PSY315H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Eric Lenneberg, Natural Experiment, Scientific Control
Document Summary
The obvious influence is what language you learn depends on what you"re exposed to. But in other respects, sometimes seems like a weak influence ( maturational aspects of language acquisition) Acquisition probably best approaches as involving dense interactions among child and environment. Across languages and cultures, language abilities seem to emerge on a relatively fixed timetable. The information children are exposed to during this period cannot fully account for their rapid acquisition nor their resulting competence. Adults are not particularly good at learning language, at least in the same effortless way as children. Something about the ability to learn in childhood. Hypothesized a stage in maturation where humans possess a special ability to acquire language. Age effects in recovery from brain injury. Anecdotal views on the difficulty of learning new skills later in life. Lenneberg was right about some things, e. g. certain aspects of hemispheric specialization. Now that we have technology to see brain activity.
