title: Brain responses to case-marking violations in German preschool children.
abstract: The processing of case-marking and argument structures was investigated in children at the age of 3 years, 4 years and 6 months, and 6 years. Two event-related potential (ERP) experiments were conducted in a case-marked language, i.e. German, comparing the processing of (a) double-nominative violations with subject-initial structures and (b) double-accusative violations with object-initial structures. It is known that for both violation types, adults display a biphasic N400/P600 ERP response, reflecting thematic-semantic, and syntactic processes. For double-nominative violations, 3-year-old children already show an adult-like processing pattern revealing their abilities to repair the tested structure. For double-accusative violations, ERP results indicate developmental processing differences with even 6-year-old children not showing an adult pattern. This suggests a late development of the complete function of the accusative case.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany. schipke@cbs.mpg.de
authors.forename: Christine S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Schipke
authors.forename: Angela D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Friederici
authors.forename: Regine
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oberecker
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*