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

人类是独一无二的，因为他们可以学习和使用语言。然而，我们与我们的灵长类表亲猴子和猿有许多共同的感知和行动大脑机制。拟议的研究将描绘这些共享的大脑机制如何为支持语言学习，感知和产生的独特人类大脑机制提供基础。其核心思想是基于镜像系统，一种控制动作执行和观察的系统，用于抓取金钱。 这一想法在人类中被扩展到“镜子之外”，包括语言机制。这项研究的方法是计算性的：开发计算机程序，明确猿和猴子数据以及人类数据的含义，以分析人类语言就绪的大脑。在对行为和感知的更普遍理解中研究语言可能会为语言教育和语言障碍的治疗提供新的方法。特别是，语言学家长期以来一直在争论语言是天生的，什么反映了儿童的社会学习。不同思想流派的假设显然影响了语言教育的方法。通过揭示包括神经可塑性在内的潜在大脑机制，拟议中的研究有可能以教育者可以了解的方式改变先天性辩论。为了支持这一点，研究还将开发一个新的信息基础设施，大脑操作数据库，它将提供用于测试和开发模型的经验数据摘要，模型本身的描述以及总结的模拟结果，和工具，用于比较不同模型在解释已知数据和支持新的实证研究预测方面的成功。这项工作是共同的，由SBE/BCS和CISE/IIS/RI资助。

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.