Theabilityofyounglearnerstomakesuccessfulpredictionsabouttheeffectsoftheirimmaturebehavioron parentsmaypromotecommunicativedevelopment.Onemechanismbywhichinfants?predictiveskillscould developiscuriosity-drivenlearning(CDL),whichproposesthatlearningisdirectedthroughtheintrinsicreward ofreducinguncertaintyviaexploratorybehaviors(Oudeyer&Smith,2016).Viaexposuretotheprobabilistic structureoftheworld(e.g.invisualsequences),infantsmaygeneratepredictionsabouttheprobabilitiesof laterevents.Onlysomeofthesepredictionswillbecorrect,andthediscrepancycanattractinfantattention, withinteresthighestatmoderatediscrepancylevels(Kinney&Kagan1976).Internallygeneratedpredictions abouteventsmaythusdirectinfantattentiontostimuli,andshapesubsequentlearning.However,whileCDL hasbeenstudiedinnon-socialdomains,ithasnotbeenappliedtolearninginsocialinteractions.Parentsmay scaffoldthecommunicativedevelopmentofinfantsbyprovidinginteractionsthatadapttoinfantlearning progress.
The aims ofthisprojectaretoinvestigatewhetherCDLisamechanismofsociallyguidedvocaland communicativedevelopment,bothinamodelspecies,thezebrafinch(Taeniopygiaguttata),andinhuman infants.Therearemanyparallelsbetweenzebrafinchesandhumaninfantsinneuralandsocialstructure,and intheroleofcontingencyinsociallyguidedvocallearning.Zebrafinchesalsohaveashortdevelopmentaltime periodandaneasilyobtainedlearningoutcomemeasure(adultsong),andthusserveasanidealmodel speciesforinvestigationsintothemechanismsofcommunicativedevelopmentunderconditionsofmaximal experimentalcontrol.Findingsfromsongbirdscanalsoinformthehumaninfantlearningliteraturebyindicating manipulationsofresponsecontentandvariationthatcouldinfluencethestructureofmaturevocalizations.The proposedresearchconsistsoftwophasescarriedoutinbothsongbirdsandhumaninfants.Thefirstphasewill titrateouttheinfluenceofpredictabilityonlearningbymanipulatingthepatternofcontingentresponsesto infantvocalizations,thustestingtheconditionswhenCDLfacilitatesattentionandlearning.Inzebrafinches, thiswillbedoneviavideoplaybackofadultresponsetojuveniles,andinhumans,experimenter-cuedparental responsestotheirinfants.Infantsofbothspeciesareexpectedtolearnbetterwithintermediateamountsof predictabilityinparentalresponse.Thesecondphasewillobserveinnaturalisticcontextswhetherparents exhibitsufficientlypredictablepatternsofresponsetoinfantvocalizationsthatCDLcouldserveasa mechanismofvocallearning,andifparentcharacteristicspredicttheirresponseconsistency.Parentswith moreconsistent(i.e.predictable)responsepatternsshouldpromoteinfantcommunicativedevelopment.The proposedresearch,byinvestigatingthepredictivecapacitiesofyounglearners(asdrivenbyCDL)andthe typicalamountofpredictableadultbehaviorinsocialinteractions,couldinforminterventionprogramsfor childrenwithautism,andsuggesthowdisordersinpredictionmayemergeoverdevelopment.
Thisprojectexaminesthemechanismsofsociallyguidedvocallearninginhumaninfantsandyoung songbirds.Communicativedevelopmentmayrelyoncuriosity-drivenlearning,wherethestructuredinteraction patternsofparentsallowinfantstogenerateandtestpredictionsastotheefficacyoftheirvocalizations.The resultsofthisstudymayinformstrategiesfordetectinganddesigninginterventionprogramsforinfantswith developmentaldisordersofprediction,suchasautism.
