2001/06/07 by Natalia L. Komarova, Martin A. Nowak · 1 citation
Computer Science · Social Sciences · Psychology · Mathematics · #Evolutionary Algorithms and Applications #Language and cultural evolution #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Period (music) #Language acquisition #Competition (biology) #Selection (genetic algorithm) #Computer science #Natural selection #Artificial intelligence #Population #Nash equilibrium #Second-language acquisition #Cognitive psychology #Psychology #Biology #Ecology #Mathematics #Mathematical economics #Linguistics #Demography #Mathematics education #Physics
paper · doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1629
openalex publication_date 2001/06/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
The language acquisition period in humans lasts about 13 years. After puberty it becomes increasingly difficult to learn a language. We explain this phenomenon by using an evolutionary framework. We present a dynamical system describing competition between language acquisition devices, which differ in the length of the learning period. There are two selective forces that play a role in determining the critical learning period: (i) having a longer learning period increases the accuracy of language acquisition; (ii) learning is associated with certain costs that affect fitness. As a result, there exists a limited learning period which is evolutionarily stable. This result is obtained analytically by means of a Nash equilibrium analysis of language acquisition devices. Interestingly, the evolutionarily stable learning period does not maximize the average fitness of the population.