Collaborative Research: Connecting linguistic and perceptual development through symmetry

孩子在入学时对语言的了解程度预示着他们未来的学业成功，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“像)球”。我们对数学符号及其组合的最终理解是由语言、通过单词及其句法组合来支持的。这项研究考察了儿童如何理解“相等”、“相似”和“与”等逻辑词的抽象含义。孩子们如何学习，如果X和Y相似，Y就一定和X相似？这些例子有一个共同的关键概念，也就是计划研究的焦点--对称性概念--这是感知、语言和思维的核心理念。对称性是一种即使在逻辑上或物理上颠倒时也保持不变的关系。因此，如果X等于Y，则Y必须等于X，如果纽扣与衬衫匹配，则衬衫也必须与纽扣匹配。对称性似乎是一个陌生的话题，但实际上在推理、几何、代数、生物学和物理学中是基础的，而且贯穿于词汇表中，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，它与STEM的形成联系也很少，但关于学龄前儿童如何理解对称的单词，或者他们如何感知对称的互动，我们知之甚少。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。所有实验都考察了人类在从婴儿期到成年期的不同发育阶段是如何感知、思考和/或交流对称性的。大多数人使用实时测量，当参与者听到描述个人参与(A)对称互动的场景的语音时，眼睛的凝视被记录下来。参与者如何将场景和句法联系起来，以及如何学习具有潜在(a-)对称意义的单词，这一时刻的记录被获得。研究一考察了先兆婴儿是否区分知觉对称和非对称互动，以及年龄较大的儿童如何将知觉与抽象对称联系起来。研究2考察儿童何时开始对语言中的对称句法和非对称句法有成人的理解。研究3考察学习者如何从知觉输入和语言输入中结合关于对称关系的证据。研究包括重要的教育和推广：本科生参与研究并接受眼球跟踪方面的培训；研究在博物馆和当地幼儿园进行，父母在那里了解发展性研究、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优势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.