Descripción del proyecto
Estudio de los babuinos para aprender sobre el lenguaje humano
El uso de símbolos y del lenguaje es fundamental para la cognición humana. Estos se basan en la capacidad flexible de codificar la relación bidireccional aprendida. Todavía no conocemos el origen evolutivo del desarrollo de esta capacidad tan humana, dado que los experimentos recientes en primates no humanos no han logrado trazar relaciones de estímulos bidireccionales tras un aprendizaje unidireccional. Sin embargo, la mayoría de los procedimientos aplicados utilizó resultados que se midieron a partir de respuestas motoras específicas y se hizo un seguimiento de los sesgos. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos SymBa construirá nuevos experimentos utilizando una innovadora plataforma conductual de alto rendimiento para estudiar los procedimientos de aprendizaje de los babuinos con la ayuda de la robótica, incluyendo modelos de IA como redes neuronales recurrentes. El objetivo es descubrir los procesos de aparición de la simetría para explicar los aspectos fundamentales de la cognición humana.
Objetivo
Language and the symbolic use of labels underpin human cognition. As these features imply back and forths between label and labelled object, they require relational symmetry: the capacity to reverse a learned relation A->B into B->A. In non-human animals, such flexible encoding of bidirectional relations has been difficult to obtain experimentally, mostly due to their failure to reverse stimulus relations. This apparent absence of symmetry suggests an evolutionary gap at the origin of human language. Yet, a number of procedural biases, inlcuding perceptual ones, may account for this failure to demonstrate symmetry. Moreover, all studies have relied on specific motor outputs to reveal symmetry, whereas symmetric relations may simply not be learned in such an explicit form. Using the baboon as model primate species, and a worldwide unique, automatized, high-throughput behavioral platform as experimental system, we will conduct new experiments to re-assess this question. We will implement relational learning procedures which correct for all biases identified in past experiments, and rely on implicit rather than explicit measurements to test for the emergence of symmetry. Furthermore, we will study the effects of symmetry on stimulus networks, to assess the baboons’ abilities for flexible relational encoding when more stimuli are involved. A crucial feature of natural intelligence such as relational symnetry ought to be also considered in Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, as their relational learning abilities are still limited. We will thus investigate the capacity of existing connectionnist models (e.g. Recurrent Neural Networks) to learn symmetrical associations of stimuli, and will explore new architectures able to implement symmetry. Both symmetry or its absence in baboons would inform about the fundaments of human cognition. Hence, far-reaching implications are expected from this project, which may open new avenues of research in both AI and psychology.
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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
75794 Paris
Francia