Linguistic and non-linguistic non-adjacent dependency learning in early development

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

doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100819

Cited by 17 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Similarly, it is possible that different measures, such as the head-turn preference procedure compared to ERPs and different NAD learning paradigms, tap into different learning processes. This difference in measures might also explain the differences between our study and a recent study using a similar paradigm with fNIRS, in which we found NAD learning from the same Italian sentences in 2-year-old, but not 3-year-old children (van der Kant et al, 2020). While fNIRS informs us about the brain areas underlying NAD learning during early childhood, EEG may be more sensitive to detect children’s decreased response to NAD violations at 3 years of age.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, in young children, syntactic information triggers activation in the left temporal cortex, but not the left inferior frontal cortex; at 3 years of age, at the latest, both regions are activated during syntactic processing (Dehaene-Lambertz et al, 2002. In summary of these results, (Friederici et al, 2011;Mueller et al, 2019;van der Kant et al, 2020) compared to older children and adults (Friederici et al, 2013;Mueller et al, 2012;Mueller et al, 2019). This advantage would decrease gradually with age, as indicated by the linear decrease in our study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

“…NAD learning in this miniature version of Italian was shown to display different developmental stages during early childhood, with an initial stage up to the age of 2 to 3 years, during which young children can learn NADs through passive listening, which likely triggers associative learning (Friederici et al, 2011;Mueller et al, 2019;van der Kant et al, 2020). This is followed by a stage starting at around 3 to 4 years, during which children and adults struggle to learn NADs under passive listening (without additional cues marking the NADs), but succeed in learning under active listening conditions, that is, when a task, administered during the whole experiment or during testing only, guides their attention towards the NADs (Friederici et al, 2013;Mueller et al, 2012;van der Kant et al, 2020; see also Pacton et al, 2015;Pacton & Perruchet, 2008). Notably, adults' neural signature of NAD learning under active listening conditions differed from infants' neural signature under passive listening:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Using a set of non-native sentences allows for combining the advantages of artificial grammars, by being well-controlled, and natural language, by being more naturalistic than artificial grammars. Based on previous findings with the same paradigm and artificial grammar paradigms, we propose that a transition between different developmental stages of NAD learning takes place between 2 and 4 years of age (Mueller et al, 2019;van der Kant et al, 2020). To investigate whether this transition occurs in a gradual manner, we exposed 1-to 3-year-old children to Italian sentences under passive listening conditions in a familiarization-test paradigm while recording ERPs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present study, we set out to systematically investigate the transition between the different developmental stages of NAD learning under passive listening conditions using the same paradigm with Italian sentences as previous studies (Friederici et al, 2011(Friederici et al, , 2013Mueller et al, 2009;van der Kant et al, 2020). Using a set of non-native sentences allows for combining the advantages of artificial grammars, by being well-controlled, and natural language, by being more naturalistic than artificial grammars.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gradual development of non-adjacent dependency learning during early childhood

Paul

Männel

Kant

et al. 2020

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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

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Gradual development of non-adjacent dependency learning during early childhood

Paul

Männel

Kant

et al. 2020

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A systematic review of MRI studies of language development from birth to 2 years of age

Silver

Korja

Mainela-Arnold

et al. 2020

Developmental Neurobiology

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Neurocognitive functions supporting language development start to develop well before first words are spoken during the first years of life. This process coincides with the initial growth spurt of the brain. While the core components of the language network are well characterized in adults and children, the initial neural correlates of language skills are still relatively unknown. We reviewed 10 studies identified via a systematic search that combined magnetic resonance imaging and language‐related measures in healthy infants from birth to 2 years of age. We aimed to describe the current knowledge as well as point out viable future directions for similar studies. Expectedly, the implicated cerebral areas included many established components of the language networks, including frontal and temporal regions. A volumetric leftward asymmetry of the brain was suggested as a determinant of language skills, yet with marked interindividual variation. Overall, temporal and frontal brain volumes associated positively with language skills. Positive associations were described between the maturation of language related white matter tracts and language skills. The language networks showed adult‐like structural similarities already in neonates, with weaker asymmetry compared to adults. In summary, we found some evidence that the language circuit described in older age groups is also associated to language skills during the first 2 years of life. However, across the reviewed studies there were no systematic neural correlates of language skills, which is partly explained by a modest number of studies, scattered representation of ages in measurements and the variance in the used methods.

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Comparing different pre-processing routines for infant fNIRS data

Gemignani

Gervain

2021

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

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Highlights Five pre-processing pipelines were compared on synthetic and real infant NIRS data. Strict inclusion criteria limit the number of trials, but recover HRF accurately. Artifact correction retains larger amounts of data, but may lower HRF amplitude. No difference between applying pre-processing to optical density or concentration data.

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Linguistic and non-linguistic non-adjacent dependency learning in early development

Cited by 17 publications

References 60 publications

Gradual development of non-adjacent dependency learning during early childhood

Gradual development of non-adjacent dependency learning during early childhood

A systematic review of MRI studies of language development from birth to 2 years of age

Comparing different pre-processing routines for infant fNIRS data

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