project will contribute to four areas of research: (Specific) Language Impairment, speech perception,
second language learning, and memory consolidation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10374201
- **Project number:** 3R21DC016391-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
- **Principal Investigator:** Frances Sayako Earle
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $35,517
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-08-01 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10374201

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10374201, Perceptual learning and memory consolidation in adults with and without language impairment (3R21DC016391-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10374201. Licensed CC0.

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