Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center an NSF Science of Learning Center

Participants: Patricia Kuhl (UW), Alexis Bosseler (UW), Andrew Meltzoff (UW), Reed Stevens (UW), Adrian Sierra-Garcia (UW); LIFE Partner Harriett Romo (University of Texas at San Antonio)

Focus. What brain mechanisms underlie the “social effects” in language learning as documented by Kuhl and colleagues (Kuhl et al., 2003; Conboy et al., 2008). IU3’s studies are focusing on the mechanisms that underlie the social effects on language learning. Our hypothesis is that the social brain “gates” the computational mechanisms underling language learning (Kuhl, 2007).

Research Findings. IU3 work demonstrated, for the first time, that infants learn phonemes and words readily from a new language at 9 months in “live” social interactions (Conboy & Kuhl, 2007, 2008). Highly relevant to LIFE’s Purpose, we also showed that measures of social engagement between the foreign-language “tutors” and infants during the exposure sessions predict the brain measures of learning for phonemes and for words (Conboy et al., 2008; Stevens et al., 2008). Moreover, we found that infants’ executive control skills, which have been shown in previous studies to be enhanced in adult and child bilinguals, are enhanced post-exposure in infants who showed significant foreign-language phoneme learning (Conboy, Sommerville, & Kuhl, 2008). LIFE’s findings in the language exposure experiments have generated excitement among neuro- and cognitive scientists; six journal publications are in prep.

LIFE’s hypothesis in the domain of language is that social factors “gate” the computational mechanisms of language learning (Kuhl, 2007; Kuhl et al., 2008), and that motivation (arousal and attention) as well as information (eye gaze following, joint visual attention) play a critical role in explaining the effects of social interaction on learning. IU3’s work will elucidate this theoretical issue.

We are conducting experiments to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the difference in learning in “live” vs. “televised” conditions in infants. We will capitalize on MEG technology to examine infant brain activation under the two conditions. Our studies on the activation of Broca’s area during language stimulation in infancy (Imada et al., 2006; Imada et al., 2008), allow a specific hypothesis to be tested: Is Broca’s area activation systematically related to the “socialness” of the agent producing language?

MEG studies will also be undertaken with older children to advance the mechanism question. Raizada, Richards, Meltzoff, & Kuhl (2008) reported that low socio-economic status (SES) is linked to fMRI brain measures in Broca’s area at the age of 5 years. Using MEG (fMRI cannot be used in children under the age of 5) we will examine these relationships in children between 6 months and 3 years of age. LIFE thus has the opportunity to understand the links between SES and language in children aged 0-5 from a diverse SES group using longitudinal investigations that could potentially elucidate not only the relationship between SES and language but its brain basis.

Brain measures (ERP) and the ethnographic socio-cultural data on 50 families involved in LIFE’s partnership with the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), which began when the children were infants, will show whether and how socio-cultural supports for language in the home affect language outcomes. As this longitudinal study continues, and when combined with the longitudinal study already underway on bilingual vs. monolingual language learning in four countries (Japan, Finland, Sweden and the US), LIFE has the opportunity to chart the developmental course of children who experience two languages from birth. These findings are important for theory as well as for society’s understanding of bilingualism.

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Participants: Patricia Kuhl (UW), Mari Ostendorf (UW Engineering), Javier Movellan (San Diego SLC), Reed Stevens (UW)

Focus. What features of “live” language situations enhance learning from non-human sources?

Research Findings. LIFE work demonstrates that social engagement during “live” language interventions predicts the degree of phoneme and word learning (Conboy et al., 2008; Conboy & Kuhl, 2007).

LIFE’s studies are now utilizing technology (television, robots) to investigate which aspects of the “social” live situation are critical to language learning in infants and young children. Features that increase motivation (measured by arousal and/or attention), as well as features that provide specific information about words (measured by joint visual attention) will be systematically varied and their effects on learning examined. We will examine how specific features of human social interaction, such as contingency and interactivity, which increase arousal and attention in live situations, affect learning with non-human “tutors.” Behavioral and MEG measures will be used to assess learning. LIFE has the opportunity to identify the critical components involved in learning language from non-human tutors in Years 6-10, and also to develop nonhuman tutors that increase language learning at all ages.

Kuhl’s collaborative work with Javier Movellan (San Diego SLC) and his “social robot” takes another tack to isolate aspects of interaction during language learning. This robot incorporates human facial features (moving head and eyes, etc.), and will be programmed to exhibit specific social dynamics, such as a “motherese” speaking style and eye-gaze following, while interacting with children. The robot’s vocalizations will be programmed to be contingent on children’s actions and/or their verbal behavior. The question is what defines a “social agent” for a child, and whether a robot that interacts more socially will induce new language learning in children. Meltzoff’s work (in IU5) is also examining how social interaction helps young children treat robots as social agents.

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Participants: Patricia Kuhl (UW), Yapeng Wang (UW Postdoctoral Fellow); Lotus Lin (UW Graduate Student) Nairán Ramírez-Esparza (UW Postdoctoral Fellow), LIFE Partner Kathy Harris (Portland State)

Focus. Neuroplasticity for learning a second language is known to decline after puberty. Can we understand what constrains second language learning with increasing age, and foster adult learning?

Research Findings. IE3’s Adult MEG studies in Years 1-4 on second language learning in adults, suggest that adults who learn second-languages late (after puberty) experience “interference” when trying to process a new language (Zhang et al., 2005). Moreover, LIFE studies are advancing our understanding of late bilingual language learning on arithmetic calculations-to calculate an addition problem in one’s second language requires “translation” of number facts into the first language (Wang, Lin, Kuhl & Hirsch, 2007). There is motivation to improve second language learning in adulthood. LIFE studies show that advances can be made in adult learning by capitalizing on the principles that foster language learning in children (Zhang et al., under revision).

IU3’s goal is to understand the mechanisms that constrain language learning over age (addressing Mission 1) as well as to create new learning environments that enhance adult second-language learning (addressing Mission 2). IU3 is focused on the role that social interaction plays in adult learning, and the brain mechanisms that support cognitive control over the two languages in bilingual adults. LIFE post-doctoral Fellow Yapeng Wang (Wang et al., 2007) is using fMRI techniques to examine language processing and executive functions in proficient bilingual speakers to examine whether social cues (the sight of a person who knows one language but not the other) aid cognitive switching from one language to another.

The goal of teaching adults second languages through social interaction will be aided by collaboration with researchers at Portland State University and their National Labsite for Adult ESL (English as a Second Language). Kuhl and post-doctoral Fellow Nairán Ramírez-Esparza have begun to examine a large corpus of classroom interaction and long-term outcomes contained in the Multimedia Adult English Learner Corpus (MAELC). The MAELC contains 4,000 hours of video and audio-recorded classroom interaction made by six cameras and five microphones on 800 students. The corpus includes students’ program participation, hours of instruction, formal education experience, age, and standardized assessments of oral proficiency and literacy. These studies will examine the social supports for learning in formal educational settings and the micro-genesis of learning. Based on these studies, IU3 will design learning environments for adult second-language learning beyond the “critical period.” If successful, the effort could have a broad impact on society and adult education. Facility with a second language is becoming more economically and socially valued in the US educational system and workplace.

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On February 15th, 2007, LIFE Informal Lead Philip Bell gave an invited talk on “How children and families learn in urban multicultural communities” during a public town hall lecture in downtown Seattle. The session explored was focused on “Closing the Gap: New Strategies for a Changing 21st Century Classroom.” The event, sponsored by the College of Education at the University of Washington, was attended by over 150 educators and citizens. A video of the Town Hall Event is available as well as an online article summarizing aspects of the research presented.