Judit Gervain will discuss the parallels and the differences between infant language acquisition and AI language learning, focusing on the early stages of language learning in infants. In particular, she will compare and contrast the type and amount of input infants and Large Language Models need to learn language, the learning trajectories, and the presence/absence of critical periods. She has used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as well as cross-linguistic behavioral studies to shed light on how prenatal linguistic exposure and early perceptual abilities influence language development. Her work has shown that infants discern patterns and grammatical structures from minimal input, a capability that AI systems strive to emulate.

 

References

Mariani, B., Nicoletti, G., Barzon, G., Ortiz Barajas, M. C., Shukla, M., Guevara, R., ... & Gervain, J. (2023). Prenatal experience with language shapes the brain. Science Advances, 9(47), eadj3524.

Nallet, C., Berent, I., Werker, J. F., & Gervain, J. (2023). The neonate brain's sensitivity to repetition‐based structure: Specific to speech? Developmental Science, 26(6), e13408.

de la Cruz-Pavía, I., & Gervain, J. (2023). Six-month-old infants' perception of structural regularities in speech. Cognition, 238, 105526.