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 of 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'.