Multimodal semantic learning from child-directed input

Abstract

Children learn the meaning of words by being exposed to perceptually rich situations (linguistic discourse, visual scenes, etc). Current computational learning models typically simulate these rich situations through impoverished symbolic approximations. In this work, we present a distributed word learning model that operates on child-directed speech paired with realistic visual scenes. The model integrates linguistic and extra-linguistic information (visual and social cues), handles referential uncertainty, and correctly learns to associate words with objects, even in cases of limited linguistic exposure.