University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK; Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2018 Sep;173:351-370. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.04.012. Epub 2018 May 21.
Language processing in adults is facilitated by an expert ability to generate detailed predictions about upcoming words. This may seem like an acquired skill, but some models of language acquisition assume that the ability to predict is a prerequisite for learning. This raises a question: Do children learn to predict, or do they predict to learn? We tested whether children, like adults, can generate expectations about not just the meanings of upcoming words but also their sounds, which would be critical for using prediction to learn about language. In two looking-while-listening experiments, we show that 2-year-olds can generate expectations about meaning based on a determiner (Can you see one…ball/two…ice creams?) but that even children as old as 5 years do not show an adult-like ability to predict the phonology of upcoming words based on a determiner (Can you see a…ball/an…ice cream?). Our results, therefore, suggest that the ability to generate detailed predictions is a late-acquired skill. We argue that prediction might not be the key mechanism driving children's learning, but that the ability to generate accurate semantic predictions may nevertheless have facilitative effects on language development.
成人的语言处理能力得益于他们能够生成关于即将到来的单词的详细预测。这似乎是一种后天习得的技能，但语言习得的一些模型假设，预测能力是学习的前提。这就提出了一个问题：儿童是通过学习来预测，还是通过预测来学习？我们测试了儿童是否像成人一样，不仅可以对即将到来的单词的含义产生期望，而且可以对其声音产生期望，这对于利用预测来学习语言至关重要。在两项边听边看的实验中，我们表明，2 岁的儿童可以根据限定词（你能看到一个……球/两个……冰淇淋吗？）来生成关于意义的期望，但即使是 5 岁的儿童也没有表现出像成人一样的根据限定词（你能看到一个……球/一个……冰淇淋吗？）来预测即将到来的单词的语音的能力。因此，我们的结果表明，生成详细预测的能力是一种后天习得的技能。我们认为，预测可能不是驱动儿童学习的关键机制，但生成准确语义预测的能力可能对语言发展有促进作用。
