Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Γνωσιακή ΕπιστήμηLibrary of the School of Science
Supervisors info:
Κωνσταντίνος Μουτούσης , Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής,Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Φιλοσοφίας της Επιστήμης, ΕΚΠΑ
Αθανάσιος Πρωτόπαπας, Καθηγητής, Department of Special Needs Education, University of Oslo
Χριστίνα Παπαηλιού, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Επιστημών της Προσχολικής Αγωγής και Εκπαιδευτικού Σχεδιασμού, Πανεπιστήμιο Αιγαίου
Original Title:
Συνδετιστική Μοντελοποίηση Ελλειμμάτων της Γλωσσικής Ανάπτυξης σε Βρέφη και Νήπια με Διαταραχή Αυτιστικού Φάσματος
Translated title:
Connectionist Modeling of Language Developmental Impairments in Infants and Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Summary:
The presented research relates to the implementation of a connectionist model of the social-pragmatic approach for word learning (Caza & Knott, 2012) in order to test the main hypothesis that reduced numbers of successful joint attention episodes between infant/toddler and mother would increase the difference in acquisition between nouns and verbs as observed in Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The ratio of objects to actions in the observed event stream was properly manipulated to create the original noun-verb asymmetry which is observed in typical lexical developmental course. The research consists of two phases and three types of experiments. Regarding the endogenous criterion for correct word learning, ten simulations were run during the first phase for each of the combinations of three levels of communicative reliability and two levels of –not controlled from the model’s communicative intention detection filter– random associative learning, which is regarded by some researchers of the field as the primary mechanism of language learning in children with ASD. The initial simulations indicated that the reduction in the reliability of communicative actions does not lead to increased noun-verb asymmetry within the originally planned training epochs. Nevertheless, a relevant trend in the predicted direction appeared toward the end of training, suggesting that further simulations may help to resolve the issue. Pilot simulations with the model configured to implement a delayed decay of the residual associative learning indicated the same research strategy. In the frame of the second experimental phase and under the spirit of exploratory and data-driven research approach, an additional large set of protracted simulations, twenty for each of the now twelve conditions were carried out. The new results support the main research hypothesis and offer significant intuitions regarding the ways in which the early vocabulary acquisition is operated in developmental language disorders.
Main subject category:
Science
Keywords:
Language Development, Lexical Acquirement, Connectionist Model, Social-Pragmatic Theory, Joint Attention, Linguistic Bootstrapping, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD, Specific Language Disorder, SLI, Developmental Language Disorder, DLD, Nouns-Verbs Asymmetry, Categorical Asymmetry, Associative Learning, Developmental Psycholinguistics
