--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: "Is there a critical period for language acquisition?"
Yup. Very early on all infants make all the sounds of all human languages (I think they might be called phonemes). Anyway, they get culled by imitating the parents. Hence, it's so difficult for Japanese to say "L", for example. Also, language acquisition is hardwired, sort of like the way chicks imprint their mothers. If you miss that window then you're going to have real trouble. That's why kids learn new languages so easily. This window closes around puberty, if I recall correctly. "What are the consequences of extreme social isolation in children regarding their abilities to develope complex forms of reasoning and abstract thinking?" They've imposed extreme social isolation on apes and is devastating for the ape. But here's another study that shows the importance of stimulation. I can't recall the cite, but here goes: in a mental hospital a group of retarded infants was randomly split into two groups. One was treated as usual, whereas the experimental group played one-on-one with retarded teenage girls from the same hospital for a few hours a day. After two years, the difference in IQs were something like 30 points higher for the experimental group. In adulthood the difference was just as pronounced. The control group was pretty much all institutionalized, while a few lived on their own, etc. The experimental group pretty much all lived on their own, most had at least some college (I think) and one or two even had some graaduate school. "So play with your kid" is a big moral there I suppose. Best regards, jsh __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com
