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Abstract:
Abstract: Neurological investigations of persons with brain
lesions and event-related potential (ERP) research on
neurologically intact individuals have provided substantial support
for the theory that the processing of grammatical and semantic
information are mediated by non-identical neural systems in the
adult brain. Little research has been conducted, however, on the
development of this differentiation. Previous research on the
organization of language in the child's brain has investigated the
brain responses to known versus unknown words and to different word
classes (open versus closed class words). By 3 years-of-age most
children have mastered rudimentary grammar. The goal of the present
study was to examine sentence processing in young children, and
specifically to determine whether or not grammatical and semantic
information within sentences is processed by the same or
differentiated neural systems around the age of 3 years. ERPs were
recorded while 34-38 month-old subjects heard English sentences,
half of which were correctly formed and half of which contained
either a semantic or grammatical (word order) violation. ERP data
were analyzed according to both age and linguistic ability of the
toddlers. ERPs to grammatical and semantic violations within
sentences produced scalp activation patterns that differed in both
timing and distribution thus supporting the hypothesis that
grammatical and semantic information are processed by non-identical
neural systems by at least 34-38 months of age.
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