•Cortical thickness in Broca’s area is associated with grammar learning aptitude.•Cortical thickness in right Broca homologue plays a role in pitch perception skill.•Cognitively high load skills can ...benefit from a thicker cortex and vice versa.
Aptitude for and proficiency in acquiring new languages varies in the human population but their neural bases are largely unknown. We investigated the influence of cortical thickness on language learning predictors measured by the LLAMA tests and a pitch-change discrimination test. The LLAMA tests are first language-independent assessments of language learning aptitude for vocabulary, phonetic working memory, sound-symbol correspondence (not used in this study), and grammatical inferencing. Pitch perception proficiency is known to predict aptitude for learning new phonology. Results show a correlation between scores in a grammatical meaning-inferencing aptitude test and cortical thickness of Broca’s area (r(30) = 0.65, p = 0.0202) and other frontal areas (r(30) = 0.66, p = 0.0137). Further, a correlation was found between proficiency in discriminating pitch-change direction and cortical thickness of the right Broca homologue (r(30) = 0.57, p = 0.0006). However, no correlations were found for aptitude for vocabulary learning or phonetic working memory. Results contribute to locating cortical regions important for language-learning aptitude.
The aim of the current study is twofold: to examine the effects of input on bilingual adolescents’ long-term second language (L2) outcomes in a minority/foreign language context; and to understand ...the interaction between input and other potential predictors of L2 outcomes, specifically environmental variables, learners’ motivation and language learning aptitude. Participants included 97 Mandarin–English bilingual adolescents in Taiwan who learned English as an L2 between the ages of two to eleven. All participants completed a listening comprehension and a story-telling task in English and two standardized language learning aptitude tests. Participants and their parents filled out a detailed questionnaire providing information about family demographics and in-class and out-of-class L2 input. Correlation and multivariate regression analyses revealed that input played an important role in long-term L2 listening comprehension outcome, but not in speech production outcomes. The results also showed that environmental variables and language learning aptitude significantly predicted long-term L2 listening comprehension and speech production outcomes. Finally, out-of-class L2 input outweighed instructional input and current input outweighed early input. Since most previous research on the role of input in long-term L2 outcomes was conducted in a majority/societal language context, the present study contributes to the topic by specifying the effect of input in L2 acquisition in a minority/foreign language context.
Language learning aptitude in older adults Roehr-Brackin, Karen; Loaiza, Vanessa; Pavlekovic, Renato
Journal of the European Second Language Association,
03/2023, Letnik:
7, Številka:
1
Journal Article
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Recent developments in language learning aptitude research have generated renewed interest in the topic, especially with regard to the distinction between aptitude for explicit and implicit learning. ...This work is complemented by ongoing improvements to the LLAMA aptitude test. To date, studies of aptitude have relied primarily on data from younger adults and adolescents, although the importance of understanding older adults' abilities and needs is increasingly being acknowledged. In a first attempt to assess the suitability of existing aptitude measures for older adults, to establish the relationship between aptitude for explicit and implicit learning in such a population, and to explore the role of other individual difference variables, 64 healthy volunteers aged 61-79 completed the LLAMA and a probabilistic serial reaction time (SRT) task. We examined to what extent participants' occupational status, chronological age, level of multilingualism, self-concept, emotional state and leisure activities were associated with their performance on the aptitude measures. Both the LLAMA and the SRT proved challenging for the participants, but the hypothesised distinction between implicit and explicit aptitude was supported empirically. We found that retired participants were at a disadvantage on implicit aptitude measures compared with participants who were still working. Level of multilingualism and a more positive self-concept in terms of memory and cognition correlated with performance on the implicit aptitude measures, while age had an impact on performance on the explicit aptitude measures. We discuss possible interpretations of these results in the context of existing research on third-age language learning and use. Keywords: Language learning aptitude, LLAMA, explicit and implicit aptitude, older adults, third-age language learning, individual learner differences
More than 20 years ago, Minshew and colleagues proposed the Complex Information Processing model of autism in which the impairment is characterized as a generalized deficit involving multiple ...modalities and cognitive domains that depend on distributed cortical systems responsible for higher order abilities. Subsequent behavioral work revealed a related dissociation between concept formation and concept identification in autism suggesting the lack of an underlying organizational structure to manage increases in processing loads. The results of a recent study supported the impact of this relative weakness in conceptual reasoning on adaptive functioning in children and adults with autism. In this study, we provide further evidence of the difficulty relatively able older adolescents and adults with autism have with conceptual reasoning and provide evidence that this characterizes their difference from age- and ability-matched controls with typical development better than their differences in language. For verbal adults with autism, language may serve as a bootstrap or compensatory mechanism for learning but cannot overcome an inherent weakness in concept formation that makes information processing challenging as task demands increase.
While aptitude has been seen to contribute to second language (L2) development, most studies have examined its contribution as a fixed trait, rather than viewing it as a dynamic, changing variable. ...There appears to have been little or no investigation of the role that aptitude plays in the development of L2 pragmatic ability. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the contribution of L2 learning aptitude as measured by Grigorenko et al.'s (2000) CANAL-FT (The Cognitive Ability for Novelty in Acquisition of Language as Applied to Foreign Language Test) to L2 speech-act knowledge among 121 Iranian upper-intermediate to advanced level EFL learners. In addition, a multiple-choice discourse completion test (MDCT) comprising three common English speech acts (Derakhshan, 2014) was administered to the participants. A multiple regression analysis revealed that all five components of CANAL-FT were significant predictors of L2 speech-act knowledge. The aptitude for learning sentential inferences was the strongest predictor, followed by the ability to acquire the meanings of the whole passage. The other three components of aptitude, namely, comprehending the meanings of contextualized neologisms, acquiring the language rules, and learning the meanings of paired associates, were found to be moderate predictors of L2 speech act knowledge. These results appeared to underscore the benefits of obtaining aptitude data on learners as a means for better understanding the dynamics of L2 development in the area of pragmatics.
Under stressful conditions such as in an emergency situation, efficient information processing is essential for reasonable responses.
Virtual Reality (VR) technology is used to induce stress and to ...test three main cognitive functions for decision making in stressful situations.
A VR task was developed to induce stress following the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) protocol and two VR cognitive performance tests to measure learning aptitude, spatial orientation and cognitive flexibility. Participants (N = 31) gave a public speech in front of a virtual audience (TSST) and later had to find their way out of different VR labyrinths. The first exercise tested spatial orientation and learning aptitude where participants had to learn aspects of the ground layout and geometric icons had to be identified as correct in order to be able to exit. The second labyrinth tested cognitive flexibility on the background of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.
Correlations were analyzed using Kendall Tau Correlation (One-tailed tests with p set to 0.05 for all analyses). Heart rate (HR) was calculated from the RR time values and averaged across the TSST- speech and the post-stress period. Autonomic nervous system reactivity was defined as the deviation of HR during TSST- speech condition from post-stress baseline measurement. A repeated-measures t-test was used to analyze differences.
The newly developed virtual stress test was successfully adapted from the original TSST. Participants perceived the task as stressful and scored an average of 5.7 points on a 1-8 Likert Scale. As a physiological stress parameter, increased heart rates of the participants showed that they were more stressed during the TSST procedure compared to the post-stress period. Also, the subjective stress perception, has a strong correlation with the results of the cognitive tasks performed after the stress induction.
The more a participant experienced the TSST as stressful, the lower their learning aptitude and spatial orientation were found to be at the end of the study. On the other hand, if someone perceived the virtual TSST as "unexpected", as an indicator for a mild stress response, their cognitive flexibility was improved. Potential Implications: The findings indicate that both, the VR stress induction scenario using TSST, as well as the VR cognitive tests, are a first successful step towards a better ecological validity in neuropsychological testing.
The primary aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive review and elaboration of model matching and its theoretical propositions. Model matching explains and predicts individuals’ outcomes ...related to gameplay by focusing on the interrelationships among games’ systems of mechanics, relevant situations external to the game, and players’ mental models. Formalizing model matching theory in this way provides researchers a unified explanation for game-based learning, game performance, and related gameplay outcomes while also providing a theory-based direction for advancing the study of games more broadly. The propositions explicated in this article are intended to serve as the primary tenets of model matching theory. Considerations for how these propositions may be tested in future games studies research are discussed.
This study aimed at examining the main and interaction effects of increased intentional reasoning demands, planning time, and also language learning aptitude on syntactic complexity, accuracy, ...lexical complexity, and fluency (CALF) of 226 EFL learners’ performance on letter writing tasks. The participants were first randomly assigned to three experimental groups to be given a task with differing degrees of reasoning demand (low, medium, and high) to each group. Then, within each reasoning group, we reassigned an equal number of high- and low- aptitude learners to Planning and No-planning groups by random stratified sampling. The results revealed that (a) increasing task complexity with regard to the amount of intentional reasoning demands resulted in greater lexical and syntactic complexity and less fluency while no significant effect was observed on accuracy; (b) increasing task complexity through planning time led to significantly lower syntactic complexity and fluency; (c) reasoning demands and planning time had a significant interaction effect on accuracy; and (d) the interaction effect of language aptitude was significant with neither planning nor reasoning factor, but a three-way interaction effect was found on accuracy. The findings are discussed in relation to cognitive task complexity (CTC) models which were the main impetus for this study.
The relationship between education, skills and labour market outcomes is becoming an increasingly pressing issue in many countries. In the UK, recent changes in education and skills funding ...structures and the ongoing consequences of the 2008 recession may have affected participation in training. ‘Virtuous’ and ‘vicious’ circles of learning may exist, whereby access to training is associated with social advantage, and training begets more training. We explore workers’ participation in different types of training and how this is associated with wages using the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Our exploratory findings suggest that those working in lower-level occupations may not only be less likely to undertake training in general, but also less likely to have done types of training associated with wage increases (e.g., to meet occupational standards), and more likely to have done training associated with no or negative changes in wages (e.g., health and safety) compared to those working in higher-level occupations. We suggest that further research is needed to unpack the ‘black box’ of training and its impacts upon different groups of people. We discuss the implications of our findings to help break the ‘vicious’ circles.
This article introduces a new construct coined as Computer User Learning Aptitude (CULA). To establish construct validity, CULA is embedded in a nomological network that extends the technology ...acceptance model (TAM). Specifically, CULA is posited to affect perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, the two underlying TAM constructs. Furthermore, we examine several antecedents of CULA by relying on the second language learning literature. These include computer anxiety, tolerance of ambiguity, and risk taking. Conceptualization of CULA is based on the observation that computer systems use language as communication between the computer and the user, making system usage significantly dependent on the ability of the individual to learn the language. We posit that learning to communicate with computer technology is akin to learning a second language, that is, a language learned after the first language(s) or native language(s), and is referred to as computerese. The proposed construct, CULA, measures the aptitude of an individual to learn computerese, and it is specified as a second-order variable. It includes measures of three critical facets of computerese pertaining to general hardware/software, programming, and the Internet. Significant relationships are found between computer anxiety, tolerance of ambiguity, and taking risk with CULA, as well as between CULA and TAM constructs.
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