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Poster De Conférence Année : 2021

Probabilities, Dependencies and Frequency Are Not All Equally Involved in Artificial Word Learning

Résumé

The ability to learn transitional probabilities (TPs), adjacent and non-adjacent dependencies and frequency is central to language processing. Current evidence indicates that both frequency and transitional probability impact the memorization of sequences, but it is not sure yet which type of information prevails. Also, adjacent and non-adjacent pairs do not seem to be equally learnable based on statistical learning. These three factors however are not yet integrated into a unique model predicting learning, whereas they are all supposed to play a critical role in statistical learning. The present study thus investigated the concurrent roles of transitional probability, frequency and adjacency within a single task aiming at having participants learn artificial words. Participants were exposed to four conditions, with each condition consisting in four words (sequences of three syllables without meaning) governed by a specific rule. The first condition tested first order TP between adjacent elements, where the second syllable only allowed to predict the third. The second condition tested first order TP between non-adjacent elements, where the first syllable only allowed to predict the third. The next condition tested second order TP, where only the combination of the two first syllables allowed to predict the third. The last condition tested the effect of the frequency for a given second order TP, by presenting two words five times per block, a third word two times per block and the fourth word eight times per block. All words were presented randomly in each block of the experiment. Participants had to perform a target detection task on the vowels that corresponded to the last syllable of each word, and which were fully predictable from the rules that governed the conditions. Correct answer rates and response times (RTs) were recorded. Each participant completed five sessions of ten blocks (eighty trials per block), one session per day for five days. A transfer block at the end of the last session was added to test whether participants could adapt to a switch inverting the vowels (but maintaining the rest of the rules). The results showed that words were learned in all conditions with an increase of correct answer rates, a decrease of RTs during the learning phase, and a drop of performance during the switch phase. Results further indicated easier learning of first order TPs with higher correct responses and shorter RTs compared second order TPs. We also observed an advantage for adjacent dependencies over non-adjacent ones. Moreover, a low frequency caused lower correct answer rates and slower RTs and seemed to interfere with the learning of new words . Analysis of frequency and first order TPs in the condition where the effect of the frequency for a given second order TP was tested indicated a prevalence of TPs over frequency at the end of the learning process.

Domaines

Psychologie
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Dates et versions

hal-03509434 , version 1 (04-01-2022)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-03509434 , version 1

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Laura Lazartigues, Fabien Mathy, Frédéric Lavigne. Probabilities, Dependencies and Frequency Are Not All Equally Involved in Artificial Word Learning. 2021 Virtual APS Convention, May 2021, Virtuel, France. ⟨hal-03509434⟩
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