Rapid phonotactic constraint learning in aging: Evidence from speech errors

Abstract

Older adults are able to implicitly pick up structural regularities in the environment in a relatively unaffected way despite age-related cognitive decline. Although there is extensive evidence for this observation in the domain of motor skill learning, it is not clear whether this is also true for aspects of language learning. In this study, we investigate the effect of aging on implicitly learning novel phonotactic constraints in the native spoken language. During four sessions on consecutive days, a group of fifteen young (18-25 years) and fifteen healthy older (74-82 years) Dutch-speaking adults were asked to rapidly recite sequences of syllables conform Dutch phonotactics (e.g., siet mieng kief hien). Within the setting of the experiment, two unrestricted consonants in the Dutch spoken language were constrained to an onset or coda position depending on the medial vowel. Analysis of speech errors revealed rapid adherence to the novel second- order constraints in the older group. Strikingly, the effect mirrors earlier developmental work with children using the same paradigm (Smalle, Muylle, Szmalec, & Duyck, 2017). The findings are discussed in light of possible age-dependent differences in implicit and explicit cognitive subsystems underlying human skill learning.

Less is more: Depleting cognitive resources enhances language learning abilities in adults.

“…Together, our findings corroborate the idea that a continuously available learning mechanism (i.e., implicit statistical learning) can give rise to discontinuous language outcomes due to changes in the cognitive system (Thiessen et al, 2016). This is further supported by recent work in the aging literature that shows that older adults are still able to pick up novel linguistic constraints despite (or thanks to) an overall decline in cognitive functioning (Muylle et al, 2021;Palmer et al, 2018).…”

The adaptable speaker: A theory of implicit learning in language production.

“…The learning on Day 1 was quite robust with 13 of 15 older participants showing the effect. Muylle et al (2019) attributed the superior learning of the older adults and the children in Smalle et al (2017) to differences in relative reliance on explicit as opposed to implicit learning (see also Smalle et al, 2018). The young adults, who would be expected to be better at memorizing the syllables, rely on this good memory which impairs their ability to implicitly track the second-order distribution.…”

“…Older adults, like children, do not require a consolidation period before their slips reflect a second-order vowel-contingent rule . Muylle et al (2019) compared older adults (72–82 years) to young adults with the speech-error paradigm using the same 4-day study design of Smalle et al (2017). The young adults behaved as before, with their slips significantly following the second-order rule on Days 2, 3, and 4.…”