Prior Knowledge Predicts Early Consolidation in Second Language Learning
Language learning occurs in distinct phases. Whereas some improvement is evident during training, offline memory consolidation processes that take place after the end of training play an important role in learning of linguistic information. The timing of offline consolidation is thought to depend on...
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doaj-752a49570de7449aac62d13949498d102020-11-25T01:33:10ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782019-10-011010.3389/fpsyg.2019.02312477496Prior Knowledge Predicts Early Consolidation in Second Language LearningDafna Ben Zion0Dafna Ben Zion1Dafna Ben Zion2Michael Nevat3Anat Prior4Anat Prior5Tali Bitan6Tali Bitan7Tali Bitan8Department of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelEdmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelThe Language and Brain Plasticity Lab, Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelThe Language and Brain Plasticity Lab, Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelDepartment of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelEdmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities, University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelThe Language and Brain Plasticity Lab, Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelDepartment of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, IsraelDepartment of Speech Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, CanadaLanguage learning occurs in distinct phases. Whereas some improvement is evident during training, offline memory consolidation processes that take place after the end of training play an important role in learning of linguistic information. The timing of offline consolidation is thought to depend on the type of task, with generalization of implicit knowledge suggested to take more time and sleep to consolidate. The current study aims to investigate individual differences in the timing of consolidation following learning of morphological inflections in a novel language in typical adults. Participants learned to make plural inflections in an artificial language, where inflection was based on morpho-phonological regularities. Participants were trained in the evening, and consolidation was measured after two intervals: 12 h (one night) and 36 h (two nights) post training. We measured both inflection of trained items, which may rely on item-specific learning, and generalization to new untrained items, which requires extraction of morpho-phonological regularities. The results for both trained and un-trained items showed two patterns of consolidation: early versus late, that is while some participants improved during the first night, others, who deteriorated in performance during the first night, improved in the later consolidation interval. Importantly, phonological awareness in L1 predicted early consolidation for trained items. Furthermore, there was no association between participants’ consolidation trajectory in trained and untrained items. Our results suggest that consolidation timing depends on the interaction between task characteristics and individual abilities. Moreover, the results show that prior meta-linguistic knowledge predicts the quality of early consolidation processes. These results are consistent with studies in rodents and humans, showing that prior knowledge accelerates consolidation of newly learnt episodic memory. Finally, the rate of consolidation across exposures to the language might explain some of the variability found in the attained level of second language proficiency.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02312/fulllearningconsolidationmorphologyindividual differencessecond language |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Dafna Ben Zion Dafna Ben Zion Dafna Ben Zion Michael Nevat Anat Prior Anat Prior Tali Bitan Tali Bitan Tali Bitan |
spellingShingle |
Dafna Ben Zion Dafna Ben Zion Dafna Ben Zion Michael Nevat Anat Prior Anat Prior Tali Bitan Tali Bitan Tali Bitan Prior Knowledge Predicts Early Consolidation in Second Language Learning Frontiers in Psychology learning consolidation morphology individual differences second language |
author_facet |
Dafna Ben Zion Dafna Ben Zion Dafna Ben Zion Michael Nevat Anat Prior Anat Prior Tali Bitan Tali Bitan Tali Bitan |
author_sort |
Dafna Ben Zion |
title |
Prior Knowledge Predicts Early Consolidation in Second Language Learning |
title_short |
Prior Knowledge Predicts Early Consolidation in Second Language Learning |
title_full |
Prior Knowledge Predicts Early Consolidation in Second Language Learning |
title_fullStr |
Prior Knowledge Predicts Early Consolidation in Second Language Learning |
title_full_unstemmed |
Prior Knowledge Predicts Early Consolidation in Second Language Learning |
title_sort |
prior knowledge predicts early consolidation in second language learning |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Psychology |
issn |
1664-1078 |
publishDate |
2019-10-01 |
description |
Language learning occurs in distinct phases. Whereas some improvement is evident during training, offline memory consolidation processes that take place after the end of training play an important role in learning of linguistic information. The timing of offline consolidation is thought to depend on the type of task, with generalization of implicit knowledge suggested to take more time and sleep to consolidate. The current study aims to investigate individual differences in the timing of consolidation following learning of morphological inflections in a novel language in typical adults. Participants learned to make plural inflections in an artificial language, where inflection was based on morpho-phonological regularities. Participants were trained in the evening, and consolidation was measured after two intervals: 12 h (one night) and 36 h (two nights) post training. We measured both inflection of trained items, which may rely on item-specific learning, and generalization to new untrained items, which requires extraction of morpho-phonological regularities. The results for both trained and un-trained items showed two patterns of consolidation: early versus late, that is while some participants improved during the first night, others, who deteriorated in performance during the first night, improved in the later consolidation interval. Importantly, phonological awareness in L1 predicted early consolidation for trained items. Furthermore, there was no association between participants’ consolidation trajectory in trained and untrained items. Our results suggest that consolidation timing depends on the interaction between task characteristics and individual abilities. Moreover, the results show that prior meta-linguistic knowledge predicts the quality of early consolidation processes. These results are consistent with studies in rodents and humans, showing that prior knowledge accelerates consolidation of newly learnt episodic memory. Finally, the rate of consolidation across exposures to the language might explain some of the variability found in the attained level of second language proficiency. |
topic |
learning consolidation morphology individual differences second language |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02312/full |
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