The age of learning-rate decline is similar for easy and difficult syntactic items¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2018 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In the best-fitting models, the learning rate began to slow at approximately the same time for items mastered by ages 7-8 as for items mastered only later: 17.3 versus 18.2 years old. → Hartshorne Joshua K. 2018

Evidence¶

Hartshorne Joshua K. 2018¶

Hartshorne Joshua K., Tenenbaum Joshua B., Pinker Steven. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3 million English speakers. Cognition. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6559801/

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Model comparison splitting the 95 critical items into 47 early-mastered and 48 later-mastered items. Estimated decline onsets were "17.3 years old and 18.2 years old, respectively", described as approximately the same.

"In the best-fitting models of learning, the learning rate began to slow at approximately the same time for the 47 items that are mastered by the youngest monolingual English-speakers in the sample (ages 7–8) as for the 48 items that are mastered only by the older ones: 17.3 years old and 18.2 years old, respectively."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Grammar-learning ability is preserved until about age 17.4 and then declines steadily, per the best-fitting ELSD model — a broader claim this one bears on
• Later age of entry to a signing school for the Deaf is associated with lower ASL syntactic judgment and analogical reasoning scores, with a marked decline for entry after age 12 — related
• Ultimate attainment is similar for learners who begin by 10-12 years of age and declines continuously thereafter — related