TY - JOUR

T1 - Mass counts

T2 - ERP correlates of non-adjacent dependency learning under different exposure conditions

AU - Citron, Francesca M. M.

AU - Oberecker, Regine

AU - Friederici, Angela D.

AU - Mueller, Jutta L.

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Neuroscience Letters. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Neuroscience Letters, 487, 3, 2011 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2010.10.038

PY - 2011/1/10

Y1 - 2011/1/10

N2 - Miniature language learning can serve to model real language learning as high proficiency can be reached after very little exposure. In a previous study by Mueller et al. [18] German participants acquired non-adjacent syntactic dependencies by mere exposure to correct Italian sentences, but their ERP pattern differed from the one shown by native speakers. The present study follows up on that experiment using a similar design and material and is focused on two important issues: the influence of acoustic cues in the material and the impact of the learning procedure. With respect to the latter we compared alternating learning and test phases to a continuous learning and test phase. In addition, a splicing procedure eliminated prosodic cues in order to ensure that non-adjacent dependencies were learned instead of adjacent ones. Results for the continuous phase design showed a native-like biphasic ERP pattern, an N400 followed by a left-focused positivity. In the alternating design behavioural accuracy was lower and only an N400 was found. The results suggest an advantage of continuous learning phases for adult learners, possibly due to the absence of ungrammatical items present in the test phases in the alternating learning procedure. Furthermore, the replication of the earlier study with prosodically controlled material adds evidence to the general finding that syntactic non-adjacent dependencies can be learned from mere exposure to correct examples. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

AB - Miniature language learning can serve to model real language learning as high proficiency can be reached after very little exposure. In a previous study by Mueller et al. [18] German participants acquired non-adjacent syntactic dependencies by mere exposure to correct Italian sentences, but their ERP pattern differed from the one shown by native speakers. The present study follows up on that experiment using a similar design and material and is focused on two important issues: the influence of acoustic cues in the material and the impact of the learning procedure. With respect to the latter we compared alternating learning and test phases to a continuous learning and test phase. In addition, a splicing procedure eliminated prosodic cues in order to ensure that non-adjacent dependencies were learned instead of adjacent ones. Results for the continuous phase design showed a native-like biphasic ERP pattern, an N400 followed by a left-focused positivity. In the alternating design behavioural accuracy was lower and only an N400 was found. The results suggest an advantage of continuous learning phases for adult learners, possibly due to the absence of ungrammatical items present in the test phases in the alternating learning procedure. Furthermore, the replication of the earlier study with prosodically controlled material adds evidence to the general finding that syntactic non-adjacent dependencies can be learned from mere exposure to correct examples. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

KW - ERPs

KW - Language learning

KW - Grammar

KW - Non-adjacent dependency

KW - EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS

KW - CONTINUOUS SPEECH

KW - ACQUISITION

KW - IMPACT

KW - CUES

U2 - 10.1016/j.neulet.2010.10.038

DO - 10.1016/j.neulet.2010.10.038

M3 - Journal article

VL - 487

SP - 282

EP - 286

JO - Neuroscience Letters

JF - Neuroscience Letters

SN - 0304-3940

IS - 3

ER -