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From: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Early Language Learning & Ancient Language
Summary: Early learning gets "hardwired".
Message-ID: <1990May25.142052.16989@athena.mit.edu>
Date: 25 May 90 14:20:52 GMT
References: <17809@ultima.cs.uts.oz> <2246@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU> <6544@ucrmath.UCR.EDU> <17833@ultima.cs.uts.oz>
Reply-To: ccimino@hstbme.mit.edu.UUCP (c cimino)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 10

Many cognitive psych studies have been done (in humans and animals) concerning
how early learning effects later learning.  The classic studies in babies
looked abilitiy to differentiate sounds.  After a certain age, if the babies
have not been exposed to those sounds, they are no longer able to learn to 
differentiate ('l' and 'r' in japanese children for example).  The extreme
example is cats raise in darkness.  When they are eventually taken out of the
darkness, they are blind.  They never "learn" to see.
From: ccimino@hstbme.mit.edu (c cimino)
Path: hstbme.mit.edu!ccimino

Chris Cimino, MD   MGH Lab of Computer Science