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Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

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Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
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Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language01:10

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Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
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Language Development01:22

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Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
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Causes of Similarity-Dissimilarity Effect01:26

Causes of Similarity-Dissimilarity Effect

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The similarity-dissimilarity effect, a fundamental concept in social psychology, explains how interpersonal similarities and differences influence attraction and social interactions. This effect is supported by three key psychological perspectives: balance theory, social comparison theory, and consensual validation.Balance Theory and Cognitive ConsistencyBalance theory, developed by Fritz Heider, posits that individuals seek cognitive consistency in their relationships. When two people share...
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Components of Language01:24

Components of Language

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Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs.
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Language01:16

Language

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Language is a unique communication system that uses words and systematic rules to organize and transmit information. Unlike other forms of communication, which may involve postures, movements, odors, or vocalizations, language relies on symbols and grammar. This makes human communication distinct from that of other species, who also communicate but do not use language in the same way humans do.
Corballis and Suddendorf (2007) and Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003) highlight the role of language in...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 12, 2025

Measuring Statistical Learning Across Modalities and Domains in School-Aged Children Via an Online Platform and Neuroimaging Techniques
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Deep Learnability: Using Neural Networks to Quantify Language Similarity and Learnability.

Clara Cohen1, Catherine F Higham2, Syed Waqar Nabi2

  • 1English Language & Linguistics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence
|March 18, 2021
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Language similarity speeds second language (L2) acquisition. This study used artificial languages and neural networks to quantify similarity effects, confirming its facilitative role in L2 learning.

Keywords:
artificial languagescomputational modelingdeep learninglanguage similaritysecond-language acquisition

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Area of Science:

  • Computational Linguistics
  • Cognitive Science
  • Artificial Intelligence

Background:

  • Second language (L2) acquisition is generally faster when the L2 is similar to the first language (L1).
  • Quantifying global language similarity and its precise impact on learnability remains challenging.
  • Traditional experimental methods face limitations in generalizability due to numerous language pairs and learner variables.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a novel, generalizable approach for quantifying the effect of linguistic similarity on L2 learnability.
  • To investigate how different domains of similarity influence the rate of L2 acquisition.
  • To provide a proof of concept for applying this methodology to natural language pairs.

Main Methods:

  • Creation of five artificial languages with controlled, quantifiable similarity in grammar and vocabulary.
  • Development of neural network models simulating L1 speakers learning L2s through sequential training.
  • Analysis of neural network activity changes to estimate learning effort and correlate it with inter-language similarity.

Main Results:

  • The artificial language approach successfully recovered the known facilitative effect of similarity on L2 acquisition.
  • Demonstrated that similarity significantly impacts learning efficiency, with variations across different linguistic domains.
  • The model's learning change correlated with the predefined similarity levels between artificial languages.

Conclusions:

  • Artificial languages and neural networks offer a controllable and generalizable framework for studying L2 acquisition.
  • Linguistic similarity is a quantifiable factor that significantly influences L2 learning speed and efficiency.
  • This methodology can provide deeper insights into the mechanisms of language learning applicable to natural languages.