Computer Program Yields Clues About Baby Talk (broadcast Friday, July 27th, 2007)

Studying how children process vowel sounds in nonsense words. Image courtesy J. Werker, University of British Columbia

A computer program may explain how babies learn to talk. Researchers have studied how babies learn to distinguish vowel sounds in different languages, and they've created a computer program that can learn in the same way. We'll talk with one of the researchers about the work. Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

Guests

James McClelland
Professor of Psychology
Stanford University
Palo Alto, California

Related Links

• Bare-Bones Program Learns English and Japanese Vowels: Scientific American
• Computer program can learn baby talk - Yahoo! News

Segment produced by:Flora Lichtman

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