SRCLD Presentation Details
  Title  
       
    Interference control in children with neurodevelopmental disorders: specific language impairment, autism, attention deficit disorder  
Author(s)
Klara Marton - Graduate Center, City University of New York & Eotvos Lorand University
Zsuzsanna Suranyi - Karoli Gaspar University
Timea Egri - Faculty of Special Education, Eotvos Lorand University

SRCLD Info
SRCLD Year: 2014
Presentation Type: Special Session
Presentation Time: (na)
Abstract
This study focused on proactive interference in children with specific language impairment (SLI), high functioning autism, attention deficit disorder (ADHD), and typical development. Proactive interference is about resisting memory traces (Friedman & Miyake, 2004) that may hinder efficient information processing, such as suppressing irrelevant information from previous tasks.
     Participants included 20 children with SLI; 20 children with autism, 19 children with ADHD, and 20 age-matched controls; all were 8-10 years of age with typical nonverbal IQ (>85). We used an experimental conflict paradigm, in which previous target items served as distractors in subsequent tasks. All children were negatively affected by the increase in interference, as shown in their decreased accuracy rate, but the change from the baseline was greater in the groups with neurodevelopmental disorders than in controls. Children with neurodevelopmental disorders showed poor resistance to proactive interference; they exhibited a weakness in differentiating between task-relevant items and irrelevant ones, and in suppressing irrelevant information. The 3 clinical groups (SLI, autism, ADHD) showed different performance profiles consistent with their diagnosis.
Author Biosketch(es)