In an event-related potential (ERP) study we investigated the role of age of acquisition (AoA) on the use of second language rhythmic properties during syntactic ambiguity resolution. Syntactically ambiguous sentences embedded in rhythmically regular and irregular contexts were presented to Turkish early and late second language (L2) learners of…

The Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm was used to investigate developmental trends in accurate and false memory production. In Experiment 1, DRM lists adjusted to be more consistent with children's vocabulary were used with 2nd graders, 8th graders, and college students. Accurate and false recall and recognition increased with age, but…

Reviews several experiments which examined the cognitive function of finger writing, an activity widely used by Japanese people and thought to be related to Kanji learning. Children and university students performed either Kanji anagram tasks or English word tasks. Finger writing appears to originate from the existence of motoric or action-based…

Interactions between metaphor comprehension and level of operational thought were examined to determine what advantages individuals at the formal operational level had in natural language tasks such as the understanding of figurative language. After 30 undergraduate students were classified as either late concrete, early formal, or late formal…

Examines evidence offered to support the idea of a sensitive period for second language acquisition. Findings indicate that there is insufficient evidence to accept the claim that mastery of a second language is determined wholly, or even primarily, by maturational factors. (34 references) (Author/CK)