BRAIN STORY CERTIFICATION
COMPREHENSIVE EARLY BRAIN
DEVELOPMENT REVIEW SHEET FULL
SOLUTIONS
●● Grammar
Answer: Rules native speakers unconsciously know and use
automatically
●● Grammaticality judgments
Answer: Judging whether a sentence sounds grammatically correct
●● Prescriptive grammar
Answer: Rules of grammar taught in school
●● Descriptive grammar
Answer: How people naturally speak and the internal grammar speakers
actually use
●● Problem with grammaticality judgments
Answer: People from different dialects or regions may disagree on
grammar
,●● Grammar is gradient
Answer: Grammar is rated on a scale not simply right or wrong
●● Probabilistic syntax
Answer: The more often a structure is heard the more grammatical it
feels
●● Chicken and egg problem in syntax
Answer: Do structures sound grammatical because they are frequent or
frequent because they are grammatical
●● Regular verbs
Answer: Use ed for past tense such as ask to asked
●● Irregular verbs
Answer: Do not follow normal past tense rules such as run to ran
●● Frequency effect
Answer: Frequently heard structures are easier for the brain to process
●● Posterior middle temporal gyrus
Answer: Brain region highly connected to syntax processing
, ●● Subcortical structures in syntax
Answer: Syntax processing also involves deeper brain structures not just
cortex
●● Basal ganglia damage
Answer: Can cause sentence comprehension deficits
●● Memory and syntax
Answer: Attention memory and processing speed affect syntax
comprehension
●● Colorless green ideas sleep furiously
Answer: Example of a grammatical but meaningless sentence
●● Syntax vs semantics
Answer: Syntax involves structure while semantics involves meaning
●● N400
Answer: ERP brain response linked to semantic or meaning problems
●● What causes an N400
Answer: Something in a sentence does not make semantic sense
COMPREHENSIVE EARLY BRAIN
DEVELOPMENT REVIEW SHEET FULL
SOLUTIONS
●● Grammar
Answer: Rules native speakers unconsciously know and use
automatically
●● Grammaticality judgments
Answer: Judging whether a sentence sounds grammatically correct
●● Prescriptive grammar
Answer: Rules of grammar taught in school
●● Descriptive grammar
Answer: How people naturally speak and the internal grammar speakers
actually use
●● Problem with grammaticality judgments
Answer: People from different dialects or regions may disagree on
grammar
,●● Grammar is gradient
Answer: Grammar is rated on a scale not simply right or wrong
●● Probabilistic syntax
Answer: The more often a structure is heard the more grammatical it
feels
●● Chicken and egg problem in syntax
Answer: Do structures sound grammatical because they are frequent or
frequent because they are grammatical
●● Regular verbs
Answer: Use ed for past tense such as ask to asked
●● Irregular verbs
Answer: Do not follow normal past tense rules such as run to ran
●● Frequency effect
Answer: Frequently heard structures are easier for the brain to process
●● Posterior middle temporal gyrus
Answer: Brain region highly connected to syntax processing
, ●● Subcortical structures in syntax
Answer: Syntax processing also involves deeper brain structures not just
cortex
●● Basal ganglia damage
Answer: Can cause sentence comprehension deficits
●● Memory and syntax
Answer: Attention memory and processing speed affect syntax
comprehension
●● Colorless green ideas sleep furiously
Answer: Example of a grammatical but meaningless sentence
●● Syntax vs semantics
Answer: Syntax involves structure while semantics involves meaning
●● N400
Answer: ERP brain response linked to semantic or meaning problems
●● What causes an N400
Answer: Something in a sentence does not make semantic sense
