Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2021 Dec;150(12):2423-2434. doi: 10.1037/xge0001058. Epub 2021 Apr 15.
It is still an unresolved question why adults do not learn languages as effortlessly as children do. We tested the hypothesis that the higher cognitive control abilities in adults interfere with implicit learning mechanisms relevant for language acquisition. Across 2 days, Dutch-speaking adults were asked to rapidly recite novel syllable strings in which, unannounced to the participants, the allowed position of a phoneme depended on another adjacent phoneme. Their cognitive control system was either depleted or not depleted prior to learning, after performing an individually tailored dual working-memory task under high or low cognitive load. A third group did not perform any cognitive task prior to training. Speech error analyses revealed stronger (and faster) learning of the novel phoneme combination constraints in the cognitively depleted group compared with the other two groups. This indicates that late-developing cognitive control abilities, and in particular attentional control, constitute an important antagonist of implicit learning behavior relevant for language acquisition. These findings offer novel insights into developmental changes in implicit learning mechanisms and how to alter them temporarily in order to improve language skills in adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
成年人为什么不像儿童那样轻松地学习语言，这仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。我们检验了这样一种假设，即成年人较高的认知控制能力干扰了与语言习得相关的内隐学习机制。在 2 天的时间里，要求讲荷兰语的成年人快速背诵新的音节串，在这些音节串中，参与者没有被告知，一个音位的允许位置取决于另一个相邻的音位。在学习之前，他们的认知控制系统要么被耗尽，要么没有被耗尽，然后在高或低认知负荷下执行一个个性化的双重工作记忆任务。第三组在训练前没有执行任何认知任务。言语错误分析显示，与其他两组相比，认知耗竭组对新的音位组合约束有更强（和更快）的学习。这表明，后天发展的认知控制能力，特别是注意力控制，是与语言习得相关的内隐学习行为的一个重要拮抗物。这些发现为内隐学习机制的发展变化以及如何暂时改变它们以提高成年人的语言技能提供了新的见解。（PsycInfo 数据库记录（c）2022 APA，保留所有权利）。
