This time, in the training phase of the experiment, researchers gave their test subjects immediate feedback. Same study, same dismal test scores, different Japanese adults. The researchers then tried something new. Auditory input might work for babies, but it simply does not for adults. After continuing the test for an hour, straining to hear any hint of the difference between r and l, they still did not improve. As expected, they performed terribly, only slightly better than chance. McClelland, then at Carnegie Mellon University, sat Japanese adults down in front of a computer with headphones, played a recording of rock or lock at random, and asked them to press the R or L key on their keyboards accordingly. In one robust study from 2002, researchers led by psychologist James L. Unfortunately, adults do not learn in the same way. You heard about rakes and lakes, fires and files, and your little brain began figuring out that certain sounds fit into the r-like group and that other sounds fit into the l-like group. When you were a baby, you learned to tell rocks from locks by listening to lots of auditory input. ![]() Second, they know they have this difficulty, and many will happily volunteer to come into a research laboratory-whereas English speakers do not care much about learning the difference between Hindi's four nearly identical-sounding d's. Why the Japanese? For one, because the r-versus- l problem is notorious Japanese speakers tend to do little better than chance when attempting to tell their rocks from their locks. Some of the best data on this phenomenon come from studies of Japanese adults learning to hear the difference between r and l. As it turns out, it's challenging to regain that ability. They become experts in their own language, and as a consequence they lose their facility with the unfamiliar sounds of foreign languages. But between six and 12 months of age, they begin homing in on their native language's sounds. A large body of work shows that babies possess a remarkable ability to distinguish all sounds in all languages. Most of us English speakers can't tell the difference between Seung, Seong and Sung now, but back when we were babies we could. If we train our ears for a few hours before diving into vocabulary and phrases, learning a language can become easier than we ever imagined. Fortunately, researchers are starting to find ways to overcome this hurdle. That aural roadblock is one of the reasons that learning a language as an adult can be so challenging. Our brain struggles to categorize the new sounds in each word-was it Seung, Seong or Sung? -and without the ability to do so accurately, the words do not stick in memory. Nearly every new word is another Seung-heon. When we decide to do something rash like learn a foreign language, however, we run into difficulties. Generally, we can go about our usual social interactions without much trouble. Thankfully, these Seung-heon experiences do not occur frequently in most parts of the English-speaking world, we encounter far more Johns, Susans and Franks than Seung-heons. I can't seem to hear what he's saying, I can't pronounce it correctly, and there's no way I'm going to remember it for more than five seconds. ![]() I have every intention of learning this person's name, and my brain is simply not cooperating.
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