The case of the feral child, Genie, has enabled extensive research into human development, language, and intelligence. Genie was an interesting case study. She was observed, interviewed and tested, but her case was a truly rare experience. Genie's story was very unique and an example of the extreme. So his case didn't provide much information for the average child. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay When Genie was found, she was about 12 years old but had the mental age of a child. When Genie worked with her doctors and took constant classes and tests, Genie was able to increase her mental age by 1 year for every year that her chronological age increased. Chomsky theorized that the principles of language are in our genes, everyone is born with a language acquisition device. Dr. Lindenberg agrees, but points out that there is a deadline for applying the language, calling it the critical period. Having a critical period made it more difficult for Genie to learn the language, especially since her chronological age passed the critical period deadline. Attachment is essential for acquiring language and other learning. Building trust requires a deep and lasting emotional bond that connects one person to another. In Genie's case, she had never had any real attachment to her parents. By the time she was found and was being searched, she had met so many new people. Having doctors, psychologists and adoptive parents, it was difficult for Genie to have a strong attachment to anyone in particular. The Riglers had stepped in to become his assistants, consultants and researchers. This created blurred lines in Genie's search because they were creating attachments. Genie had done quite a bit of trial in his testing. Robert Sternberg created the idea of the triarchic theory of intelligence, creative intelligence, practical intelligence, and analytical intelligence. During his learning experience Genie developed analytical intelligence. He made great progress in his vocabulary and was even excited to learn more. Genie applied the vocabulary she learned to everything around her and was able to use her language skills to describe past events. This showed such progress that he could talk about a time when he had no language. He also showed progress with his motor cortex. When they first found Genie, he couldn't walk. When she got up she was curled into a ball from being locked in a crib all day. Over time he learned to walk and talk. When he learned the words jump or march, he practiced the action along with them. His progress has been amazing thanks to his ability to associate actions with his words. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Genie has made so much progress over the years since he started. But after a while he reached the peak of his learning and stopped improving. The National Institute of Mental Health stopped funding Genie's treatment and she was placed in different care. One day, under his care, Genie was punished for vomiting. When this happened she regressed back to how she was before and stopped talking. He was so ashamed of vomiting that he kept his mouth shut and would never vomit again. Works Cited Curtiss, S. (1977). Genie: A psycholinguistic study of a modern "feral child." Academic Press.Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). The critical period for language acquisition and its possible bases. In CC Gauger (ed.),, 13(1), 103-128.
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