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Science 5 January 1996:
Vol. 271. no. 5245, pp. 77 - 81
DOI: 10.1126/science.271.5245.77
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Reports

Temporal Processing Deficits of Language-Learning Impaired Children Ameliorated by Training

Michael M. Merzenich (1),  William M. Jenkins,  Paul Johnston,  Christoph Schreiner,  Steven L. Miller,  Paula Tallal

Children with language-based learning impairments (LLIs) have major deficits in their recognition of some rapidly successive phonetic elements and nonspeech sound stimuli. In the current study, LLI children were engaged in adaptive training exercises mounted as computer ``games'' designed to drive improvements in their ``temporal processing'' skills. With 8 to 16 hours of training during a 20-day period, LLI children improved markedly in their abilities to recognize brief and fast sequences of nonspeech and speech stimuli.


M. M. Merzenich, W. M. Jenkins, P. Johnston, C. Schreiner, W. M. Keck Center for Integrative Neurosciences and Coleman Laboratory, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-0732, USA.
S. L. Miller and P. Tallal, Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, 197 University Avenue, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.
(1) To whom correspondence should be addressed.


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