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Batterink LJ, Mulgrew J, Gibbings A. Rhythmically Modulating Neural Entrainment during Exposure to Regularities Influences Statistical Learning. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:107-127. [PMID: 37902580 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2023]
Abstract
The ability to discover regularities in the environment, such as syllable patterns in speech, is known as statistical learning. Previous studies have shown that statistical learning is accompanied by neural entrainment, in which neural activity temporally aligns with repeating patterns over time. However, it is unclear whether these rhythmic neural dynamics play a functional role in statistical learning or whether they largely reflect the downstream consequences of learning, such as the enhanced perception of learned words in speech. To better understand this issue, we manipulated participants' neural entrainment during statistical learning using continuous rhythmic visual stimulation. Participants were exposed to a speech stream of repeating nonsense words while viewing either (1) a visual stimulus with a "congruent" rhythm that aligned with the word structure, (2) a visual stimulus with an incongruent rhythm, or (3) a static visual stimulus. Statistical learning was subsequently measured using both an explicit and implicit test. Participants in the congruent condition showed a significant increase in neural entrainment over auditory regions at the relevant word frequency, over and above effects of passive volume conduction, indicating that visual stimulation successfully altered neural entrainment within relevant neural substrates. Critically, during the subsequent implicit test, participants in the congruent condition showed an enhanced ability to predict upcoming syllables and stronger neural phase synchronization to component words, suggesting that they had gained greater sensitivity to the statistical structure of the speech stream relative to the incongruent and static groups. This learning benefit could not be attributed to strategic processes, as participants were largely unaware of the contingencies between the visual stimulation and embedded words. These results indicate that manipulating neural entrainment during exposure to regularities influences statistical learning outcomes, suggesting that neural entrainment may functionally contribute to statistical learning. Our findings encourage future studies using non-invasive brain stimulation methods to further understand the role of entrainment in statistical learning.
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Bianco R, Hall ET, Pearce MT, Chait M. Implicit auditory memory in older listeners: From encoding to 6-month retention. CURRENT RESEARCH IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2023; 5:100115. [PMID: 38020808 PMCID: PMC10663129 DOI: 10.1016/j.crneur.2023.100115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2023] [Revised: 10/12/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Any listening task, from sound recognition to sound-based communication, rests on auditory memory which is known to decline in healthy ageing. However, how this decline maps onto multiple components and stages of auditory memory remains poorly characterised. In an online unsupervised longitudinal study, we tested ageing effects on implicit auditory memory for rapid tone patterns. The test required participants (younger, aged 20-30, and older adults aged 60-70) to quickly respond to rapid regularly repeating patterns emerging from random sequences. Patterns were novel in most trials (REGn), but unbeknownst to the participants, a few distinct patterns reoccurred identically throughout the sessions (REGr). After correcting for processing speed, the response times (RT) to REGn should reflect the information held in echoic and short-term memory before detecting the pattern; long-term memory formation and retention should be reflected by the RT advantage (RTA) to REGr vs REGn which is expected to grow with exposure. Older participants were slower than younger adults in detecting REGn and exhibited a smaller RTA to REGr. Computational simulations using a model of auditory sequence memory indicated that these effects reflect age-related limitations both in early and long-term memory stages. In contrast to ageing-related accelerated forgetting of verbal material, here older adults maintained stable memory traces for REGr patterns up to 6 months after the first exposure. The results demonstrate that ageing is associated with reduced short-term memory and long-term memory formation for tone patterns, but not with forgetting, even over surprisingly long timescales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberta Bianco
- Ear Institute, University College London, WC1X 8EE, London, United Kingdom
- Neuroscience of Perception and Action Laboratory, Italian Institute of Technology, 00161, Rome, Italy
| | - Edward T.R. Hall
- School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS, London, United Kingdom
| | - Marcus T. Pearce
- School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, E1 4NS, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Maria Chait
- Ear Institute, University College London, WC1X 8EE, London, United Kingdom
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3
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Wang HS, Köhler S, Batterink LJ. Separate but not independent: Behavioral pattern separation and statistical learning are differentially affected by aging. Cognition 2023; 239:105564. [PMID: 37467624 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023]
Abstract
Our brains are capable of discriminating similar inputs (pattern separation) and rapidly generalizing across inputs (statistical learning). Are these two processes dissociable in behavior? Here, we asked whether cognitive aging affects them in a differential or parallel manner. Older and younger adults were tested on their ability to discriminate between similar trisyllabic words and to extract trisyllabic words embedded in a continuous speech stream. Older adults demonstrated intact statistical learning on an implicit, reaction time-based measure and an explicit, familiarity-based measure of learning. However, they performed poorly in discriminating similar items presented in isolation, both for episodically-encoded items and for statistically-learned regularities. These results indicate that pattern separation and statistical learning are dissociable and differentially affected by aging. The acquisition of implicit representations of statistical regularities operates robustly into old age, whereas pattern separation influences the expression of statistical learning with high representational fidelity and is subject to age-related decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helena Shizhe Wang
- Western Institute for Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Stefan Köhler
- Western Institute for Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Laura J Batterink
- Western Institute for Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
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Zinszer BD, Hannon J, Hu A, Kouadio AÉ, Akpé H, Tanoh F, Wang M, Qi Z, Jasińska K. Statistical learning and children's emergent literacy in rural Côte d'Ivoire. Dev Sci 2023:e13448. [PMID: 37743565 PMCID: PMC10960734 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2022] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/27/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
Studies of non-linguistic statistical learning (SL) have often linked performance in SL tasks with differences in language outcomes. Most of these studies have focused on Western and high-income educational contexts, but children worldwide learn in radically different educational systems and communities, and often in a second language. In the west African nation of Côte d'Ivoire, children enter fifth grade (CM-1) with widely varying ages and literacy skills. Across three iteratively-developed experiments, 157 children, age 8-15 years, in rural communities in the greater-Adzópe region of Côte d'Ivoire watched sequences of cartoon images with embedded triplet patterns on touchscreen tablets, while performing a target-detection task. We assessed these tablet-based adaptations of non-linguistic visual SL and asked whether the children's individual differences in performance on the SL tasks were related to their first and second language and literacy skills. We found group-level evidence that children used the statistical regularities in the image sequence to gradually decrease their response times, but their responses on post-test discrimination did not reflect this learning. When evaluating the correlation between SL and language skills, individual differences related to other task demands predicted oral language skills shared by first and second languages, while SL better predicted second language print skills. These findings suggest that non-linguistic SL paradigms can measure similar skills in Ivorian children as previous samples, but they also echo recent calls for further cross-cultural validation, greater internal reliability, and tests for confounding variables (such as processing speed) in studies of individual differences in statistical learning. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We iteratively adapted three visual statistical learning studies for children in rural Côte d'Ivoire. Group-level analyses indicates that the children learn the underlying statistical regularities. Individual-differences analyses reveal some evidence that the statistical learning measure is also correlated with task demands that may be driven by cross-cultural differences. Like previous research, statistical learning is correlated with second language literacy, but we did not find a relationship between SL and oral language skills in first and second languages.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Anqi Hu
- University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
| | | | - Hermann Akpé
- Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
| | - Fabrice Tanoh
- Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
- Université Peleforo Gon Coulibaly, Korhogo, Côte d’Ivoire
| | | | | | - Kaja Jasińska
- University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada & Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA
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5
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Schevenels K, Altvater-Mackensen N, Zink I, De Smedt B, Vandermosten M. Aging effects and feasibility of statistical learning tasks across modalities. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2023; 30:201-230. [PMID: 34823443 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2021.2007213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Knowledge on statistical learning (SL) in healthy elderly is scarce. Theoretically, it is not clear whether aging affects modality-specific and/or domain-general learning mechanisms. Practically, there is a lack of research on simplified SL tasks, which would ease the burden of testing in clinical populations. Against this background, we conducted two experiments across three modalities (auditory, visual and visuomotor) in a total of 93 younger and older adults. In Experiment 1, SL was induced in all modalities. Aging effects appeared in the tasks relying on an explicit posttest to assess SL. We hypothesize that declines in domain-general processes that predominantly modulate explicit learning mechanisms underlie these aging effects. In Experiment 2, more feasible tasks were developed for which the level of SL was maintained in all modalities, except the auditory modality. These tasks are more likely to successfully measure SL in elderly (patient) populations in which task demands can be problematic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Klara Schevenels
- Research Group Experimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | | | - Inge Zink
- Research Group Experimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Bert De Smedt
- Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Maaike Vandermosten
- Research Group Experimental Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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Learning words without trying: Daily second language podcasts support word-form learning in adults. Psychon Bull Rev 2022; 30:751-762. [PMID: 36175820 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02190-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Spoken language contains overlapping patterns across different levels, from syllables to words to phrases. The discovery of these structures may be partially supported by statistical learning (SL), the unguided, automatic extraction of regularities from the environment through passive exposure. SL supports word learning in artificial language experiments, but few studies have examined whether it scales up to support natural language learning in adult second language learners. Here, adult English speakers (n = 70) listened to daily podcasts in either Italian or English for 2 weeks while going about their normal routines. To measure word knowledge, participants provided familiarity ratings of Italian words and nonwords both before and after the listening period. Critically, compared with English controls, Italian listeners significantly improved in their ability to discriminate Italian words and nonwords. These results suggest that unguided exposure to natural, foreign language speech supports the extraction of relevant word features and the development of nascent word forms. At a theoretical level, these findings indicate that SL may effectively scale up to support real-world language acquisition. These results also have important practical implications, suggesting that adult learners may be able to acquire relevant speech patterns and initial word forms simply by listening to the language. This form of learning can occur without explicit effort, formal instruction or focused study.
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Schneider JM, Weng YL, Hu A, Qi Z. Linking the neural basis of distributional statistical learning with transitional statistical learning: The paradox of attention. Neuropsychologia 2022; 172:108284. [PMID: 35667495 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Revised: 05/02/2022] [Accepted: 05/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Statistical learning, the process of tracking distributional information and discovering embedded patterns, is traditionally regarded as a form of implicit learning. However, recent studies proposed that both implicit (attention-independent) and explicit (attention-dependent) learning systems are involved in statistical learning. To understand the role of attention in statistical learning, the current study investigates the cortical processing of distributional patterns in speech across local and global contexts. We then ask how these cortical responses relate to statistical learning behavior in a word segmentation task. We found Event-Related Potential (ERP) evidence of pre-attentive processing of both the local (mismatching negativity) and global distributional information (late discriminative negativity). However, as speech elements became less frequent and more surprising, some participants showed an involuntary attentional shift, reflected in a P3a response. Individuals who displayed attentive neural tracking of distributional information showed faster learning in a speech statistical learning task. These results suggest that an involuntary attentional shift might play a facilitatory, but not essential, role in statistical learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie M Schneider
- University of Delaware, Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, 125 E Main St, Newark, DE, 19711, USA; Louisiana State University, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, 217 Thomas Boyd Hall, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.
| | - Yi-Lun Weng
- University of Delaware, Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, 125 E Main St, Newark, DE, 19711, USA
| | - Anqi Hu
- University of Delaware, Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, 125 E Main St, Newark, DE, 19711, USA
| | - Zhenghan Qi
- University of Delaware, Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, 125 E Main St, Newark, DE, 19711, USA; Northeastern University, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Department of Psychology, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
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8
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Fama ME, Schuler KD, Newport EL, Turkeltaub PE. Effects of healthy aging and left hemisphere stroke on statistical language learning. LANGUAGE, COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 37:984-999. [PMID: 36419749 PMCID: PMC9678370 DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2022.2030481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Spoken sentences are continuous streams of sound, without reliable acoustic cues to word boundaries. We have previously proposed that language learners identify words via an implicit statistical learning mechanism that computes transitional probabilities between syllables. Neuroimaging studies in healthy young adults associate this learning with left inferior frontal gyrus, left arcuate fasciculus, and bilateral striatum. Here, we test the effects of healthy aging and left hemisphere (LH) injury on statistical learning. Following 10-minute exposure to an artificial language, participants rated familiarity of Words, Part-words (sequences spanning word boundaries), and Non-words (unfamiliar sequences). Young controls (N=14) showed robust learning, rating Words>Part-words>Non-words. Older controls (N=28) showed this pattern to a weaker degree. Stroke survivors (N=24) as a group showed no learning. A lesion comparison examining individual differences revealed that "non-learners" are more likely to have anterior lesions. Together, these findings demonstrate that word segmentation is sensitive to healthy aging and LH injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mackenzie E. Fama
- Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery and Department of Neurology, Georgetown University Medical Center, 4000 Reservoir Rd., Washington, DC 20057
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The George Washington University, 2115 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20052
| | - Kathryn D. Schuler
- Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery and Department of Neurology, Georgetown University Medical Center, 4000 Reservoir Rd., Washington, DC 20057
- Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, 3401-C Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Elissa L. Newport
- Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery and Department of Neurology, Georgetown University Medical Center, 4000 Reservoir Rd., Washington, DC 20057
- MedStar National Rehabilitation Network, Research Division, 102 Irving St. NW, Washington, DC 20010
| | - Peter E. Turkeltaub
- Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery and Department of Neurology, Georgetown University Medical Center, 4000 Reservoir Rd., Washington, DC 20057
- MedStar National Rehabilitation Network, Research Division, 102 Irving St. NW, Washington, DC 20010
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9
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Smalle EHM, Daikoku T, Szmalec A, Duyck W, Möttönen R. Unlocking adults' implicit statistical learning by cognitive depletion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2026011119. [PMID: 34983868 PMCID: PMC8764693 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2026011119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleonore H M Smalle
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;
| | - Tatsuya Daikoku
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 158-8557, Japan
| | - Arnaud Szmalec
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Psychological Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, 1348 Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Institute of Neuroscience, Université catholique de Louvain, 1348 Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Wouter Duyck
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Riikka Möttönen
- School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2QL, United Kingdom
- Cognitive Science, Department of Digital Humanities, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
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Bogaerts L, Siegelman N, Christiansen MH, Frost R. Is there such a thing as a 'good statistical learner'? Trends Cogn Sci 2021; 26:25-37. [PMID: 34810076 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2021] [Revised: 10/23/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
A growing body of research investigates individual differences in the learning of statistical structure, tying them to variability in cognitive (dis)abilities. This approach views statistical learning (SL) as a general individual ability that underlies performance across a range of cognitive domains. But is there a general SL capacity that can sort individuals from 'bad' to 'good' statistical learners? Explicating the suppositions underlying this approach, we suggest that current evidence supporting it is meager. We outline an alternative perspective that considers the variability of statistical environments within different cognitive domains. Once we focus on learning that is tuned to the statistics of real-world sensory inputs, an alternative view of SL computations emerges with a radically different outlook for SL research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louisa Bogaerts
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | | | - Morten H Christiansen
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA; Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Ram Frost
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91905 Jerusalem, Israel; Basque Center for Cognition, Brain, and Language, 20009 Donostia, Spain
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11
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Bulgarelli F, Weiss DJ, Dennis NA. Cross-situational statistical learning in younger and older adults. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2021; 28:346-366. [PMID: 32369407 PMCID: PMC7641919 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2020.1759502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Accepted: 04/19/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Research investigating statistical learning, the process of tracking regularities in the environment, in older adults has been limited; with existing studies suggesting there are age-related declines. We aim to further understand older adults' statistical learning abilities using a cross-situational statistical learning paradigm in which learners map novel words to novel objects. In Experiment 1, we manipulated task difficulty and found an overall age deficit but no interaction between age and difficulty. In Experiment 2, after extended practice with a first set of object-word mappings, learners could remap a subset of previously learned words to novel objects. Based on hyper-binding, older adults might be more willing to remap previously learned words to novel objects. However, despite overall poorer learning, older adults were actually less likely to remap. Even though older adults may have an associative memory deficit, learned associations are not more weakly bound for older relative to younger adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Bulgarelli
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University
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12
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Oh Y, Todd S, Beckner C, Hay J, King J, Needle J. Non-Māori-speaking New Zealanders have a Māori proto-lexicon. Sci Rep 2020; 10:22318. [PMID: 33339844 PMCID: PMC7749111 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-78810-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2019] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigate implicit vocabulary learning by adults who are exposed to a language in their ambient environment. Most New Zealanders do not speak Māori, yet are exposed to it throughout their lifetime. We show that this exposure leads to a large proto-lexicon - implicit knowledge of the existence of words and sub-word units without any associated meaning. Despite not explicitly knowing many Māori words, non-Māori-speaking New Zealanders are able to access this proto-lexicon to distinguish Māori words from Māori-like nonwords. What's more, they are able to generalize over the proto-lexicon to generate sophisticated phonotactic knowledge, which lets them evaluate the well-formedness of Māori-like nonwords just as well as fluent Māori speakers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Y Oh
- New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, NZILBB, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.
- Department of French Language and Literature, Ajou University, Suwon, South Korea.
| | - S Todd
- New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, NZILBB, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand
- Department of Linguistics, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
| | - C Beckner
- Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - J Hay
- New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, NZILBB, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand
- Department of Linguistics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - J King
- New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, NZILBB, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand
- Aotahi - School of Māori and Indigenous Studies, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - J Needle
- New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, NZILBB, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand
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13
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Sherman BE, Graves KN, Turk-Browne NB. The prevalence and importance of statistical learning in human cognition and behavior. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020; 32:15-20. [PMID: 32258249 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Statistical learning, the ability to extract regularities from the environment over time, has become a topic of burgeoning interest. Its influence on behavior, spanning infancy to adulthood, has been demonstrated across a range of tasks, both those labeled as tests of statistical learning and those from other learning domains that predated statistical learning research or that are not typically considered in the context of that literature. Given this pervasive role in human cognition, statistical learning has the potential to reconcile seemingly distinct learning phenomena and may be an under-appreciated but important contributor to a wide range of human behaviors that are studied as unrelated processes, such as episodic memory and spatial navigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brynn E Sherman
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Kathryn N Graves
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, 2 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
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