Electrophysiological Evidence for Sentence Comprehension - Wings

eflect syntactic computations. An example of the non-linguistic procedural memory
process that elicits LAN was an experiment in which incorrect positioning of tools was
used as a stimulus (Bach et al., 2002).
Ullman’s DP model also accounts for data obtained from children with developmental
language impairments, in particular with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) (about SLI
as a procedural memory deficit, see Ullman & Pierpont, 2005). He claims that the deficit
involves structures of procedural memory. Lexical knowledge is relatively spared in SLI,
but lexical retrieval (word finding) is impaired in children with SLI. In addition, SLI is
associated with impairments of procedural memory and motor deficits. Ullman claims
that his model is corroborated by the evidence provided by research in developmental
"non-language" disorders, such as dyslexia and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD). Findings that cerebellum has been implicated in dyslexia, co-morbidity of
dyslexia and SLI, as well as abnormalities in function of basal ganglia, especially nucleus
caudatus in ADHD corroborate the claim that language supervenes on brain structures
that are involved in other, primarily memory and motor functions.
Ullman claims that his model is not consistent with some connectionist models, '…in
particular connectionist models that deny grammatical composition' (Ullman, 2004:249)
since these models do not predict associations between grammatical domains and
procedural memory, as well as their dissociation with lexical and declarative memory.
His model is consistent with many dual-route models that make distinction between
lexical knowledge and computational mental grammar that consists of several separable
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