#NeurIPS2023 invited talk: Linda Smith on young humans and self-generated experience

During the first four years of life, children can name and recognise over one thousand object categories, learn the syntax of their language, and absorb the cultural and social properties of where they grew up. By the age of three, they become one-shot learners in many domains. Linda's research focusses on cognitive development in young children, and she wants to understand the structure of experiences that gives rise to all of the knowledge that a child obtains in such a short time. To carry out her research, Linda studies the world from the learner's point of view, by using cameras, audio recorders and motion-tracking sensors to collect data from babies and young children. These sensors have facilitated different projects, including those that focus on recording 24 hours a day, as the child and their family go about their daily routine, and those that are more focussed data-collection sessions which take place in the laboratory.