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The identification and function of English prosodic features
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007)
This thesis contains three sets of studies designed to explore the identification and function of prosodic features in English. The first set of studies explores the identification of prosodic features using prosodic ...
The nature of the working memory system underlying language processing and its relationship to the long-term memory system
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007)
This thesis examines two questions concerning the working memory system underlying language processing: (1) To what extent is the working memory system underlying language processing domain-specific? and (2) What is the ...
The acquisition of inductive constraints
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008)
Human learners routinely make inductive inferences, or inferences that go beyond the data they have observed. Inferences like these must be supported by constraints, some of which are innate, although others are almost ...
Combinatorial analysis of sequential firing patterns across multiple neurons decoding memory of sequential spatial experience in rat hippocampus
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003)
There is broad agreement that the hippocampus is crucially involved in the formation of richly-detailed, long term memories of events in humans. A key aspect of such memories is the temporal order and spatial context of ...
Article semantics in second language acquisition
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003)
This thesis examines article choice and parameter-setting in second language (L2) acquisition. It argues, on the basis of L2-English elicitation and production data, that L2- learners have access to UG-based semantic ...
Deficient experience-dependent plasticity in the visual cortex of Arc null mice
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009)
Within the visual cortex a vast assortment of molecules work in concert to sharpen and refine neuronal circuits throughout development. With the advent of genetic mouse models it is now possible to probe the individual ...
Comparison of frontal and parietal cortices in the control of visual attention
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008)
The ability to switch between tasks reflects a fundamental part of our intelligence. A foundation of this ability lies in perceiving and processing information pertinent to the situation at hand. It is our capacity to ...
Words and rules in the brain
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001)
The Words-and-Rules theory (WR) posits that different mental processes underlie regular and irregular past tense formation: regular forms are rule-generated ('add -ed'), whereas irregular forms are retrieved from memory. ...
LGN activity patterns during ocular dominance plasticity in vivo
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008)
Perturbations of sensory experience in young animals are known to cause lasting changes in adult brain function. For example, monocular visual deprivation by lid closure (MC) leads to a loss of cortical responsiveness of ...
Intrinsic constraints on cross-modal plasticity
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004)
Over the last two decades numerous examples have demonstrated the remarkable plasticity of the developing brain. This plasticity occurs from the level of a single synapse to the repatterning of sensory input. One paradigm ...