Implicit Artificial Grammar Learning in Adults and Children Esther van den Bos (evdbos@fsw.leiden... more Implicit Artificial Grammar Learning in Adults and Children Esther van den Bos (evdbos@fsw.leidenuniv.nl) Fenna H. Poletiek (poletiek@fsw.leidenuniv.nl) Department of Psychology, Leiden University po box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands Introduction Implicit structure learning is often defined as a process that occurs without any intention to learn and without complete awareness of the acquired knowledge. In addition, Reber (1993) hypothesized that implicit learning is an evolutionarily old process, which is robust with respect to disorders and varies little with IQ and age. In accordance with the latter claim, several developmental studies have provided evidence that implicit learning is available to young children (e.g. Gomez & Gerken, 1999) and that children’s performance is equal to that of adults (e.g. Meulemans, Van der Linden & Perruchet, 1998). If implicit learning is indeed invariant with age, its central characteristics should be observed in children as well as in adu...
Grammar Induction Profits from Representative Stimulus Sampling Fenna H. Poletiek (poletiek@fsw.l... more Grammar Induction Profits from Representative Stimulus Sampling Fenna H. Poletiek (poletiek@fsw.leidenuniv.nl) Department of Psychology, Leiden University, pobox 9555 Leiden, The Netherlands Nick Chater (n.chater@ucl.ac.uk) Department of Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E6BT, UK Abstract Sensitivity to distributional characteristics of sequential linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli, have been shown to play a role in learning the underlying structure of these stimuli. A growing body of experimental and computational research with (artificial) grammars suggests that learners are sensitive to various distributional characteristics of their environment (Kuhl, 2004; Onnis, Monaghan, Richmond & Chater, 2005; Rohde & Plaut, 1999). We propose that, at a higher level, statistical characteristics of the full sample of stimuli on which learning is based, also affects learning. We provide a statistical model that accounts for such an effect, and experimental data...
The Impact of Starting Small on the Learnability of Recursion Jun Lai (laij@fsw.leidenuniv.nl ) C... more The Impact of Starting Small on the Learnability of Recursion Jun Lai (laij@fsw.leidenuniv.nl ) Cognitive Psychology Department, Leiden University, Pieter de la Court building, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands Fenna H. Poletiek (poletiek@fsw.leidenuniv.nl) Cognitive Psychology Department, Leiden University, Pieter de la Court building, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands Abstract Recursion is argued to be the crucial property distinguishing human and non-human primates language learning faculty (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002). Recently, 2 studies (Bahlmann & Friederici, 2006; de Vries, Monaghan, Knecht, & Zwitserlood, 2008), which investigated the learnability of a recursive artificial grammar of the type of A n B n , used the same material but reported divergent results. We propose that the organization of the linguistic environment crucially determines learnability of the recursive structure, and that this factor might offer some explanation to the incomp...
In an artificial grammar learning study, Lai & Poletiek (2011) found that human participants coul... more In an artificial grammar learning study, Lai & Poletiek (2011) found that human participants could learn a center-embedded recursive grammar only if the input during training was presented in a staged fashion. Previous studies on artificial grammar learning, with randomly ordered input, failed to demonstrate learning of such a center-embedded structure. In the account proposed here, the staged input effect is explained by a fine-tuned match between the statistical characteristics of the incrementally organized input and the development of human cognitive learning over time, from low level, linear associative, to hierarchical processing of long distance dependencies. Interestingly, staged input seems to be effective only for learning hierarchi-cal structures, and unhelpful for learning linear grammars.
Recursion is argued to be the crucial property distinguishing human and non-human primates langua... more Recursion is argued to be the crucial property distinguishing human and non-human primates language learning faculty (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002). Recently, 2 studies (Bahlmann & Friederici, 2006; de Vries, Monaghan, Knecht, & Zwitserlood, 2008), which investigated the learnability of a recursive artificial grammar of the type of A n B n , used the same material but reported divergent results. We propose that the organization of the linguistic environment crucially determines learnability of the recursive structure, and that this factor might offer some explanation to the incompatible findings. In a grammaticality judgment task using the same materials as in Bahlmann and Friederici (2006) and de Vries et al.'s (2008), we found significantly better performance when the training input was arranged in a starting small fashion, than when it was organized randomly.
This study investigated whether the negative effect of complexity on artificial grammar learning ... more This study investigated whether the negative effect of complexity on artificial grammar learning could be compensated by adding semantics. Participants were exposed to exemplars from a simple or a complex finite state grammar presented with or without a semantic reference field. As expected, performance on a grammaticality judgment test was higher for the simple grammar than for the complex grammar. For the simple grammar, the results also showed that participants presented with a reference field and instructed to decode the meaning of each exemplar (decoding condition) did better than participants who memorized the exemplars without semantic referents (memorize condition). Contrary to expectations, however, there was no significant difference between the decoding condition and the memorize condition for the complex grammar. These findings indicated that the negative effect of complexity remained, despite the addition of semantics. To clarify how the presence of a reference field in...
Implicit Artificial Grammar Learning in Adults and Children Esther van den Bos (evdbos@fsw.leiden... more Implicit Artificial Grammar Learning in Adults and Children Esther van den Bos (evdbos@fsw.leidenuniv.nl) Fenna H. Poletiek (poletiek@fsw.leidenuniv.nl) Department of Psychology, Leiden University po box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands Introduction Implicit structure learning is often defined as a process that occurs without any intention to learn and without complete awareness of the acquired knowledge. In addition, Reber (1993) hypothesized that implicit learning is an evolutionarily old process, which is robust with respect to disorders and varies little with IQ and age. In accordance with the latter claim, several developmental studies have provided evidence that implicit learning is available to young children (e.g. Gomez & Gerken, 1999) and that children’s performance is equal to that of adults (e.g. Meulemans, Van der Linden & Perruchet, 1998). If implicit learning is indeed invariant with age, its central characteristics should be observed in children as well as in adu...
Grammar Induction Profits from Representative Stimulus Sampling Fenna H. Poletiek (poletiek@fsw.l... more Grammar Induction Profits from Representative Stimulus Sampling Fenna H. Poletiek (poletiek@fsw.leidenuniv.nl) Department of Psychology, Leiden University, pobox 9555 Leiden, The Netherlands Nick Chater (n.chater@ucl.ac.uk) Department of Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E6BT, UK Abstract Sensitivity to distributional characteristics of sequential linguistic and nonlinguistic stimuli, have been shown to play a role in learning the underlying structure of these stimuli. A growing body of experimental and computational research with (artificial) grammars suggests that learners are sensitive to various distributional characteristics of their environment (Kuhl, 2004; Onnis, Monaghan, Richmond & Chater, 2005; Rohde & Plaut, 1999). We propose that, at a higher level, statistical characteristics of the full sample of stimuli on which learning is based, also affects learning. We provide a statistical model that accounts for such an effect, and experimental data...
The Impact of Starting Small on the Learnability of Recursion Jun Lai (laij@fsw.leidenuniv.nl ) C... more The Impact of Starting Small on the Learnability of Recursion Jun Lai (laij@fsw.leidenuniv.nl ) Cognitive Psychology Department, Leiden University, Pieter de la Court building, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands Fenna H. Poletiek (poletiek@fsw.leidenuniv.nl) Cognitive Psychology Department, Leiden University, Pieter de la Court building, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, the Netherlands Abstract Recursion is argued to be the crucial property distinguishing human and non-human primates language learning faculty (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002). Recently, 2 studies (Bahlmann & Friederici, 2006; de Vries, Monaghan, Knecht, & Zwitserlood, 2008), which investigated the learnability of a recursive artificial grammar of the type of A n B n , used the same material but reported divergent results. We propose that the organization of the linguistic environment crucially determines learnability of the recursive structure, and that this factor might offer some explanation to the incomp...
In an artificial grammar learning study, Lai & Poletiek (2011) found that human participants coul... more In an artificial grammar learning study, Lai & Poletiek (2011) found that human participants could learn a center-embedded recursive grammar only if the input during training was presented in a staged fashion. Previous studies on artificial grammar learning, with randomly ordered input, failed to demonstrate learning of such a center-embedded structure. In the account proposed here, the staged input effect is explained by a fine-tuned match between the statistical characteristics of the incrementally organized input and the development of human cognitive learning over time, from low level, linear associative, to hierarchical processing of long distance dependencies. Interestingly, staged input seems to be effective only for learning hierarchi-cal structures, and unhelpful for learning linear grammars.
Recursion is argued to be the crucial property distinguishing human and non-human primates langua... more Recursion is argued to be the crucial property distinguishing human and non-human primates language learning faculty (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002). Recently, 2 studies (Bahlmann & Friederici, 2006; de Vries, Monaghan, Knecht, & Zwitserlood, 2008), which investigated the learnability of a recursive artificial grammar of the type of A n B n , used the same material but reported divergent results. We propose that the organization of the linguistic environment crucially determines learnability of the recursive structure, and that this factor might offer some explanation to the incompatible findings. In a grammaticality judgment task using the same materials as in Bahlmann and Friederici (2006) and de Vries et al.'s (2008), we found significantly better performance when the training input was arranged in a starting small fashion, than when it was organized randomly.
This study investigated whether the negative effect of complexity on artificial grammar learning ... more This study investigated whether the negative effect of complexity on artificial grammar learning could be compensated by adding semantics. Participants were exposed to exemplars from a simple or a complex finite state grammar presented with or without a semantic reference field. As expected, performance on a grammaticality judgment test was higher for the simple grammar than for the complex grammar. For the simple grammar, the results also showed that participants presented with a reference field and instructed to decode the meaning of each exemplar (decoding condition) did better than participants who memorized the exemplars without semantic referents (memorize condition). Contrary to expectations, however, there was no significant difference between the decoding condition and the memorize condition for the complex grammar. These findings indicated that the negative effect of complexity remained, despite the addition of semantics. To clarify how the presence of a reference field in...
Uploads