Artifical grammar learning in 4-6-year-olds: Summary

Tue Mar 6 13:16:55 UTC 2007

Dear Info-Childes,

Last week I asked for references on papers that tested artificial grammar learning in children from age 4 years onwards. Many thanks to Judith Johnston, Michelle Ellefson, Bhuvana Narasimhan, Tom Fritzsche, and David Ingram for their helpful suggestions. Here is a list of references they suggested:

Johnston, J., Blatchley, M. & Olness Streit, G.  "Miniature Language System Learning in Proficient and Non-proficient Learners."  Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 33: 335-342 (1990).

Braine, M. D. S., Brody, R. E., Brooks, P. J., Sudhalter, V., Ross, J. A., Catalano, L., & Fisch, S. M.  (1990). Exploring language acquisition in children with a miniature artificial language: Effects of item and pattern frequency, arbitrary subclasses, and correction.  Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 591-610.  

Saffran, J. R.  (2001). The use of predictive dependencies in language learning.  Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 493-515. 

Drake, C., & Gérard, C.  (1989). A psychological pulse train: How young children use this cognitive framework to structure simple rhythms.  Psychological Research, 51, 16-22.  

Meulemans, T., Van der Linden, M., & Perruchet, P. (1998). Implicit sequence learning in children.  Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 69, 199-221.

Conway, C. & Christiansen, M.H. (2005). Modality constrained statistical learning of tactile, visual, and auditory sequences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 31, 24-39.

Brooks, P. J., Braine, M. D. S., Catalano, L., Brody, R. E., & Sudhalter, V. (1993). Acquisition of gender-like noun subclasses in an  artificial language: The contribution of phonological markers to learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 32, 76-95

C. L. Hudson Kam & E. L. Newport (2005) Regularizing unpredictable
variation: The roles of adult and child learners in language formation and change. Language Learning and Development 1(2), p151-195.

Wonnacott, E., & Newport, E.L. (2005). Novelty and regularization:
The effect of novel instances on rule formation.  In A. Brugos, M.R. 
Clark-Cotton, and S. Ha (eds.), BUCLD 29: Proceedings of the 29th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Saffran, J. R., Newport, E. L., Aslin, R. N., Tunick, R. A., & Barrueco, S. (1997). Incidental language learning: Listening (and learning) out of the corner of your ear. Psychological Science, 8(2),101-105

Ingram, D. & Pye, C. (1993). The acquisition of miniature languages: The search for a new paradigm. International Journal of Psycholinguistics, 9, 147-158.

Ingram, D. & Pye, C. (1998). The acquisition of ergativity. Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 520-4.

Domuta, A. & Pentek, I. (date unknown). Implicit learning in ADHD preschool children. Available at: http://dppd.ubbcluj.ro/hu/munkatarsak/pentek/implicit.pdf

Best wishes,

Evan

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Dr Evan Kidd 
Lecturer in Psychology
School of Psychological Sciences
University of Manchester
Oxford Road M13 9PL
Manchester, UK
Ph: +44 (0) 161 275 2578
Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 8587
http://www.psych-sci.manchester.ac.uk/staff/108727
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