Gradual development of non-adjacent dependency learning during early childhood

Abstract

In order to become proficient native speakers, children have to learn the grammatical rules of their language. These grammatical rules can define morpho-syntactic relations between neighboring as well as distant elements of a sentence, so-called non-adjacent dependencies (NADs). Previous neurophysiological research suggests that NAD learning comprises different developmental stages during early childhood. Children up to 2 years of age show evidence of associative NAD learning under passive listening conditions, while children starting around the age of 3 to 4 years fail to show learning under passive listening, similarly to the pattern observed in adults. To test whether the transition between these developmental stages occurs in a gradual manner, we tested young children’s NADlearning in a foreign language using event-related potentials (ERPs). We found ERP evidence of NAD learning across the age of 1 to 3 years. However, the amplitude of the ERP effect indexing NAD learning decreased linearly with increasing age. These findings indicatea gradual transition in children’s ability to learn NADs associatively under passive listening during early childhood. Cognitively, this transition might be driven by children’s increasing morpho-syntactic knowledge in their native language, hindering NAD learning in novel linguistic contexts during passive listening. Neuroanatomically, changes in brain structure might play a crucial role, especially the maturation of the prefrontal cortex, which promotes top-down learning, as opposed to bottom-up, associative learning. In sum, our study provides evidence that NAD learning under passive listening conditions undergoes a gradual transition between different developmental stages during early childhood.Research HighlightsTransition between different developmental stages of non-adjacent dependency learning during early childhood evidenced by event-related brain potentialsChildren between 1 and 3 years of age showed learning of non-adjacent dependencies in a foreign language during passive listeningBrain responses revealed associative non-adjacent dependency learning across the tested age range, triggered by passive listeningGradual decrease of the strength of associative non-adjacent dependency learning, during early childhood

Children’s Learning of Non-adjacent Dependencies Using a Web-Based Computer Game Setting

“…The question arises as to whether the capacity for a more associative bottom-up learning from passive listening ends abruptly around the age of 3 years or whether it might gradually be replaced by a more top-down, controlled learning mechanism. Paul et al (2020) investigated this transition of NAD learning and collected ERP data from children between 1 and 3 years of age. Using the same experimental paradigm as in the above cited studies ( Mueller et al, 2009 ; Citron et al, 2011 ; Friederici et al, 2011 ) they observed that the amplitude of the ERP effect of NAD learning decreased linearly with age suggesting a gradual decrease of NAD learning from passive listening.…”

“…Using the same experimental paradigm as in the above cited studies ( Mueller et al, 2009 ; Citron et al, 2011 ; Friederici et al, 2011 ) they observed that the amplitude of the ERP effect of NAD learning decreased linearly with age suggesting a gradual decrease of NAD learning from passive listening. Importantly, Paul et al (2020) argued on the one hand for a developmental shift, presumably influenced by maturation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and other neuronal circuits ( Skeide and Friederici, 2016 ), but on the other hand also proposed that children’s knowledge and entrenchment of their native language has an influence on the changes in their learning outcomes. According to Skeide and Friederici (2016) , when maturation has reached a certain degree, top-down control increasingly takes effect, which in turn inhibits associative bottom-up learning mechanisms, also limiting the ability to learn NADs under passive listening.…”

“…Existing literature on NAD learning has either mainly explored early infancy up to the age of 4 years (e.g., Gómez, 2002 ; Mueller et al, 2019 ; Paul et al, 2020 ; van der Kant et al, 2020 ), older children (e.g., 6–8-year-olds; Lammertink et al, 2019 ), or adults (e.g., Frost and Monaghan, 2016 ; Arnon, 2019 ) with data on children between 4 and 6 years still missing. However, there is evidence that a developmental shift happens gradually between 2 and 4 years of age ( Mueller et al, 2018 ; Paul et al, 2020 ; van der Kant et al, 2020 ). To systematically investigate the question of how NAD learning trajectories unfold and what influences the magnitude of NAD learning beyond the age of 3 years, we collected behavioral data in children from 4 to 8 years of age.…”