Phonological impairment as a decay-based impairment : New evidence from a single case study

Computational models of language processing such as the Martin and Saffran (1992) model assume two properties underlying language processing: decay rate of activated representations and strength of activation spread between phonological, lexical and semantic levels of representation. Despite the theoretical and epistemological advantages of these models, as opposed to box-and-arrow type models, empirical evidence for these models is currently based on a very limited number of case studies (e.g., patient NC, Martin & Saffran, 1992; patient CO, Majerus et al., 2001). We present here a new single case study providing further support for the existence of decay rate impairments as an underlying cause of language impairment.