Feedback and imitation by a caregiver guides a virtual infant to learn native phonemes and the skill of speech inversion

Rasilo, Heikki; Räsänen, Okko; Laine, Unto K.

doi:10.1016/j.specom.2013.05.002

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…natural speech (9,12,14,15,43,(46)(47)(48). Attempts to extend 101 them to more realistic learning conditions have failed (13,16) 102 (see Supplementary Discussion 1).…”

Section: R a F Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early phonetic learning without phonetic categories: Insights from large-scale simulations on realistic input

Schatz

Feldman

Goldwater

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

156

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Before they even speak, infants become attuned to the sounds of the language(s) they hear, processing native phonetic contrasts more easily than nonnative ones. For example, between 6 to 8 mo and 10 to 12 mo, infants learning American English get better at distinguishing English and [l], as in “rock” vs. “lock,” relative to infants learning Japanese. Influential accounts of this early phonetic learning phenomenon initially proposed that infants group sounds into native vowel- and consonant-like phonetic categories—like and [l] in English—through a statistical clustering mechanism dubbed “distributional learning.” The feasibility of this mechanism for learning phonetic categories has been challenged, however. Here, we demonstrate that a distributional learning algorithm operating on naturalistic speech can predict early phonetic learning, as observed in Japanese and American English infants, suggesting that infants might learn through distributional learning after all. We further show, however, that, contrary to the original distributional learning proposal, our model learns units too brief and too fine-grained acoustically to correspond to phonetic categories. This challenges the influential idea that what infants learn are phonetic categories. More broadly, our work introduces a mechanism-driven approach to the study of early phonetic learning, together with a quantitative modeling framework that can handle realistic input. This allows accounts of early phonetic learning to be linked to concrete, systematic predictions regarding infants’ attunement.

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“…natural speech (9,12,14,15,43,(46)(47)(48). Attempts to extend 101 them to more realistic learning conditions have failed (13,16) 102 (see Supplementary Discussion 1).…”

Section: R a F Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early phonetic learning without phonetic categories: Insights from large-scale simulations on realistic input

Schatz

Feldman

Goldwater

et al. 2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

156

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Crucially, caregivers combine sounds and modulate the intonation (frequency, tempo, and amplitude) of speech, engaging in time-coordinated vocal interactions with the children. Contingent responsiveness from caregivers, thus interactive coordination, facilitates language learning ( Goldstein et al, 2003 ; Kuhl et al, 2003 ; Gros-Louis et al, 2006 ; Goldstein and Schwade, 2008 ; Rasilo et al, 2013 ), and improves the child’s accuracy in speech production. Moreover, caregiver-child interactional coordination scaffolds the child’s social development ( Todd and Palmer, 1968 ; Fernald et al, 1989 ; Goldstein et al, 2003 ; Goldstein and Schwade, 2008 ; Brandt et al, 2012 ), and her/his acquisition of social conventions, such as turn-taking in conversations ( Weisberg, 1963 ; Kuhl, 1997 ; Jaffe et al, 2001 ).…”

Section: Eip In Language Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional and Interactional Prosody across Animal Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach to the Emergence of Language

Filippi

2016

Front. Psychol.

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Across a wide range of animal taxa, prosodic modulation of the voice can express emotional information and is used to coordinate vocal interactions between multiple individuals. Within a comparative approach to animal communication systems, I hypothesize that the ability for emotional and interactional prosody (EIP) paved the way for the evolution of linguistic prosody – and perhaps also of music, continuing to play a vital role in the acquisition of language. In support of this hypothesis, I review three research fields: (i) empirical studies on the adaptive value of EIP in non-human primates, mammals, songbirds, anurans, and insects; (ii) the beneficial effects of EIP in scaffolding language learning and social development in human infants; (iii) the cognitive relationship between linguistic prosody and the ability for music, which has often been identified as the evolutionary precursor of language.

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“…The recent progress made in articulation simulator technology in terms of the anatomical structure, function, and motor control is striking (e.g., [69]). Elija's motor control system [18] incorporates a Maeda articulatory speech synthesizer [70], [71].…”

Section: E Research Platformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Early Vocal Development Through Infant–Caregiver Interaction: A Review

Asada

2016

IEEE Trans. Cogn. Dev. Syst.

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The developmental origin of language communication seems to involve vocal interactions between an infant and a caregiver, and one of the big mysteries related to this is how an infant learns to vocalize the caregiver's native language. Many theories attempt to explain this ability of infant as imitation based on acoustic matching. However, the acoustic qualities of speech produced by the infant and caregiver are quite different and therefore cannot be fully explained by imitation. Instead, the interaction itself may have an important role to play, but the mechanism is still unclear. In this article, we review studies addressing this topic based on explicit interaction mechanisms using computer simulations and/or real vocal robots. The relationships between these approaches are analyzed after a brief review of the early development of an infant's speech perception and articulation based on observational studies in developmental psychology and a few neuroscientific imaging studies. Finally, future issues related to real infant-caregiver vocal interaction are outlined.

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Feedback and imitation by a caregiver guides a virtual infant to learn native phonemes and the skill of speech inversion

Cited by 19 publications

References 52 publications

Early phonetic learning without phonetic categories: Insights from large-scale simulations on realistic input

Early phonetic learning without phonetic categories: Insights from large-scale simulations on realistic input

Emotional and Interactional Prosody across Animal Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach to the Emergence of Language

Modeling Early Vocal Development Through Infant–Caregiver Interaction: A Review

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