Hermann Ackermann, Wolfram Ziegler
Audra Ames, Sara Wielandt, Dianne Cameron, Stan Kuczaj
David Ardell, Noelle Anderson, Bodo Winter
Rie Asano, Edward Ruoyang Shi
Mark Atkinson, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Andreas Baumann, Christina Prömer, Kamil Kazmierski, Nikolaus Ritt
Christian Bentz
Aleksandrs Berdicevskis, Hanne Eckhoff
Richard A. Blythe, Alistair H. Jones, Jessica Renton
Cedric Boeckx, Constantina Theofanopoulou, Antonio Benítez-Burraco
Megan Broadway, Jamie Klaus, Billie Serafin, Heidi Lyn
Jon W. Carr, Kenny Smith, Hannah Cornish, Simon Kirby
Federica Cavicchio, Livnat Leemor, Simone Shamay-Tsoory, Wendy Sandler
Zanna Clay, Jahmaira Archbold, Klaus Zuberbuhler
Katie Collier, Andrew N. Radford, Balthasar Bickel, Marta B. Manser, Simon W. Townsend
Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby, Marieke Schouwstra
Christine Cuskley, Vittorio Loreto
Christine Cuskley, Bernardo Monechi, Pietro Gravino, Vittorio Loreto
Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik
Sabrina Engesser, Amanda R. Ridley, Simon W. Townsend
Dankmar Enke, Roland Mühlenbernd, Igor Yanovich
Kerem Eryilmaz, Hannah Little, Bart de Boer
Nicolas Fay, Shane Rogers
Maryia Fedzechkina, Becky Chu, T. Florian Jaeger, John Trueswell
Olga Feher, Kenny Smith, Elizabeth Wonnacott, Nikolaus Ritt
Piera Filippi, Sebastian Ocklenburg, Daniel Liu Bowling, Larissa Heege, Albert Newen, Onur Güntürkün, Bart de Boer
Piera Filippi, Jenna V. Congdon, John Hoang, Daniel Liu Bowling, Stephan Reber, Andrius Pašukonis, Marisa Hoeschele, Sebastian Ocklenburg, Bart de Boer, Christopher B. Sturdy, Albert Newen, Onur GÜntÜrkÜn
Molly Flaherty, Katelyn Stangl, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Marlen Fröhlich, Paul H Kuchenbuch, Gudrun Müller, Barbara Fruth, Takeshi Furuichi, Roman M Wittig, Simone Pika
Victor Gay, Daniel Hicks, Estefania Santacreu-Vasut
Andreea Geambasu, Michelle J. Spierings, Carel ten Cate, Clara C. Levelt
Matt Hall, Russell Richie, Marie Coppola
Stefan Hartmann, Peeter Tinits, Jonas Nölle, Thomas Hartmann, Michael Pleyer
Wolfram Hinzen, Joana Rosselló
Rick Janssen, Bodo Winter, Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik, Sean Roberts
Rick Janssen, Dan Dediu, Scott Moisik
Jasmeen Kanwal, Kenny Smith, Jennifer Culbertson, Simon Kirby
Deborah Kerr, Kenny Smith
Buddhamas Kriengwatana, Paola Escudero, Anne Kerkhoven, Carel ten Cate
Adriano Lameira, Jeremy Kendal, Marco Gamba
Molly Lewis, Michael C. Frank
Casey Lister, Tiarn Burtenshaw, Nicolas Fay, Bradley Walker, Jeneva Ohan
Hannah Little, Kerem Eryılmaz, Bart de Boer
Hannah Little, Kerem Eryılmaz, Bart de Boer
Giuseppe Longobardi, Armin Buch, Andrea Ceolin, Aaron Ecay, Cristina Guardiano, Monica Irimia, Dimitris Michelioudakis, Nina Radkevich, Gerhard Jaeger
Heidi Lyn, Stephanie Jett, Megan Broadway, Mystera Samuelson
Michael Mcloughlin, Luca Lamoni, Ellen Garland, Simon Ingram, Alexis Kirke, Michael Noad, Luke Rendell, Eduardo Miranda
Adrien Meguerditchian, Damien Marie, Konstantina Margiotoudi, Scott A. Love, Alice Bertello, Romain Lacoste, Muriel Roth, Bruno Nazarian, Jean-Luc Anton, Olivier Coulon
Jérôme Michaud
Ashley Micklos
Marie Montant, Johannes Ziegler, Benny Briesemeister, Tila Brink, Bruno Wicker, Aurélie Ponz, Mireille Bonnard, Arthur Jacobs, Mario Braun
Yasamin Motamedi, Marieke Schouwstra, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Roland Mühlenbernd, Johannes Wahle
Tomoya Nakai, Kazuo Okanoya
Savithry Namboodiripad, Daniel Lenzen, Ryan Lepic, Tessa Verhoef
Alan Nielsen, Dieuwke Hupkes, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith
Bill Noble, Raquel Fernández
Irene M. Pepperberg, Katia Zilber-Izhar, Scott Smith
Lynn Perry, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan, Bodo Winter, Dominic Massaro
Ljiljana Progovac
Andrea Ravignani, Tania Delgado, Simon Kirby
Terry Regier, Alexandra Carstensen, Charles Kemp
Lilia Rissman, Laura Horton, Molly Flaherty, Marie Coppola, Annie Senghas, Diane Brentari, Susan Goldin-Meadow
Gareth Roberts, Mariya Fedzechkina
Carmen Saldana, Simon Kirby, Kenny Smith
Carlos Santana
William Schueller, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer
Catriona Silvey, Christos Christodoulopoulos
Katie Slocombe, Stuart Watson, Anne Schel, Claudia Wilke, Emma Wallace, Leveda Cheng, Victoria West, Simon Townsend
Ruth Sonnweber, Andrea Ravignani
Michelle Spierings, Carel ten Cate
Kevin Stadler, Elyse Jamieson, Kenny Smith, Simon Kirby
Monica Tamariz, Joleana Shurley
Monica Tamariz, Jon W. Carr
Bill Thompson, Heikki Rasilo
Oksana Tkachman, Carla L. Hudson Kam
Simon Townsend, Andrew Russell, Sabrina Engesser
Francesca Tria, Vittorio Loreto, Vito Servedio, S. Mufwene Salikoko
Anu Vastenius, Jordan Zlatev, Joost Van de Weijer
Tessa Verhoef, Carol Padden, Simon Kirby
Slawomir Wacewicz, Przemyslaw Zywiczynski, Arkadiusz Jasinski
Bodo Winter, David Ardell
Bodo Winter, Lynn Perry, Marcus Perlman, Gary Lupyan
Marieke Woensdregt, Kenny Smith, Chris Cummins, Simon Kirby
Eva Zehentner, Andreas Baumann, Nikolaus Ritt, Christina Prömer
Keywords: acquisition, artificial grammar learning, attention, feedback, artificial language learning
Abstract:
Extraction and generalization of rules from stimuli that share an underlying structure is one of the bedrocks of language acquisition. This rule learning ability has been shown time and again in adults using both simple and complex grammars in the auditory, visual, and tactile domains. Understanding the conditions under which simple rule learning can occur and to what extent learning is implicit or explicit is essential for understanding what the fundamentals of language acquisition are and whether language acquisition may have evolved from simpler pattern-extraction mechanisms. Inconsistency in experimental methodology used to show rule learning indicates that it is of interest to explore the precise conditions influencing how well learners perform in such tasks. To this end, we conducted four auditory artificial grammar learning experiments with 12 conditions (n=192) using XYX and XXY grammars similar to those used in Marcus et al. (1999). In Experiments 1-3, ten participant groups received passive familiarization with one of the two grammars and were tested with a yes/no paradigm. In Experiment 4, two groups were exposed to one of the two grammars via reinforced training until criterion and were tested in a go-left/go-right task. Across these four experiments, we manipulated the following experimental factors: vagueness of instructions, input variety, presence or absence of feedback, and types of testing items.
In Experiment 1, instructions were “undirected,” not directing participants’ attention to the underlying structure. Instructions asked participants to indicate whether the test items are part of the same “language” or “group” as in the listening phase. To study the effect of variety in the input on generalization, participants were further divided into groups exposed to either 3 or 15 triplets, for a total of 45 trials in both cases. Test items consisted of a consistent and an inconsistent grammar, each made up of either familiar or novel syllables, constituting “undirected” testing in which test items could not direct participants to what they should be attending to. In Experiment 2, instructions were “directed,” telling participants that the exposure sounds followed a certain “pattern,” and that they should indicate whether test items followed that same pattern. As in Experiment 1, participants either heard 3 or 15 triplets during the familiarization phase, and testing was “undirected,” consisting of both familiar and unfamiliar sounds. In Experiment 3, we again compared the role of instruction and of number of familiarization triplets, but now used “directed” testing, meaning only novel sounds were used (directing participants’ attention away from processing at the sound level). Finally, in Experiment 4, we again varied the number of exposure triplets and used undirected testing, but now exposed participants, without instruction, in a reinforced go-left/go-right task. When they reached criterion, they continued (now without feedback) with the same procedure of categorizing the test items as either a left-side sound or a right-side sound, where each grammar corresponded with one of the sides.
Our results show that participants were able to apply the rule to test items composed of previously heard sounds, independently of our experimental manipulations, discriminating the two grammars significantly above chance in all conditions. However, they were not able to generalize the rule to novel sounds if they were not somehow “directed,” either through directed instruction, directed testing, or feedback training. Notably, variety in number of exposure triplets during familiarization did not affect generalization, with no significant difference in performance between participants exposed to 3 or 15 triplets. It thus seems that in order to generalize simple rules beyond their surface form, participants require their attention to be directed, supporting recent findings in a dual-mechanism account of AGL (Opitz & Hofmann, 2015). These results have implications for the design of future AGL experiments and for theories of implicit vs. explicit AGL. A comprehensive understanding of language learning must integrate the evolution of a primary similarity-detection and an attention-based rule-detection mechanism.
References
Marcus, G.F., Vijayan, S., Bandi Rao, S. and Vishton, P.M. (1999). Rule learning in 7-month-old infants. Science, 283, 77–80.
Opitz, B. and Hofmann, J. (2015). Concurrence of rule- and similarity-based mechanisms in artificial grammar learning. Cognitive Psychology, 77, 77-99.
Citation:
Geambasu A., Spierings M. J., ten Cate C. and Levelt C. C. (2016). Effects Of Task-specific Variables On Auditory Artificial Grammar Learning And Generalization. In S.G. Roberts, C. Cuskley, L. McCrohon, L. Barceló-Coblijn, O. Fehér & T. Verhoef (eds.) The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference (EVOLANG11). Available online: http://evolang.org/neworleans/papers/161.html