scholarly journals Exploring and Exploiting Uncertainty: Statistical Learning Ability Affects How We Learn to Process Language Along Multiple Dimensions of Experience

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Divjak ◽  
Petar Milin
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Multiple Dimensions

scholarly journals Developmental Dyslexia, Reading Acquisition, and Statistical Learning: A Sceptic’s Guide

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1143
Author(s):  
Xenia Schmalz ◽  
Barbara Treccani ◽  
Claudio Mulatti
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Developmental Dyslexia ◽  
Individual Variation ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Underlying Processes ◽  
Theoretical Issues

Many theories have been put forward that propose that developmental dyslexia is caused by low-level neural, cognitive, or perceptual deficits. For example, statistical learning is a cognitive mechanism that allows the learner to detect a probabilistic pattern in a stream of stimuli and to generalise the knowledge of this pattern to similar stimuli. The link between statistical learning and reading ability is indirect, with intermediate skills, such as knowledge of frequently co-occurring letters, likely being causally dependent on statistical learning skills and, in turn, causing individual variation in reading ability. We discuss theoretical issues regarding what a link between statistical learning and reading ability actually means and review the evidence for such a deficit. We then describe and simulate the “noisy chain hypothesis”, where each intermediary link between a proposed cause and the end-state of reading ability reduces the correlation coefficient between the low-level deficit and the end-state outcome of reading. We draw the following conclusions: (1) Empirically, there is evidence for a correlation between statistical learning ability and reading ability, but there is no evidence to suggest that this relationship is causal, (2) theoretically, focussing on a complete causal chain between a distal cause and developmental dyslexia, rather than the two endpoints of the distal cause and reading ability only, is necessary for understanding the underlying processes, (3) statistically, the indirect nature of the link between statistical learning and reading ability means that the magnitude of the correlation is diluted by other influencing variables, yielding most studies to date underpowered, and (4) practically, it is unclear what can be gained from invoking the concept of statistical learning in teaching children to read.

scholarly journals Is Statistical Learning Ability Related to Reading Ability, and If So, Why?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xenia Schmalz ◽  
Kristina Moll ◽  
Claudio Mulatti ◽  
Gerd Schulte-Körne
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Developmental Dyslexia ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Reading Acquisition ◽  
Bayes Factors ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Reading Tests ◽  
Causal Mechanisms ◽  
Potential Mediator

Previous studies found a relationship between performance on statistical learning (SL) tasks and reading ability and developmental dyslexia. Thus, it has been suggested that the ability to implicitly learn patterns may be important for reading acquisition. Causal mechanisms behind this relationship are unclear: Although orthographic sensitivity to letter bigrams may emerge through SL and facilitate reading, there is no empirical support for this link. We test 84 adults on two SL tasks, reading tests, and a bigram sensitivity task. We test for correlations using Bayes factors. This serves to test the prediction that SL and reading ability are correlated and to explore sensitivity to bigram legality as a potential mediator. We find no correlations between SL tasks and reading ability, SL and bigram sensitivity, or between the SL tasks. We conclude that correlating SL with reading ability may not yield replicable results, partly due to low correlations between SL tasks.

scholarly journals Unraveling the Interconnections Between Statistical Learning and Dyslexia: A Review of Recent Empirical Studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Singh ◽  
Christopher M. Conway
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Structured Information ◽  
Learning Impairment

One important aspect of human cognition involves the learning of structured information encountered in our environment, a phenomenon known as statistical learning. A growing body of research suggests that learning to read print is partially guided by learning the statistical contingencies existing between the letters within a word, and also between the letters and sounds to which the letters refer. Research also suggests that impairments to statistical learning ability may at least partially explain the difficulties experienced by individuals diagnosed with dyslexia. However, the findings regarding impaired learning are not consistent, perhaps partly due to the varied use of methodologies across studies – such as differences in the learning paradigms, stimuli used, and the way that learning is assessed – as well as differences in participant samples such as age and extent of the learning disorder. In this review, we attempt to examine the purported link between statistical learning and dyslexia by assessing a set of the most recent and relevant studies in both adults and children. Based on this review, we conclude that although there is some evidence for a statistical learning impairment in adults with dyslexia, the evidence for an impairment in children is much weaker. We discuss several suggestive trends that emerge from our examination of the research, such as issues related to task heterogeneity, possible age effects, the role of publication bias, and other suggestions for future research such as the use of neural measures and a need to better understand how statistical learning changes across typical development. We conclude that no current theoretical framework of dyslexia fully captures the extant research findings on statistical learning.

Infant statistical-learning ability is related to real-time language processing

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 368-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
JILL LANY ◽  
AMBER SHOAIB ◽  
ABBIE THOMPSON ◽  
KATHARINE GRAF ESTES
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Statistical Structure ◽  
Processing Efficiency ◽  
Sequential Structure

AbstractInfants are adept at learning statistical regularities in artificial language materials, suggesting that the ability to learn statistical structure may support language development. Indeed, infants who perform better on statistical learning tasks tend to be more advanced in parental reports of infants’ language skills. Work with adults suggests that one way statistical learning ability affects language proficiency is by facilitating real-time language processing. Here we tested whether 15-month-olds’ ability to learn sequential statistical structure in artificial language materials is related to their ability to encode and interpret native-language speech. Specifically, we tested their ability to learn sequential structure among syllables (Experiment 1) and words (Experiment 2), as well as their ability to encode familiar English words in sentences. The results suggest that infants' ability to learn sequential structure among syllables is related to their lexical-processing efficiency, providing continuity with findings from children and adults, though effects were modest.

scholarly journals Statistical Learning Ability as a Measure of Cognitive Function

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen A. Herff ◽  
Nur Amirah Binte Abdul Rashid ◽  
Jimmy Lee Chee Keong ◽  
Lee Tih-Shih ◽  
Kat R. Agres
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Cognitive Science Society ◽  
Retest Reliability ◽  
Probabilistic Information ◽  
Methodological Considerations ◽  
Test Retest Reliability ◽  
High Test

Statistical Learning (SL), the ability to extract probabilistic information from the environment, is a subject of much debate. It appears intuitive that such a profound mechanism of learning should carry predictive power towards general cognitive ability. Yet, previous attempts have struggled to link SL ability to measures of general cognitive function, suffering from low correlations and mediocre test-retest reliability. Here, we deploy a new continuous auditory SL task that achieves high test-retest reliability (~ r = .8) and shows that SL ability does significantly correlate with general cognitive function (up to r =. 56). Results are discussed in light of i) the theoretical implications of the high test-retest reliability of our novel SL task, ii) SL ability as a marker of general cognitive function, and iii) future methodological considerations. -This manuscript has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication in poster-from at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society in Montreal, Canada at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal on Wednesday July 24th – Saturday July 27th, 2019 -

scholarly journals Can We Enhance Statistical Learning? Exploring Statistical Learning Improvement in Children with Vocabulary Delay

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 558-567
Author(s):  
Dongsun Yim ◽  
Yoonhee Yang
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Learning Improvement ◽  
Group Score ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Novel Word Learning

Objectives: If statistical learning ability is critical for language acquisition and language development, it is necessary to confirm whether enhancing statistical learning ability can improve the children’s language skills. The present study investigated whether children with and without vocabulary delay (VD) show a difference in improving statistical learning (SL) tasks manipulated with implicit, implicit*2 and explicit conditions, and with visual and auditory domains; and also explores the relationship among SL, vocabulary, and quick incidental learning (QUIL).Methods: A total of 132 children between 3 to 8 years participated in this study, including vocabulary delayed children (N= 34) and typically developing children (N = 98). Participants completed SL tasks which were composed of three exposure conditions, and Quick incidental learning (QUIL) tasks to tap the novel word learning ability.Results: The VD group score was significantly lower than the TD group in the explicit condition of the auditory statistical learning task, and there was a significant correlation between QUIL and SL_auditory (implicit*2) only in the TD group.Conclusion: These results may explain that the TD group was ready to accept the explicit cues for learning as a domain-specific (auditory) benefit, and their auditory SL ability can be closely linked to vocabulary abilities. The current study suggests one possibility; that the VD group can increase the statistical learning ability through double auditory exposures. The novel quick incidental learning in the TD group was supported by the statistical learning, but this was not seen in the VD group.

Frequency, contingency and online processing of multiword sequences: An eye-tracking study

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 519-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Yi ◽  
Shiyi Lu ◽  
Guojie Ma
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Nonnative Speakers ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
Mixed Effects Modeling ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
General Statistical

Frequency and contingency are two primary statistical factors that drive the acquisition and processing of language. This study explores the role of phrasal frequency and contingency (the co-occurrence probability/statistical association of the constituent words in multiword sequences) during online processing of multiword sequences. Meanwhile, it also examines language users’ sensitivity to the two types of statistical information. Using the eye-tracking paradigm, native and advanced nonnative speakers of Chinese were instructed to read 80 disyllabic two-word Chinese adverbial sequences embedded in sentence contexts. Eye movements of the participants were recorded using both early and late measures. Mixed-effects modeling revealed that both phrasal frequency and contingency influenced the processing of the adverbial sequences; however, they were likely to function in different time windows. In addition, both native and nonnative speakers were sensitive to the phrasal frequency and contingency of the sequences, though their degrees of such sensitivity differed. Our findings suggest that adult language learners retain the statistical learning ability in second language acquisition and they may share a general statistical learning mechanism with native speakers when processing multiword sequences.

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