Self-Organization and Developmental Mechanisms in the Origins of Speech and Action Systems

Invited talk of Pierre-Yves Oudeyer at “Symposium on Language Acquisition and Language Evolution”, Stockholm University, Royal Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden (organised by Francesco Lacerda and Bjorn Lindblom). 2011.

=== Main references:

Oudeyer, P-Y. (2006) Self-Organization in the Evolution of Speech, Oxford University Press. Bibtex (Translated by James R. Hurford.)
http://www.pyoudeyer.com/originsOfSpeech.htm

Oudeyer P-Y, Kaplan , F. and Hafner, V. (2007) Intrinsic Motivation Systems for Autonomous Mental Development, IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 11(2), pp. 265–286.
http://www.pyoudeyer.com/ims.pdf

Oudeyer P-Y., Smith L. (in preparation) How Evolution may work through Curiosity-driven Developmental Process.

Further information: http://www.pyoudeyer.com

=== Summary:

What is the origins of speech? How speech systems of languages form and evolve? How a child learns speech?

Can robots invent and learn their own vocalisation system? How constructing robot can help us understand better humans?

I study these questions in this talk, following a systemic approach, where the problem is approached globally. I gather human sciences, natural sciences and computational sciences within the same laboratory of ideas to explore the origins of language.

I draw some parallels with the formation of biological structures like bee hives and shell shapes, and explore how self-organisation, in interaction with natural selection, can explain important aspects of the morphogenesis of speech.

In particular, I present robotic experiments in which a population of individuals, with models of the vocal tract and the auditory system, invent, form and negotiate its own system of combinatorial vocalisations, through local peer-to-peer interactions. I compare the emergent systems with human sound systems, and show that strong similarities can be observed.

I also discuss how, in the course of individual cognitive development, babbling and vocal imitation can themselves self-organise, resulting from a mechanism of curiosity, an intrinsic motivation which pushes the newborn to discover its own body and its relations with the environment for the pure pleasure of learning.

In this context, and from new perspectives on artificial intelligence, I explain how it is possible to model mechanisms of curiosity allowing a robot to explore its own body and its physical and social interactions with the environment.

Thus new scientific maps appear, and show us stimulating paths to the origins of speech.