Saffran J R, Johnson E K, Aslin R N, Newport E L
University of Rochester, New York, NY, USA.
Cognition. 1999 Feb 1;70(1):27-52. doi: 10.1016/s0010-0277(98)00075-4.
Previous research suggests that language learners can detect and use the statistical properties of syllable sequences to discover words in continuous speech (e.g. Aslin, R.N., Saffran, J.R., Newport, E.L., 1998. Computation of conditional probability statistics by 8-month-old infants. Psychological Science 9, 321-324; Saffran, J.R., Aslin, R.N., Newport, E.L., 1996. Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science 274, 1926-1928; Saffran, J., R., Newport, E.L., Aslin, R.N., (1996). Word segmentation: the role of distributional cues. Journal of Memory and Language 35, 606-621; Saffran, J.R., Newport, E.L., Aslin, R.N., Tunick, R.A., Barrueco, S., 1997. Incidental language learning: Listening (and learning) out of the corner of your ear. Psychological Science 8, 101-195). In the present research, we asked whether this statistical learning ability is uniquely tied to linguistic materials. Subjects were exposed to continuous non-linguistic auditory sequences whose elements were organized into 'tone words'. As in our previous studies, statistical information was the only word boundary cue available to learners. Both adults and 8-month-old infants succeeded at segmenting the tone stream, with performance indistinguishable from that obtained with syllable streams. These results suggest that a learning mechanism previously shown to be involved in word segmentation can also be used to segment sequences of non-linguistic stimuli.
先前的研究表明，语言学习者能够察觉并利用音节序列的统计特性，从连续的语音中发现单词（例如，阿斯林，R.N.，萨夫兰，J.R.，纽波特，E.L.，1998年。8个月大婴儿对条件概率统计的计算。《心理科学》9，321 - 324；萨夫兰，J.R.，阿斯林，R.N.，纽波特，E.L.，1996年。8个月大婴儿的统计学习。《科学》274，1926 - 1928；萨夫兰，J.，R.，纽波特，E.L.，阿斯林，R.N.，（1996年）。单词切分：分布线索的作用。《记忆与语言杂志》35，606 - 621；萨夫兰，J.R.，纽波特，E.L.，阿斯林，R.N.，图尼克，R.A.，巴鲁埃科，S.，1997年。附带语言学习：从耳边不经意地听（和学）。《心理科学》8，101 - 195）。在本研究中，我们探讨了这种统计学习能力是否仅与语言材料相关。受试者接触连续的非语言听觉序列，其元素被组织成“声调词”。与我们之前的研究一样，统计信息是学习者可获得的唯一单词边界线索。成人和8个月大的婴儿都成功地对声调流进行了切分，其表现与对音节流的切分没有区别。这些结果表明，先前显示参与单词切分的学习机制也可用于对非语言刺激序列进行切分。
