Attention and U-Shaped Learning in the Acquisition of the Past Tense

Plunkett & Marchman (1993) showed that a neural network trained on an incrementally expanded training set was able to master the past tense and show the U-shaped learning pattern characteristic of children. In Jackson, Constandse & Cottrell (1996) we argued that Plunkett & Marchman’s restriction of the training set was unrealistic and proposed a model of selective attention that enabled our network to master the past tense without external restrictions on its training set. Analysis in the present paper shows that the network in Jackson, Constandse & Cottrell (1996) does not exhibit appropriate U-shaped learning, however. We propose a modified model of selective attention that results in the mastery of the past tense as well as the kind of U-shaped learning observed in children.