scholarly journals Subjective confidence influences word learning in a cross-situational statistical learning task

2021 ◽  
Vol 121 ◽  
pp. 104277
Author(s):  
Isabelle Dautriche ◽  
Hugh Rabagliati ◽  
Kenny Smith
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Subjective Confidence

scholarly journals Subjective confidence influences word learning in a cross-situational statistical learning task

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Dautriche ◽  
Hugh Rabagliati ◽  
Kenny Smith
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Information Selection ◽  
Feeling Of Knowing ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Objective Evidence ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Subjective Confidence

Learning is often accompanied by a subjective sense of confidence in one's knowledge, a feeling of knowing what you know and how well you know it. Subjective confidence has been shown to guide learning in other domains, but has received little attention so far in the word learning literature. Across three word learning experiments, we investigated whether and how a sense of confidence in having acquired a word meaning influences the word learning process itself. First, we show evidence for a confirmation bias during word learning in a cross-situational statistical learning task: Learners who are highly confident they know the meaning of a word are more likely to persist in their belief than learners who are not, even after observing objective evidence disconfirming their belief. Second, we show that subjective confidence in a word-meaning modulates inferential processes based on that word, affecting learning over the whole lexicon: Learners who hold high confidence in a word-meaning are more likely to use that word to make mutual exclusivity inferences about the meaning of other words. We conclude that confidence influences word learning by modulating both information selection processes and inferential processes and discuss the implications of these results for word learning models.

scholarly journals Decoding Eye Movements in Cross-Situational Word Learning via Tensor Component Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei Amatuni ◽  
Chen Yu
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Latent Variables ◽  
Training Session ◽  
Component Analysis ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Tensor Component ◽  
Computational Method ◽  
New Information

Statistical learning is an active process wherein information is actively selected from the learning environment. As current information is integrated with existing knowledge, it shapes attention in subsequent learning, placing biases on which new information will be sampled. One statistical learning task that has been studied recently is cross-situational word learning (CSL). In CSL, statistical learners are able to learn the correct mappings between novel visual objects and spoken labels after watching sequences where the two are paired together in referentially ambiguous contexts. In the present paper, we use a computational method called Tensor Component Analysis (TCA) to analyze real-time gaze data collected from a set of CSL studies. We applied TCA to learners' gaze data in order to derive latent variables related to real-time statistical learning and to examine how selective attention is organized in time. Our method allows us to address two specific questions: a) the similarity in attention behavior across strong vs. weak learners as well as across learned vs. not-learned items and b) how the structure of attention relates to word learning. We measured learners' knowledge of label-object pairs at the end of a training session, and show that their real-time gaze data can be used to predict item-level learning outcomes as well as decode pretrained item knowledge.

Morphological Knowledge as an Aid to Word Learning: A Cross-Situational Word Learning Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Finley
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Initial Training ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Morphological Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Morphological Cues

The present study explores morphological bootstrapping in cross-situational word learning. Adult, English-speaking participants were exposed to novel words from an artificial language from three different semantic categories: fruit, animals, and vehicles. In the Experimental conditions, the final CV syllable was consistent across categories (e.g., /-ke/ for fruits), while in the Control condition, the endings were the same, but were assigned to words randomly. After initial training on the morphology under various degrees of referential uncertainty, participants were given a cross-situational word learning task with high referential uncertainty. With poor statistical cues to learn the words across trials, participants were forced to rely on the morphological cues to word meaning. In Experiments 1-3, participants in the Experimental conditions repeatedly outperformed participants in the Control conditions. In Experiment 4, when referential uncertainty was high in both parts of the experiment, there was no evidence of learning or making use of the morphological cues. These results suggest that learners apply morphological cues to word meaning only once they are reliably available.

scholarly journals The growth of children’s semantic and phonological networks: insight from 10 languages

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdellah Fourtassi ◽  
Yuan Bian ◽  
Michael C. Frank
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Network Growth ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Developmental Mechanism ◽  
Internal Lexicon ◽  
External Learning

Children tend to produce words earlier when they are connected to a variety of other words along the phonological and semantic dimensions. Though these semantic and phonological connectivity effects have been extensively documented, little is known about their underlying developmental mechanism. One possibility is that learning is driven by lexical network growth where highly connected words in the child's early lexicon enable learning of similar words. Another possibility is that learning is driven by highly connected words in the external learning environment, instead of highly connected words in the early internal lexicon. The present study tests both scenarios systematically in both the phonological and semantic domains across 10 languages. We show that phonological and semantic connectivity in the learning environment drives growth in both production- and comprehension-based vocabularies, even controlling for word frequency and length. This pattern of findings suggests a word learning process where children harness their statistical learning abilities to detect and learn highly connected words in the learning environment.

scholarly journals Statistical learning in domestic chicks is modulated by strain and sex

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Santolin ◽  
Orsola Rosa-Salva ◽  
Bastien S. Lemaire ◽  
Lucia Regolin ◽  
Giorgio Vallortigara
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Automated Tracking ◽  
Domestic Chicks ◽  
Continuous Stream

Abstract Statistical learning is a key mechanism for detecting regularities from a variety of sensory inputs. Precocial newborn domestic chicks provide an excellent model for (1) exploring unsupervised forms of statistical learning in a comparative perspective, and (2) elucidating the ecological function of statistical learning using imprinting procedures. Here we investigated the role of the sex of the chicks in modulating the direction of preference (for familiarity or novelty) in a visual statistical learning task already employed with chicks and human infants. Using both automated tracking and direct human coding, we confirmed chicks’ capacity to recognize the presence of a statistically defined structure underlying a continuous stream of shapes. Using a different chicken strain than previous studies, we were also able to highlight sex differences in chicks’ propensity to approach the familiar or novel sequence. This could also explain a previous failure to reveal statistical learning in chicks which sex was however not determined. Our study confirms chicks’ ability to track visual statistics. The pivotal role of sex in determining familiarity or novelty preferences in this species and the interaction with the animals’ strain highlight the importance to contextualize comparative research within the ecology of each species.

Modeling Self-Efficacy as a Dynamic Cognitive Process with the Computational-Unified Learning Model (C-ULM)

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duane F. Shell ◽  
Leen-Kiat Soh ◽  
Vlad Chiriacescu
Keyword(s):  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Learning Model ◽  
Cognitive Computing ◽  
Brain Level ◽  
Subjective Confidence ◽  
Model C

Self-efficacy is a person's subjective confidence in their capability of effectively executing behaviors and actions including problem solving. Research has shown it to be one of the most powerful motivators of human action and strongest predictors of performance across a variety of domains. This paper reports on the computational modeling of self-efficacy based on principles derived from the Unified Learning Model (ULM) as instantiated in the multi-agent Computational ULM (C-ULM). The C-ULM simulation is unique in tying self-efficacy directly to the evolution of knowledge itself and in dynamically updating self-efficacy at each step during learning and task attempts. Self-efficacy beliefs have been associated with neural and brain level cognitive processes. Because C-ULM models statistical learning consistent with neural plasticity, the C-ULM simulation provides a model of self-efficacy that is more compatible with neural and brain level instantiation. Results from simulations of self-efficacy evolution due to teaching and learning, task feedback, and knowledge decay are presented. Implications for research into human motivation and learning, cognitive informatics, and cognitive computing are discussed.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Consonant Vowel Consonant (CVC) Test as an Assessment and Screening Instrument for Mild Cognitive Impairment

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Vierck ◽  
Richard J. Porter ◽  
Janet K. Spittlehouse ◽  
Peter R. Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Screening Instrument ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Ceiling Effects

<p>Objective: Traditional word learning tasks have been criticised for being affected by ceiling effects. The Consonant Vowel Consonant (CVC) test is a non-word verbal learning task designed to be more difficult and therefore have a lower risk of ceiling effects.</p><p>Method: The current study examines the psychometric properties of the CVC in 404 middle-aged persons and evaluates it as a screening instrument for mild cognitive impairment by comparing it to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Differences between currently depressed and non-depressed participants were also examined.</p><p>Results: CVC characteristics are similar to traditional verbal memory tasks but with reduced likelihood of a ceiling effect. Using the standard cut-off on the MoCA as an indication of mild cognitive impairment, the CVC performed only moderately well in predicting this. Depressed participants scored significantly lower on the CVC compared with non-depressed individuals.</p><p>Conclusions: The CVC may be similar in psychometric properties to the traditional word learning tests but with a higher ceiling. Scores are lower in depression.</p>

scholarly journals Monolingual and Bilingual Word Recognition and Word Learning in Background Noise

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Morini ◽  
Rochelle S. Newman
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
White Noise ◽  
Object Relations ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Linguistic Experience ◽  
Speech In Noise

The question of whether bilingualism leads to advantages or disadvantages in linguistic abilities has been debated for many years. It is unclear whether growing up with one versus two languages is related to variations in the ability to process speech in the presence of background noise. We present findings from a word recognition and a word learning task with monolingual and bilingual adults. Bilinguals appear to be less accurate than monolinguals at identifying familiar words in the presence of white noise. However, the bilingual “disadvantage” identified during word recognition is not present when listeners were asked to acquire novel word-object relations that were trained either in noise or in quiet. This work suggests that linguistic experience and the demands associated with the type of task both play a role in the ability for listeners to process speech in noise.

Song and infant-directed speech facilitate word learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (7) ◽  
pp. 1036-1054
Author(s):  
Weiyi Ma ◽  
Anna Fiveash ◽  
Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis ◽  
Douglas Behrend ◽  
William Forde Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Relationship

Two separate lines of research have examined the influence of song and infant-directed speech (IDS—a speech register that includes some melodic features) on language learning, suggesting that the use of musical attributes in speech input can enhance language learning. However, the benefits of these two types of stimuli have never been directly compared. In this investigation, we compared the effects of song and IDS for immediate word learning and long-term memory of the learned words. This study examines whether the highly musical stimuli (i.e., song) would facilitate language learning more than the less musical stimuli (i.e., IDS). English-speaking adults were administered a word learning task, with Mandarin Chinese words presented in adult-directed speech (ADS), IDS, or song. Participants’ word learning performance was assessed immediately after the word learning task (immediate word learning) and then 1 day later (long-term memory). Results showed that both song and IDS facilitated immediate word learning and long-term memory of the words; however, this facilitative effect did not differ between IDS and song, suggesting that the relationship between the degree of musicality and language learning performance is not linear. In addition, song and IDS were found to facilitate the word association process (mapping a label to its referent) rather than the word recognition process. Finally, participants’ confidence in their answers might not differ among ADS, IDS, and sung words.

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