When language learners are exposed to inconsistent probabilistic grammatical patterns, they sometimes impose consistency on the language instead of learning the variation veridically. The authors hypothesized that this regularization results from problems with word retrieval rather than from learning per se. One prediction of this, that easing the demands of lexical retrieval leads to less regularization, was tested. Adult learners were exposed to a language containing inconsistent probabilistic patterns and were tested with either a standard production task or one of two tasks that reduced the demands of lexical retrieval. As predicted, participants tested with the modified tasks more closely matched the probability of the inconsistent items than did those tested with the standard task.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792035 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015097 | DOI Listing |
Proc Biol Sci
January 2025
Human Behaviour and Cultural Evolution Group, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK.
In many domains, learning from others is crucial for leveraging cumulative cultural knowledge, which encapsulates the efforts of successive generations of innovators. However, anecdotal and experimental evidence suggests that reliance on social information can reduce the exploration of the problem space. Here, we experimentally investigate the extent to which cultural transmission fosters the persistence of arbitrary solutions in a context where participants are incentivized to improve a physical system across multiple trials.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChildren (Basel)
January 2025
Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Venda, Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa.
Background/objectives: To effectively support children's learning and well-being, primary educators must thoroughly understand child trauma. Being 'trauma informed' means recognizing the impact of trauma and responding supportively, which can help mitigate its adverse effects on learners. This study explored the understanding of childhood trauma among primary school teachers in Limpopo province, focusing on the circuits of Mvudi and Dzindi due to their high prevalence of childhood traumatic experiences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Gen Intern Med
January 2025
Hospital Medicine Service, Immigrant Health and Cancer Disparities Service, Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
Background: Prior to enrolling in medical Spanish courses, students typically acquire their Spanish skills either through formal second language education only (L2 learners) or by being exposed to Spanish during childhood at home (heritage learners).
Objective: To categorize the language exposures of medical students who participated in a medical Spanish course and explore the associations of exposures with their medical language proficiency score on the Physician Oral Language Observation Matrix (POLOM).
Setting And Participants: Forty-one fourth-year medical students (2021-2022) self-reported demographics and prior language exposures and participated in videorecorded POLOM-rated Spanish standardized patient encounters.
Acta Psychol (Amst)
January 2025
Language and Literature Department, Lorestan University, Iran.
Active Learning (AL) represents a transformative instructional approach that departs from traditional methods by immersing students in experiential learning activities such as problem-solving, discussions, role-plays, interactive engagement, and case studies. Despite its widely recognized potential, the effects of AL on psycho-affective constructs in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts remain underexplored. Hence, this study explored the impact of AL on EFL learners' motivation, attitudes, and anxiety in Iran.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Acoust Soc Am
January 2025
English Department, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia.
This study investigated the effects of spaced and massed repetition on the acquisition and retention of English /b/ and /p/ sounds among Saudi English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. Forty-nine university students participated in a quasi-experimental design comparing two learning conditions: massed repetition and spaced repetition. Participants were taught the pronunciation of 40 new English words containing the target sounds through video-based instruction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!