For this lecture you will be reading one of the early papers of my colleague Kenny Smith, Smith (2002). The paper is based around the matrix/network model we have been working with, and introduces iterated learning. Iterated learning happens when learners learn by observing the behaviour of other individuals who learnt in the same way. Language is transmitted by iterated learning: you learn a language by observing the linguistic behaviour of people who learnt their language by observing the linguistic behaviour of people who learnt their language by etc etc etc. The majority of the rest of this course will be spent working with models of iterated learning. In particular we’ll be thinking about what kinds of linguistic systems emerge out of iterated learning, what determines the kinds of systems that iterated learning produces, and what this means for our understanding of language and the human capacity for language.
You have already seen nearly all of the components of the model that I used in this paper, and in the next lab class (after Iterated Innovative Learning Week) you will get to mess about with iterated learning and try to reproduce his results. A couple of things to bear in mind when reading the paper:
- Kenny introduces the model in a rather formal way, but the thing to remember is that you already know how this network model works. You know how meanings and signals are represented, you know how winner-take-all production works, and you know how learning works, with a range of learning rules.
- [I AM ADDING THIS ONE FOLLOWING A QUERY IN THE POST-READING QUIZ LAST YEAR] ^ in the paper (it appears in the definition of a rule that is +learner) means “and”.
As usual, once you have done the reading, do the post-reading quiz then look at the comments Kenny himself made on these questions last year.
References
Smith, K. (2002). The cultural evolution of communication in a population of neural networks. Connection Science, 14, 65-84.