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Trends in cognitive sciences
Mar, 2015;19 (3): 117-25.

Domain generality versus modality specificity: the paradox of statistical learning.

Ram Frost, Blair C Armstrong, Noam Siegelman, Morten H Christiansen
Author Information
  1. Ram Frost: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA; Basque Center for Cognition, Brain, and Language, San Sebastian, Spain. Electronic address: ram.frost@mail.huji.ac.il.
  2. Blair C Armstrong: Basque Center for Cognition, Brain, and Language, San Sebastian, Spain.
  3. Noam Siegelman: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
  4. Morten H Christiansen: Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT, USA; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
PMID: 25631249 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2014.12.010

Abstract

Statistical learning (SL) is typically considered to be a domain-general mechanism by which cognitive systems discover the underlying distributional properties of the input. However, recent studies examining whether there are commonalities in the learning of distributional information across different domains or modalities consistently reveal modality and stimulus specificity. Therefore, important questions are how and why a hypothesized domain-general learning mechanism systematically produces such effects. Here, we offer a theoretical framework according to which SL is not a unitary mechanism, but a set of domain-general computational principles that operate in different modalities and, therefore, are subject to the specific constraints characteristic of their respective brain regions. This framework offers testable predictions and we discuss its computational and neurobiological plausibility.

Keywords

domain-general mechanisms modality specificity neurobiologically plausible models statistical learning stimulus specificity

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Grants

  1. P01 HD001994/NICHD NIH HHS
  2. R01 HD067364/NICHD NIH HHS
  3. P01 HD 01994/NICHD NIH HHS
  4. R01 HD 067364/NICHD NIH HHS

MeSH Term

Brain
Humans
Individuality
Models, Psychological
Probability Learning
Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Review

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