The implicit learning account of syntactic priming proposes that the same mechanism underlies syntactic priming and language development, providing a link between a child and adult language processing. The present experiment tested predictions of this account by comparing the persistence of syntactic priming effects in children and adults. Four-year-olds and adults first described transitive events after hearing transitive primes, constituting an exposure phase that established priming effects for passives. The persistence of this priming effect was measured in a test phase as participants described further transitive events but no longer heard primes. Their production of passives was compared to a baseline group who described the same pictures without any exposure to primes. Neither immediate nor long-term priming effects differed between children and adults but both children and adults showed significant immediate and persistent effects of the priming when the test phase occurred immediately after the exposure phase and when a short delay separated the exposure and test phase. The implications of these results for an implicit learning account of syntactic priming are discussed.

中文翻译：

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启动的持久性：探索儿童和成人的持久句法启动效应

句法启动的内隐学习说明提出了相同的机制是句法启动和语言发展的基础，提供了儿童和成人语言处理之间的联系。本实验通过比较儿童和成人句法启动效应的持续性来测试这个解释的预测。四岁儿童和成年人在听到传递质数后首先描述传递性事件，构成了一个暴露阶段，为被动语态建立了启动效应。这种启动效应的持续性是在测试阶段测量的，因为参与者描述了进一步的传递事件，但不再听到启动效应。将他们制作的被动图片与描述相同图片但没有任何素数曝光的基线组进行比较。儿童和成人之间的即时和长期启动效应均无差异，但当测试阶段在暴露阶段后立即发生，并且当暴露和测试阶段分开短暂延迟时，儿童和成人都表现出显着的即时和持久启动效应。讨论了这些结果对句法启动的隐式学习帐户的影响。