In this paper we investigate a computational model of word learning that is cognitively plausible. The model is partly trained on incorrect form-referent pairings, modelling the input to a word-learning child that may contain such mismatches due to inattention to a joint communicative scene. We introduce a procedure of active learning, based on attested cognitive processes. We then show how thi...

Humans are adapted to spontaneously transfer relevant cultural knowledge to conspecifics and to fast-learn the contents of such teaching through a human-specific social learning system called 'pedagogy' (Csibra & Gergely, 2006). Pedagogical knowledge transfer is triggered by specific communicative cues (such as eye-contact, contingent reactivity, the prosodic pattern of 'motherese', and being a...

Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Abbreviations: FXS: Fragile X syndrome; PVET: Passive-Viewing Eye Tracking Task; MSEL: Mullen Scales of Early Learning; PLS: Preschool Language Scale; FMR1: Fragile X Mental Retardation 1; FMRP: FMR1 Protein; SSRI: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor; ASD: Autism Spectrum Disorder; CA: Chronological Age; MA: Mental Age; CDI: MacArthur-Bates Commu...

This paper is concerned with the design of interactive teaching systems from the point of view of dialogue theory. It is argued that transparency and naturalness are important qualities of a dialogue for the student, helping him to concentrate on the learning task (thanks to naturalness) and to understand his own performance (thanks to transparency). It is argued that these qualities are also i...

It has been recently reported that adult domestic dogs, like human infants, tend to commit perseverative search errors; that is, they select the previously rewarded empty location in Piagetian A-not-B search task because of the experimenter's ostensive communicative cues. There is, however, an ongoing debate over whether these findings reveal that dogs can use the human ostensive referential co...

We investigated whether the social context in which an object is experienced influences the encoding of its various properties. We hypothesized that when an object is observed in a communicative context, its intrinsic features (such as its shape) would be preferentially encoded at the expense of its extrinsic properties (such as its location). In 3 experiments, participants were presented with ...

The purpose of the present research was to examine the influence of communication goals and physical demands on the expression of communicative (e.g., facial grimaces) and protective (e.g., guarding) pain behaviors. Participants with musculoskeletal conditions (N=50) were asked to lift a series of weights under two communication goal conditions. In one condition, participants were asked to esti...

On-line learning is one of the emerging needs of the information age. Access to education is going to become crucial for the success of our information society. Therefore a lot of potential is seen in distance learning and distributed virtual environments. The communicative character of the distributed virtual environments would allow for students and stuff to meet in social shared spaces and e...

Learning often occurs in communicative and collaborative settings, yet almost all research into the neural basis of memory relies on participants encoding and retrieving information on their own. We investigated whether learning linguistic labels in a collaborative context at least partly relies on cognitively and neurally distinct representations, as compared to learning in an individual conte...

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have known impairments in social and motor skills. Identifying putative underlying mechanisms of these impairments could lead to improved understanding of the etiology of core social/communicative deficits in ASDs, and identification of novel intervention targets. The ability to perceptually integrate one's physical capacities with one's environ...