Geambasu, A. 1, 2 & Levelt, C. C. 1, 2
1 Leiden University Centre for Linguistics
2 Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition
In their seminal paper, Marcus et al. (1999) showed that infants are able to form abstract representations of simple rules (XXY/XYX). This and other studies have provided many ideas about the ways in which infants learn aspects of language during their first months of life. We present a series of experiments aimed at replicating and extending the Marcus et al. study, using the visual fixation and head turn preference paradigms, both with a set of new, more varied stimuli balanced for phonological features, as well as with Marcus? original stimuli. We could not replicate the results of Marcus et al. using the phonologically more varied and balanced stimuli, and could only partly replicate the study using the original stimuli. Failure to replicate such experiments with infants using different conditions, paradigms, or stimuli, indicate that abstract rule formation may be more fragile than previously thought. We will discuss the roles of phonology and the position of syllables in the ability of infants to learn and generalize rules. The implications of failures and successes in simple rule learning studies call for a proper evaluation of the conditions under which such learning can and cannot occur.