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Language Development

Language Development. Food for thought. Is language something special evolved in humans? Are there genes specifically for language? How does language interact with other functions of the brain and behavior?. Phonological Development.

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Language Development

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  1. Language Development

  2. Food for thought • Is language something special evolved in humans? • Are there genes specifically for language? • How does language interact with other functions of the brain and behavior?

  3. Phonological Development • Infants appear to perceive phonemes from many if not all languages from birth • By adulthood, people only perceive phonemes from their native language • What happens to allow this narrowing to occur?

  4. Categorical perception • Example: Color Perception

  5. Review Categorical perception • Example: Color Perception

  6. “Filter” hypothesis

  7. Possible mechanisms • Synaptic plasticity • Network formation • Experience Expectant or Dependent? • Ideas?

  8. Vocabulary • Memory • Symbol use • Probably involves development of language and higher cognitive areas • Very little is understood about development

  9. Syntax/Grammar • Issues: Nativist, language box or acquired, evolved for other reasons and co-opted • Evidence for each

  10. Brain areas thought to be involved in language

  11. What is language like? • Is language a special “organ” designed for a special purpose • Or, is it an organ that evolved for something else and has been “co-opted” for language?

  12. Evidence for “special organ” view • Language seems to be special • It seems to be universal in our species • Infants learn language despite wild perturbations in the environment • Learning theory cannot adequately explain language acquisition

  13. Evidence for “co-opted” model • Is there a “language gene”? • Other problems co-occur with language problems • Children with specific language impairment (SLI) have trouble processing rapidly presented non-linguistic temporally ordered information • Language is not localized in the brain early in development (although some precursors are)

  14. Pragmatics • How does language interact with social behavior? • Language is communication, communication is social • People are inconsistent • Communication requires rapid and flexible responses to contingencies • Aspects of prefrontal cortex are most likely involved in this function

  15. The “social” brain

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