(Replying to PARENT post)
> we argue that the late learners resort to computationally less efficient processing strategies when confronted with (lexically determined) syntactic constructions different from the L1.
> we show that the ERP signal in response to grammatical violations depends on the AoA of an L2 learner, as well as on the regularity of the structure under investigation. In (lexically determined) syntactic constructions different from the L1, we found a gradual change in processing strategies that varies by AoA, with a native-like effect for early learners and a less efficient neural processing strategy for later starters.
Although they do clarify that these effects could be confounded with age of acquisition instead of it being the cause.
👤debugnik🕑2y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
If anything, the evidence is that it isn't true, see https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
Any apparent causality of age of acquisition seems to be a proxy of hours of exposure. It may well be that it is easier for young people to rack up a lot of exposure to a second language, but not much evidence that age plays much of a factor for people of different ages who had the same degree of exposure.