Sustained attention of children with and without specific language impairment and the relations with quick incidental learning using eye-tracker [단순언어장애 아동과 정상 발달 아동의 지속주의 능력과 시선추적연구를 통한 빠른우연학습의 관계]

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated what underlying factors affect the word learning in a quick incidental learning (QUIL) task by using an eye-tracking technology and examined the correlation between QUIL ability and sustained attention which is known to be an important factor in word learning. Methods: Thirteen children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 17 typically developing children (TD, aged 4-6 years) participated in this study. They were asked to complete a QUIL task, followed by sustained attention task. They watched two video clips which contained 10 novel words, and their eye movement patterns were measured using an eye-tracker. Visual and auditory continuous performance tasks (CPTs) were used to measure sustained attention. Results: TD children gained significantly higher word learning scores than children with SLI in the QUIL task. Moreover, children with SLI also showed significantly lower average fixation time in the QUIL task than their TD peers. The performance on CPTs were differed in stimulus modality. The group difference was captured only in the auditory sustained attention task, and the SLI group showed lower accuracy than the TD group. There was a positive significant correlation between the accuracy of auditory sustained attention tasks and word learning scores in the QUIL. Conclusion: This study suggests that a deficit in word learning of children with SLI is related to attention ability, especially with auditory sustained attention. © 2019 Korean Academy of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.