The Forbidden Experiment

             After briefly discussing ferrel children and the effect isolation and unusual upbringings can have on development, I was reminded of a psychological case I studied a few years ago. The case involves a girl named Genie and the abuse she endured from birth well into her teenage years. Genie was a neglected child who was forced to remain in a silent room, locked in a wire covered crib or tied to a potty chair until she was twelve. After she emerged from this severe abuse she was unable to speak. Over the course of several years she began to speak in one and two word phrases, and eventually was able to form three word phrases. This verbal development after the critical period of mental development shocked scientists and sparked further interest in her case and the theory of the critical period.
             The critical period is the period of time between early infancy and puberty where language development is at its greatest potential. Many psychological theorists believe that humans cannot completely learn a first language after this period. However, Genie's situation has brought about new possibilities for language development past puberty. After years of silence, she was able to progress from primitive whimpers and limited recognition, to learning small phrases and using holophrastic speech to express herself. Despite her incredible linguistic development, Genie was never able to completely grasp the concepts of English grammar. Because there was little brain use during the critical period, parts of the cortical tissue on the left hemisphere of her brain atrophied and all the language processing had to take place in the left hemisphere where language is not usually centered. This limitation might have been part of the reason Genie was able to partially learn language, but not totally master it. She definitely seemed to be effected by the absence of language during her critical period but it didn't complet
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The Forbidden Experiment. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 06:28, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/20451.html