Department of Psychology, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Psychol Rev. 2012 Jul;119(3):649-67. doi: 10.1037/a0028258. Epub 2012 Apr 30.
We present a neural network model of learning and processing the English past tense that is based on the notion that experience-dependent cortical development is a core aspect of cognitive development. During learning the model adds and removes units and connections to develop a task-specific final architecture. The model provides an integrated account of characteristic errors during learning the past tense, adult generalization to pseudoverbs, and dissociations between verbs observed after brain damage in aphasic patients. We put forward a theory of verb inflection in which a functional processing architecture develops through interactions between experience-dependent brain development and the structure of the environment, in this case, the statistical properties of verbs in the language. The outcome of this process is a structured processing system giving rise to graded dissociations between verbs that are easy and verbs that are hard to learn and process. In contrast to dual-mechanism accounts of inflection, we argue that describing dissociations as a dichotomy between regular and irregular verbs is a post hoc abstraction and is not linked to underlying processing mechanisms. We extend current single-mechanism accounts of inflection by highlighting the role of structural adaptation in development and in the formation of the adult processing system. In contrast to some single-mechanism accounts, we argue that the link between irregular inflection and verb semantics is not causal and that existing data can be explained on the basis of phonological representations alone. This work highlights the benefit of taking brain development seriously in theories of cognitive development.
我们提出了一个学习和处理英语过去式的神经网络模型，该模型基于经验依赖性皮质发育是认知发展核心方面的概念。在学习过程中，模型会添加和删除单元和连接，以开发特定于任务的最终架构。该模型提供了对学习过去式时的典型错误、成年人对伪动词的泛化以及失语症患者脑损伤后观察到的动词之间的分离的综合解释。我们提出了一种动词屈折的理论，其中功能处理架构是通过经验依赖性大脑发育和环境结构（在这种情况下，是语言中动词的统计特性）之间的相互作用发展起来的。这个过程的结果是一个结构化的处理系统，导致易于学习和处理的动词和难以学习和处理的动词之间产生分级分离。与屈折的双重机制理论相反，我们认为将分离描述为规则动词和不规则动词之间的二分法是事后的抽象，与底层处理机制无关。我们通过强调结构适应在发展和成人处理系统形成中的作用，扩展了当前的单一机制屈折理论。与一些单一机制理论相反，我们认为不规则屈折与动词语义之间的联系不是因果关系，并且现有数据仅基于语音表示就可以解释。这项工作强调了在认知发展理论中认真对待大脑发育的好处。
