Ch 2 - Biological Bases

Question 1

Equipotentiality hypothesis

Answer 1

-Left to right hemispheres have equal potential for acquiring language at birth
-Infants and young children
>Should NOT show left-lateralization
>LH and RH damage in childhood should EQUALLY often cause aphasia.
(might be in either)

Question 2

Invariance hypothesis

Answer 2

• Lateralization is set at birth

- Infants and young child …

Question 3

Plasticity

Answer 3

ability of parts of the brain to take over functions they ordinarily would not serve

Question 4

Redundancy

Answer 4

Brain grows synapses up to a peak at 2-5 years. Redundant connections–that are used less–are lost. Areas that serve functions best remain dedicated to the function.

Question 5

Critical period hypothesis

Answer 5

• Language can only be acquired during a biologically determined period in development
• Biological cut off should be age-defined and also abrupt, and not explainable by other factors.

Question 6

Genie

Answer 6

-No production of language at age 13. After years of treatment:
>5 year old’s vocab
>Syntactic & conversational skills especially impaired
>Left ear advantage in dichotic listening

[So she acquired language too late that her left hemisphere was no longer as functional(?)]

Question 7

Late acquisition of ASL

Answer 7

• Deaf born to hearing parents
• Normal early childhood except for language input
• Despite “speaking ASL” for years, still not as good as deaf children born to deaf parents.

Question 8

Dominant language switch hypothesis

Answer 8

• Children may learn L2 better than adults because children are more likely to switch to L2 as their dominant language
• Younger arrivals score better on L2 grammar than older arrivals, but worse on L1 grammar

Question 9

Social-psychological factors

Answer 9

Unselfconsciousness about mkaing errors and identification ….