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Se ha propuesto que la capacidad de adquirir lenguaje yrelaciones de equivalencia están vinculadas. Estudiosprevios muestran que estímulos relacionados porequivalencia transfieren propiedades combinatorias en unagramática artificial. Recíprocamente, en el presente trabajoanalizamos si estímulos que comparten las mismaspropiedades combinatorias por entrenamiento en unagramática artificial verifican posteriormente las propiedadesde una clase de equivalencia. Los resultados muestran quelos estímulos de una misma clase combinatoria conformanuna clase funcional que verifica las propiedades de laequivalencia (i.e. reflexividad, simetría y transitividad). Elprocesamiento de estas relaciones genera un potencialN400 que refleja un costo de procesamiento vinculado alnúmero de estímulos nodales intervinientes. Este resultadopodría explicarse en términos de un sistema proactivo queextrae y almacena regularidades estadísticas de losestímulos; conecta estímulos nuevos con lasrepresentaciones relevantes previamente adquiridas yutiliza estas asociaciones para generar predicciones sobrelos eventos futuros. It has been proposed that there is a relation between the capacity to acquire language and equivalence relations. Previous studies show that members of an equivalence class transfer combinatorial properties within an artificial grammar. Reciprocally, in the present work we analyzed whether, after training in an artificial grammar, stimuli with the same combinatorial properties verify properties of an equivalence class. Results show that stimuli of a same combinatorial class form a functional class that verifies the properties of equivalence (i.e. reflexivity; symmetry and transitivity). Processing these relations generates an N400 potential that is related to the number of nodal stimuli between stimuli pairs. This result could be explained in terms of a proactive system that extracts and retains statistical regularities of stimuli; connects new stimuli with relevant representations previously acquired and employs these associations to generate predictions of future events. Fil: Tabullo, Angel Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Iorio, Alberto Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; Argentina Fil: Zanutto, Bonifacio Silvano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentina Fil: Wainselboim, Alejandro Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentina

Este estudo integra-se no âmbito do projeto POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028212 financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) e pelo Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, através de fundos nacionais, e co-financiado pelo FEDER, através do COMPETE2020, no âmbito do acordo Portugal 2020., A capacidade de extrair de forma automática e não intencional as regularidades do meio que nos circunda é uma capacidade fundamental do nosso sistema cognitivo, que desempenha um papel significativo na aquisição de uma ampla gama de habilidades, desde capacidades mais percetivas e motoras até à aquisição de diversos aspetos da linguagem regidos por regras. Contudo, saber se esta capacidade, designada por aprendizagem implícita, sofre alterações ao longo do ciclo de vida e até que ponto o desempenho em tarefas desenhadas para avaliar tal competência é afetado pelas características superficiais do tipo de estímulos usados, é algo controverso que permanece por esclarecer na literatura. Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar se há evidências de aprendizagem implícita em adultos, e em crianças portuguesas em idade pré-escolar (4/5 anos de idade) e escolarizadas (6/7 anos de idade). Para isso, recorremos a uma tarefa de Aprendizagem de Gramática Artificial (AGA) com estímulos visuais não-linguísticos (cores). Os resultados mostraram que não existem evidências claras de aprendizagem implícita em nenhum dos grupos, embora as crianças do primeiro ano de escolaridade tenham revelado alguma capacidade para discriminar entre sequências que obedeciam às regras apresentadas nos exemplares usados na fase de treino (itens gramaticais) e sequências que não obedeciam a tais regras (itens não-gramaticais) na tarefa de julgamento de gramaticalidade usada na fase de teste. Os resultados são discutidos à luz dos modelos desenvolvimentais de aprendizagem implícita., The ability to extract, automatically and non-intentionally, the regularities from the world around us is a crucial ability of our cognitive system that plays a significant role in the acquisition of a wide range of capabilities, from more perceptual and motor skills to the acquisition of several rule-based aspects of language. However, the questions of whether this ability, known as implicit learning, undergoes changes through the life cycle and to what extent the performance in tasks designed to assess this ability is affected by the superficial characteristics of the used stimuli, is controversial and remain open in the literature. The main aim of this study was to analyze whether there is evidence of implicit learning in Portuguese adults and preschool (4/5-year-olds) and school-aged children (6/7-year-olds). To this end, we used an Artificial Grammar Learning task (AGL) with non-linguistic stimuli (colors). The results showed no clear evidence of implicit learning in all groups, although first-grade children revealed some ability to discriminate between sequences that followed the rules presented by the stimuli during the training phase (grammatical items) and the sequences that did not obey these rules (ungrammatical items) in the grammatical judgement task used in the test phase. The results are discussed in light of the developmental models of implicit learning.

La comprensión del lenguaje es un proceso de extrema complejidad. El estudio de sus bases neurofisiológicas se ha facilitado gracias al registro de la actividad electroencefalográfica, (EEG), identificándose potenciales evocados relacionados con procesos cognitivos específicos durante el procesamiento de oraciones o palabras. Los potenciales evocados son el producto de la actividad en diversas bandas de frecuencia del EEG. La descomposición de la señal en dichas bandas posibilita distinguir diferentes actividades con distintos valores funcionales y la manera en la cual distintas regiones interactúan durante el proceso de comprensión del lenguaje. En este trabajo analizamos para tres bandas de frecuencias distintas (theta, alfa y beta), el grado de conectividad funcional entre electrodos durante el procesamiento de oraciones gramaticales y no gramaticales en lenguaje natural y artificial. 15 adultos sanos fueron entrenados en las reglas combinatorias de una gramática artificial. En el testeo se registró la actividad electroencefalográfica mientras se presentaban 80 ensayos nuevos, de los cuales 40 presentaba un error de las reglas entrenadas. Se presentaron además 80 oraciones en castellano, 40 de ellas con un error gramatical. La aparición de un error elicitó un potencial N400 y P600 equivalente en ambas gramáticas, e indujo en ambos casos un mismo patrón de conectividad funcional entre electrodos. Los resultados muestran que el procesamiento de oraciones no gramaticales durante la comprensión del lenguaje natural es funcionalmente equivalente a la detección de errores combinatorios de reglas estadísticas, como las entrenadas en gramática artificial. Functional connectivity analysis during processing of grammatical violations of natural and artificial language: evidence for shared mechanisms. Language comprehension is an extremely complex process. The study of its neurophysiological bases has been facilitated due to the use of electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings, identifying evoked potentials related to specific cognitive processes during sentence or word processing. Evoked potentials are the product of activity in different frequency bands of the EEG. Signal decomposition into these frequency bands allows to distinguish between activities with different functional values and the manner in which regions interact during language comprehension. In the present work we analyzed for three frequency bands (theta, alpha and beta), the level of functional connectivity between electrodes while processing grammatical and non-grammatical sentences in natural and artificial language. 15 normotypic adults were trained in the use of combinatorial rules of an artificial grammar. In the test phase, EEG activity was recorded while 80 new trials were presented, 40 of which showed an error of the previously trained rules. In addition, 80 Spanish sentences were presented, 40 of which had a grammatical error. The appearance of an error elicited a biphasic N400/P600 complex, and induced the same pattern of functional connectivity in both grammars. Results show that processing of non-grammatical sentences during natural language comprehension is functionally equivalent to the detection of combinatorial errors of statistical rules, such as those trained in the artificial grammar. Fil: Moguilner, Sebastian Gabriel. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina Fil: Tabullo, Angel Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Wainselboim, Alejandro Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentina

La formación de clases de equivalencia entre estímulos ha sido propuesta en el campo del Análisis Experimental del Comportamiento como un prerrequisito conductual para el lenguaje. Adicionalmente, existe evidencia de que la transferencia de función entre estímulos equivalentes podría explicar la adquisición de estructuras sintácticas simples. No obstante, la simplicidad de las funciones sintácticas estudiadas no capturó la complejidad combinatoria de la gramática natural. Si la transferencia de funciones en clases de equivalencia es un modelo posible del desarrollo de estructuras gramaticales, debería verificarse en contextos más válidos para el estudio del lenguaje. Los objetivos del presente trabajo fueron: 1) analizar la transferencia de funciones sintácticas en clases de equivalencia en un contexto válido para el estudio de la adquisición de reglas gramaticales, utilizando para ello el paradigma de gramáticas artificiales 2) Analizar los potenciales cerebrales relacionados con el procesamiento de esta transferencia de función, en secuencias gramaticales y no gramaticales. Se encontró evidencia comportamental de transferencia de función en un subgrupo de los sujetos experimentales. El potencial P600, típicamente asociado al costo de integración sintáctica en contextos linguísticos, fue observado en estos sujetos ante: violaciones gramaticales con estímulos originales de la gramática artificial y secuencias con estímulos relacionados por equivalencia (gramaticales y no gramaticales). Se interpretó que el procesamiento de las secuencias artificiales implicó mecanismos neurobiológicos similares a los asociados a la sintaxis del lenguaje, y que el patrón de actividad P600 observado puede ser explicado por el aumento del costo de integración de los estímulos al contexto previo. Stimulus equivalence class formation has been proposed as a behavioral prerequisite for language within the field of experimental analysis of behavior. Additionally, there is evidence that transfer of function among equivalent stimuli may explain acquisition of simple syntactic structures. However these experiments analyzed sequence functions that did not capture the complexity and versatility of natural grammar. If transfer of function between stimuli that belong to the same equivalence classes is indeed a useful model for the development of grammatical structures, then we should be able to verify it in a more valid context for the study of language. Artificial grammar learning tasks have been applied to the study of several aspects of language acquisition, from word segmentation to phrase structure and syntax rules. Furthermore, it has been shown that patterns of brain activity during processing of artificial grammars resemble those observed in language syntax processing. In particular, structural violations of language sentences and artificial grammar sequences both activate Broca's area. Therefore, artificial grammars provide a valid paradigm to study the learning of syntactic functions. The main objectives of the current work were: (1) to analyze transfer of function within equivalence classes in a valid context for the study of syntax acquisition, applying the artificial grammar paradigm and (2) to analyze brain potentials related to the transfer of function in grammatical and ungrammatical sequences. Fifteen subjects were trained to form two three-stimulus equivalence classes and then performed an artificial grammar learning task. One stimulus from each equivalence class was included as an item in the artificial grammar categories. During a test stage, subjects were asked to classify new artificial grammar sequences as grammatical or ungrammatical, while their EEG activity was registered. Half of these new sequences were built using the original training items and the other half contained equivalence-related stimulus. Subjects were assigned to two groups according to their performance in this test stage. Those participants whose percentage of correct responses was above 50 % were considered to pass, while those below were assigned to the fail group. We found behavioral evidence of transfer of function in the pass subgroup. These participants were able to correctly discriminate grammatical from un grammatical sequences that were built using original or equivalence-related stimulus. Event-Related potential Analysis of the EEG signal indicated a posteriorly distributed positivity with a topography and time-course similar to the P600 potential. Within linguistic contexts, P600 is interpreted as the neural correlate of prediction and integration costs during syntax processing. It has been proposed that sentence comprehension depends on predictive mechanisms that combine lexical, semantic and syntactic information from linguistic input to anticipate future words. Processing of incoming stimuli is facilitated by pre- activation, allowing rapid integration to previous context. However, when the input does not match predictions, this integration becomes slower and more difficult, requiring additional neural resources. The P600 has been considered and index of increased integration costs, generated by unfulfilled predictions of word category and morphology based on previous context. In the present experiment, the P600 was observed after: grammar violations with the original artificial grammar lexicon and artificial sequences containing equivalence-related stimulus (both grammatical andungrammatical). Results showed that artificial grammar processing involved neurobiological mechanisms that are similar to those associated in natural grammar processing. We interpreted the observed P600 pattern in terms of an increased stimulus integration cost, both in the case of grammatical and ungrammatical equivalence-related stimulus. Even though we consider that transference of function and equivalence class formations are by themselves insufficient to explain the complexity of natural grammar, we propose that this processes might be relevant to its acquisition and evolution, constituting a behavioral prerequisite for language development. Fil: Tabullo, Angel Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Yorio, Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Zanutto, Silvano. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología; Argentina Fil: Wainselboim, Alejandro Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Fundación de Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentina

En este trabajo se utilizó una gramática artificial, consistente en una serie de reglas que especifican posibles órdenes de secuencias de letras, para evaluar la capacidad de transferencia de los sujetos, esto es, la extracción de estas reglas y su aplicación a patrones de letras novedosas. Para ello, 57 sujetos se asignaron aleatoriamente a dos formas de entrenamiento: una estándar, donde debían memorizar y transcribir las secuencias correctas (gramaticales) y otra donde debían discriminar por ensayo y error entre secuencias correctas e incorrectas (no gramaticales) mediante un procedimiento de realimentación. Con esta forma de entrenamiento se obtuvieron desempeños significativamente mejores que con el procedimiento estándar. Se discuten los resultados en el contexto de la aplicación de las gramáticas artificiales como paradigma experimental para el estudio de los procesos subyacentes a la adquisición del lenguaje. In this work an artificial grammar has been used, which consists in a set of rules that specifies possible orders of strings of letters, to evaluate subjects ability to transfer the extracted rules and implement these to patterns of novel letters. 57 subjects were randomly assigned to two learning procedures: a standard one in which they had to memorize and transcribe the correct (grammatical) sequences, and one in which they had to discriminate between correct and incorrect (ungrammatical) sequences by use of a feedback procedure. Subjects trained with the feedback procedure had a significantly better performance than subjects trained with the standard one. These results are discussed in the context of the implementation of artificial grammar as an experimental paradigm for studying processes underlying language acquisition. Fil: Arismendi, Mariana. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Tabullo, Angel Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Vernis, Sergio. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Primero, Gerardo. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Fiorentini, Leticia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Sánchez, Federico. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Yorio, Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina