Analogical reasoning in children with specific language impairment: Evidence from a scene analogy task

Preschoolers’ Perceptual Analogical Reasoning and Map Reading: A Preliminary Study on the Mediating Effect of Spatial Language

Reading and interpreting a map represents an essential part of daily life, enabling appropriate orientation and navigation through space. Based on the idea that perceptual analogical reasoning is critical in aligning the spatial structure of the map with the spatial structure of the space and given the critical role of language, especially spatial language, in encoding and establishing spatial relations among elements in the environment, the present study investigated the joint contribution of perceptual analogical reasoning and spatial language in map reading. The study was conducted with 56 typically developing 4- to 6-year-old children, and the results indicated that perceptual abstract reasoning affected map reading through the mediating effect of spatial language. These findings yielded theoretical and practical implications regarding the role of perceptual abstract reasoning and spatial language in shaping map-reading abilities in the early stages of life, highlighting that domain-specific language competencies are necessary to improve the encoding of spatial relations, to establish object correspondences, and to ensure successful navigation. Limitations and future research directions were discussed.

The relationship between reasoning and language ability: comparing children with cochlear implants and children with typical hearing

PURPOSE

Language has been suggested to play a facilitating role for analogical reasoning tasks, especially for those with high complexity. This study aims to evaluate if differences in analogical reasoning ability between children with cochlear implants (CI) and children with typical hearing (TH) might be explained by differences in language ability.

METHODS

The analogical reasoning ability (verbal; non-verbal; complex non-verbal: high relational integration demand) of children with CI (N = 15, mean age = 6;7) was compared to two groups of children with TH: age and language matched (TH-A+L, N = 23, mean age = 6;5), and age matched (TH-A, N = 23, mean age = 6;5).

RESULTS

Children with CI were found to perform comparable to Group TH-A+L on non-verbal reasoning tasks but significantly more poorly on a verbal analogical reasoning task. Children with CI were found to perform significantly more poorly on both the non-verbal analogical reasoning task with high relational integration demand and on the verbal analogical reasoning task compared to Group TH-A. For the non-verbal analogical reasoning task with lower relational integration demand only a tendency for a difference between group CI and Group TH-A was found.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that verbal strategies are influencing the performance on the non-verbal analogical reasoning tasks with a higher relational integration demand. The possible reasons for this are discussed. The verbal analogical reasoning task used in the current study partly measured lexical access. Differences between the children with CI and both groups of children with TH might therefore be explained by differences in expressive vocabulary skills.

How language and inhibition influence analogical reasoning in children with or without developmental language disorder?

Introduction: Analogical reasoning is a human ability of crucial importance in several domains of cognition, such as numerical abilities, social cognition, and language, and which is impaired in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). This impairment might be caused by their weaknesses in inhibition or by the inefficient use of phonological recoding.Method: We compared children with DLD and age-matched children without language disorders in an A:B::C:D analogical task. We manipulated two variables: interference (versus no interference) was used to evaluate the impact of articulatory suppression on analogical performance, and distraction (versus no distractor) was used to test whether perceptual distractors (which compete with relational responses) diminish children's performance.Results: Contrary to expectations, articulatory suppression does not have a negative effect on analogical reasoning. In contrast, perceptual distractors have a detrimental impact on performance, and children with DLD are more impacted by perceptual distraction than their peers. Moreover, inhibition, as measured by a classical inhibition task, influences performance, but only for children with DLD.Conclusion: The analogical reasoning impairment observed in DLD, therefore, seems to be related to perceptual distraction and inhibition rather than to phonological recoding. To conclude, this study investigates the analogical reasoning impairment observed in DLD and contributes to our understanding of the relationships between language, analogical reasoning, and executive functions.

Impact of processing load on analogical mapping with visual sequences in children with developmental language disorders (DLD)

BACKGROUND

Analogical mapping is a domain-general cognitive process used notably in language development, and particularly in the abstraction of construction schemas. Children with developmental language disorders (DLD) display an impairment in linguistic productivity and creativity, which can be linked to a lack of generalization of construction schemas.

AIMS

To investigate analogical mapping in children with DLD, and especially the influence of processing load, as it could explain the lack of creativity observed in children with DLD. It was hypothesized that analogical mapping is altered in children with DLD and that greater cognitive load (sequential presentation and no perceptual support) would be linked to poorer performance in these children.

METHODS & PROCEDURES

Fifteen children with DLD and their age-matched peers were administrated a visual analogical reasoning task where they had to complete a sequence sharing the same relational structure as previously presented sequences. Two factors influencing processing load were studied: the modality of presentation (sequential versus simultaneous) and the perceptual support (with versus without).

OUTCOMES & RESULTS

Results showed an expected group effect with poorer performance in children with DLD compared with children with typical language development (TLD). Results corroborated hypotheses according to which children with DLD have difficulties with analogical mapping, which could hinder their abstraction of construction schemas. Results about the influence of processing load were mixed. While the difference between the two groups was more marked for the items without perceptual support than for those with perceptual support, children with DLD were not more affected by the sequential presentation than children with TLD.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

Children with DLD have impaired analogical mapping competences, especially when the relational similarities are not supported by perceptual cues. This impairment may be the cause of their difficulties in abstracting construction schemas, thus provoking their poor linguistic productivity and creativity. However, more studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis, as the influence of analogical reasoning on language development could also be reversed or could be linked to another external factor.