ISSN:0012-1630    

DOI:10.1002/dev.420230702

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractResearch on the ways in which different species of birds learn to sing is used to illustrate the necessity of taking innate factors into account in studies of behavioral development. Experiments on two species of songbirds are described that reveal innate species differences in responsiveness to taperecorded songs. Conspecific songs are favored over those of other species. These patterns of innately varying responsiveness provide a basis for the development, not of stereotyped behavior, but of variable, individually learned behavior. The viewpoint is presented that mechanisms that differ innately from species to species, some with general functions, others specialized for particular ontogenetic assignments, provide the necessary substrates with which experience interacts.

ISSN:0012-1630    

DOI:10.1002/dev.420230703

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractIn the animal psychobiology literature, the terms congenital, predetermined, heritable, and chronotypy each have meanings that can help differentiate implicit, sometimes hidden, elements of the broad and onerous term, “innate.” Relevant phenomena in animals' nonverbal recognition and communication systems are discussed. Several ontogenetic analyses reveal that thermotactile stimulation and other forms of heat are potent determinants of learning and attachment in a variety of endothermic species.We describe preliminary data from language evolution and word usage that mirror physiological and affective aspects of thermal stimuli in development. Specifically, we examine the thermal and affective meaning of “warm” and “cool” in languages used in temperate and in tropical climates, as well as the histories of such words in languages that derived from remote linguistic origins, namely Indo‐European and Proto‐Uralic roots. In each of these languages, there have evolved conjoint thermal and affective meanings that suggest a reflection of fundamental homeothermic biology in the psychology of

ISSN:0012-1630    

DOI:10.1002/dev.420230704

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThe cowbird is a brood parasite, providing no parental care to its offspring. The species has often been cited as a model of the usefulness of the construct of innate behavior, as an explanation of how young cowbirds develop species‐typical behavior. Here we evaluate the adequacy of this perspective. We show that although it is difficult to explain ontogenetic beginnings without recourse to the concept of innate behaviors, ontogenetic outcomes are less easily accommodated. Constraints on the explanatory power of innateness as an ontogenetic concept are demonstrated with data from the development of singing in cowbirds and the development of babbling in human infant

ISSN:0012-1630    

DOI:10.1002/dev.420230705

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis article approaches the linguistic innateness issue from the perspective of a nonhuman species, the bonobo, an ape which is generally taken to be the best living model for early hominids. Recent studies indicate that a bonobo reared with humans comes spontaneously to comprehend spoken words, to produce novel two word combinations, and to respond appropriately to syntactically ordered sentences.The differences between the use of word combinations to say what one word can accomplish and combinations that convey a novel idea not transmittable by a single word is emphasized. It is argued that the use of such novel combinations must have preceded the appearance of syntax in the evolution of language. The use of multiword novel combinations has not received sufficient attention in the literature because of the erroneous assumption that novel meanings could only be achieved through syntactical structure. Consequently the significance of the ape's linguistic competence has been severely undervalued.

ISSN:0012-1630    

DOI:10.1002/dev.420230706

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractLinguistic innateness is a fundamentally physical notion, which ultimately requires independent physical evidence. For spoken language, it is relevant to consider babbling, components of which are unaffected by ambient stimulation and are predicted by models of vocal tract function. Links between babbling and speech point to innate factors in the ontogeny of spoken language and invite attention to central control mechanisms. These neural capabilities enable oral language learning by providing children with control over an initial stock of speech‐like movements and by directing their attention to salient linguistic patterns. Dispositions to attend to some cues are so strong that little stimulation is required. In other cases, predispositions are weak, and acquisition requires correspondingly more experience. To understand the ontogeny of language, we need to learn which cases are which and to know how these interactions occur and change over the course of acquisitio

ISSN:0012-1630    

DOI:10.1002/dev.420230707

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractLanguage is species‐specific, species‐wide, and highly structured. Its principles (Universal Grammar) are innate (genetically determined) in the child, although some linguistic capacity is subject to a maturational schedule, examples of which are given. Some particular aspects of language are learned, in a way driven by Universal Grammar. However, empiricist “learning theories” of all types are far too weak to be useful in explaining either the final adult language or the precise timing of developmental processes. The assumption of Universal Grammar is, in fact, crucial in explaining what kind of learning actually take

ISSN:0012-1630    

DOI:10.1002/dev.420230708

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractInput and innateness compliment one another in language acquisition. Children exposed to different languages acquire different languages. Children's language experience, however, underdetermines the grammars that they acquire; the constraints that are not supplied by input must be available endogenously, and the ultimate origin of these endogenous contributions to acquistion may be traced to the biology of the mind. To the extent that assumptions of innateness encourage greater explicitness in the formulation of theories of acquisition, they should be welcomed. Excessively powerful assumptions of innateness may not be subject to empirical disconfirmation, however. Therefore, attention should be devoted to the development of a theory of language input, particularly with regard to identifying invariants of input. In combination with a linguistic theory providing an account of the end‐state of acquisition, a theory of input would permit the deduction of properties of the mind that underlie the acquisition of languag

ISSN:0012-1630    

DOI:10.1002/dev.420230709

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractI argue for a new functionalist approach to language development, an ecological approach. A realist orientation is used that locates the causes of language development neither in the child nor in the language environment but in the functioning of perceptual systems that detect language‐world relationship and use them to guide attention and action. The theory requires no concept of innateness, thus avoiding problems inherent in either the innate ideas or the genes‐as‐causal‐programs explanations of the source of structure in language. An ecological explanation of language is discussed in relation to concepts and language, language as representation, problems in early word learning, metaphor, and syntactic development. Finally, problems incurred in using the idea of innateness are summarized: History prior to the chosen beginning point is ignored, data on organism‐environment mutuality are not collected, and the explanation claims no effects of learning, which cannot be tested em

ISSN:0012-1630    

DOI:10.1002/dev.420230710

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractRecent challenges from a variety of fields suggest a re‐examination of the nativist position and its implications for child language and communication research and theory. Basic assumptions crucial to the innatist position influence researchers to ignore the source of input, its characteristics, and its impact on language development. In contrast, from a socio‐perceptual/ecological position, the linchpin of the emergence of language is the dynamic structure of the social‐interactive environment in which the child develops. Evidence from a series of studies investigating the social and perceptual bases of the emergence of the lexicon is marshaled to support and illustrate this perspective. Parallel arguments can and ought to be constructed to explain other aspects of language lea

ISSN:0012-1630    

DOI:10.1002/dev.420230711

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY