Join the Developmental Psychology area for a talk by Qihui Xu (The Ohio State University)!
Title: Different Routes, Different Outcomes: Comparing Human and Artificial Language Learning
Abstract: Language acquisition appears effortless for every child, yet the rise of AI models with near-human proficiency has been striking. What makes human language learning and processing unique? I’ll primarily present two computational studies attempting to address this question, spanning from early child learning to complex adult concepts, and integrating both human and computational analyses. I first examine early language acquisition by comparing how a baby-scale language model learns relative to real children—do they take different routes? I then turn to the representation of complex concepts, asking whether different routes ultimately lead to the same or divergent outcomes. This spectrum of comparisons offers insights into what is unique about human language learning.
About Qihui Xu: Qihui Xu is a postdoctoral researcher in the Cognitive Development Lab at Ohio State University, where she works alongside Professor Vladimir Sloutsky. Her research focuses on language acquisition and processing, approached through computational modeling, corpus analysis, and experimental methods. She is particularly interested in leveraging emerging methodologies and large-scale datasets to advance the modeling of human language learning and processing.
The Developmental Seminar Series area features both internal and external speakers who are experts in a wide range of topics including the development of cognition, perception, learning, emotional processing, and social relationships.
For more information, contact Developmental Psychology area coordinator Zeynep Saygin.
