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Abstract:
Abstract: We investigated changes in brain activity that are
associated with the earliest stages of adult second-language
learning. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while
French sentences containing syntactic (verb tense and article-noun
agreement violations) or semantic anomalies were visually presented
to three subject groups: subjects who had not received French
instruction, university students enrolled in their first year of
French instruction, and native French speakers. For no-instruction
subjects, anomalous and non-anomalous sentences elicited similar
ERP responses. For native speakers, semantic and syntactic
anomalies elicited qualitatively different responses: semantic
anomalies elicited an N400 effect and syntactic anomalies elicited
a large-amplitude positive wave (P600 effect). French learners were
tested in a longitudinal design, once during the first quarter of
instruction (after approximately four weeks of instruction) and
once during the second quarter. After one month of instruction,
ERPs to semantically anomalous words and (syntactic) verb tense
violations reliably differed from those to well-formed control
sentences. However, both types of anomaly elicited a qualitatively
similar N400-like response. These findings demonstrate that French
learners need minimal exposure to the language in order for their
brains to discriminate between certain types of well-formed and
anomalous sentences. However, novice speakers are unlike native
speakers in that their brains do not respond in qualitatively
distinct ways to syntactic and semantic anomalies.
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