Language deprivation experiments

Language deprivation experiments have been claimed to have been attempted at least four times through history, isolating infants from the normal use of spoken or signed language in an attempt to discover the fundamental character of human nature or the origin of language.

The American literary scholar Roger Shattuck called this kind of research study the "forbidden experiment" because of the exceptional deprivation of ordinary human contact it requires. Although not designed to study language, similar experiments on primates (labelled the "pit of despair") utilising complete social deprivation resulted in serious psychological disturbances.