What can reading 26,000 books tell researchers about how language environment affects language behavior? Scientists have completed a computational modeling study that suggests our experience and interaction with specific learning environments, like the characteristics of what we read, leads to differences in language behavior that were once attributed to differences in cognition.

But let’s be clear: Johns didn’t read all of those books. He’s an expert in computational cognitive science who has published a computational modeling study that suggests our experience and interaction with specific learning environments, like the characteristics of what we read, leads to differences in language behavior that were once attributed to differences in cognition.

«Previously in linguistics it was assumed a lot of our ability to use language was instinctual and that our environmental experience lacked the depth necessary to fully acquire the necessary skills,» says Johns. «The models that we’re developing today have us questioning those earlier conclusions. Environment does appear to be shaping behavior.»

Johns’ findings, with his co-author, Randall K. Jamieson, a professor in the University of Manitoba’s Department of Psychology, appear in the journal Behavior Research Methods.

Advances in natural language processing and computational resources allow researchers like Johns and Jamieson to examine once intractable questions.

The models, called distributional models, serve as analogies to the human language learning process. The 26,000 books that support the analysis of this research come from 3,000 different authors (about 2,000 from the U.S. and roughly 500 from the U.K.) who used over 1.3 billion total words.

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