PSY321H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Critical Period, Phoneme, Shy Child
Document Summary
Span of org"s life when it can gain a new skill relatively easily: p/u relatively easily, dev window = sensitive period, classic ex of domain is lang + illustration of this is young girl named genie. Skill acquisition subsequent to this becomes much more difficult. Locked up in attic till age 10 or so: never interacted w/ her + never exposed to lang bc never talked to her. Lang = hallmark of human culture: sensitive periods & lang acquisition, as brain becomes accustomed to a particular lang"s phonemes, it also loses ability to perceive phonemes not used in this lang. Find that eng infants at 6-8 mths a lot can discriminate btw 2 phonemes: play 1 over + over again until habituates till no longer interested + then change phoneme. In l temporal ctx: differences in way brain represents lang depending on when acquired 2nd lang.
