I want you to take a look at this baby. What you're drawn to are her eyes and the skin you love to touch. But today I'm going to talk to you about something you can't see. What's going on up in that little brain of hers. The modern tools of neuroscience are demonstrating to us that what's going on up there is nothing short of rocket science. And what we're learning is going to shed some light on what the romantic writers and poets described as the "celestial openness" of the child's mind.
Volio bih da pogledate ovu bebu. Privući će vas njezine oči i koža koju volite dodirivati. Ali danas ću vam govoriti o nečemu što ne možete vidjeti, što se zbiva u tom njezinom malenom mozgu. Suvremena oruđa neuroznanosti pokazuju nam da ono što se ondje događa nije ništa jednostavnije od znanosti o raketama. Ono što učimo unijet će malo svjetla u ono što su romantični pisci i pjesnici opisivali kao "otvorenost k nebu" dječjega uma.
What we see here is a mother in India, and she's speaking Koro, which is a newly discovered language. And she's talking to her baby. What this mother -- and the 800 people who speak Koro in the world -- understands is that, to preserve this language, they need to speak it to the babies. And therein lies a critical puzzle. Why is it that you can't preserve a language by speaking to you and I, to the adults? Well, it's got to do with your brain. What we see here is that language has a critical period for learning. The way to read this slide is to look at your age on the horizontal axis.
Ovdje vidimo majku u Indiji, ona govori Koro, što je novo otkriveni jezik. I ona govori svom djetetu. Ova mati razumije -- kao i 800 ljudi na svijetu koji govore Koro -- da, ako žele očuvati ovaj jezik, moraju ga govoriti bebama. I tu se nalazi kritična zagonetka. Zbog čega ne možete sačuvati neki jezik govoreći ga vama i meni, odraslima? Pa, to ima veze s vašim mozgom. Ovdje vidimo da postoji kritično razdoblje za učenje jezika. Ovaj slajd čitamo tako da potražimo našu dob na vodoravnoj osi.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
And you'll see on the vertical your skill at acquiring a second language. The babies and children are geniuses until they turn seven, and then there's a systematic decline. After puberty, we fall off the map. No scientists dispute this curve, but laboratories all over the world are trying to figure out why it works this way.
A na okomitoj ćete vidjeti vašu vještinu u usvajanju drugog jezika. Bebe i djeca su geniji do dobi od 7 godina, a zatim slijedi sustavan pad. Nakon puberteta, ispadamo s prikaza. Nema znanstvenika koji opovrgavaju ovu krivulju, ali laboratoriji širom svijeta pokušavaju shvatiti zašto je to tako.
Work in my lab is focused on the first critical period in development, and that is the period in which babies try to master which sounds are used in their language. We think, by studying how the sounds are learned, we'll have a model for the rest of language, and perhaps for critical periods that may exist in childhood for social, emotional and cognitive development. So we've been studying the babies using a technique that we're using all over the world and the sounds of all languages. The baby sits on a parent's lap, and we train them to turn their heads when a sound changes -- like from "ah" to "ee." If they do so at the appropriate time, the black box lights up and a panda bear pounds a drum. A six-monther adores the task.
U mojem laboratoriju, rad je usmjeren na prvo kritično razdoblje razvoja -- i to je razdoblje u kojemu bebe pokušavaju ovladati zvukovima koji se koriste u njihovom jeziku. Mislimo da ćemo proučavanjem kako djeca uče zvukove, dobiti i model za ostatak jezika, a možda i za kritična razdoblja koja mogu postojati u djetinjstvu za društveni, emocionalni i kognitivni razvoj. Pa proučavamo bebe koristeći tehniku koju rabimo širom svijeta na zvukovima iz svih jezika. Beba sjedi u krilu roditelja, i vježbamo ih da okrenu glavu kad se zvuk promijeni -- kao iz "ah" u "ii". Ako to učine u pravo vrijeme, crna kutija se osvijetli i panda medvjedić zabubnja. Dijete od šest mjeseci obožava ovaj zadatak.
What have we learned? Well, babies all over the world are what I like to describe as "citizens of the world." They can discriminate all the sounds of all languages, no matter what country we're testing and what language we're using, and that's remarkable because you and I can't do that. We're culture-bound listeners. We can discriminate the sounds of our own language, but not those of foreign languages. So the question arises: When do those citizens of the world turn into the language-bound listeners that we are? And the answer: before their first birthdays. What you see here is performance on that head-turn task for babies tested in Tokyo and the United States, here in Seattle, as they listened to "ra" and "la" -- sounds important to English, but not to Japanese. So at six to eight months, the babies are totally equivalent. Two months later, something incredible occurs. The babies in the United States are getting a lot better, babies in Japan are getting a lot worse, but both of those groups of babies are preparing for exactly the language that they are going to learn.
Što smo naučili? Pa, bebe u cijelom svijetu su ono što volim opisivati kao građani svijeta; mogu razlikovati sve zvukove iz svih jezika, bez obzira u kojoj zemlji radimo testiranje i koji jezik koristimo. I to je izuzetno, budući da vi i ja to ne možemo. Mi smo slušatelji pod utjecajem kulture. Možemo razlikovati zvukove našeg vlastitog jezika, ali ne one iz stranih jezika. Pa se postavlja pitanje, kada ti građani svijeta postaju vezani za jedan jezik poput nas? Odgovor je: prije svog prvog rođendana. Ovdje vidite rezultate takvog zadatka okretanja glave s bebama testiranim u Tokyou i Sjedinjenim Državama, ovdje u Seattleu, dok su slušale "ra" i "la" -- zvukove bitne u engleskom, ali ne i u japanskom jeziku. U dobi od 6 do 8 mjeseci, bebe su potpuno jednake. Dva mjeseca kasnije, nešto nevjerojatno se događa. Bebe u Sjedinjenim Državama postaju puno bolje, a bebe u Japanu puno gore, ali se obje skupine beba pripremaju točno za jezik koji će učiti.
So the question is: What's happening during this critical two-month period? This is the critical period for sound development, but what's going on up there? So there are two things going on. The first is that the babies are listening intently to us, and they're taking statistics as they listen to us talk -- they're taking statistics. So listen to two mothers speaking motherese -- the universal language we use when we talk to kids -- first in English and then in Japanese.
Pa je pitanje, što se događa tijekom tog kritičnog razdoblja od dva mjeseca? To je razdoblje zvučnog razvoja, ali što se pritom događa? Dvije stvari se događaju. Prva je ta da nas bebe pomno slušaju, i bave se statistikom dok nas slušaju -- bave se statistikom. Poslušajte dvije majke koje pričaju majčinskim -- univerzalnim jezikom koji koristimo kad pričamo s djecom -- prvo na engleskom, a zatim na japanskom.
(Video) Ah, I love your big blue eyes -- so pretty and nice.
(Video) Engleska majka: Ah, volim tvoje velike plave oči -- tako su lijepe i slatke.
(Japanese)
Japanska majka: [Japanski]
Patricia Kuhl: During the production of speech, when babies listen, what they're doing is taking statistics on the language that they hear. And those distributions grow. And what we've learned is that babies are sensitive to the statistics, and the statistics of Japanese and English are very, very different. English has a lot of Rs and Ls. The distribution shows. And the distribution of Japanese is totally different, where we see a group of intermediate sounds, which is known as the Japanese "R." So babies absorb the statistics of the language and it changes their brains; it changes them from the citizens of the world to the culture-bound listeners that we are. But we as adults are no longer absorbing those statistics. We are governed by the representations in memory that were formed early in development.
Patricia Kuhl: Za vrijeme govorenja, dok bebe slušaju, one vrše statističku obradu jezika koji slušaju. I distribucija raste. Ono što smo naučili je to da su bebe osjetljive na statistiku, a statistika japanskog i engleskog je jako, jako različita. Engleski ima puno glasova "R" i "L" kako pokazuje distribucija. Distribucija japanskog je sasvim drukčija, i kod njega vidimo skupinu među glasova, koji su poznati kao japansko "R". Dakle, bebe upijaju statistiku jezika i to mijenja njihov mozak; mijenja ih od građana svijeta u slušatelje sputane kulturom kakvi smo mi. Ali mi odrasli više ne upijamo tu statistiku. Nama upravljaju predodžbe u sjećanju koje su formirane rano u razvoju.
So what we're seeing here is changing our models of what the critical period is about. We're arguing from a mathematical standpoint that the learning of language material may slow down when our distributions stabilize. It's raising lots of questions about bilingual people. Bilinguals must keep two sets of statistics in mind at once and flip between them, one after the other, depending on who they're speaking to.
Ono što ovdje vidimo mijenja naše modele o tome što predstavlja to kritično razdoblje. S matematičkog stanovišta tvrdimo da se učenje jezika može usporiti kad nam se distribucija stabilizira. Ovo postavlja brojna pitanja o dvojezičnim ljudima. Dvojezična djeca moraju u glavi istovremeno držati 2 statistike i prebacivati se s jedne na drugu, ovisno o tome s kim govore.
So we asked ourselves, can the babies take statistics on a brand new language? And we tested this by exposing American babies who'd never heard a second language to Mandarin for the first time during the critical period. We knew that, when monolinguals were tested in Taipei and Seattle on the Mandarin sounds, they showed the same pattern. Six to eight months, they're totally equivalent. Two months later, something incredible happens. But the Taiwanese babies are getting better, not the American babies. What we did was expose American babies, during this period, to Mandarin. It was like having Mandarin relatives come and visit for a month and move into your house and talk to the babies for 12 sessions. Here's what it looked like in the laboratory.
Pa smo se zapitali, mogu li djeca statistički obraditi i sasvim novi jezik? Testirali smo to izlažući američke bebe koje nikad nisu čule drugi jezik mandarinskom po prvi puta tijekom kritičnog razdoblja. Znali smo da, kad su testirana jednojezična djeca u Taipeiu i Seattleu s mandarinskim zvukovima, pokazuju isti obrazac. Šest, osam mjeseci, potpuno su jednaki. Dva mjeseca kasnije, događa se nešto nevjerojatno. Ali tajvanske bebe postaju bolje, a ne američke. Ono što smo mi učinili je bilo da američke bebe tijekom tog razdoblja izložimo mandarinskom. Bilo je to kao da je mandarinska rodbina došla u posjet na mjesec dana uselila vam u kuću i razgovarala s bebama tijekom 12 seansi. Ovako je to izgledalo u laboratoriju.
(Mandarin)
(Video) Mandarinski govornik: [Mandarinski]
PK: So what have we done to their little brains?
PK: Što smo, dakle, uradili njihovim malim umovima?
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
We had to run a control group to make sure that coming into the laboratory didn't improve your Mandarin skills. So a group of babies came in and listened to English. And we can see from the graph that exposure to English didn't improve their Mandarin. But look at what happened to the babies exposed to Mandarin for 12 sessions. They were as good as the babies in Taiwan who'd been listening for 10 and a half months. What it demonstrated is that babies take statistics on a new language. Whatever you put in front of them, they'll take statistics on.
Morali smo imati i kontrolnu skupinu da osiguramo da sam dolazak u laboratorij nije poboljšao mandarinske vještine. Pa je skupina beba dolazila i slušala engleski. I vidimo na ovom grafikonu da izloženost engleskom nije poboljšalo njihov mandarinski. Ali pogledajte što se dogodilo s bebama koje su 12 seansi slušale mandarinski. Bile su jednako dobre kao i bebe na Taiwanu koje su slušale tijekom 10 i pol mjeseci. Ovo je demonstriralo da bebe vrše statističku obradu novog jezika. Što god stavite pred njih, one će statistički obraditi.
But we wondered what role the human being played in this learning exercise. So we ran another group of babies in which the kids got the same dosage, the same 12 sessions, but over a television set. And another group of babies who had just audio exposure and looked at a teddy bear on the screen. What did we do to their brains? What you see here is the audio result -- no learning whatsoever -- and the video result -- no learning whatsoever. It takes a human being for babies to take their statistics. The social brain is controlling when the babies are taking their statistics.
No, pitali smo se kakvu ulogu igra čovjek u ovoj vježbi učenja. Pa smo testirali novu skupinu beba koje su dobile istu dozu, istih 12 seansi, ali pred televizorom, i još jednu skupinu koja je slušala zvukove i promatrala medvjedića na ekranu. Što smo njihovim mozgovima učinili? Ovdje vidite rezultat skupine koja je slušala -- ništa nije naučeno -- i rezultat skupine pred televizorom -- ništa nije naučeno. Potreban je čovjek da bi bebe vršile statističku obradu. Društveni dio mozga upravlja dok se bebe bave statistikom.
We want to get inside the brain and see this thing happening as babies are in front of televisions, as opposed to in front of human beings. Thankfully, we have a new machine, magnetoencephalography, that allows us to do this. It looks like a hair dryer from Mars. But it's completely safe, completely noninvasive and silent. We're looking at millimeter accuracy with regard to spatial and millisecond accuracy using 306 SQUIDs -- these are superconducting quantum interference devices -- to pick up the magnetic fields that change as we do our thinking. We're the first in the world to record babies in an MEG machine while they are learning.
Želimo ući u njihov um i vidjeti razliku između događaja dok su bebe pred televizorom, i dok su pred ljudima. Na sreću, imamo novi uređaj, magnetoencefalograf, koji nam to omogućava. Izgleda kao sušilo za kosu s Marsa. Ali je posve siguran, potpuno neinvazivan i nečujan. Gledamo milimetarsku točnost u smislu prostorne i milisekundne točnosti rabeći 306 SQUID-ove -- oni su superprovodljivi uređaji kvantne interferencije -- da bismo ulovili magnetna polja koja se mijenjaju dok razmišljamo. Mi smo prvi na svijetu koji snimamo bebe u MEG uređaju dok one uče.
So this is little Emma. She's a six-monther. And she's listening to various languages in the earphones that are in her ears. You can see, she can move around. We're tracking her head with little pellets in a cap, so she's free to move completely unconstrained. It's a technical tour de force. What are we seeing? We're seeing the baby brain. As the baby hears a word in her language, the auditory areas light up, and then subsequently areas surrounding it that we think are related to coherence, getting the brain coordinated with its different areas, and causality, one brain area causing another to activate.
Ovo je mala Emma. Ima šest mjeseci. Ona sluša različite jezike u slušalicama koje su joj u ušima. Vidite, može se micati. Pratimo kretanje njezine glave pomoću kuglica u kapi, pa se ona može kretati potpuno slobodno. Ovo je tehnički tour de force. Što vidimo? Vidimo dječji mozak. Kad beba čuje riječ na svom jeziku slušno područje se osvijetli, a zatim i okolna područja za koja mislimo da se odnose na povezivanje, koja koordiniraju različita područja mozga, i na uzročnost, pri čemu jedno područje mozga potiče aktiviranje drugog.
We are embarking on a grand and golden age of knowledge about child's brain development. We're going to be able to see a child's brain as they experience an emotion, as they learn to speak and read, as they solve a math problem, as they have an idea. And we're going to be able to invent brain-based interventions for children who have difficulty learning. Just as the poets and writers described, we're going to be able to see, I think, that wondrous openness, utter and complete openness, of the mind of a child. In investigating the child's brain, we're going to uncover deep truths about what it means to be human, and in the process, we may be able to help keep our own minds open to learning for our entire lives.
Upuštamo se u veliko i zlatno doba znanja o razvoju dječjeg mozga. Bit ćemo u stanju vidjeti dječji mozak dok dijete doživljava emociju, dok uči pričati i čitati, dok rješava matematički problem, kada dobiva ideju. I moći ćemo izumiti intervencije na temelju mozga za djecu s teškoćama u učenju. Baš kao što su pjesnici i pisci opisali, moći ćemo vidjeti, mislim, tu čudesnu otvorenost, potpunu i posvemašnju otvorenost, dječjeg uma. Istražujući dječji mozak, otkrit ćemo duboke istine o tome što znači biti čovjek, i u tom procesu, možda ćemo moći pomoći vlastitom umu da ostane otvoren za učenje tijekom cijelog našeg života.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)