The linguistic genius of babies | Patricia Kuhl

Translator: Samra Cebiric Reviewer: Mateja Nenadovic

Pogledajte ovu bebu

I want you to take a look at this baby.

Privlače vas njene oči

What you're drawn to are her eyes and the skin you love to touch.

i koža koju volite dodirivati.

But today I'm going to talk to you about something you can't see.

Ali danas ću vam govoriti o nečemu što se ne vidi,

What's going on up in that little brain of hers.

a događa se u njenom malom mozgu.

The modern tools of neuroscience are demonstrating to us

Savremeni alati neuroznanosti

nam pokazuju da ono što se dešava u mozgu

that what's going on up there is nothing short of rocket science.

nije naučna fantastika.

And what we're learning is going to shed some light

Ono što saznajemo

će nam pružiti uvid u

on what the romantic writers and poets described as the "celestial openness"

ono što su romantični pisci i pjesnici

opisali kao "božansku otvorenost"

of the child's mind.

dječijeg uma.

Ovdje vidimo

What we see here is a mother in India,

jednu majku u Indiji,

and she's speaking Koro, which is a newly discovered language.

koja govori Koro,

novootkriveni jezik.

Ona se obraća svojoj bebi na ovom jeziku.

And she's talking to her baby.

Ova majka -

What this mother --

and the 800 people who speak Koro in the world --

kao i ostalih 800 ljudi u svijetu koji govore Koro -

understands is that, to preserve this language,

razumije sljedeće, da bi se jezik očuvao,

moramo ga koristiti kada se obraćamo bebama.

they need to speak it to the babies.

And therein lies a critical puzzle.

Tu se krije važna zagonetka.

Why is it that you can't preserve a language

Zašto se jezik ne može očuvati

by speaking to you and I, to the adults?

kroz komunikaciju između nas odraslih?

Pa, to ima veze sa mozgom.

Well, it's got to do with your brain.

What we see here is that language has a critical period for learning.

Ovdje vidimo

da jezik ima kritični preirod za učenje.

The way to read this slide is to look at your age on the horizontal axis.

Na ovom dijapozitivu možemo vidjeti godine na horizontalnoj osi.

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

And you'll see on the vertical your skill at acquiring a second language.

A na vertikalnoj

je vještina u usvajanju drugog jezika.

Bebe i djeca su geniji

The babies and children are geniuses until they turn seven,

do svoje sedme godine,

and then there's a systematic decline.

a nakon toga slijedi sistematično opadanje.

After puberty, we fall off the map.

Nakon puberteta, nema nas više na ovoj mapi.

Nijedan naučnik ne osporava ovu krivulju,

No scientists dispute this curve,

but laboratories all over the world

ali laboratorije širom svijeta

are trying to figure out why it works this way.

pokušavaju odgonetnuti zašto je to tako.

Work in my lab is focused on the first critical period in development,

Rad u svojoj laboratoriji sam usmjerila

na prvi kritični period u razvoju -

and that is the period in which babies

period u kome

try to master which sounds are used in their language.

bebe pokušavaju savladati glasove koji se koriste u njihovom jeziku.

Mislimo da, ako proučimo kako se uče glasovi jezika,

We think, by studying how the sounds are learned,

we'll have a model for the rest of language,

da ćemo imati model za ostatak jezika,

and perhaps for critical periods that may exist in childhood

i za odlučujuće periode koji možda postoje u djetinjstvu

for social, emotional and cognitive development.

za društveni, emocionalni

i kognitivni razvoj.

So we've been studying the babies

Stoga smo proučavali bebe

using a technique that we're using all over the world

koristeći istu tehniku širom svijeta

and the sounds of all languages.

i glasove svih jezika.

The baby sits on a parent's lap,

Bebe sjede na krilu roditelja,

and we train them to turn their heads when a sound changes --

i treniramo ih da okrenu glavu kada se promijeni zvuk -

naprimjer, "ee" umjesto "ah".

like from "ah" to "ee."

If they do so at the appropriate time, the black box lights up

Ako to urade na vrijeme,

crna kutija zasvijetli

and a panda bear pounds a drum.

i plišana panda udari u bubanj.

A six-monther adores the task.

Svaki šestomjesečnjak obožava ovaj zadatak.

Šta smo naučili iz ovoga?

What have we learned?

Well, babies all over the world

Pa, bebe širom svijeta su,

are what I like to describe as "citizens of the world."

kako ih ja volim nazvati,

građani svijeta;

They can discriminate all the sounds of all languages,

oni mogu razaznati sve glasove svih jezika,

no matter what country we're testing and what language we're using,

bez obzira u kojoj zemlji vršimo test i koji jezik koristimo.

To je značajno jer vi i ja to ne možemo.

and that's remarkable because you and I can't do that.

Mi kao slušaoci zavisimo od kulture.

We're culture-bound listeners.

Mi možemo izdvojiti glasove svog jezika,

We can discriminate the sounds of our own language,

ali ne i stranih jezika.

but not those of foreign languages.

Stoga se javlja pitanje,

So the question arises: When do those citizens of the world

kada građani svijeta

turn into the language-bound listeners that we are?

postaju vazani za jezik kojim govore kao i mi?

And the answer: before their first birthdays.

A odgovor je: prije prvog rođendana.

What you see here is performance on that head-turn task

Ovdje vidite uspjeh na zadatku sa okretanjem glave

for babies tested in Tokyo and the United States,

beba testiranih u Tokiju i Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama,

ovdje u Seattleu,

here in Seattle,

as they listened to "ra" and "la" --

dok su slušali "ra" i "la" -

sounds important to English, but not to Japanese.

važne glasove u engleskom, ali ne i u japanskom.

So at six to eight months, the babies are totally equivalent.

Dakle bebe između šest i osam mjeseci su potpuno jednake.

Two months later, something incredible occurs.

Dva mjeseca poslije nešto nevjerovatno se dešava.

The babies in the United States are getting a lot better,

Bebe u Sjedinjenim Državama su znatno bolje,

a bebe u Japanu lošije,

babies in Japan are getting a lot worse,

ali obje grupe beba

but both of those groups of babies are preparing for exactly the language

se spremaju za upravo onaj jezik koji će učiti.

that they are going to learn.

Stoga se javlja pitanje, šta se dešava

So the question is: What's happening during this critical two-month period?

tokom ovog kritičnog dvomjesečnog perioda?

This is the critical period for sound development,

Ovo je period u kojem se razvijaju glasovi,

ali šta se zapravo dešava?

but what's going on up there?

So there are two things going on.

Dešavaju se dvije stvari.

The first is that the babies are listening intently to us,

Bebe nas pažljivo slušaju,

and they're taking statistics as they listen to us talk --

i one se bave statistikom dok nas slušaju kako pričamo -

bave se statistikom.

they're taking statistics.

Zato poslušajte dvije majke kako tepaju -

So listen to two mothers speaking motherese --

the universal language we use when we talk to kids --

univerzalnim jezikom kojim se obraćamo djeci -

first in English and then in Japanese.

prvo na engleskom a onda na japanskom.

(Video) Ah, I love your big blue eyes --

(Video) Engleska majka: Aah, volim tvoje velike, plave okice -

so pretty and nice.

tako su slatke i lijepe.

(Japanese)

Japanska majka: [Japanski]

Patricia Kuhl: During the production of speech, when babies listen,

Patricia Kuhl: Tokom govora,

dok bebe slušaju,

what they're doing is taking statistics on the language that they hear.

one statistički obrađuju

jezik koji slušaju.

And those distributions grow.

I te distribucije rastu.

And what we've learned is that babies are sensitive to the statistics,

I naučili smo

da su bebe osjetljive na statistiku,

and the statistics of Japanese and English are very, very different.

i da su statistike japanskog i engleskog veoma različite.

English has a lot of Rs and Ls.

Engleski ima mnogo R i L glasova

The distribution shows.

kako vidimo iz distribucije.

And the distribution of Japanese is totally different,

Distribucija japanskog je potpuno različita,

gdje postoji grupa prijelaznih glasova,

where we see a group of intermediate sounds,

poznata kao japansko R.

which is known as the Japanese "R."

So babies absorb the statistics of the language

Stoga bebe upijaju

statistiku jezika

and it changes their brains;

koja mijenja njihov mozak;

it changes them from the citizens of the world

mijenja ih od građana svijeta

to the culture-bound listeners that we are.

do slušatelja koji zavise od kulture kao i mi.

But we as adults are no longer absorbing those statistics.

Ali mi kao odrasli

više ne upijamo tu statistiku.

Nas vodi sjećanje

We are governed by the representations in memory

that were formed early in development.

formirano u ranoj fazi razvoja.

So what we're seeing here

Ova saznanja

is changing our models of what the critical period is about.

mijenjaju ono što znamo o kritičnom periodu.

We're arguing from a mathematical standpoint

S matematičkog stajališta se može tvrditi

that the learning of language material may slow down

da učenje jezika može da uspori

when our distributions stabilize.

kada nam se distribucije stabiliziraju.

It's raising lots of questions about bilingual people.

To otvara mnogo pitanja o dvojezičnim ljudima.

Oni moraju pohraniti dvije statistike istovremeno

Bilinguals must keep two sets of statistics in mind at once

i mijenjati ih naizmjenično,

and flip between them, one after the other,

u zavisnosti od osobe s kojom pričaju.

depending on who they're speaking to.

So we asked ourselves,

Stoga smo se pitali,

can the babies take statistics on a brand new language?

mogu li bebe statistički obraditi i potpuno novi jezik?

And we tested this by exposing American babies

To smo testirali izlažući američke bebe

koje nikada nisu čule drugi jezik

who'd never heard a second language

mandarinskom po prvi put tokom kritičnog perioda.

to Mandarin for the first time during the critical period.

Kada smo testirali jednojezične bebe

We knew that, when monolinguals were tested in Taipei and Seattle

na glasove iz mandarinskog jezika u Tajpeju i Seattleu,

on the Mandarin sounds, they showed the same pattern.

pokazali su isti model.

Six to eight months, they're totally equivalent.

Potpuno su jednake sa šest ili osam mjeseci.

Dva mjeseca poslije, nešto nevjerovatno se dešava.

Two months later, something incredible happens.

But the Taiwanese babies are getting better, not the American babies.

Bebe u Tajvanu napreduju, a ne bebe u Americi.

Mi smo tokom ovog perioda izložili američke bebe

What we did was expose American babies, during this period, to Mandarin.

mandarinskom jeziku.

To je kao da vam dođu rođaci na mjesec dana

It was like having Mandarin relatives come and visit for a month

i borave u kući

and move into your house and talk to the babies for 12 sessions.

i razgovaraju sa bebama tokom 12 sesija.

Here's what it looked like in the laboratory.

Ovako je to izgledalo u laboratoriji.

(Video) Govornik: [Mandarinski]

(Mandarin)

PK: So what have we done to their little brains?

PK: Šta smo to uradili njihovim malenim mozgovima?

(Smijeh)

(Laughter)

We had to run a control group to make sure

Oformili smo kontrolnu grupu

that coming into the laboratory didn't improve your Mandarin skills.

da bi se uvjerili da samo prisustvo u laboratoriji

ne upaređuje znanje mandarinskog.

So a group of babies came in and listened to English.

Stoga je grupa beba slušala engleski.

And we can see from the graph

Sa grafičkog prikaza možemo vidjeti

that exposure to English didn't improve their Mandarin.

da izloženost engleskom nije poboljšala njihovo znanje mandarinskog.

But look at what happened to the babies exposed to Mandarin for 12 sessions.

Ali pogledajte šta se desilo bebama

koje su bile izložene mandarinskom tokom 12 sesija.

They were as good as the babies in Taiwan

Bile su jednako uspješne kao i bebe u Tajvanu

who'd been listening for 10 and a half months.

koje su slušale 10 i po mjeseci.

What it demonstrated is that babies take statistics on a new language.

Ovo nam pokazuje

da se bebe bave statistikom i novog jezika.

Whatever you put in front of them, they'll take statistics on.

One će se baviti statistikom bilo čega što im je na raspolaganju.

But we wondered what role

Ali pitali smo se

the human being played in this learning exercise.

koja je uloga ljudi

u ovoj vježbi s učenjem.

So we ran another group of babies in which the kids got the same dosage,

Stoga smo oformili još jednu grupu beba

sa jednakim brojem sesija - svih 12,

the same 12 sessions, but over a television set.

ali putem televizije

And another group of babies who had just audio exposure

a druga grupa beba je bila izložena samo zvuku

and looked at a teddy bear on the screen.

i gledali su u medvjedića na ekranu.

Šta smo im uradili?

What did we do to their brains?

What you see here is the audio result --

Ovdje vidite rezultat grupe koja je slušala zvuk --

nema nikakvog napretka --

no learning whatsoever --

and the video result --

i rezultat grupe koja je gledala video --

no learning whatsoever.

nema nikakvog napretka u učenju.

It takes a human being for babies to take their statistics.

Potreban je čovjek

da bi se bebe bavile statistikom.

The social brain is controlling

Centar mozga sa društvenu interakciju određuje

kada se bebe bave statistikom.

when the babies are taking their statistics.

Mi želimo da zavirimo u njihov mozak

We want to get inside the brain and see this thing happening

da bi vidjeli šta se dešava

as babies are in front of televisions, as opposed to in front of human beings.

kada su bebe ispred televizora,

i ispred čovjeka.

Thankfully, we have a new machine, magnetoencephalography,

Na sreću, imamo novu mašinu,

magnetoencefalograf,

koji nam ovo omogućuje.

that allows us to do this.

It looks like a hair dryer from Mars.

Izgleda kao sušilo za kosu sa Marsa.

Ali je potpuno bezbjedan,

But it's completely safe, completely noninvasive and silent.

potpuno nenapadan i nečujan.

We're looking at millimeter accuracy

Ovaj uređaj ima milimetarsku preciznost

u smislu prostora

with regard to spatial and millisecond accuracy

i milisekundnu preciznost

using 306 SQUIDs --

koristeći 306 SQUID-ova --

to su superprovodljivi

these are superconducting quantum interference devices --

uređaju za kvantnu interferenciju --

to pick up the magnetic fields that change as we do our thinking.

da bismo pronašli magnetna polja

koja se mijenjaju dok razmišljamo.

We're the first in the world to record babies in an MEG machine

Mi smo prvi u svijetu

koji su snimili bebe

na MEG mašinama

while they are learning.

dok su učile.

So this is little Emma.

Ovo je mala Emma.

She's a six-monther.

Ona ima šest mjeseci.

And she's listening to various languages in the earphones that are in her ears.

Ona sluša različite jezike

uz pomoć slušalica u ušima.

You can see, she can move around.

Kao što vidite, ona se može kretati.

We're tracking her head with little pellets in a cap,

Pratimo pomjeranje glave

uz pomoć malih kuglica u kapi,

so she's free to move completely unconstrained.

tako da se ona može slobodno pomijerati.

It's a technical tour de force.

Ovo je tehnički tour de force.

What are we seeing?

Šta vidimo?

We're seeing the baby brain.

Vidimo bebin mozak.

As the baby hears a word in her language, the auditory areas light up,

Kada beba čuje riječ svog jezika

auditivna područja se osvijetle,

and then subsequently areas surrounding it that we think are related to coherence,

a potom i područja okolo

za koja mislimo da se odnose na povezanost,

getting the brain coordinated with its different areas, and causality,

koordiniraje mozga sa drugim područjima,

i uzročnost,

one brain area causing another to activate.

jedan dio mozga uzrokuje aktiviranje drugog.

We are embarking on a grand and golden age of knowledge

Mi ulazimo u

veliko i zlatno doba

znanja o razvoju dječijeg mozga.

about child's brain development.

We're going to be able to see a child's brain

Mi ćemo biti u stanju vidjeti dječiji mozak

as they experience an emotion, as they learn to speak and read,

dok doživljavaju emocije,

dok uče da govore i čitaju,

dok rješavaju matematički problem,

as they solve a math problem, as they have an idea.

kada imaju neku ideju.

And we're going to be able to invent brain-based interventions

Moći ćemo izumiti intervencije na mozgu

za djecu koja imaju poteškoće u učenju.

for children who have difficulty learning.

Just as the poets and writers described,

Kao što su pisci i pjesnici opisali,

we're going to be able to see, I think, that wondrous openness,

mislim da ćemo moći vidjeti

tu prekasnu otvorenost,

krajnju i potpunu otvorenost,

utter and complete openness, of the mind of a child.

dječijeg uma.

In investigating the child's brain,

Ispitivanjem dječijeg mozga,

we're going to uncover deep truths about what it means to be human,

otkrićemo istine

o tome šta to znači biti čovjek,

i usput,

and in the process,

we may be able to help keep our own minds open to learning

možda ćemo pomoći sebi samima da budemo spremni za učenje

čitavog života.

for our entire lives.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)