Clinical Trials Logo

Clinical Trial Summary

This project aims to optimize a critical but understudied ingredient of language intervention provided to children with developmental language disorder (DLD) - feedback. The project will bridge a gap between previous findings in our lab of inefficient feedback processing in DLD and clinical practice by identifying the conditions under which feedback-based learning can be improved in DLD. The investigators hypothesize that the effectiveness of feedback can be significantly enhanced for children with DLD when it is tailored to their unique learning strengths. The rationale for this project is based on evidence that feedback-based learning can be improved by enhancing the dominance of an intact learning system. The project will achieve its aim by manipulating (1) the timing of the feedback (immediate vs. delayed) and (2) the level of the learner's involvement in error correction dictated by feedback (active vs. passive correction). Aim 1 will determine the effect of manipulating feedback timing on learning in 140 school-age children (8-12 years) with DLD. While immediate feedback is processed by the striatum, which is also implicated in implicit learning, delaying the feedback by a few seconds shifts feedback processing to the mediate temporal lobe (MTL)-based declarative learning system. Evidence that delaying feedback improves learning in DLD would support the hypothesis of the implicit deficit theory that intervention should capitalize on declarative learning mechanisms. The project will test a novel alternative feedback-learning parity hypothesis whereby feedback-based learning is optimized when the timing of the feedback is aligned with the dominant learning system at a given time (i.e., immediate feedback during striatal-based probabilistic learning; delayed feedback during MTL-based declarative learning). Within the same group of children, Aim 2 will compare feedback-based learning in children with DLD when feedback (a) prompts active self-correction or (b) passively exposes learners to error corrections (corrective recast). Children will engage in two nonword-object paired-associate learning tasks. In one task, feedback will promote active self-correction, which is in line with declarative learning. In the other task, feedback will passively expose the learner to corrective feedback in a manner consistent with teaching approaches aiming at reducing awareness of errors. The project will determine whether children with DLD learn better when feedback prompts self-correction or when they are exposed to passive corrections. Electrophysiological measures will indicate whether passive corrections (corrective recast) are processed as negative feedback by children with DLD. For both aims, behavioral indicators of response to feedback will be complemented by electrophysiological measures of feedback processing that can determine the involvement of the striatum and MTL brain systems during the learning process. This work is scientifically and clinically significant because elucidating what manipulations optimize feedback-based learning will enhance our understanding of the impaired learning mechanism in DLD and will provide clinical guidance on what type of feedback to use during an intervention.


Clinical Trial Description

n/a


Study Design


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


NCT number NCT05678634
Study type Interventional
Source MGH Institute of Health Professions
Contact research coordinator
Phone (617) 724-7363
Email cnglead@mghihp.edu
Status Recruiting
Phase N/A
Start date July 20, 2023
Completion date October 1, 2027

See also
  Status Clinical Trial Phase
Completed NCT05242575 - The Influence of Immersive Virtual Field Trips on Academic Vocabulary N/A
Enrolling by invitation NCT04508699 - Semantic Learning Deficits in School Age Children With Developmental Language Disorder N/A
Recruiting NCT06026124 - Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Developmental Language Disorder During Book Reading N/A
Recruiting NCT05901493 - Category Learning Retention in Adults With and Without Developmental Language Disorder N/A
Not yet recruiting NCT05988190 - Contextual Word Learning in Children With Developmental Language Disorder N/A
Recruiting NCT05268341 - Neuroimaging Reveals Treatment-related Changes in DLD N/A
Active, not recruiting NCT05325333 - Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Developmental Language Disorder N/A
Completed NCT06001866 - Retrieval-Based Word Learning in Developmental Language Disorder: Verb Learning N/A
Recruiting NCT05953077 - The Effect of Prior Learning on Treatment of Morpheme Errors N/A
Recruiting NCT06156865 - Using Neuroimaging and Behavioral Assessments to Understand Late Talking N/A
Recruiting NCT05767242 - Early Neurophysiological Markers of Language Impairments
Recruiting NCT04902508 - Evaluation of an Explicit Approach N/A
Terminated NCT05127863 - Efficacy of a Pragmatic Intervention to Improve Adaptation to Context and Interlocutor N/A
Recruiting NCT06085300 - The Relationship Between Child Language Proficiency and Language of Treatment on the Outcomes of Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder N/A
Recruiting NCT04558541 - A Developmental Framework For Linking Phonological And Morpho-syntactic Sequential Pattern Rules In DLD: Production N/A
Recruiting NCT04996472 - A Framework For Linking Sequential Pattern Rules in DLD: Perception in Adults N/A
Recruiting NCT04531514 - A Framework For Linking Sequential Pattern Rules in DLD: Perception in Toddlers N/A
Completed NCT05295472 - Reading Intervention to Children With Developmental Language Disorder N/A
Active, not recruiting NCT03782493 - Maximizing Outcomes for Preschoolers With Developmental Language Disorders Phase 2
Recruiting NCT05445687 - Rehabilitation of Narrative Language in Children With Hearing Impairment and Developmental Language Disorder N/A