I read that italian immigrants that came to the US before they had reached adolescence were able to learn english perfectly. If they had come at a higher age, they were not able to 'unlearn' their italian accent. And indeed, it is about hearing the difference, not speaking it. It's like the area where I live, people around here (Frankonia) don't hear the difference between 'd' and 't'. And in Thai, I was told, there is even a third consonant in between.
What else is this but learning through reinforment? Links between neurons become stronger, the more often the connection is shown or used. Invalid links fall into oblivion. What remains is the correct object relationship. No statistics or data mining necessary.
It's all in Prof. Dörner's Psi-Theory.
Slashdot Mirror
I read that italian immigrants that came to the US before they had reached adolescence were able to learn english perfectly. If they had come at a higher age, they were not able to 'unlearn' their italian accent. And indeed, it is about hearing the difference, not speaking it. It's like the area where I live, people around here (Frankonia) don't hear the difference between 'd' and 't'. And in Thai, I was told, there is even a third consonant in between.
What else is this but learning through reinforment? Links between neurons become stronger, the more often the connection is shown or used. Invalid links fall into oblivion. What remains is the correct object relationship. No statistics or data mining necessary. It's all in Prof. Dörner's Psi-Theory.