Pattern Recognition

Psychology:

Pattern recognition describes a cognitive process that matches information from a stimulus with information retrieved from memory.

Pattern recognition occurs when information from the environment is received and entered into short-term memory, causing automatic activation of a specific content of long-term memory. An early example of this is learning the alphabet in order. When a carer repeats ‘A, B, C’ multiple times to a child, utilizing the pattern recognition, the child says ‘C’ after he/she hears ‘A, B’ in order. Pattern recognition requires repetition of experience. Semantic memory, which is used implicitly and subconsciously is the main type of memory involved with recognition

Philosophy:
The pattern recognition mechanism and the universe viewed as entities recognized by its patterns is a self
consistent set of principle that can be a basis for a theory of everything. This is, can be a complete
explanatory philosophy of the universe, once in this model every entity or concept that the human mind
metalizes is patterns. Every definition of a concept implies that the set of patterns that define the concept
must be defined. So the principle of pattern recognition is a candidate to be an ultimate philosophy. In
short, I am proposing the following assertion: if a pattern is recognized by a mental mechanism or
system, then this pattern exists for the mind of that mechanism.

Music provides deep and emotional experiences for the listener. These experiences become contents in long-term memory, and every time we hear the same tunes, those contents are activated. Recognizing the content by the pattern of the music affects our emotion. The mechanism that forms the pattern recognition of music and the experience has been studied by multiple researchers. The sensation felt when listening to our favorite music is evident by the dilation of the pupils, the increase in pulse and blood pressure, the streaming of blood to the leg muscles, and the activation of the cerebellum, the brain region associated with physical movement.

Neuroscience:

Neuroscientists postulate that recognizing faces is one of the most common forms of pattern recognition. Humans are incredibly effective at remembering faces, but this ease and automaticity belies a very challenging problem. All faces are physically similar. Faces have two eyes, one mouth, and one nose all in predictable locations, yet humans can recognize a face from several different angles and in various lighting conditions.

Language acquisition:

Research reveals that infant language acquisition is linked to cognitive pattern recognition. Unlike classical nativist and behavioral theories of language development, scientists now believe that language is a learned skill. Studies at the Hebrew University and the University of Sydney both show a strong correlation between the ability to identify visual patterns and to learn a new language. Children with high shape recognition showed better grammar knowledge, even when controlling for the effects of intelligence and memory capacity. This is supported by the theory that language learning is based on statistical learning, the process by which infants perceive common combinations of sounds and words in language and use them to inform future speech production.

Language Ability:

The ability to learn a second language may depend less on linguistic skills and more on the ability to recognize patterns, according to new research.

“These new results suggest that learning a second language is determined to a large extent by an individual ability that is not at all linguistic,” says Ram Frost of Hebrew University in Jerusalem who conducted the study.

In the study, researchers used different tasks to measure how American students recognized the structure of words and sounds in Hebrew. The students were tested in two consecutive semesters.

The students were also tested in their ability to spot statistical patterns in visual stimuli. Participants watched a stream of complex shapes shown one at a time. What the students did not know was that the shapes were organized into eight triplets. The order of the triplets was randomized, but each triplet always appeared in the same sequence. After viewing the stream, students were tested to see if they’d picked up the pattern.

The results showed a “strong statistical association” between recognizing patterns in the shapes and learning another language.

“It’s surprising that a short 15-minute test involving the perception of visual shapes could predict to such a large extent which of the students who came to study Hebrew would finish the year with a better grasp of the language,” says Frost.

The findings could have broader implications beyond language learning.

“This finding points to the possibility that a unified and universal principle of statistical learning can quantitatively explain a wide range of cognitive processes across domains, whether they are linguistic or non-linguistic,” concluded the researchers.

Children’s language development is a learnt skill and is intricately linked to their ability to recognise patterns.

Conducted by researchers from the University of Sydney and Australian National University, the study found children who were better at identifying patterns in non-verbal tasks also had better knowledge of grammar.

Even when other important factors such as intelligence and memory were taken into consideration, the findings still suggest the skill of pattern learning is strongly associated with language development.

For centuries scientists have grappled with the reason why some children acquire language faster than others, and debated whether language is innate or learnt.

Associate Professor Evan Kidd form the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language said the findings counter traditional theories of language, which argue that grammar cannot be learnt.

The study assessed 68 children aged six to eight years on two critical yet separate tests – one on grammatical knowledge and the other a visual pattern learning task including an exposure phase (where children aren’t asked to learn anything) and a surprise test phase.

There was a strong connection between those who were able to identify the patterns in a seemingly trivial series of alien cartoon sequences on the computer, and those who performed better on the grammar test.

False pattern recognition:

The human tendency to see patterns that do not actually exist is called apophenia. Examples include the Man in the Moon, faces or figures in shadows, in clouds, and in patterns with no deliberate design, such as the swirls on a baked confection, and the perception of causal relationships between events which are, in fact, unrelated. Apophenia figures prominently in conspiracy theories, gambling, misinterpretation of statistics and scientific data, and some kinds of religious and paranormal experiences. Misperception of patterns in random data is called pareidolia.

Bibliography:

https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2016/04/27/pattern-learning-key-to-childrens-language-development.html

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0907/0907.4509.pdf

https://www.voanews.com/a/language-ability-linked-to-pattern-recognition/1670776.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_recognition_(psychology)#Pattern_recognition_in_language_acquisition