Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

Overcoming Memory Limitations in Rule Learning

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dc.contributor Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
dc.contributor Gibson, Edward A.
dc.creator Frank, Michael C.
dc.creator Gibson, Edward A.
dc.date 2014-08-05T14:20:48Z
dc.date 2014-08-05T14:20:48Z
dc.date 2011-03
dc.date.accessioned 2023-03-01T18:11:44Z
dc.date.available 2023-03-01T18:11:44Z
dc.identifier 1547-5441
dc.identifier 1547-3341
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88534
dc.identifier Frank, Michael C., and Edward Gibson. “Overcoming Memory Limitations in Rule Learning.” Language Learning and Development 7, no. 2 (March 31, 2011): 130–148.
dc.identifier https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5912-883X
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/279109
dc.description Adults, infants, and other species are able to learn and generalize abstract patterns from sequentially presented stimuli. Rule learning of this type may be involved in children's acquisition of linguistic structure, but the nature of the mechanisms underlying these abilities is unknown. While inferences regarding the capabilities of these mechanisms are commonly made based on the pattern of successes and failures in simple artificial-language rule-learning tasks, failures may be driven by memory limitations rather than intrinsic limitations on the kinds of computations that learners can perform. Here we show that alleviating memory constraints on adult learners through concurrent visual presentation of stimuli allowed them to succeed in learning regularities in three difficult artificial rule-learning experiments where participants had previously failed to learn via sequential auditory presentation. These results suggest that memory constraints, rather than intrinsic limitations on learning, may be a parsimonious explanation for many previously reported failures. We argue that future work should attempt to characterize the role of memory constraints in natural and artificial language learning.
dc.description National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF DDRIG #0746251)
dc.description United States. Department of Education (Jacob K. Javits Graduate Fellowship)
dc.format application/pdf
dc.language en_US
dc.publisher Taylor & Francis
dc.relation http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2010.512522
dc.relation Language Learning and Development
dc.rights Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
dc.rights http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
dc.source MIT Web Domain
dc.title Overcoming Memory Limitations in Rule Learning
dc.type Article
dc.type http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle


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