Constructivism and

Artificial
Intelligence:
Knowledge
construction and
BabyX
Heather Lamb
University of North Texas
April 22, 2015

Turing, 1950
Computing

Machinery and Intelligence

Thinking as the real secret to intelligence
while understanding the specificity of the
rules of what to do in every possible set of
circumstances
Digital computer: 3 parts

Store store of information

Executive unit carries out operation
Control Instructions are obeyed and in order

Learning Machines
Three

components of the process of

imitating and the rules of interactions of
the adult human mind:

the initial state of the mind, say at birth

the education to which it has been
subjected
other experience, not to be described as
education, to which it has been subjected

Take for example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

JRoSAkeV_Qc

Piagets Stages of
Learning
Stages of learning of an artificially intelligent
baby, might seem very similar those of a human
child, but in actuality, it is just a more complex
system of words, phrases, images and text
(Strannegrd, Nizamani, & Persson, 2014).
Research builds on the assumption that learning
is an active process of construction rather
than a passive assimilation of information or
rote memorization (Strannegrd, Nizamani, &
Persson, 2014).

Piaget continued
Interactions

with the environment are developed

through repeated scaffolding
Space, time, objects are used by a child to
build an experiential reality that fits into the
constraints of the environment
Piaget believed that a child assimilates events
and converts them to fit into their mental
structures as well as accommodates the new
knowledge to modify current structures
(Strannegrd, Nizamani, & Persson, 2014).

Constructivism
Learning

is an activity that is individual

to the learner
Individuals will try to make sense of all
information that they perceive, and that
each individual will, therefore, construct
their own meaning from that information*
Acquisition of knowledge through a process
of construction: pattern recognition, object
permanence and logical sequencing*
*(Husen & Postlethwaite, 1994)

Introducing BabyX

BabyX: Interactive Simulation

https://vimeo.com/97186687

How does BabyX

learn?
The babys brain is composed of algorithms
that deduce what is good and bad (store)
Responds to certain commands and use
recognition tools to allow it to identify
words and images (Executive unit)
Stimuli: virtual dopamine
Responses: learns what is good and
reinforced and how to react (control/rules)

Store store of information

Executive unit carries out operation
Control Instructions are obeyed and in order

When does learning start?

When does learning start?
Zero-to-three movement:

The most important years for learning are the earliest

Most would agree, learning begins at birth
But

What if it is really before we are born?

How does that impact development?
http
://www.ted.com/talks/annie_murphy_paul_what_we_lea
rn_before_we_re_born/transcript?language=
en

4:44
babies cry in the accent of their mother's native
language.
French babies cry on a rising note while German babies
end on a falling note, imitating the melodic contours of
those languages.
Now why would this kind of fetal learning be useful?
It may have evolved to aid the baby's survival.
From the moment of birth, the baby responds most to
the voice of the person who is most likely to care
for it -- its mother.
give the baby a head start in the critical task of learning
how to understand and speak its native language.

http://www.aimsusa.org/library/Time%20-%20
How%20the%20First%209%20Months%20Shape%20t
he%20Rest%20of%20Your%
20Life.pdf

What impact does

this have on BabyX?

Language development?
Providing for a foundation for a higher degree
of cognitive processes including language,
specific properties of the communication
system have shaped and grounded our
mental representations.
Research indicates that there is a trend to
understand how learning machines can
conceptualize and communicate about
the world in human-like ways (Roy, 2002)

Conclusion & Questions

BabyX brings into play an oscillation between
character, neurobiological representation and
digital artificial intelligence
Digital artificial intelligence in this sense is a
simulated virtual biology based on life-like
behaviors
Questions still remain

Creating hypotheses inference rationalizing

between right/wrong
Explorations experiential learning
Observations translating information