statistical learning Flashcards

1
Q

can infants learn about language in the womb?

A

yes - they can hear language, patterns of speech - not innate

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2
Q

do infants make contrasts with other languages while in the womb?

A
  • they only make contrasts present in their own language while in the womb - new borns are better than 1 year olds - they differentiate between lanuages
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3
Q

example of infants only making contrasts in their own language -

A

in Hindi 2 ‘d’ sounds. this is discriminated in all newborn infants and Hindi 8 month yr old but not English 8 month old.

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4
Q

infants are born with the capacity to learn languages but…

A

if they aren’t being taught it they lose that ability

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5
Q

Chomsky - learning theory

A

argued that parents reward children for
grammatical utterances, punish them for ungrammatical utterances - BUT this does not happen

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6
Q

2 more things that Chomksy believed?

A
  • believed certain aspects of language
    (e.g., grammar) were innate because of the poverty of the stimulus (the
    input available to the child was insufficient to be learnable)
  • believed in a universal grammar - all languages share certain principles - innate
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7
Q

research disproving some of chomsky’s beliefs…

A

research can’t identify grammatical structures common to different languages

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8
Q

what do learning theorists argue today?

A

-that language can be learned using general learning mechanisms - like statistical learning - learning of patterns

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9
Q

language is -

A

predictable

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10
Q

how is language predictable?

A

gramatical categories occur in predictable positions in sentences = frequent frames
these frames occur reliably in child input… help children learn about grammar (Mintz)

Brain is specialized for statistical learning - which assists language learning

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11
Q

brain is specialised for…

A

statistical learning which assists language learning

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12
Q

what did that recording show us
(four “words”: tupiro, golabu, padoti, and bidaku)

A

stimulus is not impoverished at all- the info is there in the environment already

also showed that babies understand the word even if they don’t comprehend it

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13
Q

overview of the method of Teinonen’s study

A
  1. sleeping newborns - listened to nonsense sound.
  2. wakes up and listened to same sound with new words added.
  3. measured brain activity
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14
Q

results of Teinonen’s study:

A

brain responds differently to old and new words

pattern recognition is excellent - even while asleep they use familiarity to group together sounds/ words.

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15
Q

behaviour is predictable - 2 different theories

A
  • infants have an innate theory of mind (understanding that people have goals etc)
  • infant’s statistical learning allows them to learn about pattern behaviour
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16
Q

Baldwin’s experiment

A

infants shown videos of complete and non-complete actions. they are more interested in the mid-action sequence.

17
Q

interpretation of Baldwin’s experiment

(hint - infants )

A
  • infants do not need an innate social understanding
  • infants learn to predict patterns in behaviour
  • only years later do they work out there are mental states behind behaviour
18
Q

so what is innate?

A

statistical learning - the ability to learn about patterns in language and behaviour - etc

19
Q

SLI:

A

special language impairments
- short sentences - small vocab etc

20
Q

3 conclusions of Evans et al:

A

Typically developing children are good at learning about patterns in syllables and tones

Children with SLI have general difficulties learning about patterns in syllables and tones

Better statistical learning = better language ability

21
Q

question of Evan

A

do SLI children have a specific difficulty with language stimuli or general difficulties w statistical learning

22
Q

statistical learning with autism - hypothesis

A

would children w autism have difficulty detecting co-occurences amongst syllables ?- as they have poor language and understanding others ability

23
Q

studies that have examined activity in brain areas in certain brain regions when listening to random / nonrandom syllables show…

(autistic children vs typically developing children)

A

typically developing children = increased activity when listening to non-random syllables vs random syllables

autistic children = no increase

24
Q

what do brain activations indicate when listening to random / nonrandom syllables?

A

indicates differentiation of random and patterned sounds

more severe autism = less differentiation

25
Q

As brain activation decreases -

A

communicative difficulties increase

26
Q

autistics do not show a difference in brain activity when they listen to random and non-random syllables

A

this may help to explain their symptoms (the difficulty in detecting statistical regulalities)

27
Q

what are frequent frames?

A

gramatical categories that occur in predictable positions in a sentence

28
Q

what did Mintz say about frequent frames?

A

these frames occur reliably in child input = help children learn about grammar