7/1/2015

Try,tryagain?Studysaysno:Tryinghardermakesitmoredifficulttolearnsomeaspectsoflanguage,neuroscientistsfindScienceDaily

Try,tryagain?Studysaysno:Tryinghardermakesitmoredifficultto
learnsomeaspectsoflanguage,neuroscientistsfind
Date:

July21,2014

Source: MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
Whenitcomestolearninglanguages,adultsandchildrenhavedifferentstrengths.Adultsexcelatabsorbingthe
vocabularyneededtonavigateagrocerystoreororderfoodinarestaurant,butchildrenhaveanuncannyabilityto
pickuponsubtlenuancesoflanguagethatofteneludeadults.Withinmonthsoflivinginaforeigncountry,ayoung
childmayspeakasecondlanguagelikeanativespeaker.
Brainstructureplaysanimportantroleinthis"sensitiveperiod"forlearninglanguage,whichisbelievedtoend
aroundadolescence.Theyoungbrainisequippedwithneuralcircuitsthatcananalyzesoundsandbuildacoherent
setofrulesforconstructingwordsandsentencesoutofthosesounds.Oncetheselanguagestructuresare
established,it'sdifficulttobuildanotheroneforanewlanguage.
Inanewstudy,ateamofneuroscientistsandpsychologistsledbyAmyFinn,apostdocatMIT'sMcGovern
InstituteforBrainResearch,hasfoundevidenceforanotherfactorthatcontributestoadults'languagedifficulties:
Whenlearningcertainelementsoflanguage,adults'morehighlydevelopedcognitiveskillsactuallygetintheway.
Theresearchersdiscoveredthattheharderadultstriedtolearnanartificiallanguage,theworsetheywereat
decipheringthelanguage'smorphologythestructureanddeploymentoflinguisticunitssuchasrootwords,
suffixes,andprefixes.
"Wefoundthatefforthelpsyouinmostsituations,forthingslikefiguringoutwhattheunitsoflanguagethatyou
needtoknoware,andbasicorderingofelements.Butwhentryingtolearnmorphology,atleastinthisartificial
languagewecreated,it'sactuallyworsewhenyoutry,"Finnsays.
FinnandcolleaguesfromtheUniversityofCaliforniaatSantaBarbara,StanfordUniversity,andtheUniversityof
BritishColumbiadescribetheirfindingsintheJuly21issueofPLOSONE.CarlaHudsonKam,anassociate
professoroflinguisticsatBritishColumbia,isthepaper'sseniorauthor.
Toomuchbrainpower
Linguistshaveknownfordecadesthatchildrenareskilledatabsorbingcertaintrickyelementsoflanguage,suchas
irregularpastparticiples(examplesofwhich,inEnglish,include"gone"and"been")orcomplicatedverbtenseslike
thesubjunctive.
"Childrenwillultimatelyperformbetterthanadultsintermsoftheircommandofthegrammarandthestructural
componentsoflanguagesomeofthemoreidiosyncratic,difficulttoarticulateaspectsoflanguagethatevenmost
nativespeakersdon'thaveconsciousawarenessof,"Finnsays.
In1990,linguistElissaNewporthypothesizedthatadultshavetroublelearningthosenuancesbecausetheytryto
analyzetoomuchinformationatonce.Adultshaveamuchmorehighlydevelopedprefrontalcortexthanchildren,
andtheytendtothrowallofthatbrainpoweratlearningasecondlanguage.Thishighpoweredprocessingmay
actuallyinterferewithcertainelementsoflearninglanguage.
"It'sanideathat'sbeenaroundforalongtime,buttherehasn'tbeenanydatathatexperimentallyshowthatit's
true,"Finnsays.
Finnandhercolleaguesdesignedanexperimenttotestwhetherexertingmoreeffortwouldhelporhindersuccess.
First,theycreatedninenonsensewords,eachwithtwosyllables.Eachwordfellintooneofthreecategories(A,B,
andC),definedbytheorderofconsonantandvowelsounds.
Studysubjectslistenedtotheartificiallanguageforabout10minutes.Onegroupofsubjectswastoldnotto
overanalyzewhattheyheard,butnottotuneitouteither.Tohelpthemnotoverthinkthelanguage,theyweregiven
theoptionofcompletingapuzzleorcoloringwhiletheylistened.Theothergroupwastoldtotrytoidentifythewords
theywerehearing.
Eachgroupheardthesamerecording,whichwasaseriesofthreewordsequencesfirstawordfromcategoryA,
thenonefromcategoryB,thencategoryCwithnopausesbetweenwords.Previousstudieshaveshownthat
adults,babies,andevenmonkeyscanparsethiskindofinformationintowordunits,ataskknownasword
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140721142211.htm

1/2

7/1/2015

Try,tryagain?Studysaysno:Tryinghardermakesitmoredifficulttolearnsomeaspectsoflanguage,neuroscientistsfindScienceDaily

segmentation.
Subjectsfrombothgroupsweresuccessfulatwordsegmentation,althoughthegroupthattriedharderperformeda
littlebetter.Bothgroupsalsoperformedwellinataskcalledwordordering,whichrequiredsubjectstochoose
betweenacorrectwordsequence(ABC)andanincorrectsequence(suchasACB)ofwordstheyhadpreviously
heard.
Thefinaltestmeasuredskillinidentifyingthelanguage'smorphology.Theresearchersplayedathreeword
sequencethatincludedawordthesubjectshadnotheardbefore,butwhichfitintooneofthethreecategories.
Whenaskedtojudgewhetherthisnewwordwasinthecorrectlocation,thesubjectswhohadbeenaskedtopay
closerattentiontotheoriginalwordstreamperformedmuchworsethanthosewhohadlistenedmorepassively.
Turningoffeffort
Thefindingssupportatheoryoflanguageacquisitionthatsuggeststhatsomepartsoflanguagearelearnedthrough
proceduralmemory,whileothersarelearnedthroughdeclarativememory.Underthistheory,declarativememory,
whichstoresknowledgeandfacts,wouldbemoreusefulforlearningvocabularyandcertainrulesofgrammar.
Proceduralmemory,whichguidestasksweperformwithoutconsciousawarenessofhowwelearnedthem,would
bemoreusefulforlearningsubtlerulesrelatedtolanguagemorphology.
"It'slikelytobetheproceduralmemorysystemthat'sreallyimportantforlearningthesedifficultmorphological
aspectsoflanguage.Infact,whenyouusethedeclarativememorysystem,itdoesn'thelpyou,itharmsyou,"Finn
says.
Stillunresolvedisthequestionofwhetheradultscanovercomethislanguagelearningobstacle.Finnsaysshedoes
nothaveagoodansweryetbutsheisnowtestingtheeffectsof"turningoff"theadultprefrontalcortexusinga
techniquecalledtranscranialmagneticstimulation.Otherinterventionssheplanstostudyincludedistractingthe
prefrontalcortexbyforcingittoperformothertaskswhilelanguageisheard,andtreatingsubjectswithdrugsthat
impairactivityinthatbrainregion.
StorySource:
TheabovestoryisbasedonmaterialsprovidedbyMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology.Theoriginalarticle
waswrittenbyAnneTrafton.Note:Materialsmaybeeditedforcontentandlength.
null
CiteThisPage:
MLA

APA

Chicago

MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology."Try,tryagain?Studysaysno:Tryinghardermakesitmoredifficultto
learnsomeaspectsoflanguage,neuroscientistsfind."ScienceDaily.ScienceDaily,21July2014.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140721142211.htm>.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140721142211.htm

2/2