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A Complementary Systems Account of Word Learning in L1 and L2
Author(s) -
Lindsay Shane,
Gaskell M. Gareth
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00600.x
Subject(s) - psychology , word learning , language acquisition , cognitive psychology , word (group theory) , neuroimaging , cognitive science , linguistics , neuroscience , vocabulary , philosophy , mathematics education
We review a body of behavioral and neuroimaging research relating to the acquisition and integration of novel words. An important outcome from this research is that different aspects of knowledge associated with learning a new word become established over different time scales. We suggest that the temporal dissociations found in word learning are due to the application of and interaction between complementary learning systems in the brain, with rapidly acquired episodic representations stored via the medial temporal lobes and slower learning supported by neocortical systems. We discuss the implications of this model for understanding the earliest stages of learning a novel word and for learning words in a second language.