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Related Concept Videos

Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

346
Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
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Language Development01:22

Language Development

368
Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
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Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language01:10

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

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Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
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Components of Language01:24

Components of Language

282
Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs.
282
Interference and Decay01:16

Interference and Decay

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Forgetting is a complex cognitive phenomenon influenced by several factors, among which interference and decay are particularly prominent. These processes explain why individuals often struggle to retrieve specific information from memory, leading to lapses in recall that can be observed in everyday situations.
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...
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Chunking01:12

Chunking

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Chunking is a powerful cognitive technique that improves short-term memory retention by organizing information into smaller, more manageable units. The brain, limited by working memory capacity, can more easily process and store information when it is divided into "chunks" rather than presented as discrete, unrelated elements. Chunking is especially useful when dealing with large amounts of information, such as numerical sequences, words, or complex ideas.
The principle behind chunking...
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Language Analytic Ability, Print Exposure, Memory and Comprehension of Complex Syntax by Adult Native Speakers.

Elodie Winckel1, Ewa Dąbrowska1

  • 1English and American studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Philosophische Fakultät und Fachbereich Theologie, Erlangen, DE.

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Individual differences in adult grammar skills are significant. Language analytic ability and print exposure strongly influence grammatical attainment, challenging nativist theories of language development.

Keywords:
comprehensiongrammarindividual differenceslanguage analytic abilitylanguage aptitudememory

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Area of Science:

  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Science
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Nativist theories posit a universal grammar blueprint for native language acquisition.
  • Recent research indicates substantial individual variation in adult grammatical competence.
  • This study investigates cognitive and experiential factors contributing to these differences.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore reasons behind individual differences in adult native speakers' grammatical attainment.
  • To assess the impact of cognitive factors (memory, analytic ability) and print exposure on grammatical comprehension.
  • To challenge the nativist assumption of uniform grammar acquisition.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed cognitive factors: implicit/explicit sequence memory, non-verbal working memory, language analytic ability.
  • Measured print exposure as an experiential factor.
  • Evaluated participants' ability to comprehend complex sentences using grammatical cues, minimizing performance factors.

Main Results:

  • Language analytic ability and print exposure showed significant effects on grammatical comprehension.
  • Implicit learning had a smaller, though notable, effect.
  • Findings indicate that experience, particularly print exposure, plays a crucial role.

Conclusions:

  • Grammatical attainment is influenced by cognitive abilities and language experience, not solely a genetic blueprint.
  • Print exposure may be critical for developing complex syntactic processing skills.
  • Language analytic ability is relevant for native language comprehension, not just second language learning.