Language and Memory in Neurodevelopmental Conditions

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  The interface between language and cognition in neurodevelopmental conditions: Evidence from crosslinguistic comparisons

• IRAS ID

  143391

• Contact name

  Nikolitsa Stathopoulou

• Contact email

  n.stathopoulou@bristol.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Bristol

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 0 months, 0 days

• Research summary

  In this two-year EU-funded fellowship project we will be investigating the links between memory and language understanding and production among individuals with Specific Language Impairment (SLI), Down Syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS). In this study, a variety of tasks will be included to acquire a better understanding of the link between memory and language skills in these conditions. The main aim of this study is to challenge existing views by adopting a novel approach that will be realized by asking the following core research questions, such as:
  (1) Do the language difficulties in SLI, DS and WS show similarities or differences in the comprehension as opposed to the production of language?
  (2) Are the language difficulties in SLI, DS and WS and other conditions a result of a weakness in memory or conceptual knowledge?
  (3) Is the nature of these difficulties comparable in languages with different grammars?

  In order to answer the final research question we will add a cross-linguistic perspective to this study, namely, across groups of English-speaking and Greek-speaking populations. In this way, we overcome certain confounds that may exist in one language alone. Hence, the comparison will indicate whether the difficulties in language observed in these conditions are the same or different across languages and will point out the fundamental difficulties that are universal to a given condition.
  Regarding the non-NHS element of this project (i.e. participants with DS and WS),this EU-funded fellowship project has received ethical approval from the Faculty of Science Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Bristol.
  At the end of the project, we hope to be able to suggest syndrome-specific intervention strategies that will help children with SLI and other neurodevelopmental conditions as well as their families and teachers.

• REC name

  South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  15/SW/0001

• Date of REC Opinion

  24 Mar 2015

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion