Learning mechanisms in language acquisition

过去50年的语言发展研究揭示了年轻语言学习者的两个方面， 潜在的冲突能力一方面，婴儿对特定的表面特性非常敏感 他们的投入和统计数据。另一方面，婴儿能够迅速概括出他们的 输入基于高度抽象的形式属性。对表面与抽象的敏感性的相对重要性 语言属性是关于人类语言本质的理论争论的核心。 这里提出的研究反映了我们正在进行的尝试，以确定语言学习者如何结合联合收割机 他们对语言表面属性的敏感性和超越这些属性的抽象能力。从 在本次资助期间进行的研究中，我们形成了以下3个假设： (1)记忆需求、任务需求和以前的经验都会影响抽象的程度 形式上相同的输入。(2)语言学习者只形成必要的最抽象的表示， 解释他们遇到的数据集。(3)在某些情况下，成年人与微妙的 发展性语言障碍比正常语言的成年人更不可能根据 语言的抽象属性。 为了验证这些假设，参与者熟悉来自人工语言系统的刺激。 然后，他们在新的刺激物上进行测试，这些刺激物与特定的特性一致或不一致， 熟悉刺激研究。一致与不一致供试品的显著区别是 作为学习的证据。使用这种范式，研究比较了不同输入的学习 条件（2个具有不同表面实例的形式相同的语言系统， 符合与不符合自然语言的属性）和跨人群（6至12个月大 婴儿、语言正常的成人、语言能力受损的成人）。这项研究的发现 可能会揭示关于婴儿和成人如何受到他们的具体情况影响的重要信息。 语言输入，因为他们概括超越它。研究结果也有可能提供新的见解， 学习在语言障碍中的作用。

The last 50 years of research on language development have revealed in young language learners two, potential conflicting, abilities. On the one hand, infants are exquisitely sensitive to specific surface properties of their input and the statistics thereof. On the other hand, infants are able to rapidly generalize beyond their input based on highly abstract formal properties. The relative importance of sensitivity to surface vs. abstract linguistic properties is at the heart of theoretical debates about the nature of human language. The research proposed here reflects our ongoing attempt to determine how language learners combine their sensitivity to surface properties of language and their ability to abstract beyond these properties. From the research performed during the current period of funding, we have formed the following 3 hypotheses: (1) Memory demands, task demands and previous experience all influence the level of abstraction achieved for formally identical input. (2) Language learners form only the most abstract representation necessary to account for the set of data they have encountered. (3) Under some circumstances, adults with subtle developmental language disabilities are less likely than adults with normal language to generalize based on abstract properties of language. To test these hypotheses, participants are familiarized with stimuli from an artificial language-like system. They are then tested on new stimuli that are either consistent or inconsistent with the particular properties of the familiarization stimuli under study. Significant discrimination of consistent vs. inconsistent test items is taken as evidence of learning. Using this paradigm, the research compares learning across different input conditions (2 formally identical language systems with different surface instantiations, formal systems that conform vs. do not conform to properties of natural languages) and across populations (6- to -12-month-old infants, adults with normal language, adults with impaired language abilities). The findings from this research are likely to reveal important information about how infants and adults are influenced by the specifics of their language input as they generalize beyond it. The findings also have the potential to provide new insights into the role of learning in language disorders.