Research Data

Abstract Rule Learning

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Rabagliati, Hugh

Other kind(s) of contributor

Metalab

Abstract / Description

Standardized CAMA dataset based on: Rabagliati, H., Ferguson, B., Lew‐Williams, C. The profile of abstract rule learning in infancy: Meta‐analytic and experimental evidence. Dev Sci. 2019; 22: e12704. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12704
Everyone agrees that infants possess general mechanisms for learning about the world, but the existence and operation of more specialized mechanisms is controversial. One mechanism—rule learning—has been proposed as potentially specific to speech, based on findings that 7‐month‐olds can learn abstract repetition rules from spoken syllables (e.g. ABB patterns: wo‐fe‐fe, ga‐tu‐tu…) but not from closely matched stimuli, such as tones. Subsequent work has shown that learning of abstract patterns is not simply specific to speech. However, we still lack a parsimonious explanation to tie together the diverse, messy, and occasionally contradictory findings in that literature. We took two routes to creating a new profile of rule learning: meta‐analysis of 20 prior reports on infants’ learning of abstract repetition rules (including 1,318 infants in 63 experiments total), and an experiment on learning of such rules from a natural, non‐speech communicative signal. These complementary approaches revealed that infants were most likely to learn abstract patterns from meaningful stimuli. We argue that the ability to detect and generalize simple patterns supports learning across domains in infancy but chiefly when the signal is meaningfully relevant to infants’ experience with sounds, objects, language, and people.

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2021-03-26

Publisher

PsychOpen CAMA

Is referenced by

Citation

Rabagliati, H. (2021). Abstract Rule Learning. PsychOpen CAMA. https://doi.org/10.23668/PSYCHARCHIVES.4740
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Rabagliati, Hugh
  • Other kind(s) of contributor
    Metalab
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2021-03-26T14:15:45Z
  • Made available on
    2021-03-26T14:15:45Z
  • Date of first publication
    2021-03-26
  • Abstract / Description
    Standardized CAMA dataset based on: Rabagliati, H., Ferguson, B., Lew‐Williams, C. The profile of abstract rule learning in infancy: Meta‐analytic and experimental evidence. Dev Sci. 2019; 22: e12704. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12704
    en_US
  • Abstract / Description
    Everyone agrees that infants possess general mechanisms for learning about the world, but the existence and operation of more specialized mechanisms is controversial. One mechanism—rule learning—has been proposed as potentially specific to speech, based on findings that 7‐month‐olds can learn abstract repetition rules from spoken syllables (e.g. ABB patterns: wo‐fe‐fe, ga‐tu‐tu…) but not from closely matched stimuli, such as tones. Subsequent work has shown that learning of abstract patterns is not simply specific to speech. However, we still lack a parsimonious explanation to tie together the diverse, messy, and occasionally contradictory findings in that literature. We took two routes to creating a new profile of rule learning: meta‐analysis of 20 prior reports on infants’ learning of abstract repetition rules (including 1,318 infants in 63 experiments total), and an experiment on learning of such rules from a natural, non‐speech communicative signal. These complementary approaches revealed that infants were most likely to learn abstract patterns from meaningful stimuli. We argue that the ability to detect and generalize simple patterns supports learning across domains in infancy but chiefly when the signal is meaningfully relevant to infants’ experience with sounds, objects, language, and people.
    en_US
  • Review status
    peerReviewed
  • Citation
    Rabagliati, H. (2021). Abstract Rule Learning. PsychOpen CAMA. https://doi.org/10.23668/PSYCHARCHIVES.4740
    en
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/4187
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4740
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychOpen CAMA
  • Is referenced by
    https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12704
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12704
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Abstract Rule Learning
    en_US
  • DRO type
    researchData