On March 21, 2025, the 13th annual Marshall M. Weinberg Symposium took place at the University of Michigan, focusing on the theme "What do large language models tell us about human language?" Our three guest speakers delved into how recent advancements in large language models are reshaping our understanding of language acquisition by challenging the traditional cognitive science claims that language depends on innate syntactic rules and social interaction; these models demonstrate the potential for achieving language fluency through data-driven learning alone.
Jordan Kodner kicked off this year's symposium with "LLMs and Linguistics: Use Them for What They Are, and Don't Try to Make Them What They Aren't," arguing that while large language models can mimic human performance on linguistic tasks by identifying statistical patterns, they should not be seen as models of human cognition and are most valuable when used within their limitations.
Richard Futrell followed with his presentation of "Prediction and Locality in Language and Language Models." Futrell argued that both neural language models and human cognition succeed in language processing through prediction, and that this shared approach can link insights from language, neuroscience, and machine learning.
Ellie Pavlick rounded out the presentation portion of the symposium in her talk titled "Not-Your-Mother's-Connectionism: LLMs as Cognitive Models," discussing how modern large language models exhibit human-like behavior in language and reasoning, prompting renewed debates on neural versus symbolic models, and advocated for a nuanced perspective recognizing LLMs' potential to reveal new insights about human cognition.
Following the panel discussion moderated Jon Brennan, U-M Associate Professor of Linguistics, the day ended with the 2nd Annual Weinberg Institute Undergraduate Poster Session. Nineteen students showcased their research, engaging with peers and distinguished members of the academic community.
Isabelle Dugan has been recognized with the Best Poster Award for their outstanding poster presentation titled “Take it or leave it: Possession and the evolution of ownership in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)”.
We also awarded two individuals with an Outstanding Poster Award, Anabella Weiss with their presentation titled “Color-Evasive Parenting: The Impact on Familial Relationships Between Asian American Transracially Adopted Children and Their White Parents” and Lauren Schleiter for their poster presentation titled “ Do Children Share More With Those That Trust Them?”.
