Nonlinguistic Learning Research Articles

A Daoist Pedagogy Encountering New Materialism in Art Education

In this article, we explore three Daoist concepts in East Asian historical and cultural contexts, addressing Daoism and its educational significance in connecting with new materialism theory. We argue that Daoism’s nonaction, the interdependence of things and concepts, and nonlinguistic learning allow us to expand art education from the Cartesian focus on the mind to a balanced art education practice of including affects and nonlinguistic ways of exploration. We also provide suggestions for art education pedagogy and practice reflecting on both Daoism and new materialism’s theoretical constructs.

Unlearnable phonotactics

The Subregular Hypothesis (Heinz 2010) states that only patterns with specific subregular computational properties are phonologically learnable. Lai (2015) provided the initial laboratory support for this hypothesis. The current study aimed to replicate and extend the earlier findings by using a different experimental paradigm (oddball task) and a different measure of learning (sensitivity index, d′). Specifically, we compared the learnability of two phonotactic patterns that differ computationally and typologically: a simple rule (“First-Last Assimilation”) that requires agreement between the first and last segment of a word (predicted to be unlearnable), and a harmony rule (“Sibilant Harmony”) that requires the agreement of features throughout the word (predicted to be learnable). The First-Last Assimilation rule was tested under two experimental conditions: one where the training data were also consistent with the Sibilant Harmony rule, and one where the training data were only consistent with the First-Last rule. As in Lai (2015), we found that participants were significantly more sensitive to violations of the Sibilant Harmony (SH) rule than to the First-Last Assimilation (FL) rules. However, unlike Lai (2015), we also found that participants showed some residual sensitivity to the First-Last rule, but that sensitivity interacted with rule type so that participants were significantly more sensitive to SH rule violations. We conclude that participants in Artificial Grammar Learning experiments exhibit evidence of Universal Grammar constraining their learning, but patterns predicted to be unlearnable as a linguistic system can still be learned to some degree, due to non-linguistic learning mechanisms.

Examining the relationship between language and learning: Insights from the serial reaction time task

Examining the relationship between language and learning: Insights from the serial reaction time task

Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Paired Associate Learning in Aphasia

Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Paired Associate Learning in Aphasia

Does linguistic ability impact nonlinguistic learning? The neural bases of nonlinguistic learning in aphasia

Does linguistic ability impact nonlinguistic learning? The neural bases of nonlinguistic learning in aphasia

Nonlinguistic Learning in Individuals With Aphasia: Effects of Training Method and Stimulus Characteristics

The purpose of the current study was to explore nonlinguistic learning ability in individuals with aphasia, examining the impact of stimulus typicality and feedback on success with learning. Eighteen individuals with aphasia and 8 nonaphasic controls participated in this study. All participants completed 4 computerized, nonlinguistic category-learning tasks. Learning ability was probed under 2 methods of instruction: feedback-based (FB) and paired-associate (PA). The impact of task complexity on learning ability was also examined, comparing 2 stimulus conditions: typical and atypical. Performance was compared between groups and across conditions. The controls were able to successfully learn categories under all conditions. For the individuals with aphasia, 2 patterns of performance arose: One subgroup of individuals was able to maintain learning across task manipulations and conditions; the other subgroup demonstrated a sensitivity to task complexity, learning successfully only in the typical training conditions. Results support the hypothesis that impairments of general learning are present in individuals with aphasia. Some individuals demonstrated the ability to extract category information under complex training conditions; others learned only under conditions that were simplified and that emphasized salient category features. Overall, the typical training condition facilitated learning for all of the participants. Findings have implications for treatment, which are discussed.

Non-linguistic learning and aphasia: Evidence from a paired associate and feedback-based task

Though aphasia is primarily characterized by impairments in the comprehension and/or expression of language, research has shown that patients with aphasia also show deficits in cognitive-linguistic domains such as attention, executive function, concept knowledge and memory. Research in aphasia suggests that cognitive impairments can impact the online construction of language, new verbal learning, and transactional success. In our research, we extend this hypothesis to suggest that general cognitive deficits influence progress with therapy. The aim of our study is to explore learning, a cognitive process that is integral to relearning language, yet underexplored in the field of aphasia rehabilitation. We examine non-linguistic category learning in patients with aphasia (n=19) and in healthy controls (n=12), comparing feedback and non-feedback based instruction. Participants complete two computer-based learning tasks that require them to categorize novel animals based on the percentage of features shared with one of two prototypes. As hypothesized, healthy controls showed successful category learning following both methods of instruction. In contrast, only 60% of our patient population demonstrated successful non-linguistic category learning. Patient performance was not predictable by standardized measures of cognitive ability. Results suggest that general learning is affected in aphasia and is a unique, important factor to consider in the field of aphasia rehabilitation.

Inter- and intra-dimensional dependencies in implicit phonotactic learning

Is phonological learning subject to the same inductive biases as learning in other domains? Previous studies of non-linguistic learning found that intra-dimensional dependencies (between two instances of the same feature) were learned more easily than inter-dimensional ones. This study compares implicit learning of intra- and inter-dimensional phonotactic dependencies. A series of six unsupervised implicit-learning experiments shows that a pattern based on agreement between two instances of the same feature is easier to learn than one based on correlation between instances of two different features. The results are interpreted as evidence for domain-general restrictions on the form of domain-specific learning primitives.