Case studies

• Oxana Malaya

  • raised by dogs
  • Found at 8 years old, post 'critical stage'
  • Learned to speak fluently and intelligibly
  • has an intellectual impairment, contrasts cognitivisim
  • was raised with a lack of social and intellectual stimulation
• Little albert

  • Watson and Rayner
  • every time albert reached for a white rat a loud noise would occour
  • eventually albert developed a fear of the rat due to association with the noise
  • negative reinforcement
• Bobo doll

  • School of thought: behaviourisism
  • Albert Bandura
  • imitation theory
  • emphasizes the need for language modeling
• Nicaraguan sign langauge

  • when deaf children met together in schools for the first time they created their own sign language
  • suggesting an innate capacity to use language
  • school of thought: nativisim
• Victor

  • Was feral until age 12 past critical stage
  • He never spoke
  • supports 'critical period'
• Isabelle

  • Deaf, mute mother, only person Isabelle was exposed to until age 6
  • she acquired an extensive vocabulary
  • age 6 is within critical period when 'brain plasticity' is high
• Genie

  • was in captivity from 20 months to 13 years well past critical period
  • whenever she made a noise she was beaten
  • Genie never progressed beyond the speech of a 3 year old
  • supports behaviourist school of thought
• Gusii tribe mothers

  • they believe that children cannot understand language so its useless to talk to them until they are older
  • refutes interactionalism school of thought