《理论语言学五道口站》（2020年第46期，总第110期）生物语言学及脑科学系列专题与大家分享华盛顿大学知名神经语言学家帕特里夏·库尔（Patricia Kuhl) 关于儿童语言习得的研究。本期视频 “婴儿是天才的语言学习者” 中，帕特里夏·库尔教授通过一系列现代神经科学技术证实了关键期前幼儿令人惊叹的语言天赋。
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帕特里夏·库尔，华盛顿大学脑与学习科学研究所联合主任，其研究在早期语言和脑发育以及幼儿学习方面获国际认可。她的研究在揭示早期语言接触对大脑的改变上发挥了重要作用：这对于语言习得的关键期、双语教育和阅读准备阶段、涉及语言的发育障碍以及计算机语言理解研究具有深远意义。
Patricia Kuhl is co-director of the Institute for Brain and Learning Sciences at the University of Washington. She’s internationally recognized for her research on early language and brain development, and studies that show how young children learn. Kuhl’s work has played a major role in demonstrating how early exposure to language alters the brain. It has implications for critical periods in development, for bilingual education and reading readiness, for developmental disabilities involving language, and for research on computer understanding of speech.
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婴儿是天才的语言学习者
我们正在开启一个关于儿童大脑发育知识的宏伟的黄金时代。当孩子体验到情感，学着说和读，解决数学问题，或当他们某个想法涌现的时候，我们得以观察他们的大脑。我们也能为有学习障碍的孩童，发明基于脑的治疗方法。
正如诗人和作家描述的那样，我认为我们将能够看到孩子心智奇妙、透彻、完全的开放。在对儿童大脑的研究中，我们将揭示关于人类存在意义的深刻真理。在这一过程中，我们或许能够帮助自身保持思想开放，以促使我们一生不断学习。
We are embarking on a grand and golden age of knowledge about child’s brain development. We’re going to be able to see a child’s brain as they experience an emotion, as they learn to speak and read, as they solve a math problem, as they have an idea. And we’re going to be able to invent brain-based interventions for children who have difficulty learning.
Just as the poets and writers described, we’re going to be able to see, I think, that wondrous openness, utter and complete openness, of the mind of a child. In investigating the child’s brain, we’re going to uncover deep truths about what it means to be human, and in the process, we may be able to help keep our own minds open to learning for our entire lives.