scholarly journals Evolution of protolinguistic abilities as a by-product of learning to forage in structured environments

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1811) ◽  
pp. 20150353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Kolodny ◽  
Shimon Edelman ◽  
Arnon Lotem
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Sequential Learning ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Foraging Environment

The skills required for the learning and use of language are the focus of extensive research, and their evolutionary origins are widely debated. Using agent-based simulations in a range of virtual environments, we demonstrate that challenges of foraging for food can select for cognitive mechanisms supporting complex, hierarchical, sequential learning, the need for which arises in language acquisition. Building on previous work, where we explored the conditions under which reinforcement learning is out-competed by seldom-reinforced continuous learning that constructs a network model of the environment, we now show that realistic features of the foraging environment can select for two critical advances: (i) chunking of meaningful sequences found in the data, leading to representations composed of units that better fit the prevalent statistical patterns in the environment; and (ii) generalization across units based on their contextual similarity. Importantly, these learning processes, which in our framework evolved for making better foraging decisions, had been earlier shown to reproduce a range of findings in language learning in humans. Thus, our results suggest a possible evolutionary trajectory that may have led from basic learning mechanisms to complex hierarchical sequential learning that can support advanced cognitive abilities of the kind needed for language acquisition.

APTITUDE AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 46-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Aptitude Tests ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Learning Success ◽  
And Performance

Recent second language acquisition (SLA) research into the cognitive abilities implicated in implicit, incidental, and explicit learning, and in learning and performance on tasks differing in their information processing demands has prompted new theoretical frameworks for conceptualizing L2 aptitude. This research is reviewed and related to measures of abilities operationalized in existing aptitude tests, as well as to measures of abilities that are the focus of more recent research in cognitive psychology. Finally, prospects for developing aptitude tests to serve the purposes of predicting both early and advanced level language learning success are discussed in the light of the SLA findings and aptitude frameworks reviewed.

Individual differences, cognitive abilities, aptitude complexes and learning conditions in second language acquisition

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 368-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Learning Condition ◽  
Learning Conditions ◽  
Complex Hypothesis ◽  
Acquisition Processes

Individual differences in resource availability, and the patterns of cognitive abilities they contribute to, are important to:• explaining variation between learners in the effectiveness of second language (L2) instructional treatments;• describing differences in implicit, incidental and explicit L2 learning processes; and• explaining child-adult differences in acquisition processes, and therefore to any general theory of second language acquisition (SLA).In this article I describe a framework for research into the effects of cognitive abilities on SLA which is based on four interlocking hypotheses. These hypotheses are drawn from research in psychology, education and SLA and, where possible, I present evidence to support each of them. The hypotheses are:1) the Aptitude Complex Hypothesis;2) the Ability Differentiation Hypothesis;3) the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis; and4) the Fundamental Similarity Hypothesis.The hypotheses, and the relationships between them, define an Aptitude Complex/Ability Differentiation framework for further examining the influence of individual differences in cognitive abilities on SLA, and for developing a theoretically motivated measure of language learning aptitude. I argue that such research should adopt the interactionist approach described by Snow (1994) to identifying individual difference/learning condition interactions at a number of levels. I illustrate some of these interactions.

Acoustic Properties of Infant-Directed Speech

2018 ◽  
pp. 92-116
Author(s):  
Yuanyuan Wang ◽  
Derek M. Houston ◽  
Amanda Seidl
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Infant Language ◽  
Practical Implications

Language acquisition is a complex process that involves an interaction between learning mechanisms and the input to the child. An important component of infants’ input is infant-directed speech (IDS)—a unique speech register that caregivers use when talking to infants. IDS differs from adult-directed speech (ADS) in a variety of dimensions. This chapter examines empirical research on the acoustic properties of IDS and the role that IDS may play in supporting infant language learning. Taking the discussion of IDS function in language development to the next level, this chapter further discusses the underlying mechanisms of IDS to promote language learning and caregivers’ intentions to use this speech register. Theoretical and practical implications of this body of work are discussed and areas for future research are highlighted.

scholarly journals The evolution of cognitive mechanisms in response to cultural innovations

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (30) ◽  
pp. 7915-7922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnon Lotem ◽  
Joseph Y. Halpern ◽  
Shimon Edelman ◽  
Oren Kolodny
Keyword(s):  
Data Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Cognitive Evolution ◽  
Level Model ◽  
Effective Network ◽  
Process Level

When humans and other animals make cultural innovations, they also change their environment, thereby imposing new selective pressures that can modify their biological traits. For example, there is evidence that dairy farming by humans favored alleles for adult lactose tolerance. Similarly, the invention of cooking possibly affected the evolution of jaw and tooth morphology. However, when it comes to cognitive traits and learning mechanisms, it is much more difficult to determine whether and how their evolution was affected by culture or by their use in cultural transmission. Here we argue that, excluding very recent cultural innovations, the assumption that culture shaped the evolution of cognition is both more parsimonious and more productive than assuming the opposite. In considering how culture shapes cognition, we suggest that a process-level model of cognitive evolution is necessary and offer such a model. The model employs relatively simple coevolving mechanisms of learning and data acquisition that jointly construct a complex network of a type previously shown to be capable of supporting a range of cognitive abilities. The evolution of cognition, and thus the effect of culture on cognitive evolution, is captured through small modifications of these coevolving learning and data-acquisition mechanisms, whose coordinated action is critical for building an effective network. We use the model to show how these mechanisms are likely to evolve in response to cultural phenomena, such as language and tool-making, which are associated with major changes in data patterns and with new computational and statistical challenges.

On the (in)applicability of Piagetian thought to language learning

1981 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha W. Felix
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Verbal Strategies ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Over Time

In recent years research on language acquisition (both L1 and L2) has gradually turned away from the domain of pure description towards dealing with problems of explanation. Most students of language development feel that it is somewhat insufficient to merely state the linguistic regularities and verbal strategies that according to the available production data appear to govern processes of language learning; rather, it seems desirable that the regularities observable in the learner's verbal behavior over time be in some wayexplained. Frequently, the termexplanationis—implicitly rather than explicitly—understood as an attempt to reduce the specific linguistic regularities found in language learning processes to a set of some more general (i.e. non-linguistic) principles that will not only control other learning tasks as well, but will also govern man's mental activities as such (Slobin 1973, Schlesinger 1977, Larsen-Freeman 1976, Bever 1970, Wong-Fillmore 1976). Among those mental domains which appear to provide principles general enough to be applicable to problems of language, learning cognition or rather cognitive development turned out to be the most promising. As a consequence, a large number of studies focused on the attempt toexplainformal linguistic properties of language learning processes in terms of more general regularities in man's cognitive abilities as they develop (Seliger 1980, Gass 1980, Felix 1976, Sinclair-de-Zwart 1973, Meisel 1979, Clahsen 1979). In fact, the termexplanationfrequently means little more than reducing language acquisition to aspects of cognitive development.

scholarly journals Student-Centered Education in Context of Second-Language Learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 01057
Author(s):  
Irina Glukhova ◽  
Olga Sorokina
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Student Centered Learning ◽  
The Impact

Recent higher education policy promotes multilingualism due to the process of globalization in all spheres of our life. The main focus of this article is on “student –centered learning” which claims to be one of the effective tools in the learning process. In this regard, the given research centers on the impact of adopting student-centered education in language acquisition. It is based on facilitating effective learning, which implies strong interaction between the learner and the teacher. This paper examines the structure of student-centered learning which is aimed at creating subjective experience of the learner but not training students` cognitive abilities. The paper aims to consider the notion “multicultural identity” of students which is considered to be the main consequence caused by learning one more foreign language. The authors of the research determined principles and outlined tasks which contribute to effective implementation of student-centered education in second language acquisition.

Overhearing a Language During Childhood

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Kit-fong Au ◽  
Leah M. Knightly ◽  
Sun-Ah Jun ◽  
Janet S. Oh
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Heritage Language Acquisition

Despite its significance for understanding of language acquisition, the role of childhood language experience has been examined only in linguistic deprivation studies focusing on what cannot be learned readily beyond childhood. This study focused instead on long-term effects of what can be learned best during childhood. Our findings revealed that adults learning a language speak with a more nativelike accent if they overheard the language regularly during childhood than if they did not. These findings have important implications for understanding of language-learning mechanisms and heritage-language acquisition.

MODELLING ROBOTIC COGNITIVE MECHANISMS BY HIERARCHICAL COOPERATIVE COEVOLUTION

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (06) ◽  
pp. 935-966 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAIL MANIADAKIS ◽  
PANOS TRAHANIAS
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Robotic Platform ◽  
Cooperative Coevolution ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Computational Framework ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Partial Structures ◽  
Consistent Method

Recently, many brain modelling efforts attempt to support cognitive abilities of artificial organisms. The present work introduces a computational framework to address brain modelling, emphasizing on the integrative performance of substructures. Specifically, we present an agent-based representation of brain areas, together with a hierarchical cooperative coevolutionary scheme, which is able to highlight both the speciality of brain areas and their cooperative performance. The inherent ability of coevolutionary methods to design cooperative partial structures supports the design of partial brain models and, at the same time, provides a consistent method to achieve their integration. As a result, the proposed approach proceeds in either an incremental or a compound mode. Furthermore, the performance of the model in lesion conditions is considered during the design process to enforce the reliability of the result. Implemented models are embedded in a robotic platform to support its behavioral capabilities.

scholarly journals Unlocking adults’ implicit statistical learning by cognitive depletion

2022 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. e2026011119
Author(s):  
Eleonore H. M. Smalle ◽  
Tatsuya Daikoku ◽  
Arnaud Szmalec ◽  
Wouter Duyck ◽  
Riikka Möttönen
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Neural Entrainment ◽  
Cognitive Depletion

Human learning is supported by multiple neural mechanisms that maturate at different rates and interact in mostly cooperative but also sometimes competitive ways. We tested the hypothesis that mature cognitive mechanisms constrain implicit statistical learning mechanisms that contribute to early language acquisition. Specifically, we tested the prediction that depleting cognitive control mechanisms in adults enhances their implicit, auditory word-segmentation abilities. Young adults were exposed to continuous streams of syllables that repeated into hidden novel words while watching a silent film. Afterward, learning was measured in a forced-choice test that contrasted hidden words with nonwords. The participants also had to indicate whether they explicitly recalled the word or not in order to dissociate explicit versus implicit knowledge. We additionally measured electroencephalography during exposure to measure neural entrainment to the repeating words. Engagement of the cognitive mechanisms was manipulated by using two methods. In experiment 1 (n = 36), inhibitory theta-burst stimulation (TBS) was applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or to a control region. In experiment 2 (n = 60), participants performed a dual working-memory task that induced high or low levels of cognitive fatigue. In both experiments, cognitive depletion enhanced word recognition, especially when participants reported low confidence in remembering the words (i.e., when their knowledge was implicit). TBS additionally modulated neural entrainment to the words and syllables. These findings suggest that cognitive depletion improves the acquisition of linguistic knowledge in adults by unlocking implicit statistical learning mechanisms and support the hypothesis that adult language learning is antagonized by higher cognitive mechanisms.

The bottleneck may be the solution, not the problem

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnon Lotem ◽  
Oren Kolodny ◽  
Joseph Y. Halpern ◽  
Luca Onnis ◽  
Shimon Edelman
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Biological Trait ◽  
Memory Bottleneck

AbstractAs a highly consequential biological trait, a memory “bottleneck” cannot escape selection pressures. It must therefore co-evolve with other cognitive mechanisms rather than act as an independent constraint. Recent theory and an implemented model of language acquisition suggest that a limit on working memory may evolve to help learning. Furthermore, it need not hamper the use of language for communication.

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