1
|
Dedhe AM, Piantadosi ST, Cantlon JF. Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Recursive Pattern Processing in Human Adults. Cogn Sci 2023; 47:e13273. [PMID: 37051878 PMCID: PMC11097651 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 03/05/2023] [Indexed: 04/14/2023]
Abstract
The capacity to generate recursive sequences is a marker of rich, algorithmic cognition, and perhaps unique to humans. Yet, the precise processes driving recursive sequence generation remain mysterious. We investigated three potential cognitive mechanisms underlying recursive pattern processing: hierarchical reasoning, ordinal reasoning, and associative chaining. We developed a Bayesian mixture model to quantify the extent to which these three cognitive mechanisms contribute to adult humans' performance in a sequence generation task. We further tested whether recursive rule discovery depends upon relational information, either perceptual or semantic. We found that the presence of relational information facilitates hierarchical reasoning and drives the generation of recursive sequences across novel depths of center embedding. In the absence of relational information, the use of ordinal reasoning predominates. Our results suggest that hierarchical reasoning is an important cognitive mechanism underlying recursive pattern processing and can be deployed across embedding depths and relational domains.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Abhishek M Dedhe
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University
| | | | - Jessica F Cantlon
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Liao DA, Brecht KF, Johnston M, Nieder A. Recursive sequence generation in crows. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabq3356. [PMID: 36322648 PMCID: PMC9629703 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abq3356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 09/13/2022] [Indexed: 05/16/2023]
Abstract
Recursion, the process of embedding structures within similar structures, is often considered a foundation of symbolic competence and a uniquely human capability. To understand its evolution, we can study the recursive aptitudes of nonhuman animals. We adopted the behavioral protocol of a recent study demonstrating that humans and nonhuman primates grasp recursion. We presented sequences of bracket pair stimuli (e.g., [ ] and { }) to crows who were instructed to peck at training lists. They were then tested on their ability to transfer center-embedded structure to never-before-seen pairings of brackets. We reveal that crows have recursive capacities; they perform on par with children and even outperform macaques. The crows continued to produce recursive sequences after extending to longer and thus deeper embeddings. These results demonstrate that recursive capabilities are not limited to the primate genealogy and may have occurred separately from or before human symbolic competence in different animal taxa.
Collapse
|
3
|
Petkov CI, ten Cate C. Structured Sequence Learning: Animal Abilities, Cognitive Operations, and Language Evolution. Top Cogn Sci 2020; 12:828-842. [PMID: 31359600 PMCID: PMC7537567 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2018] [Revised: 06/20/2019] [Accepted: 06/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Human language is a salient example of a neurocognitive system that is specialized to process complex dependencies between sensory events distributed in time, yet how this system evolved and specialized remains unclear. Artificial Grammar Learning (AGL) studies have generated a wealth of insights into how human adults and infants process different types of sequencing dependencies of varying complexity. The AGL paradigm has also been adopted to examine the sequence processing abilities of nonhuman animals. We critically evaluate this growing literature in species ranging from mammals (primates and rats) to birds (pigeons, songbirds, and parrots) considering also cross-species comparisons. The findings are contrasted with seminal studies in human infants that motivated the work in nonhuman animals. This synopsis identifies advances in knowledge and where uncertainty remains regarding the various strategies that nonhuman animals can adopt for processing sequencing dependencies. The paucity of evidence in the few species studied to date and the need for follow-up experiments indicate that we do not yet understand the limits of animal sequence processing capacities and thereby the evolutionary pattern. This vibrant, yet still budding, field of research carries substantial promise for advancing knowledge on animal abilities, cognitive substrates, and language evolution.
Collapse
|
4
|
Ferrigno S, Cheyette SJ, Piantadosi ST, Cantlon JF. Recursive sequence generation in monkeys, children, U.S. adults, and native Amazonians. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020; 6:eaaz1002. [PMID: 32637593 PMCID: PMC7319756 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz1002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2019] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The question of what computational capacities, if any, differ between humans and nonhuman animals has been at the core of foundational debates in cognitive psychology, anthropology, linguistics, and animal behavior. The capacity to form nested hierarchical representations is hypothesized to be essential to uniquely human thought, but its origins in evolution, development, and culture are controversial. We used a nonlinguistic sequence generation task to test whether subjects generalize sequential groupings of items to a center-embedded, recursive structure. Children (3 to 5 years old), U.S. adults, and adults from a Bolivian indigenous group spontaneously induced recursive structures from ambiguous training data. In contrast, monkeys did so only with additional exposure. We quantify these patterns using a Bayesian mixture model over logically possible strategies. Our results show that recursive hierarchical strategies are robust in human thought, both early in development and across cultures, but the capacity itself is not unique to humans.
Collapse
|
5
|
Malassis R, Dehaene S, Fagot J. Baboons (Papio papio) Process a Context-Free but Not a Context-Sensitive Grammar. Sci Rep 2020; 10:7381. [PMID: 32355252 PMCID: PMC7193559 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64244-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2019] [Accepted: 04/10/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Language processing involves the ability to master supra-regular grammars, that go beyond the level of complexity of regular grammars. This ability has been hypothesized to be a uniquely human capacity. Our study probed baboons' capacity to learn two supra-regular grammars of different levels of complexity: a context-free grammar generating sequences following a mirror structure (e.g., AB | BA, ABC | CBA) and a context-sensitive grammar generating sequences following a repeat structure (e.g., AB | AB, ABC | ABC), the latter requiring greater computational power to be processed. Fourteen baboons were tested in a prediction task, requiring them to track a moving target on a touchscreen. In distinct experiments, sequences of target locations followed one of the above two grammars, with rare violations. Baboons showed slower response times when violations occurred in mirror sequences, but did not react to violations in repeat sequences, suggesting that they learned the context-free (mirror) but not the context-sensitive (repeat) grammar. By contrast, humans tested with the same task learned both grammars. These data suggest a difference in sensitivity in baboons between a context-free and a context-sensitive grammar.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Raphaëlle Malassis
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Université d'Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France. .,School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom.
| | - Stanislas Dehaene
- Collège de France, Paris, France.,Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DSV/I2BM, INSERM, Université Paris Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Joël Fagot
- Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Université d'Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Abstract
Syntax, the structure of sentences, enables humans to express an infinite range of meanings through finite means. The neurobiology of syntax has been intensely studied but with little consensus. Two main candidate regions have been identified: the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). Integrating research in linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neuroscience, we propose a neuroanatomical framework for syntax that attributes distinct syntactic computations to these regions in a unified model. The key theoretical advances are adopting a modern lexicalized view of syntax in which the lexicon and syntactic rules are intertwined, and recognizing a computational asymmetry in the role of syntax during comprehension and production. Our model postulates a hierarchical lexical-syntactic function to the pMTG, which interconnects previously identified speech perception and conceptual-semantic systems in the temporal and inferior parietal lobes, crucial for both sentence production and comprehension. These relational hierarchies are transformed via the pIFG into morpho-syntactic sequences, primarily tied to production. We show how this architecture provides a better account of the full range of data and is consistent with recent proposals regarding the organization of phonological processes in the brain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
- Department of Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Jiang X, Long T, Cao W, Li J, Dehaene S, Wang L. Production of Supra-regular Spatial Sequences by Macaque Monkeys. Curr Biol 2018; 28:1851-1859.e4. [PMID: 29887304 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2017] [Revised: 03/04/2018] [Accepted: 04/16/2018] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Understanding and producing embedded sequences in language, music, or mathematics, is a central characteristic of our species. These domains are hypothesized to involve a human-specific competence for supra-regular grammars, which can generate embedded sequences that go beyond the regular sequences engendered by finite-state automata. However, is this capacity truly unique to humans? Using a production task, we show that macaque monkeys can be trained to produce time-symmetrical embedded spatial sequences whose formal description requires supra-regular grammars or, equivalently, a push-down stack automaton. Monkeys spontaneously generalized the learned grammar to novel sequences, including longer ones, and could generate hierarchical sequences formed by an embedding of two levels of abstract rules. Compared to monkeys, however, preschool children learned the grammars much faster using a chunking strategy. While supra-regular grammars are accessible to nonhuman primates through extensive training, human uniqueness may lie in the speed and learning strategy with which they are acquired.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xinjian Jiang
- Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031 Shanghai, China; Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, 200062 Shanghai, China
| | - Tenghai Long
- Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031 Shanghai, China
| | - Weicong Cao
- Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031 Shanghai, China; Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, 200062 Shanghai, China
| | - Junru Li
- Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031 Shanghai, China
| | - Stanislas Dehaene
- Collège de France, Paris, France; Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA DSV/I2BM, INSERM, Université Paris Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Liping Wang
- Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200031 Shanghai, China.
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Abstract
Questions related to the uniqueness of language can only be addressed properly by referring to sound knowledge of the relevant cognitive abilities of nonhuman animals. A key question concerns the nature and extent of animal rule-learning abilities. I discuss two approaches used to assess these abilities. One is comparing the structures of animal vocalizations to linguistic ones, and another is addressing the grammatical rule- and pattern-learning abilities of animals through experiments using artificial grammars. Neither of these approaches has so far provided unambiguous evidence of advanced animal abilities. However, when we consider how animal vocalizations are analyzed, the types of stimuli and tasks that are used in artificial grammar learning experiments, the limited number of species examined, and the groups to which these belong, I argue that the currently available evidence is insufficient to arrive at firm conclusions concerning the limitations of animal grammatical abilities. As a consequence, the gap between human linguistic rule-learning abilities and those of nonhuman animals may be smaller and less clear than is currently assumed. This means that it is still an open question whether a difference in the rule-learning and rule abstraction abilities between animals and humans played the key role in the evolution of language.
Collapse
|
9
|
|
10
|
Abstract
The evolution of language correlates with distinct changes in the primate brain. The present article compares language-related brain regions and their white matter connectivity in the developing and mature human brain with the respective structures in the nonhuman primate brain. We will see that the functional specificity of the posterior portion of Broca's area (Brodmann area [BA 44]) and its dorsal fiber connection to the temporal cortex, shown to support the processing of structural hierarchy in humans, makes a crucial neural difference between the species. This neural circuit may thus be fundamental for the human syntactic capacity as the core of language.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Angela D Friederici
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Geambaşu A, Ravignani A, Levelt CC. Preliminary Experiments on Human Sensitivity to Rhythmic Structure in a Grammar with Recursive Self-Similarity. Front Neurosci 2016; 10:281. [PMID: 27445656 PMCID: PMC4923260 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2016] [Accepted: 06/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Andreea Geambaşu
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden UniversityLeiden, Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden UniversityLeiden, Netherlands
| | - Andrea Ravignani
- Artificial Intelligence Lab, Vrije Universiteit BrusselBrussels, Belgium; Department of Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of ViennaVienna, Austria
| | - Clara C Levelt
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden UniversityLeiden, Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden UniversityLeiden, Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|