Meltzoff, A.N.,
Kuhl, P.K., Movellan, J., and Sejnowski., T.J. (2009)
Foundations for
a new science of learning
Science, 325,
284-288
p284
'Human learning and cultural evolution are supported by a paradoxical
adaptation. We are born immature. During the first year if life , the brain of
an infant is teeming with structural activity' with sensory processes
developing before higher activity'
'Three
principles are emerging from cross-disciplinary work in psychology,
neuroscience, machine learning, and education, contributing to a new science of
learning' and, in particular, are useful
for explaining,, language and social understanding.
1. Learning is computational,
implicit
2. Learning is social, implicit
3. Learning is supported by brain circuits linking
perception and action
1. Learning is computational
' infants
and young children possess powerful computational skills that allow them to
automatically infer structural models of their environment from the statistical
patterns they experience' eg 'before they are three, children use frequency
distributions to learn which phonetic units distinguish words in their native
language' p 285 ' Statistical regularities and co variations in the world thus
provide a richer source of information than previously thought' and the learning running around these regularities is
implicit. ' Learning from probabilistic input provides an alternative to
Skinnerian reinforcement learning and Chomskian nativist accounts' of learning
2.
Learning is social
p285
'Children do not compute statistics indiscriminately. Social cues highlight
what and when to learn' young infants
'more readily learn and enact an event when it is produced by a person than be
an inanimate device. Machine learning studies show that systematically
increasing a robot's social-like behaviours and contingent responsivity
elevates young children's willingness to connect with it and learn from it'
3. Learning is supported by brain circuits linking
perception and action
' Human
social and language learning are supported by neural-cognitive systems that
link the actions of self and other.' The
brain areas responsible for initiation of movement and its action overlap. '
Social learning, imitation, and sensorimotor experience may initially generate,
as well as modify and refine, shared neural circuitry for perception and
action'. KRO to what extent and what is
the nature of 'the close coupling and attunement between self and other, which
is the hallmark of seamless social communication and interaction'
Social learning and understanding
Three
social skills are foundational
1. Imitation
2. Shared attention
3. Empathy and social emotions
Imitation
'Learning
by observing and imitating experts in the culture is a powerful social learning
mechanism' ' Imitation if faster than individual discovery and safer than trial
and error learning' ' Children can use third person information ( observation
of others) to create first person knowledge. This is an accelerator for
learning: Instead of having to work out causal relationships themselves children
can learn from watching experts' ' Imitative learning is valuable because the
behavioural actions of others "like me" serve as a proxy for one's
own' ' Children do not slavishly duplicate what they see but reenact a person's
goals and intentions' ie ' they produce the goal that the adult was striving to
achieve, not the unsuccessful attempts. Children choose whom, when, and what to
imitate and seamlessly mix imitation and self discovery to solve novel
problems' attempts in robotics to
emulate infant imitation include direct (input-action) and more recently goal
based approaches .
Shared
attention
'Social
learning is facilitated when people share attention. Shared attention to the
same object or event provides a common ground for communication and teaching.
An early component of shared attention is gaze following' experimental evidence
to show that ' we project our own experience onto others'. P286 ' The ability to interpret the behaviour the
behaviour and experience of others by using oneself as a model is a highly
effective learning strategy that may be unique to human........It would be
useful if this could be exploited in machine
learning'
Empathy and social emotions
' The
capacity to feel and regulate emotions is critical ' ' In humans, many affective processes are uniquely social'. Children
will even help and comfort a social robot that was crying
Tanaka,Cicourel,Movellan, 2007) 'Brain imaging studies in adults show an
overlap in the neural systems activated when people receive a painful stimulus themselves or
perceive that another person is in pain
Hein & Singer (2008) These neural reactions are modulated by
cultural experience, training, and perceived similarity between self and other
Hein & Singer (2008)
Language Learning - as shedding light
on the interaction between computational learning, social facilitation of
learning, and shared neural circuitry for perception and production.
Evidence
to show that developing infants pick up the statistical regularities of a
language leading to neural commitment. ' However, experiments also show that
the computations involved in language learning are "gated" by social
processes (Kuhl, 2007). In foreign language learning experiments, social
interaction strongly influenced infants' statistical learning. Infants exposed
to a foreign language at 9 months learn rapidly, but only when experiencing the
new language during social interchanges with other humans. 'Temporal contingencies may be critical'.
Idea of
neural commitment
A similar
pattern , ' passerine birds learn
conspecific song by listening to and imitating adult birds' ' In birds, as in
humans, a social context enhances vocal learning'.
