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From: curry@hpl.hp.com (Bo Curry)
Subject: Re: What's innate? (Was Re: Artificial Neural Networks and Cognition
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Date: Thu, 26 Jan 1995 19:46:46 GMT
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jerrybro@uclink2.berkeley.edu wrote:
: This probably has a lot to do with the ear.  For example, if
: a child hears a song repeatedly, he picks it up fairly easily.
: Heck, so do I.  But if a child sees a painting day after day,
: and is asked to reproduce it one day, he won't remember all
: the details--I'll bet.  A foreign language is a lot like
: music.  From watching many Hong Kong movies, I've learned an
: enormous number of sound patterns, and I recognize them, but
: I don't know their meaning.

There's considerable evidence that songs/tunes are handled
by completely separate brain structures than is language.
It's really a separate skill. Consider that it's almost
as easy to learn a song in a language yo don't know, as
in your own. And kids very commonly learn completely
incorrect lyrics for songs they can reproduce perfectly.

: Arithmetic, being an activity done with pencil and paper, is
: not going to be picked up the way melodies are picked up.

The arithmetic skills I was referring to were not done with
pencil and paper. 4-year-old arithmetic is intuitive and
mental, often involving fingers and small objects.

But, I agree, let's stop this (silly) argument about
whether humans are good at language in general, and
focus on the UG.

Bo


