Beyond the Mirror: An Integrated Computational Framework for the Study of Action & Language

人类的独特之处在于他们能够学习和使用语言。然而，我们与我们的灵长类近亲猴子和猿类共享许多感知和行动的大脑机制。这项拟议的研究将绘制出这些共享的大脑机制如何为支持语言的学习、感知和产生的独特的人类大脑机制提供基础。关键思想是基于镜像系统，这是一种既控制行动的执行又控制行动的观察的系统，被发现是为了抓住金钱。这一想法在人类身上被扩展到“镜子之外”，涵盖了语言的机制。这项研究的方法是计算性的：开发计算机程序，明确地说明猿和猴子的数据以及人类数据的含义，以分析人类准备好语言的大脑。在对行动和感知的更广泛的理解中研究语言，可能会为语言教育和语言障碍的治疗奠定新的方法。特别是，语言学家长期以来一直在争论语言是什么，是什么反映了孩子的社会学习。不同学派的假设显然会影响语言教育的方法。通过揭示潜在的大脑机制，包括对神经可塑性的解释，拟议中的研究有可能以一种可以为教育工作者提供信息的方式改变关于天生的争论。为了支持这一点，该研究还将开发一个新的信息基础设施--脑操作数据库，它将提供一个储存库，其中包括用于测试和开发模型的经验数据的概要、模型本身的描述以及汇总的模拟结果，以及用于比较不同模型在解释已知数据和支持新的经验研究预测方面的成功的工具。

Humans are unique in that they can learn and use language. However, we share many brain mechanisms for perception and action with our primate cousins, the monkeys and apes. The proposed research will chart how these shared brain mechanisms provide the basis for the uniquely human brain mechanisms that support the learning, perception, and production of language. The key idea is based on the mirror system, a system for controlling both the execution and observation of action, found for grasping in moneys. This idea was extended "beyond the mirror" in humans to encompass mechanisms for language. The approach to the research is computational: to develop computer programs that make explicit the implications of ape and monkey data and human data for analysis of the human language-ready brain. The study of language within a more general understanding of action and perception may ground new approaches to language education and the treatment of language disorders. In particular, linguists have long debated what it is about language that is innate and what reflects the child's social learning. The assumptions of different schools of thought clearly influence approaches to language education. By laying bare underlying brain mechanisms that include an account of neural plasticity, the proposed research has the potential to transform the innateness debate in ways that can inform educators. To support this, the research will also develop a new information infrastructure, the Brain Operation Database, which will provide a repository of summaries of the empirical data used to test and develop models, descriptions of the models themselves together with summarized simulation results, and tools for comparing the success of different models in explaining known data and supporting predictions for new empirical research.This work is co-funded by SBE/BCS and CISE/IIS/RI.