Kindlicher Spracherwerb Assadollahi, Friedrich

1. Kindlicher SpracherwerbAssadollahi, Friedrich Ontogenetic development: A connectionist synthesis

2. What did we learn so far? • networks can learn amazingly • Thus, statistical learning might be enough to explain human language acquisition. • However, • Are neonate brains really ‚empty‘ of linguistic knowledge? • Is that much information about language present in the statistical distribution of language, and do infants use this information?

3. e.g., Preferential looking How can we investigatecognition in infants/neonates?

5. looking 1 2 3 -3 -2 -1 trial Habituation (“getting bored”)

6. What happens when we change the stimulus? new old

7. looking new - experimental old -- control 1 2 3 -3 -2 -1 trial “Dishabituation” test

8. Elizabeth Spelke • Core capacities: • Domain-specific • Task-specific • Isolated • Innately implemented Professor for Psychology, Harvard University

9. Spelke (1991) • Familiarization: • a screen is lowered to hide a portion of the display • a ball is then dropped behind the screen • the screen is raised • the ball is seen resting on the floor of the display • looking time to the event is measured

10. Spelke (1991) • Consistent: • a platform is added above the floor • the screen is lowered to hide both surfaces • a ball is then dropped behind the screen • the screen is raised • the ball is seen resting on the raised platform • looking time to the event is measured

11. Spelke (1991) • Inconsistent: • a platform is added above the floor • the screen is lowered to hide both surfaces • a ball is then dropped behind the screen • the screen is raised • the ball is seen resting on the floor • looking time to the event is measured

12. Blue shows habituation • 4-month-old infants looked longer at inconsistent event (red dot) compared to consistent event (green)

13. familiarization Impressive early capacities I Infants understand continuity (Spelke,1990)

14. consistent Impressive early capacities I Infants understand continuity (Spelke,1990)

15. inconsistent Impressive early capacities I Infants understand continuity (Spelke,1990)

16. 2 ½-month-olds look reliably longer at the inconsistent event

17. Perception of a 3D world consisting of objects and space(Kellman & Spelke, 1983) consistent inconsistent Habituation

18. consistent inconsistent Baillargeon (1987) 4-month-olds are surprised when screen falls unhindered habituation

19. Possible Impossible Baillargeon (1994) • 3-month-olds think object will fall if it loses all contact with support • 6-month-olds understand that a significant portion must remain on the support

20. Conclusions Spelke (everywhere), Baillargeon (1987,1990): • Neonate brains are not ‚empty‘ for simple principles (including object mechanics, space, number) • Innately implemented core concept of the physical world • Shared with other species Baillargeon (1994), Elman et al. (everywhere): • a minimum of built-in structure (computational principles, architectural constraints) • fast learning

21. Neonates basic linguistic expertise • at birth: • differentiate speech from other sounds • Categorical perception of different speech sounds • four days • differentiate mother tongue from unrelated languages • four month • match speech sounds to lip movements on the faces that produce them • six month • exhibit talker normalization