gerry reinhart-waller <
walu-@...> wrote:
original article:
http://www.egroups.com/group/cybalist/?start=881
> Hi Gerry:
> Its been 25 years since I got a BA degree in Pysch, or even done any
> reading in the field, but I believe the basics haven't changed that
> much in the physiology of learning theorey.
>
> Gerry: Brent, I'm sure you feel confident about your knoweledge in
> Psych; however I know that basics have changed in this field within
the
> past few months.
Could you tell us exactly what's changed in the past few months?
> Brent: One of the distinctions between humans and other animals is
the
> almost total lack of behavorial templates in humans. Behaviorial
> templates in animals are called instincts, and beyond a fear of
heights,
> and quick sounds we are without them.
>
> Gerry: Please site specific references for your examples, if you
> please. I'd be most interested in reviewing the current research.
First, a quote from Britannica.com:
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/6/0,5716,114866+14,00.html
"Language acquisition
In regard to the production of speech sounds, all humans are
physiologically alike. It has been shown repeatedly that children learn
the language of those who bring them up from infancy. In most cases
these are the biological parents, especially the mother, but one's
first language is acquired from environment and learning, not from
physiological inheritance. Adopted infants, whatever their race or
physical type and whatever the language of their actual parents,
acquire the language of the adoptive parents."
And here is something else in support of Brent's point of view:
http://depts.washington.edu/sphsc/research/pkkresearch.htm
"Native Language Magnet Theory
Infants are born "Citizens of the World" with regard to language. They
can distinguish sounds from languages around the world, even if they've
never heard them before. By the end of the first year of life, however,
they become "language-specialists," and have lost the ability to attend
to sounds from foreign languages. Dr. Kuhl has proposed the Native
Language Magnet (NLM) theory to account for this dramatic developmental
change.
Selected Publications:
Kuhl, P.K. (1999) Language, mind, and brain: Experience alters
perception. In M.S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The cognitive neurosciences.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Doupe, A., & Kuhl, P. K. (1999). Birdsong and speech: Common themes and
mechanizms. Annual review of Neuroscience, 22, 567-631.
Kuhl, P. K. (1998). The development of speech and language. In T. J.
Carew, R. Menzel, & C. J. Shatz (Eds.), Mechanistic relationships
between development and learning (pp. 53-73). New York: Wiley.
Iverson, P. & Kuhl, P. K. (1996). Influences of phonetic
identification and category goodness on American listeners' perception
of /r/ and /l/. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 99,
1130-1140.
Kuhl, P. K. (1994). Learning and representation in speech and
language. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 4, 812-822.
Kuhl, P. K. (1993). Innate predispositions and the effects of
experience in speech perception: The native language magnet theory.
In B. deBoysson-Bardies, S. de Schonen, P. Jusczyk, P. McNeilage & J.
Morton (Eds.), Developmental neurocognition: Speech and face
processing in the first year of life (pp. 259-274). Dordrecht,
Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Kuhl, P. K., Williams, K. A., Lacerda, F., Stevens, K. N. & Lindblom,
B. (1992). Linguistic experience alters phonetic perception in infants
by 6 months of age. Science, 255, 606-608."
Hope this helps.
GK