Question

Provide an example of how language introduction is necessary during the critical period.

Answer 1

Critical period is an important term in developmental psychology as well as developmental biology. This is referred to as the stage of maturation that occurs in an organism’s life span where the nervous system would be highly sensitive to some or the other form of stimuli. In this period, if the organism would not be receiving that stimuli around the critical period, they would not be learning a particular trait or skill. It might get impossible to be learning the same functions later in the life of the person.

Critical period would be especially important for a person to be learning their first language. Or else, the individual would not be able to acquire the first language. This has been explained by the critical period hypothesis, which stated that in the initial years from age 5 to puberty, language acquisition would be becoming more difficult. Example, the children who are dumb and would be given access to sign language, will not be able to achieve perfect fluency even after using the same for 30 years. Though, this phenomenon has been observed more commonly in people not receiving sign language.