Critical Period for Language Acquisition

Pinker emphasizes the importance of a critical period in childhood for successful language acquisition. He notes that children are much more adept at learning languages than adults, and this ability diminishes with age. Pinker provides compelling examples, such as immigrants who arrived in the United States before puberty performing better in language tests than those who arrived later. He states, 'The evidence that young brains are better than older brains at learning and creating language has been piling up in the last dozen years.'