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Article published In:
Interaction Studies
Vol. 17:1 (2016) ► pp.101–127

Children’s referent selection and word learning

Insights from a developmental robotic system

| Lancaster University, UK
| University of Plymouth, UK
| University of Plymouth, UK
| University of Sussex, UK

It is well-established that toddlers can correctly select a novel referent from an ambiguous array in response to a novel label. There is also a growing consensus that robust word learning requires repeated label-object encounters. However, the effect of the context in which a novel object is encountered is less well-understood. We present two embodied neural network replications of recent empirical tasks, which demonstrated that the context in which a target object is encountered is fundamental to referent selection and word learning. Our model offers an explicit account of the bottom-up associative and embodied mechanisms which could support children’s early word learning and emphasises the importance of viewing behaviour as the interaction of learning at multiple timescales.

Keywords: word learning, referent selection, fast mapping, self-organizing maps, developmental robotics, iCub, Epigenetic Robotics Architecture, competition, novelty
Article outline
  • 1.Computational and robotic insights into development
  • 2.Experiment 1: The effect of competition on referent selection and word learning
    • 2.1Target empirical data
      • 2.1.1Design and procedure
      • 2.1.2Results
      • 2.1.3Paying attention to what an object is not
    • 2.2The iCub and the Epigenetic Robotics Architecture
    • 2.3Simulating referent selection and word learning in a robotic system
      • 2.3.1Design and procedure
        • 2.3.1.1Simulating children’s known vocabulary
        • 2.3.1.2Cross-situational learning and referent selection
        • 2.3.1.3Testing word learning
      • 2.3.2Results
    • 2.4Discussion
    • 2.5“Mutual exclusivity” can emerge from simple associations
  • 3.Experiment 2: The effect of novelty on referent selection
    • 3.1Target empirical data
    • 3.2Design and procedure
      • 3.2.1Simulating children’s known vocabulary
      • 3.2.2Cross-situational learning and referent selection
    • 3.3Results
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.General discussion
  • 6.Referent selection via cross-situational associative learning
  • 7.Multiple timescales and the effect of embodiment
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 7 October 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.17.1.05two
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