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Abstract
It is a striking fact that in humans the greatest learning occurs precisely at that
point in time--childhood--when the most dramatic maturational changes also occur.
This report describes possible synergistic interactions between maturational change
and the ability to learn a complex domain (language), as investigated in connectionist
networks. The networks are trained to process complex sentences involving relative
clauses, number agreement, and several types of verb argument structure. Training
fails in the case of networks which are fully formed and 'adultlike' in their capacity.
Training succeeds only when networks begin with limited working memory and gradually
'mature' to the adult state. This result suggests that rather than being a limitation,
developmental restrictions on resources may constitute a necessary prerequisite for
mastering certain complex domains. Specifically, successful learning may depend on
starting small.