Resumen de L'apprentissage d'une grammaire artificielle par des enfants de 9 à 11 ans
In experiment 1, we demonstrate that children can learn an artificial grammar in the standard conditions (see, for example, Reber, 1993). This implicit learning capacity does not develop in the examined age-period (9 to 11). Children's verbal explanations come under the three classical models of artificial grammar learning : abstraction of rules, comparison with training exemplars, and memorization of fragments. However, a complementary analysis shows that children's adherence to some grammatical rules plays a major role.
In experiment 2, we use the same artificial grammar and learning items as in experiment 1 . But, having discovered a system of imperfectly valid rules used by the children, we constructed a new set of test items. This new set is designed for checkmating the rule system of experiment 1 if the (new) children continue to use it. The results conform to the prediction : the 10- and 11 -year-old children judged as grammatical the test items which were not, and conversely judged grammatical items as non-grammatical.
Two other factors are taken into consideration in these experiments : the similarity and association (as measured by associative strength) between the learning items and the test items. The results suggest, if these factors are not confounded with grammaticality, that they have little impact on the judgment of grammaticality. Furthermore, in the present research they appear rather as a by-product of children's adherence to the rules.
In the conclusion, we emphasize the questionable status � which is exacerbated by experiment 2 � of the notion of an «imperfectly valid» rule. We also underline that, in artificial grammar learning, the grammar and the learning items do not alone determine the test performance.
