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Developmental Constraints on Learning Artificial Grammars with Fixed, Flexible and Free Word Order
Human learning, although highly flexible and efficient, is constrained in ways that facilitate or impede the acquisition of certain systems of information. Some such constraints, active during infancy and childhood, have been proposed to account for the apparent ease with which typically developing...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2017
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5651074/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29089910 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01816 |
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author | Nowak, Iga Baggio, Giosuè |
author_facet | Nowak, Iga Baggio, Giosuè |
author_sort | Nowak, Iga |
collection | PubMed |
description | Human learning, although highly flexible and efficient, is constrained in ways that facilitate or impede the acquisition of certain systems of information. Some such constraints, active during infancy and childhood, have been proposed to account for the apparent ease with which typically developing children acquire language. In a series of experiments, we investigated the role of developmental constraints on learning artificial grammars with a distinction between shorter and relatively frequent words (‘function words,’ F-words) and longer and less frequent words (‘content words,’ C-words). We constructed 4 finite-state grammars, in which the order of F-words, relative to C-words, was either fixed (F-words always occupied the same positions in a string), flexible (every F-word always followed a C-word), or free. We exposed adults (N = 84) and kindergarten children (N = 100) to strings from each of these artificial grammars, and we assessed their ability to recognize strings with the same structure, but a different vocabulary. Adults were better at recognizing strings when regularities were available (i.e., fixed and flexible order grammars), while children were better at recognizing strings from the grammars consistent with the attested distribution of function and content words in natural languages (i.e., flexible and free order grammars). These results provide evidence for a link between developmental constraints on learning and linguistic typology. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5651074 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-56510742017-10-31 Developmental Constraints on Learning Artificial Grammars with Fixed, Flexible and Free Word Order Nowak, Iga Baggio, Giosuè Front Psychol Psychology Human learning, although highly flexible and efficient, is constrained in ways that facilitate or impede the acquisition of certain systems of information. Some such constraints, active during infancy and childhood, have been proposed to account for the apparent ease with which typically developing children acquire language. In a series of experiments, we investigated the role of developmental constraints on learning artificial grammars with a distinction between shorter and relatively frequent words (‘function words,’ F-words) and longer and less frequent words (‘content words,’ C-words). We constructed 4 finite-state grammars, in which the order of F-words, relative to C-words, was either fixed (F-words always occupied the same positions in a string), flexible (every F-word always followed a C-word), or free. We exposed adults (N = 84) and kindergarten children (N = 100) to strings from each of these artificial grammars, and we assessed their ability to recognize strings with the same structure, but a different vocabulary. Adults were better at recognizing strings when regularities were available (i.e., fixed and flexible order grammars), while children were better at recognizing strings from the grammars consistent with the attested distribution of function and content words in natural languages (i.e., flexible and free order grammars). These results provide evidence for a link between developmental constraints on learning and linguistic typology. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-10-17 /pmc/articles/PMC5651074/ /pubmed/29089910 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01816 Text en Copyright © 2017 Nowak and Baggio. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Nowak, Iga Baggio, Giosuè Developmental Constraints on Learning Artificial Grammars with Fixed, Flexible and Free Word Order |
title | Developmental Constraints on Learning Artificial Grammars with Fixed, Flexible and Free Word Order |
title_full | Developmental Constraints on Learning Artificial Grammars with Fixed, Flexible and Free Word Order |
title_fullStr | Developmental Constraints on Learning Artificial Grammars with Fixed, Flexible and Free Word Order |
title_full_unstemmed | Developmental Constraints on Learning Artificial Grammars with Fixed, Flexible and Free Word Order |
title_short | Developmental Constraints on Learning Artificial Grammars with Fixed, Flexible and Free Word Order |
title_sort | developmental constraints on learning artificial grammars with fixed, flexible and free word order |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5651074/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29089910 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01816 |
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