Comprensión del tiempo a través del espacio: Un estudio de plasticidad inducida en niños con trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess whether children with mixed developmental language disorders (DLD) understand verb tense through the conceptual metaphor «time is space» (future ahead, past behind). MethodAn induced plasticity experiment was used which comprised moving tokens from one container to another using a forward or backward movement, and then forming a judgement of semantic coherence in past and future sentences. ResultsThe overall performance of the children with DLD was lower compared to typically developing (TD) children, attaining fewer hits in past sentences than future sentences. The interaction between the conceptual domains of the metaphor (movement direction and verb tense) when measuring response time, showed an interference effect compatible with the metaphor in the DLD and the TD children. When measuring the hit rate, the results showed an interaction between direction, tense, and group, showing a facilitation effect compatible with the metaphor in the children with DLD and an interference effect in the TD children. All the results depended on sustained attention. ConclusionsThis research study shows the relationship between the spatial dominance of the forward/backward axis and understanding of verb tense in children with DLD and children with normal language development. The results are explained through the theory of conceptual metaphor and corporeal theories and are relevant for future research and new proposals for intervention in DLD.