Pattern perception and computational complexity: introduction to the special issue

Fitch, W. Tecumseh; Friederici, Angela D.; Hagoort, Peter

doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0099

Cited by 34 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Although the experiment was presented as a test for abilities beyond the finite-state level, it gave rise to a lot of discussion about whether it was a proper test for recursion [72]. The study also inspired similar experiments on songbirds, respectively starlings [73] and zebra finches [74].…”

Section: Animal Perception Of Syntaxmentioning

confidence: 98%

Revisiting the syntactic abilities of non-human animals: natural vocalizations and artificial grammar learning

Cate

Okanoya

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

135

103

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The domain of syntax is seen as the core of the language faculty and as the most critical difference between animal vocalizations and language. We review evidence from spontaneously produced vocalizations as well as from perceptual experiments using artificial grammars to analyse animal syntactic abilities, i.e. abilities to produce and perceive patterns following abstract rules. Animal vocalizations consist of vocal units (elements) that are combined in a species-specific way to create higher order strings that in turn can be produced in different patterns. While these patterns differ between species, they have in common that they are no more complex than a probabilistic finite-state grammar. Experiments on the perception of artificial grammars confirm that animals can generalize and categorize vocal strings based on phonetic features. They also demonstrate that animals can learn about the co-occurrence of elements or learn simple 'rules' like attending to reduplications of units. However, these experiments do not provide strong evidence for an ability to detect abstract rules or rules beyond finite-state grammars. Nevertheless, considering the rather limited number of experiments and the difficulty to design experiments that unequivocally demonstrate more complex rule learning, the question of what animals are able to do remains open.

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Section: Animal Perception Of Syntaxmentioning

confidence: 98%

Revisiting the syntactic abilities of non-human animals: natural vocalizations and artificial grammar learning

Cate

Okanoya

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

135

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Because all stimulus sets generated by finite-state grammars can also be parsed by context-free grammar, this may be a cognitive example of the aphorism “to a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail.” We might think of this bias as a form of dendrophilia—an inordinate fondness for tree structures—in our species. 119 …”

Section: The Phylogenetic Roots Of Hierarchical Sequencing: Comparatimentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchical processing in music, language, and action: Lashley revisited

Fitch

Martins

2014

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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205

201

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Sixty years ago, Karl Lashley suggested that complex action sequences, from simple motor acts to language and music, are a fundamental but neglected aspect of neural function. Lashley demonstrated the inadequacy of then-standard models of associative chaining, positing a more flexible and generalized “syntax of action” necessary to encompass key aspects of language and music. He suggested that hierarchy in language and music builds upon a more basic sequential action system, and provided several concrete hypotheses about the nature of this system. Here, we review a diverse set of modern data concerning musical, linguistic, and other action processing, finding them largely consistent with an updated neuroanatomical version of Lashley's hypotheses. In particular, the lateral premotor cortex, including Broca's area, plays important roles in hierarchical processing in language, music, and at least some action sequences. Although the precise computational function of the lateral prefrontal regions in action syntax remains debated, Lashley's notion—that this cortical region implements a working-memory buffer or stack scannable by posterior and subcortical brain regions—is consistent with considerable experimental data.

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“…Much of what differentiates human behavior from that of other species is related to an increased ability to represent and generate complex hierarchies (Conway & Christiansen, ; Dehaene, Meyniel, Wacongne, Wang, & Pallier, ; Everaert, Huybregts, Chomsky, Berwick, & Bolhuis, ; Fitch, Friederici, & Hagoort, ). This is evident across several domains, including language (Chomsky, ) and music (Jackendoff & Lerdahl, ; Lerdahl & Jackendoff, ), but also actions (Fitch & Martins, ; Lashley, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recursion in action: An fMRI study on the generation of new hierarchical levels in motor sequences

Martins

Bianco

Sammler

et al. 2019

Human Brain Mapping

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Generation of hierarchical structures, such as the embedding of subordinate elements into larger structures, is a core feature of human cognition. Processing of hierarchies is thought to rely on lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, the neural underpinnings supporting active generation of new hierarchical levels remain poorly understood. Here, we created a new motor paradigm to isolate this active generative process by means of fMRI. Participants planned and executed identical movement sequences by using different rules: a Recursive hierarchical embedding rule, generating new hierarchical levels; an Iterative rule linearly adding items to existing hierarchical levels, without generating new levels; and a Repetition condition tapping into short term memory, without a transformation rule. We found that planning involving generation of new hierarchical levels (Recursive condition vs. both Iterative and Repetition) activated a bilateral motor imagery network, including cortical and subcortical structures. No evidence was found for lateral PFC involvement in the generation of new hierarchical levels. Activity in basal ganglia persisted through execution of the motor sequences in the contrast Recursive versus Iteration, but also Repetition versus Iteration, suggesting a role of these structures in motor short term memory. These results showed that the motor network is involved in the generation of new hierarchical levels during motor sequence planning, while lateral PFC activity was neither robust nor specific. We hypothesize that lateral PFC might be important to parse hierarchical sequences in a multi‐domain fashion but not to generate new hierarchical levels.

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Pattern perception and computational complexity: introduction to the special issue

Cited by 34 publications

References 64 publications

Revisiting the syntactic abilities of non-human animals: natural vocalizations and artificial grammar learning

Revisiting the syntactic abilities of non-human animals: natural vocalizations and artificial grammar learning

Hierarchical processing in music, language, and action: Lashley revisited

Recursion in action: An fMRI study on the generation of new hierarchical levels in motor sequences

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