Catching criminals in action isn’t the only thing surveillance cameras can do– now they are starting to answer hundred year old questions.
Recently, surveillance cameras were used to conduct The Human Speechome Project, an experiment designed to map the way humans acquire speech. The age old question of speech acquisition has been tackled by famous researchers including Noam Chomsky and Eric Lenneberg. From devices in your brain to critical periods there only remains theories about how humans develop language skills.
With the help of surveillance cameras, professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hope to provide some of the first conclusive, data based answers to what seems to be the unsolvable question. Stunted by the limited availability to thoroughly track a child’s language acquisition process, previous studies were only given snapshots of a child’s development in weekly or monthly meetings. Considering the fast paced nature of child development, missing a week, day, and even an hour can mean missing a crucial moment in the child’s development. …
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