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Updated: Aug 24, 2026

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks
Published on: September 5, 2019
Processing local transitions versus long-distance syntactic hierarchies
1Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, PO Box 500 355, 04303 Leipzig, Germany. angelafr@cbs.mpg.de <angelafr@cbs.mpg.de>
Abstract:
A recent study by Fitch and Hauser reported that finite-state grammars can be learned by non-human primates, whereas phrase-structure grammars cannot. Humans, by contrast, learn both grammars easily. This species difference is taken as the critical juncture in the evolution of the human language faculty. Given the far-reaching relevance of this conclusion, the question arises as to whether the distinction between these two types of grammars finds its reflection in different neural systems within the human brain.
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