Collaborative Research: Connecting linguistic and perceptual development through symmetry

儿童在入学时的语言知识程度预示着他们以后的学业成功，即使是那些通常与语言技能无关的学科，如科学和数学。例如，老师告诉孩子们“二加二等于四”，“地球类似于（或“像”）一个球”。 我们对数学符号及其组合的最终理解是由语言支持的，通过单词及其句法组合。这项研究探讨了儿童如何理解“平等”、“相似”和“和”等逻辑词的抽象含义。孩子们是如何知道如果X和Y相似，那么Y一定和X相似的？这些例子都有一个共同的关键概念，即计划研究的重点，对称的概念-感知，语言和思想的中心思想。对称性是一种关系，即使在逻辑上或物理上被颠倒时也保持不变。因此，如果X等于Y，Y必须等于X，如果纽扣与衬衫匹配，衬衫也必须与纽扣匹配。对称性似乎是一个奇特的话题，但实际上是推理、几何、代数、生物学和物理学的基础，并贯穿于词汇表中，包括名词（“表亲”）、动词（“相遇”）和形容词（“相似”）。尽管对称性在语言中无处不在，而且它与STEM有着形成性的联系，但人们对学龄前儿童如何理解对称性词汇，或者他们如何感知对称性互动知之甚少。回答这些问题将有助于解释儿童在语言能力和STEM相关学习方面的差异。所有的实验都考察了人类在从婴儿到成年的不同发展阶段如何感知、思考和/或交流对称性。大多数采用实时测量，其中当参与者听到描述参与（a-）对称互动的个人场景的演讲时，眼睛注视被记录下来。每时每刻的记录，获得参与者如何链接场景和语法，并从事学习的话与潜在的（a-）对称的意义。研究1考察了言语前婴儿是否能区分感知对称与不对称的互动，以及年龄较大的儿童如何将感知与抽象对称联系起来。研究2考察了儿童何时开始对语言中的对称句法和不对称句法有成人的理解。研究三考察了学习者如何将来自知觉和语言输入的关于对称关系的证据联合收割机结合起来。研究包含重要的教育和推广：本科生参与研究并接受眼动追踪培训;研究在博物馆和当地幼儿园进行，家长在那里了解发展研究，其重要性和成果。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The extent of children's knowledge of language at school entry predicts their later academic success, even for those disciplines not commonly associated with language skills, such as science and mathematics. For example, teachers tell children that “two and two is equal to four”, and that “the earth is similar to (or “is like”) a ball”. Our ultimate understanding of mathematical symbols and their combination are supported by language, through words and their syntactic combination. This research examines how children come to understand the abstract meaning of logical words such as “equal”, “similar”, and “and”. How do children learn that if X is similar to Y, Y must be similar to X? These examples have in common the key concept that is the focus of the planned research, the concept of symmetry – a central idea in perception, language and thought. Symmetry is a relation that remains the same even when reversed logically or physically. Thus, if X equals Y, Y must equal X, and if the button matches the shirt, so must the shirt match the button. Symmetry seems an exotic topic but in fact is foundational in reasoning, geometry, algebra, biology, and physics, and is threaded through the vocabulary, including nouns (“cousin”), verbs (“meet”), and adjectives (“similar”). Despite the ubiquity of symmetry in language and its formative connection to STEM, little is known about how preschoolers acquire an understanding of symmetrical words, or how they perceive symmetrical interactions. Answering these questions will help explain children’s differences in language abilities and STEM-related learning. All experiments examine how humans perceive, think and/or communicate about symmetry at different stages of development, from infancy to adulthood. Most employ real-time measures, in which eye gaze is recorded as participants hear speech describing scenes of individuals engaged in (a-)symmetrical interactions. A moment-by-moment record is obtained for how participants link scene and syntax and engage in learning of words with potentially (a-)symmetrical meanings. Study 1 examines whether preverbal infants distinguish between perceptually symmetrical vs. asymmetrical interactions, and how older children link perception to abstract symmetry. Study 2 examines when children come to have an adult understanding of symmetrical vs. asymmetrical syntax in language. Study 3 examines how learners combine evidence about symmetrical relations from perceptual and linguistic input. Research incorporates significant education and outreach: undergraduates are involved in research and trained in eye-tracking; research occurs at museums and local preschools, where parents learn about developmental research, its importance, and outcomes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.