A Neurocognitive Perspective on Language Acquisition in Ullman’s DP Model
Authors: Готцева Маріана 
Published: January 2021

In the last few decades, the studies in second language acquisition have not answered the question what mechanisms a human’s brain uses to make acquisition of language(s) possible. A neurocognitive model which tries to address SLA from such a perspective was suggested by Ullman (2005; 2015), according to which, “both first and second languages are acquired and processed by well-studied brain systems that are known to subserve particular nonlanguage functions” (Ullman, 2005: 141). The brain systems in question have analogous roles in their language and nonlanguage functions. This article is meant to critically analyse the suggested DP model within the context of neurocognitive studies of L2; and evaluate its contribution to the field of SLA studies.

References

Aboitiz, F. (1995). Working memory networks and the origin of language areas in the human brain. Medical Hypothesis, 25, 504-506.

Aboitiz, F. & Garcia, R. (1977). The anatomy of language revisited. Biological Research, 30, 171-183.

Aboitiz, F., Garcia, R., Brunetti, E. & Bosman, C. (2006). The origin of Broca’s area and its connections from an ancestral working memory network. In: Broca’s Region, (pp. 3-16). Y.Grodzinsky and K. Amunts, (Eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Alexander, M. P. (1997). Aphasia: clinical and anatomic aspects. In: Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychology, (pp. 133–150). T. E. Feinberg, & M. J. Farah, (Eds.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Alexander, G.E., DeLong, M.R. & Strick, P.L. (1986). Parallel organisation of functionally segregated circuits linking basal ganglia and cortex. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 9, 357-381.

Anderson, J. R., Bothell, D., Byrne, M. D., Douglass, S., Lebiere, C., Qin, Y. (2004). An integrated theory of the mind. Psychological Review, 111, 1036–1060.

Birdsong, D., ed. (1999). Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Buckner, R. L., & Wheeler, M. E. (2001). The cognitive neuroscience of remembering. Nature Review Neuroscience, 2(9), pp. 624–634.

Calabresi, P., Centonze, D., Gubellini, P., Pisani, A. & Bernardi, G. (2000). Acetyl-chlorine-ediated modulation of striatal function. Trends in Neurosciences, 23(3), 120-126.

Cepeda, N.J., Vul. E., Rohrer, D., Wixted, J. T., Pashler, H. (2008) Spacing effects in learning: A temporal ridgeline of optimal retention. Psychological Science, 19, 1095-1102.

Chun, M.M. (2000). Contextual cueing of visual attention. Trends in Cognitive Science, 4(5), 170-178.Crosson, B., Benefield, H., Cato, M. A., Sadek, R. J., Moore, A. B., Auerbach, E. J., Gokcay, D., Leonard, C.M. & Briggs, R.W. (2003). Left and right basal ganglia activity during language generation: contributions to lexical, semantic and phonological processes. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 9, 1061-1077.

Devescovi, A., Caselli, M. C., Marchione, D., Pasqualetti, P., Reilly, J., & Bates, E. (2005). A crosslinguistic study of relationship between grammar and lexical development. Journal of Child Language, 32, 759–786.

Di Giulio, D.V., Seidenberg, M., O’Leary, D. S. & Raz, N. (1994). Procedural and declarative memory: a developmental study. Brain and Cognition, 25(1), 79-91.

Dionne, G., Dale, P., Boivin, M., & Plomin, R. (2003). Genetic evidence for bidirectional effects of early lexical and grammatical development. Child Development, 74, 394–412.

Eichenbaum, H. & Cohen, N.J. (2001). From Conditioning to Conscious Recollection: Memory Systems of the Brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ellis, N.C. (1994). Implicit and Explicit Learning of Languages. New York: Academic Press.

Ellis, N.C. (2002). Reflections on frequency effects in language processing. Studies in Second language acquisition, 24, 297-339.

Ellis, R., Loewen, S., Elder, C., Erlam, R., Philp, J., Reinders, H. (2009). Implicit and Explicit Knowledge in Second Language Learning, Testing and Teaching. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Embick, D., Marantz, A., Miyashita, Y., O’Neil, W., & Sakai, K. L. (2000). A syntactic specialization for Broca’s area. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 97, (6150–6154).

Fabbro, F., Clarici, A., Bava, A. (1996). Effects of left basal ganglia lesions on language production. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 82(3), 1291–1298.

Ferman, S., Olshtain, E., Schechtman, E. & Karni, A. (2009). The acquisition of a linguistic skill by adults: procedural and declarative memory interact in the learning of an artificial morphological rule. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 22, 384-412. Retrieved from: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jneuroling.

Fredriksson, A. (2000). Maze learning and motor activity deficits in adult mice induced by iron exposure during a critical postnatal period. Developmental Brain Research, 119(1), 65-74.

Friederici, A. (2002). Towards a neural basis of auditory sentence processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6(2), 78–84.

Friederici, A., von Cramon, D., Kotz, S. (1999). Language related brain potentials in patients with cortical and subcortical left hemisphere lesions. Brain, 122, 1033-1047.

Goodale, M. A. (2000). Perception and action in the human visual system. In: The New Cognitive Neurosciences, (pp. 365-378). M. S. Gazzaniga, (ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,

Hahne, A., Friederichi, D. (2003). Processing a second language: late learners’ comprehension strategies as revealed by event-related brain potentials. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 1-42.

Henke, K (2010) A model for memory systems based on processing modes rather than consciousness. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11, 523–532.

Hikosaka, O., Sakai, K., Nakahara, H., Lu, X., Miyachi, S., Nakamura, K., Rand, M. K. (2000). Neural mechanisms for learning of sequential procedures. In: The New Cognitive Neurosciences, (pp. 553-572). M. S. Gazzaniga, (ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Joanisse, M.F., Seidenberg, M.S. (1999). Impairments in verb morphology after brain injury: a connectionist model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. 96, (7592 –7597).

Middleton, F.A., Strick, P.L. (2000). Basal ganglia and cerebral loops: motor and cognitive circuits. Brain research reviews, 31, 236-250.

Moro, A., Tettamanti, M., Perani, D., Donati, C., Cappa, S. F., & Fazio, F. (2003). Syntax and the brain: disentangling grammar by selective anomalies. Neuroimage, 13(1), 110–118.

Neurolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Perspectives on SLA. (2010). Arabski, J. & Wojtaszek, A. (Eds.), Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

Newport, E. (1993). Maturational constraints on language learning. Cognitive Science, 14(1), 11-28.

Opitz, B. & Friederichi, A.D. (2003). Interactions of the hippocampal system and the prefrontal cortex in learning language-like rules. Neuroimage, 19(4), 1730-1737.

Packard, M.& Knowlton, B. (2002). Learning and memory functions of the basal ganglia. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 25, 563–593.

Park, D., Lautenschlager, G., Hedden, T., Davidson, N., Smith, A. & Smith, P. (2002). Models of visuospatial and verbal memory across the adult life span. Psychology and Aging, 16, 299-320.

Peelle, J.E., McMillan, C., Moore, P., Grossman, M. & Wingfield, A. (2004). Dissociable patterns of brain activity during comprehension of rapid and syntactically complex speech: evidence from fMRI. Brain and Language, 91, 315-325.

Pinker, S. (1994). The Language Instinct. New York: William Morrow.

Poldrack, R., Packard, M. G. (2003). Competition among multiple memory systems: converging evidence from animal and human brain studies. Neuropsychologia, 41(3), 245–251.

Roediger, H.L., Butler, A.C. (2011). The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention. Trends in Cognitive Science, 15, 20-27.

Schlaug, G. (2001). The brain of musicians: a model for functional and structural adaptation. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 930(1), 281-299.

Squire, L.R., Knowlton, B.J. (2000). The medial temporal lobe, the hippocampus, and the memory systems of the brain. In: The New Cognitive Neurosciences. (pp. 765-780). M. S. Gazzaniga, Ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,

Squire, L. R., Zola, S. M. (1996). Structure and function of declarative and nondeclarative memory systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 93. (13515–13522).

Sun, R., Zhang, X. (2004). Top-down versus bottom-up learning in cognitive skill acquisition. Cognitive Systems Research, 5, 63–89.

Ullman, M.T. (2004). Contributions of memory circuits to language: the declarative/procedural model. Cognition, 92(1-2), 231-70.

Ullman, M.T. (2005). A cognitive neuroscience perspective on second language acquisition: the declarative/procedural model. In: Adult Second Language Acquisition, (pp. 141-178). C. Sanz, (ed.). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Ullman, M.T. & Pieport, E.I. (2005). Specific language impairment is not specific to language: the procedural deficit hypothesis. Cortex, 41, 399-433.

Ullman, M. (2006). Is Broca’s area part of a basal ganglia thalamocortical circuit? In: The Cortex: Integrative Models of Broca’s Area and the Ventral Premotor Cortex. (pp. 480-485). R. Schubotz & C. Fiebach, (Eds.). Milan: Masson.

Ullman, M. (2015) The declarative / procedural model: A neurobiologically motivated theory of first and second language. In: Theories in Second Language Acquisition: An Introduction, (pp. 135-158.) VanPatten, B. and J. Williams, (Eds.). 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.

Ullman, M. and Lovelett, J. (2016). Implications of the declarative / procedural model for improving second language learning: The role of memory enhancement techniques. Second Language Research, Special issue, 1-27.

Zurowski, B., Gostomzyk, J., Gron, G., Weller, R., Schirrmeister, H., Neumeier, B., Spitzer, M., Reske, S.N. & Walter, H. (2002). Dissociating a common working memory network from different neural substrates of phonological and spatial stimulus processing. Neuroimage, 15, 45-57.