Mechanisms of learning language from child-directed speech

从儿童主导的言语中学习语言的机制

• 批准号: 7789323
• 负责人: SHIMON EDELMAN
• 金额: $ 7.95万
• 依托单位: CORNELL UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7789323
• 关键词: Algorithms; Attention; Behavior; Behavioral; Caregivers; Characteristics; Child; Child Language; Computer Simulation; Fostering; Goals; Growth; Infant; Instruction; Interdisciplinary Study; Intervention; Joints; Language; Language Development; Language Development Disorders; Learning; Light; Linguistics; Modeling; Parents; Performance; Population; Property; Research; Research Personnel; Simulate; Social Environment; Social Interaction; Speech; Stimulus; Structure; Sum; Time; Variant; Vocabulary; computer science; design; developmental psychology; lexical; novel; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; research study; syntax

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Many studies have demonstrated that the amount of speech children receive is related to their vocabulary and language development: typically, the more speech, the better. In addition to quantity, other characteristics of child-directed speech are positively related to language development. The proposed research examines two of these characteristics: variation sets and contingent timing. Variation sets are clusters of related sentences with partial variation in form, such as "Roll the ball. Can you roll the ball? Let's roll it." Contingent speech occurs when parents talk about an object on which their child's attention is focused. The goal of the proposed interdisciplinary research is to discover how children make use of these characteristics of child-directed speech. What underlying learning mechanisms are responsible for the facilitative effects of variation sets and contingent timing on language acquisition? The answer to this question will help explain the positive relation between the amount of speech directed to children and their language growth. The investigators integrate linguistics, computer science, and developmental psychology to study the contributions of variation sets and contingency in child-directed speech to early language acquisition. Their research will combine naturalistic yet tightly controlled word learning studies in young children with advanced computational modeling to elucidate mechanisms of socially embedded learning of nouns and verbs. The first goal of the research is to assess the effects on noun and verb learning of three properties of child-directed speech: a) the presence of variation sets, b) the time lag between utterances within variation sets, and c) the contingency of variation sets on the child's focus of attention. The second goal is to model the possible learning mechanisms that make use of these three properties. The investigators will use a Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP) model, which is a biologically plausible variety of the Hebbian learning rule that governs connectivity within neural assemblies. The computational model will receive input structured by the same parameters that facilitate learning in the behavioral experiments. Thus, a population of simulated learners will be created whose language learning performance will be directly comparable to that of human children. Mechanisms identified by STDP modeling will help explain how caregiver behavior assists children in tuning neural assemblies to sequences of speech stimuli. Taken together, the proposed studies will, for the first time, allow connections to be made between social interaction, neural organization, and language learning. By illuminating mechanisms by which infants and children learn from caregivers, the findings could inform interventions for disordered language development and help design more effective approaches to second-language instruction. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: By illuminating mechanisms by which infants and children learn language from specific features of caregivers' child-directed speech, the findings could inform interventions for disordered language development. The results could also be used to help parents and early child educators create social environments that foster and support language growth. Eventually, this research could be used to design more effective approaches to second-language instruction.

描述（由申请人提供）：许多研究表明，儿童接受的言语量与他们的词汇和语言发展有关：通常，言语越多越好。除数量外，儿童导向言语的其他特征与语言发展呈正相关。拟议中的研究探讨这些特征中的两个：变化集和偶然的时间。变体集是一组形式上有部分变化的相关句子，比如“滚球"。你能滚动球吗？开始吧“当父母谈论孩子的注意力集中在某个物体上时，就会出现偶然性言语。建议跨学科研究的目标是发现儿童如何利用这些特点的儿童导向的讲话。什么样的学习机制是变异集和偶然计时对语言习得的促进作用的原因？这个问题的答案将有助于解释对儿童的言语量和他们的语言发展之间的正相关关系。 研究人员整合语言学，计算机科学和发展心理学，研究儿童指导的语音变化集和偶然性对早期语言习得的贡献。他们的研究将结合联合收割机自然但严格控制的单词学习研究与先进的计算建模，以阐明社会嵌入式学习名词和动词的机制。本研究的第一个目标是评估儿童导向言语的三个属性对名词和动词学习的影响：a）变异集合的存在，B）变异集合内话语之间的时间间隔，以及c）变异集合对儿童注意力集中的偶然性。第二个目标是对利用这三个属性的可能的学习机制进行建模。研究人员将使用尖峰时间依赖可塑性（STDP）模型，这是一种生物学上合理的Hebbian学习规则，该规则控制神经组件内的连接。计算模型将接收由促进行为实验中的学习的相同参数结构化的输入。因此，将创建一个模拟学习者群体，其语言学习表现将直接与人类儿童的语言学习表现相媲美。STDP模型确定的机制将有助于解释照顾者的行为如何帮助儿童调整神经组件的语音刺激序列。 总的来说，拟议中的研究将首次允许在社会互动，神经组织和语言学习之间建立联系。通过阐明婴儿和儿童从照顾者那里学习的机制，这些发现可以为语言发展障碍的干预提供信息，并帮助设计更有效的第二语言教学方法。 公共卫生相关性：通过阐明婴儿和儿童从照顾者的儿童指导语言的具体特征中学习语言的机制，这些发现可以为语言发展障碍的干预提供信息。研究结果也可以用来帮助家长和幼儿教育工作者创造促进和支持语言发展的社会环境。最终，本研究可以用来设计更有效的第二语言教学方法。