Walking and talking

[John Limber]

> From: Brian MacWhinney <macw at cmu.edu>
> Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 12:50:17 -0400
> To: <info-childes at mail.talkbank.org>
> Subject: Walking and talking
>
> Dear Info-CHILDES,
> So far, it appears that the evidence for a dissociation between walking
> (and other motor development) and talking is not panning out.  However,
> before concluding this discussion on that note, let me throw in one other
> pointer and one reflection.  First the pointer.  Moshe Anisfeld at Yeshiva
> began working on this about 15 years ago.  He believed that, using more
> microgenetic methods, one could discern some tendency for the child to focus
> on a single skill at a time.
This was the implication of one of my all-time favorite language acquisition
papers by Clark Hull and spouse that I try to cite as often as possible:

"That walking interferes with talking has been observed repeatedly.  It is
possible that learning to talk has in this case interfered with the
acquisition of voluntary control of the bladder..."

    Hull, C. L., & Hull, B. I. (1919). Parallel learning curves of an infant
in vocabulary and in voluntary control of the bladder. Pedagogical Seminary,
26, 272-283.

> Although I read several initial papers from
> Anisfeld on this, I never saw anything very definitive in published form.
> Moreover, I find nothing in the CHILDES online bibliography from Anisfeld on
> this issue.  So perhaps he never found anything.  At the least, it seems to
> me, he was taking a close look at this.  If, after taking such a close look,
> one finds nothing, then perhaps one can indeed conclude that there is
> nothing there.
> The other side of this matter is the fact that it seems to me that there
> is a group of people that ought to be at least a bit worried about the
> absence of this effect.  This group is composed of people who believe in the
> modularity of mind along with limits on cognitive processing.
Funny thing, I was just thinking the opposite -- "modularity" as I
understand it, is about independence of information processing and exchange.
If walking and talking have little information exchange between them, one
should have little impact on the other.  This of course does not mean they
are totally independent, e.g. dropping little Willie on his head may affect
both walking and talking.  "Modularity" only makes sense at all on local
processes that can be "encapsulated" and in many of the most interesting
aspects of the mind, this isn't plausible.
(See     Fodor, J. A. (2000). The Mind Doesn't Work That Way. Cambridge: MIT
Press.).
Moreover, in agreement I think with your suggestions above and below,  even
if independent "modules" exist for --say --  visual, syntactic, and/or
locomotive processes, there should be no bio-developmental expectation these
are constructed simultaneously or sequentially.  Nor is there any reason to
suppose that the output of these putative modules once constructed would not
interact for the betterment of the non-modular mind.
>  If the mind
> is modular and if the resources for cognitive processing are at least
> somewhat limited, shouldn't the attainment of rapid advances in one area
> come at the expense of advances in another?  For example, if I am taking a
> load of three courses at college, shouldn't I do better at these three
> courses (ceteris paribus), than if I overload with six courses?  Wouldn't
> this be the same for the infant?
> The clear alternative here is that progress in one of these domains
> actually supports progress in another.  In this sense, the mind would have
> at most some weak level of permeable modularity.  If the child can walk
> about more, they can grasp more things and learn their names.  If they can
> learn the names for things, they can activate their images and have greater
> desire to grab them and walk and crawl about with them.
>
> --Brian MacWhinney
>

--
John Limber
Department of Psychology
Conant Hall, 10 Library Way
University of New Hampshire, Durham NH 03824-3567, USA
john.limber at unh.edu
603-862-2960                              FAX (603)-862-4986
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~jel