Of mice and men: Speech sound acquisition as discriminative learning from prediction error, not just statistical tracking
Of mice and men: Speech sound acquisition as discriminative learning from prediction error, not just statistical tracking
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104081
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发表时间：
2020-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Nixon, Jessie S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Nixon, Jessie S.
尽管越来越多的证据表明听众对语音线索的统计分布高度敏感，但学习背后的机制可能并不是纯粹的统计跟踪。数十年的动物学习研究表明，学习是预测和预测错误的结果。两个人工语言学习实验测试了两种区分误差驱动模型和纯统计模型的预测；即，特别是提示竞争、Kamin (1968) 的“阻塞”效应（实验 1）和学习事件的预测结构（实验 2）。在实验 1 中，信息提示的先验知识阻止了对第二个提示的学习。这一发现可能有助于解释第二语言学习者难以获得对非母语语音提示的母语水平感知。在实验 2 中，与非歧视性（结果提示）顺序相比，采用区别性（提示结果）顺序的学习效果更好。实验 2 表明，学习语音提示（包括逆转阻塞效应）取决于（不）从预测误差中学习，并且取决于听觉提示与语义结果的时间顺序。总而言之，这些结果表明（a）现有的声学提示知识可以阻止以后学习新提示，（b）语音获取取决于学习事件的预测结构。当预测错误的反馈可用时，这会促使学习者忽略显着的非歧视性线索并有效地学习使用目标线索维度。这些发现可能对语音习得领域产生相当大的影响。
Despite burgeoning evidence that listeners are highly sensitive to statistical distributions of speech cues, the mechanism underlying learning may not be purely statistical tracking. Decades of research in animal learning suggest that learning results from prediction and prediction error. Two artificial language learning experiments test two predictions that distinguish error-driven from purely statistical models; namely, cue competition specifically, Kamin's (1968) 'blocking' effect (Experiment 1) and the predictive structure of learning events (Experiment 2).In Experiment 1, prior knowledge of an informative cue blocked learning of a second cue. This finding may help explain second language learners' difficulty in acquiring native-level perception of non-native speech cues. In Experiment 2, learning was better with a discriminative (cue outcome) order compared to a non-discriminative (outcome cue) order. Experiment 2 suggests that learning speech cues, including reversing effects of blocking, depends on (un)learning from prediction error and depends on the temporal order of auditory cues versus semantic outcomes.Together, these results show that (a) existing knowledge of acoustic cues can block later learning of new cues, and (b) speech sound acquisition depends on the predictive structure of learning events. When feedback from prediction error is available, this drives learners to ignore salient non-discriminative cues and effectively learn to use target cue dimensions. These findings may have considerable implications for the field of speech acquisition.