Gradual development of non-adjacent dependency learning during early childhood

Mariella Paul, Claudia Männel, Anne van der Kant, Jutta L. Mueller, Barbara Höhle, Isabell Wartenburger, Angela D. Friederici

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

In order to become proficient native speakers, children have to learn the morpho-syntactic relations between distant elements in a sentence, so-called non-adjacent dependencies (NADs). Previous research suggests that NAD learning in children comprises different developmental stages, where until 2 years of age children are able to learn NADs associatively under passive listening conditions, while starting around the age of 3-4 years children fail to learn NADs during passive listening. To test whether the transition between these developmental stages occurs gradually, we tested children's NAD learning in a foreign language using event-related potentials (ERPs). We found ERP evidence of NAD learning across the ages of 1, 2 and 3 years. The amplitude of the ERP effect indexing NAD learning, however, decreased with age. These findings might indicate a gradual transition in children's ability to learn NADs associatively. Cognitively, this transition might be driven by children's increasing knowledge of their native language, hindering NAD learning in novel contexts. Neuroanatomically, maturation of the prefrontal cortex might play a crucial role, promoting top-down learning, affecting bottom-up, associative learning. In sum, our study suggests that NAD learning under passive listening conditions undergoes a gradual transition between different developmental stages during early childhood.

Original languageEnglish
Article number100975
Number of pages9
JournalDevelopmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Volume50
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2021

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

  • 602040 Psycholinguistics
  • 501005 Developmental psychology

Keywords

  • ACQUISITION
  • ASSOCIATIVE ACCOUNT
  • AUDITORY-PERCEPTION
  • Artificial language learning
  • BRAIN
  • CHILDREN
  • COMPREHENSION
  • CRITICAL PERIOD
  • Development
  • Event-related potentials
  • LANGUAGE
  • Language acquisition
  • Non-adjacent dependencies
  • SPEECH-PERCEPTION
  • SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
  • Statistical learning

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