Mechanisms of learning language from child-directed speech

描述(由申请者提供)：许多研究表明，儿童接受的言语数量与他们的词汇和语言发展有关：通常情况下，言语越多越好。除了数量之外，儿童定向言语的其他特征也与语言发展呈正相关。这项拟议的研究考察了其中的两个特征：变异集和或有时序。变体集是形式上部分不同的相关句子的集合，例如“滚球。你能滚球吗？让我们滚吧。”当父母谈论他们孩子关注的对象时，就会出现偶然的言语。这项跨学科研究的目标是发现儿童如何利用儿童定向言语的这些特点。哪些潜在的学习机制对变异集和或有时机对语言习得产生促进作用？这个问题的答案将有助于解释儿童话语量与他们的语言发展之间的正相关关系。研究人员结合语言学、计算机科学和发展心理学来研究儿童定向言语中的变异集合和偶然性对早期语言习得的贡献。他们的研究将把幼儿自然但严格控制的单词学习研究与先进的计算模型相结合，以阐明名词和动词的社会嵌入学习机制。研究的第一个目的是评估儿童定向言语的三个特性对名词和动词学习的影响：a)变异集的存在，b)变异集内话语之间的时间滞后，c)变异集对儿童注意焦点的偶然性。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相关可塑性(STDP)模型，这是一种在生物学上看似合理的Hebbian学习规则的变体，该规则管理神经组件内的连接。计算模型将接收由相同参数构成的输入，这些参数有助于在行为实验中进行学习。因此，将创造一批模拟学习者，他们的语言学习表现将直接与人类儿童的语言学习成绩相媲美。STDP模型确定的机制将有助于解释照顾者行为如何帮助儿童调整神经组件以适应语音刺激序列。综上所述，拟议的研究将首次允许在社交互动、神经组织和语言学习之间建立联系。通过阐明婴儿和儿童向照顾者学习的机制，这些发现可能会为对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以儿童为导向的语言的特定特征中学习语言的机制，这些发现可能会为干预语言发育障碍提供参考。研究结果还可以用来帮助父母和早期儿童教育工作者创造促进和支持语言发展的社会环境。最终，这项研究可以用来设计更有效的第二语言教学方法。

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.