Implicit Acquisition of Grammars with Crossed and Nested Non-Adjacent Dependencies: Investigating the Push-Down Stack Model

Autor/inn/en	Udden, Julia; Ingvar, Martin; Hagoort, Peter; Petersson, Karl M.
Titel	Implicit Acquisition of Grammars with Crossed and Nested Non-Adjacent Dependencies: Investigating the Push-Down Stack Model
Quelle	In: Cognitive Science, 36 (2012) 6, S.1078-1101 (24 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0364-0213
DOI	10.1111/j.1551-6709.2012.01235.x
Schlagwörter	Grammar; Language Acquisition; Memory; Brain; Language Processing; Syntax; College Students + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Grammatik; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Gedächtnis; Gehirn; Sprachverarbeitung; Collegestudent
Abstract	A recent hypothesis in empirical brain research on language is that the fundamental difference between animal and human communication systems is captured by the distinction between finite-state and more complex phrase-structure grammars, such as context-free and context-sensitive grammars. However, the relevance of this distinction for the study of language as a neurobiological system has been questioned and it has been suggested that a more relevant and partly analogous distinction is that between non-adjacent and adjacent dependencies. Online memory resources are central to the processing of non-adjacent dependencies as information has to be maintained across intervening material. One proposal is that an external memory device in the form of a limited push-down stack is used to process non-adjacent dependencies. We tested this hypothesis in an artificial grammar learning paradigm where subjects acquired non-adjacent dependencies implicitly. Generally, we found no qualitative differences between the acquisition of non-adjacent dependencies and adjacent dependencies. This suggests that although the acquisition of non-adjacent dependencies requires more exposure to the acquisition material, it utilizes the same mechanisms used for acquiring adjacent dependencies. We challenge the push-down stack model further by testing its processing predictions for nested and crossed multiple non-adjacent dependencies. The push-down stack model is partly supported by the results, and we suggest that stack-like properties are some among many natural properties characterizing the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms that implement the online memory resources used in language and structured sequence processing. (Contains 4 notes, 7 figures, and 3 tables.) (As Provided).
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Update	2017/4/10