51
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Jing Y, Widmer P, Bickel B. Word Order Variation is Partially Constrained by Syntactic Complexity. Cogn Sci 2021; 45:e13056. [PMID: 34758151 PMCID: PMC9287024 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Revised: 07/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Previous work suggests that when speakers linearize syntactic structures, they place longer and more complex dependents further away from the head word to which they belong than shorter and simpler dependents, and that they do so with increasing rigidity the longer expressions get, for example, longer objects tend to be placed further away from their verb, and with less variation. Current theories of sentence processing furthermore make competing predictions on whether longer expressions are preferentially placed as early or as late as possible. Here we test these predictions using hierarchical distributional regression models that allow estimates of word order and word order variation at the level of individual dependencies in corpora from 71 languages, while controlling for confounding effects from the type of dependency (e.g., subject vs. object), and the type of clause (main vs. subordinate) involved as well as from trends that are characteristic of individual languages, language families, and language contact areas. Our results show the expected correlations of length with position and variation only for two out of six dependency types (obliques and nominal modifiers) and no difference between clause types. These findings challenge received theories of across‐the‐board effects of complexity on word order and word order variation and call for theoretical models that relativize effects to specific kinds of syntactic structures and dependencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingqi Jing
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich.,Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University
| | - Paul Widmer
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich
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52
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Hörberg T, Jaeger TF. A Rational Model of Incremental Argument Interpretation: The Comprehension of Swedish Transitive Clauses. Front Psychol 2021; 12:674202. [PMID: 34721134 PMCID: PMC8554243 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.674202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
A central component of sentence understanding is verb-argument interpretation, determining how the referents in the sentence are related to the events or states expressed by the verb. Previous work has found that comprehenders change their argument interpretations incrementally as the sentence unfolds, based on morphosyntactic (e.g., case, agreement), lexico-semantic (e.g., animacy, verb-argument fit), and discourse cues (e.g., givenness). However, it is still unknown whether these cues have a privileged role in language processing, or whether their effects on argument interpretation originate in implicit expectations based on the joint distribution of these cues with argument assignments experienced in previous language input. We compare the former, linguistic account against the latter, expectation-based account, using data from production and comprehension of transitive clauses in Swedish. Based on a large corpus of Swedish, we develop a rational (Bayesian) model of incremental argument interpretation. This model predicts the processing difficulty experienced at different points in the sentence as a function of the Bayesian surprise associated with changes in expectations over possible argument interpretations. We then test the model against reading times from a self-paced reading experiment on Swedish. We find Bayesian surprise to be a significant predictor of reading times, complementing effects of word surprisal. Bayesian surprise also captures the qualitative effects of morpho-syntactic and lexico-semantic cues. Additional model comparisons find that it—with a single degree of freedom—captures much, if not all, of the effects associated with these cues. This suggests that the effects of form- and meaning-based cues to argument interpretation are mediated through expectation-based processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Hörberg
- Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Computational Science and Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - T Florian Jaeger
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States.,Department of Computer Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States
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53
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Xu J, Abdel Rahman R, Sommer W. Who speaks next? Adaptations to speaker identity in processing spoken sentences. Psychophysiology 2021; 59:e13948. [PMID: 34587288 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
When listening to a speaker, we need to adapt to her individual speaking characteristics, such as error proneness, accent, etc. The present study investigated two aspects of adaptation to speaker identity during processing spoken sentences in multi-speaker situations: the effect of speaker sequence across sentences and the effect of learning speaker-specific error probability. Spoken sentences were presented, cued, and accompanied by one of three portraits that were labeled as the speakers' faces. In Block 1 speaker-specific probabilities of syntax errors were 10%, 50%, or 90%; in Block 2 they were uniformly 50%. In both blocks, speech errors elicited P600 effects in the scalp recorded ERP. We found a speaker sequence effect only in Block 1: the P600 to target words was larger after speaker switches than after speaker repetitions, independent of sentence correctness. In Block 1, listeners showed higher accuracy in judging sentence correctness spoken by speakers with lower error proportions. No speaker-specific differences in target word P600 and accuracy were found in Block 2. When speakers differ in error proneness, listeners seem to flexibly adapt their speech processing for the upcoming sentence through attention reorientation and resource reallocation if the speaker is about to change, and through proactive maintenance of neural resources if the speaker remains the same.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jue Xu
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Rasha Abdel Rahman
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Werner Sommer
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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54
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Long M, Moore I, Mollica F, Rubio-Fernandez P. Contrast perception as a visual heuristic in the formulation of referential expressions. Cognition 2021; 217:104879. [PMID: 34418775 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2020] [Revised: 07/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
We hypothesize that contrast perception works as a visual heuristic, such that when speakers perceive a significant degree of contrast in a visual context, they tend to produce the corresponding adjective to describe a referent. The contrast perception heuristic supports efficient audience design, allowing speakers to produce referential expressions with minimum expenditure of cognitive resources, while facilitating the listener's visual search for the referent. We tested the perceptual contrast hypothesis in three language-production experiments. Experiment 1 revealed that speakers overspecify color adjectives in polychrome displays, whereas in monochrome displays they overspecified other properties that were contrastive. Further support for the contrast perception hypothesis comes from a re-analysis of previous work, which confirmed that color contrast elicits color overspecification when detected in a given display, but not when detected across monochrome trials. Experiment 2 revealed that even atypical colors (which are often overspecified) are only mentioned if there is color contrast. In Experiment 3, participants named a target color faster in monochrome than in polychrome displays, suggesting that the effect of color contrast is not analogous to ease of production. We conclude that the tendency to overspecify color in polychrome displays is not a bottom-up effect driven by the visual salience of color as a property, but possibly a learned communicative strategy. We discuss the implications of our account for pragmatic theories of referential communication and models of audience design, challenging the view that overspecification is a form of egocentric behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Isabelle Moore
- Psychology Department, University of Virginia, United States of America
| | - Francis Mollica
- Informatics Department, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Paula Rubio-Fernandez
- Philosophy Department, University of Oslo, Norway; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America.
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55
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Ranacher P, Neureiter N, van Gijn R, Sonnenhauser B, Escher A, Weibel R, Muysken P, Bickel B. Contact-tracing in cultural evolution: a Bayesian mixture model to detect geographic areas of language contact. J R Soc Interface 2021; 18:20201031. [PMID: 34376092 PMCID: PMC8355670 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2020.1031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
When speakers of different languages interact, they are likely to influence each other: contact leaves traces in the linguistic record, which in turn can reveal geographical areas of past human interaction and migration. However, other factors may contribute to similarities between languages. Inheritance from a shared ancestral language and universal preference for a linguistic property may both overshadow contact signals. How can we find geographical contact areas in language data, while accounting for the confounding effects of inheritance and universal preference? We present sBayes, an algorithm for Bayesian clustering in the presence of confounding effects. The algorithm learns which similarities are better explained by confounders, and which are due to contact effects. Contact areas are free to take any shape or size, but an explicit geographical prior ensures their spatial coherence. We test sBayes on simulated data and apply it in two case studies to reveal language contact in South America and the Balkans. Our results are supported by findings from previous studies. While we focus on detecting language contact, the method can also be used to uncover other traces of shared history in cultural evolution, and more generally, to reveal latent spatial clusters in the presence of confounders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Ranacher
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Nico Neureiter
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rik van Gijn
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Barbara Sonnenhauser
- Department of Slavonic Languages and Literatures, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Anastasia Escher
- Department of Slavonic Languages and Literatures, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Robert Weibel
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Pieter Muysken
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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56
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Garcia R, Garrido Rodriguez G, Kidd E. Developmental effects in the online use of morphosyntactic cues in sentence processing: Evidence from Tagalog. Cognition 2021; 216:104859. [PMID: 34329886 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2020] [Revised: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Children must necessarily process their input in order to learn it, yet the architecture of the developing parsing system and how it interfaces with acquisition is unclear. In the current paper we report experimental and corpus data investigating adult and children's use of morphosyntactic cues for making incremental online predictions of thematic roles in Tagalog, a verb-initial symmetrical voice language of the Philippines. In Study 1, Tagalog-speaking adults completed a visual world eye-tracking experiment in which they viewed pictures of causative actions that were described by transitive sentences manipulated for voice and word order. The pattern of results showed that adults process agent and patient voice differently, predicting the upcoming noun in the patient voice but not in the agent voice, consistent with the observation of a patient voice preference in adult sentence production. In Study 2, our analysis of a corpus of child-directed speech showed that children heard more patient voice- than agent voice-marked verbs. In Study 3, 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old children completed a similar eye-tracking task as used in Study 1. The overall pattern of results suggested that, like the adults in Study 1, children process agent and patient voice differently in a manner that reflects the input distributions, with children developing towards the adult state across early childhood. The results are most consistent with theoretical accounts that identify a key role for input distributions in acquisition and language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rowena Garcia
- Language Development Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - Gabriela Garrido Rodriguez
- Language Development Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Canberra, Australia
| | - Evan Kidd
- Language Development Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Canberra, Australia; Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
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57
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Morgan AM, Ferreira VS. Beyond input: Language learners produce novel relative clause types without exposure. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021; 33:483-517. [PMID: 34484658 PMCID: PMC8412168 DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1928678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Syntax famously consists of abstract hierarchical representations, essentially instructions for combining words into larger units like sentences. Less famously, most theories of syntax also assume a higher level of abstract representation. Representations at this level comprise instructions for creating the hierarchical representations used to create sentences. To date, however there is no experimental evidence for this additional level of abstraction. Here, we explain why the existence of such representations would imply that, under certain circumstances, speakers should be able to produce structures they have never been exposed to, and we test this prediction directly. We ask: Given the right type of input, can speakers learn a syntactic structure without direct exposure? In particular, different types of relative clauses have different surface word orders. These may be represented in two ways: with many individual representations or one general representation. If the latter, then learning one type of relative clause amounts to learning all types. We teach participants a novel grammar for only some relative clause types (e.g., just subject relative clauses) and test their knowledge of other types (e.g., object relative clauses). Across experiments, participants consistently produced untrained types, implicating the existence of this higher level of abstract syntactic knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam M. Morgan
- NYU School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, 227 E 30th St, 8th Floor, New York NY 10016 USA
| | - Victor S. Ferreira
- UC San Diego, Department of Psychology, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla CA 92093 USA
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58
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Zaharchuk HA, Shevlin A, van Hell JG. Are our brains more prescriptive than our mouths? Experience with dialectal variation in syntax differentially impacts ERPs and behavior. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2021; 218:104949. [PMID: 33872956 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.104949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Revised: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 03/28/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
We investigated online auditory comprehension of dialectal variation in English syntax with event-related potential (ERP) analysis of electroencephalographic data. The syntactic variant under investigation was the double modal, comprising two consecutive auxiliary verbs (e.g., might could). This construction appears across subregional dialects of Southern United States English and expresses indirectness or uncertainty. We compared processing of sentences with attested double modals and single modals in two groups of young adult participants: listeners who were either familiar (Southern) or unfamiliar (Unmarked) with double modal constructions. Both Southern and Unmarked listeners engaged rapid error detection (early anterior negativity) and sentence-level reanalysis (P600) in response to attested double modals, relative to single modals. Offline acceptability and intelligibility judgments reflected dialect familiarity, contrary to the ERP data. We interpret these findings in relation to usage-based and socially weighted theories of language processing, which together capture the effects of frequency and standard language ideology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Holly A Zaharchuk
- Department of Psychology and Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, USA.
| | - Adrianna Shevlin
- Department of Psychology and Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
| | - Janet G van Hell
- Department of Psychology and Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, USA.
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59
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Goldberg AE, Lee C. Accessibility and Historical Change: An Emergent Cluster Led Uncles and Aunts to Become Aunts and Uncles. Front Psychol 2021; 12:662884. [PMID: 34122252 PMCID: PMC8187596 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.662884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 04/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
There are times when a curiously odd relic of language presents us with a thread, which when pulled, reveals deep and general facts about human language. This paper unspools such a case. Prior to 1930, English speakers uniformly preferred male-before-female word order in conjoined nouns such as uncles and aunts; nephews and nieces; men and women. Since then, at least a half dozen items have systematically reversed their preferred order (e.g., aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews) while others have not (men and women). We review evidence that the unusual reversals began with mother and dad(dy) and spread to semantically and morphologically related binomials over a period of decades. The present work proposes that three aspects of cognitive accessibility combine to quantify the probability of A&B order: (1) the relative accessibility of the A&B terms individually, (2) competition from B&A order, and critically, (3) cluster strength (i.e., similarity to related A'&B' cases). The emergent cluster of female-first binomials highlights the influence of semantic neighborhoods in memory retrieval. We suggest that cognitive accessibility can be used to predict the word order of both familiar and novel binomials generally, as well as the diachronic change focused on here.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adele E Goldberg
- Psychology Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Crystal Lee
- Psychology Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
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60
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O'Grady W. The Natural Syntax of Local Coreference. Front Psychol 2021; 12:660296. [PMID: 34093352 PMCID: PMC8170473 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.660296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Emergentist approaches to language are burdened with two responsibilities in contemporary cognitive science. On the one hand, they must offer a different and better understanding of the well-known phenomena that appear to support traditional formal approaches to language. On the other hand, they must extend the search for alternative explanations beyond the familiar languages of Europe and East Asia. I pursue this joint endeavor here by outlining an emergentist account for constraints on local anaphora in English and Balinese, with a view to showing that, despite numerous proposals to the contrary, the two languages manifest essentially the same system of coreference and that the system in question is shaped by processing pressures rather than grammatical principles.
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Affiliation(s)
- William O'Grady
- Department of Linguistics, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
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61
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Cho SJ, Watson D, Jacobs C, Naveiras M. A Markov Mixed-Effect Multinomial Logistic Regression Model for Nominal Repeated Measures with an Application to Syntactic Self-Priming Effects. MULTIVARIATE BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH 2021; 56:476-495. [PMID: 32207638 DOI: 10.1080/00273171.2020.1738207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Syntactic priming effects have been investigated for several decades in psycholinguistics and the cognitive sciences to understand the cognitive mechanisms that support language production and comprehension. The question of whether speakers prime themselves is central to adjudicating between two theories of syntactic priming, activation-based theories and expectation-based theories. However, there is a lack of a statistical model to investigate the two different theories when nominal repeated measures are obtained from multiple participants and items. This paper presents a Markov mixed-effect multinomial logistic regression model in which there are fixed and random effects for own-category lags and cross-category lags in a multivariate structure and there are category-specific crossed random effects (random person and item effects). The model is illustrated with experimental data that investigates the average and participant-specific deviations in syntactic self-priming effects. Results of the model suggest that evidence of self-priming is consistent with the predictions of activation-based theories. Accuracy of parameter estimates and precision is evaluated via a simulation study using Bayesian analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sun-Joo Cho
- Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University
| | - Duane Watson
- Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University
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62
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Is codeswitching easy or difficult? Testing processing cost through the prosodic structure of bilingual speech. Cognition 2021; 211:104634. [PMID: 33677349 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2019] [Revised: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
A common practice often attested in bilingual and multilingual communities the world over is the combination of languages within a single utterance or conversation, a practice known as codeswitching. While sociolinguistic studies of spontaneous codeswitching have demonstrated its structure and systematicity, psycholinguistic approaches have focused on the cognitive mechanisms underlying language switching, most often at the lexical level. In the present study, we seek to investigate these mechanisms using spontaneous codeswitching from an established community of Spanish-English bilinguals in northern New Mexico. Focusing on the clausal rather than the lexical level, we find that global speech rates are fastest when bilinguals codeswitch compared to speaking only one language at a time. These results point to codeswitching as a unique discourse mode that these bilinguals use to facilitate production and suggests that what may appear costly at one level may be beneficial at another.
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63
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Neural signatures of syntactic variation in speech planning. PLoS Biol 2021; 19:e3001038. [PMID: 33497384 PMCID: PMC7837500 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 12/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Planning to speak is a challenge for the brain, and the challenge varies between and within languages. Yet, little is known about how neural processes react to these variable challenges beyond the planning of individual words. Here, we examine how fundamental differences in syntax shape the time course of sentence planning. Most languages treat alike (i.e., align with each other) the 2 uses of a word like “gardener” in “the gardener crouched” and in “the gardener planted trees.” A minority keeps these formally distinct by adding special marking in 1 case, and some languages display both aligned and nonaligned expressions. Exploiting such a contrast in Hindi, we used electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking to suggest that this difference is associated with distinct patterns of neural processing and gaze behavior during early planning stages, preceding phonological word form preparation. Planning sentences with aligned expressions induces larger synchronization in the theta frequency band, suggesting higher working memory engagement, and more visual attention to agents than planning nonaligned sentences, suggesting delayed commitment to the relational details of the event. Furthermore, plain, unmarked expressions are associated with larger desynchronization in the alpha band than expressions with special markers, suggesting more engagement in information processing to keep overlapping structures distinct during planning. Our findings contrast with the observation that the form of aligned expressions is simpler, and they suggest that the global preference for alignment is driven not by its neurophysiological effect on sentence planning but by other sources, possibly by aspects of production flexibility and fluency or by sentence comprehension. This challenges current theories on how production and comprehension may affect the evolution and distribution of syntactic variants in the world’s languages. Little is known about the neural processes involved in planning to speak. This study uses eye-tracking and EEG to show that speakers prepare sentence structures in different ways and rely on alpha and theta oscillations differently when planning sentences with and without agent case marking, challenging theories on how production and comprehension affect language evolution.
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64
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Potts CA, Rosenbaum DA. Does attention solve the "apples-and-oranges" problems of judging task difficulty and task order? PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2021; 85:3040-3047. [PMID: 33389043 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01453-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2020] [Accepted: 11/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
How do we compare the difficulty of different kinds of tasks, and how we do sequence tasks of different kinds when the basis for the ordering is the tasks' difficulty levels? The ability to do these things requires a common currency, but the identity of that currency, if it exists, is unknown. We hypothesized that people may believe that the time that attention is paid to tasks enables people to compare and sequence tasks of different kinds. To evaluate this hypothesis, we tested three groups of participants. One group estimated the proportion of time that performance of a task requires attention-what we called attention time proportions or ATPs. We obtained ATPs for tasks that were "more intellectual" (counting) and others that were "more physical" (locomotion). Two additional groups made 2-alternative-forced-choice decisions about the relative ease and preferred sequencing of all possible pairs of tasks for which ATPs were independently obtained. We found that ATPs predicted judgments of task difficulty and preferred task order.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cory A Potts
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
| | - David A Rosenbaum
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 95251, USA
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65
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MacWhinney B, Kempe V, Brooks PJ, Li P. Editorial: Emergentist Approaches to Language. Front Psychol 2021; 12:833160. [PMID: 35173656 PMCID: PMC8841963 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.833160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Brian MacWhinney
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Vera Kempe
- Division of Psychology, Abertay University, Dundee, United Kingdom
| | - Patricia J Brooks
- Department of Psychology, College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center, CUNY, Staten Island, NY, United States
| | - Ping Li
- Faculty of Humanities, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
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66
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Nencheva ML, Piazza EA, Lew-Williams C. The moment-to-moment pitch dynamics of child-directed speech shape toddlers' attention and learning. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e12997. [PMID: 32441385 PMCID: PMC7680269 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 01/02/2020] [Accepted: 05/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Young children have an overall preference for child-directed speech (CDS) over adult-directed speech (ADS), and its structural features are thought to facilitate language learning. Many studies have supported these findings, but less is known about processing of CDS at short, sub-second timescales. How do the moment-to-moment dynamics of CDS influence young children's attention and learning? In Study 1, we used hierarchical clustering to characterize patterns of pitch variability in a natural CDS corpus, which uncovered four main word-level contour shapes: 'fall', 'rise', 'hill', and 'valley'. In Study 2, we adapted a measure from adult attention research-pupil size synchrony-to quantify real-time attention to speech across participants, and found that toddlers showed higher synchrony to the dynamics of CDS than to ADS. Importantly, there were consistent differences in toddlers' attention when listening to the four word-level contour types. In Study 3, we found that pupil size synchrony during exposure to novel words predicted toddlers' learning at test. This suggests that the dynamics of pitch in CDS not only shape toddlers' attention but guide their learning of new words. By revealing a physiological response to the real-time dynamics of CDS, this investigation yields a new sub-second framework for understanding young children's engagement with one of the most important signals in their environment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Elise A. Piazza
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University
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67
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The many timescales of context in language processing. PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.plm.2021.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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68
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Vaughan-Evans A, Parafita Couto MC, Boutonnet B, Hoshino N, Webb-Davies P, Deuchar M, Thierry G. Switchmate! An Electrophysiological Attempt to Adjudicate Between Competing Accounts of Adjective-Noun Code-Switching. Front Psychol 2020; 11:549762. [PMID: 33281658 PMCID: PMC7705354 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.549762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2020] [Accepted: 08/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Here, we used event-related potentials to test the predictions of two prominent accounts of code-switching in bilinguals: The Matrix Language Framework (MLF; Myers-Scotton, 1993) and an application of the Minimalist Programme (MP; Cantone and MacSwan, 2009). We focused on the relative order of the noun with respect to the adjective in mixed Welsh-English nominal constructions given the clear contrast between pre- and post-nominal adjective position between Welsh and English. MP would predict that the language of the adjective should determine felicitous word order (i.e., English adjectives should appear pre-nominally and Welsh adjectives post-nominally). In contrast, MLF contends that it is the language of the finite verb inflexion rather than that of a particular word that governs felicitous word order. To assess the predictions of the two models, we constructed sentences featuring a code-switch between the adjective and the noun, that complied with either English or Welsh word-order. Highly proficient Welsh-English bilinguals made semantic acceptability judgements upon reading the last word of sentences which could violate MP assumptions, MLF assumptions, both assumptions, or neither. Behaviourally, MP violations had no significant effect, whereas MLF violations induced an average drop of 11% in acceptability judgements. Neurophysiologically, MP violations elicited a significant Left Anterior Negativity (LAN) modulation, whereas MLF violations modulated both P600 and LAN mean amplitudes. In addition, there was a significant interaction between MP and MLF status in the P600 range: When MP was violated, MLF status did not matter, and when MP criteria were met, MLF violations resulted in a P600 modulation. This interaction possibly reflects a general preference for noun over adjective insertions, and may provide support for MLF over MP at a global sentence processing level. Model predictions also manifested differently in each of the matrix languages (MLs): When the ML was Welsh, MP and MLF violations elicited greater P600 mean amplitudes than MP and MLF adherences, however, this pattern was not observed when the ML was English. We discuss methodological considerations relating to the neuroscientific study of code-switching, and the extent to which our results shed light on adjective-noun code-switching beyond findings from production and experimental-behavioural studies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Maria Carmen Parafita Couto
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden, Netherlands.,Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, Netherlands
| | | | | | - Peredur Webb-Davies
- School of Languages, Literatures, Linguistics and Media, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
| | - Margaret Deuchar
- Cambridge Language Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Guillaume Thierry
- School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom.,Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
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69
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Schouwstra M, de Swart H, Thompson B. Interpreting Silent Gesture: Cognitive Biases and Rational Inference in Emerging Language Systems. Cogn Sci 2020; 43:e12732. [PMID: 31310026 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2016] [Revised: 03/27/2019] [Accepted: 04/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Natural languages make prolific use of conventional constituent-ordering patterns to indicate "who did what to whom," yet the mechanisms through which these regularities arise are not well understood. A series of recent experiments demonstrates that, when prompted to express meanings through silent gesture, people bypass native language conventions, revealing apparent biases underpinning word order usage, based on the semantic properties of the information to be conveyed. We extend the scope of these studies by focusing, experimentally and computationally, on the interpretation of silent gesture. We show cross-linguistic experimental evidence that people use variability in constituent order as a cue to obtain different interpretations. To illuminate the computational principles that govern interpretation of non-conventional communication, we derive a Bayesian model of interpretation via biased inductive inference and estimate these biases from the experimental data. Our analyses suggest people's interpretations balance the ambiguity that is characteristic of emerging language systems, with ordering preferences that are skewed and asymmetric, but defeasible.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Bill Thompson
- Social Science Matrix, University of California, Berkeley
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70
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Beatty-Martínez AL, Navarro-Torres CA, Dussias PE. Codeswitching: A Bilingual Toolkit for Opportunistic Speech Planning. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1699. [PMID: 32765377 PMCID: PMC7380110 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01699] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2020] [Accepted: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to engage in fluent codeswitching is a hallmark of the flexibility and creativity of bilingual language use. Recent discoveries have changed the way we think about codeswitching and its implications for language processing and language control. One is that codeswitching is not haphazard, but subject to unique linguistic and cognitive constraints. Another is that not all bilinguals codeswitch, but those who do, exhibit usage patterns conforming to community-based norms. However, less is known about the cognitive processes that regulate and promote the likelihood of codeswitched speech. We review recent empirical studies and provide corpus evidence that highlight how codeswitching serves as an opportunistic strategy for optimizing performance in cooperative communication. From this perspective, codeswitching is part and parcel of a toolkit available to bilingual codeswitching speakers to assist in language production by allowing both languages to remain active and accessible, and therefore providing an alternative means to convey meaning, with implications for bilingual speech planning and language control more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Paola E Dussias
- Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.,Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
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71
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Kootstra GJ, Dijkstra T, van Hell JG. Interactive Alignment and Lexical Triggering of Code-Switching in Bilingual Dialogue. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1747. [PMID: 32793070 PMCID: PMC7387648 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
When bilingual speakers use two languages in the same utterance, this is called code-switching. Previous research indicates that bilinguals’ likelihood to code-switch is enhanced when the utterance to be produced (1) contains a word with a similar form across languages (lexical triggering) and (2) is preceded by a code-switched utterance, for example from a dialogue partner (interactive alignment/priming of code-switching). Both factors have mostly been tested on corpus data and have not yet been studied in combination. In two experiments, we therefore investigated the combined effects of interactive alignment and lexical triggering on code-switching. In Experiment 1, Dutch-English bilinguals described pictures to each other in a dialogue game where a confederate’s code-switching was manipulated. The participants were free to use either Dutch, English, or a combination of Dutch and English in describing the pictures, so they could voluntarily code-switch or not. The pictures contained a cognate [e.g., roos (rose)], a false friend [e.g., rok (skirt, false friend with rock)], or a control word [e.g., jas (coat)]. Participants code-switched more often when the confederate had just code-switched (indicating interactive alignment). They also code-switched more often when cognates were involved, but only when the confederate had just code-switched. This indicates that lexical triggering is driven by interactive alignment. False friends did not enhance the likelihood of code-switching. Experiment 2 used a similar dialogue game with participants from the same population but focused specifically on how to account for interactive alignment of code-switching. Rather than aligning on their dialogue partner’s pragmatic act of code-switching, bilinguals aligned on the language activation from the utterance produced by their dialogue partner. All in all, the results show how co-activation of languages at multiple levels of processing together influence bilinguals’ tendency to code-switch. The findings call for a perspective on bilingual language production in which cross-speaker and cross-language processes are combined.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ton Dijkstra
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Donders Centre for Cognition, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Janet G van Hell
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.,Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
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72
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Abstract
Bilingual speakers sometimes codeswitch, or alternate between languages, in a single utterance. We investigated the effect of lexical accessibility of words, defined as the ease with which a speaker retrieves and produces a word, on codeswitching in Spanish-English bilinguals. We first developed a novel sentence-production paradigm to elicit naturalistic codeswitches in the lab. We then predicted items on which speakers were more or less likely to codeswitch as a consequence of the relative lexical accessibility of those items' labels across a speaker's two languages. In a Spanish sentence-production task, greater lexical accessibility in English was associated with an increased rate of codeswitching and longer speaking durations on trials on which speakers codeswitched, as well as on trials on which speakers did not codeswitch. Codeswitches were more frequent on trials where speakers likely experienced more competition from the other-language label, suggesting that codeswitching may be a tool that bilingual speakers use to alleviate difficulty associated with cross-language lexical competition. Given findings that comprehenders are able to learn lexical distributions and subtle acoustic cues to predict upcoming codeswitches, the present work suggests that demands on speakers during language production may play a role in explaining how those patterns come to exist in the language environment.
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73
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Mancilla-Martinez J, Hwang JK, Oh MH, McClain JB. Early Elementary Grade Dual Language Learners from Spanish-speaking Homes Struggling with English Reading Comprehension: The Dormant Role of Language Skills. JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020; 112:880-894. [PMID: 33311734 PMCID: PMC7731317 DOI: 10.1037/edu0000402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This study investigated contributors of English reading comprehension outcomes among predominantly U.S.-born first and third grade (N = 73) dual language learners (DLLs) from Spanish-speaking, low-income homes who attend English-only instructional schools in the Southern region of the U.S., which is experiencing historic rates of school-age DLL enrollment. We investigated the utility of various conceptualizations of vocabulary, namely English-only, Spanish-only, and specifically Spanish-English conceptually-scored receptive vocabulary, in understanding DLLs' reading comprehension. We first examined whether a gap was evident between the various conceptualizations of vocabulary and English word reading. Then, using structural equation modeling, we investigated the influence of the various conceptualizations of vocabulary on English reading comprehension, accounting for English word reading skills. Finally, we examined the potential contributions of DLLs' home language environments. Results revealed that the gap between English word reading and vocabulary varied as a function of the conceptualization of vocabulary. Further, English word reading emerged as the robust contributor to children's English reading comprehension, with no significant influence of receptive vocabulary, regardless of how it was conceptualized. Finally, and contributing to a nascent area of research, attention to DLLs' home language use practices suggests that the productive language domain (i.e., children's own home language use) may represent an important contributor to English reading comprehension among DLLs from Spanish-speaking homes. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez
- Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Place, Peabody #329, Nashville, TN 37203-5721, USA
| | - Jin Kyoung Hwang
- School of Education, University of California, Irvine, 467 Social Sciences Tower, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Min Hyun Oh
- Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Place, Peabody #329, Nashville, TN 37203-5721, USA
| | - Janna Brown McClain
- Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, 230 Appleton Place, Peabody #329, Nashville, TN 37203-5721, USA
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74
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Koranda MJ, Bulgarelli F, Weiss DJ, MacDonald MC. Is Language Production Planning Emergent From Action Planning? A Preliminary Investigation. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1193. [PMID: 32581969 PMCID: PMC7290767 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2019] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The nature of syntactic planning for language production may reflect language-specific processes, but an alternative is that syntactic planning is an example of more domain-general action planning processes. If so, language and non-linguistic action planning should have identifiable commonalities, consistent with an underlying shared system. Action and language research have had little contact, however, and such comparisons are therefore lacking. Here, we address this gap by taking advantage of a striking similarity between two phenomena in language and action production. One is known as syntactic priming-the tendency to re-use a recently produced sentence structure-and the second is hysteresis-the tendency to re-use a previously executed abstract action plan, such as a limb movement. We examined syntactic priming/hysteresis in parallel language and action tasks intermixed in a single experimental session. Our goals were to establish the feasibility of investigating language and action planning within the same participants and to inform debates on the language-specific vs. domain-general nature of planning systems. In both action and language tasks, target trials afforded two alternative orders of subcomponents in the participant's response: in the language task, a picture could be described with two different word orders, and in the action task, locations on a touch screen could be touched in two different orders. Prime trials preceding the target trial promoted one of two plans in the respective domain. Manipulations yielded higher rates of primed behavior in both tasks. In an exploratory cross-domain analysis, there was some evidence for stronger priming effects in some combinations of action and language priming conditions than others. These results establish a method for investigating the degree to which language planning is part of a domain-general action planning system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark J Koranda
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Federica Bulgarelli
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United States.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States
| | - Daniel J Weiss
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United States
| | - Maryellen C MacDonald
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
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75
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Kroczek LOH, Gunter TC. Distinct Neural Networks Relate to Common and Speaker-Specific Language Priors. Cereb Cortex Commun 2020; 1:tgaa021. [PMID: 34296098 PMCID: PMC8153046 DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgaa021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2020] [Revised: 04/23/2020] [Accepted: 05/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Effective natural communication requires listeners to incorporate not only very general linguistic principles which evolved during a lifetime but also other information like the specific individual language use of a particular interlocutor. Traditionally, research has focused on the general linguistic rules, and brain science has shown a left hemispheric fronto-temporal brain network related to this processing. The present fMRI research explores speaker-specific individual language use because it is unknown whether this processing is supported by similar or distinct neural structures. Twenty-eight participants listened to sentences of persons who used more easy or difficult language. This was done by manipulating the proportion of easy SOV vs. complex OSV sentences for each speaker. Furthermore, ambiguous probe sentences were included to test top-down influences of speaker information in the absence of syntactic structure information. We observed distinct neural processing for syntactic complexity and speaker-specific language use. Syntactic complexity correlated with left frontal and posterior temporal regions. Speaker-specific processing correlated with bilateral (right-dominant) fronto-parietal brain regions. Finally, the top-down influence of speaker information was found in frontal and striatal brain regions, suggesting a mechanism for controlled syntactic processing. These findings show distinct neural networks related to general language principles as well as speaker-specific individual language use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leon O H Kroczek
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Regensburg 93053, Germany
| | - Thomas C Gunter
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany
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76
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Husain S, Yadav H. Target Complexity Modulates Syntactic Priming During Comprehension. Front Psychol 2020; 11:454. [PMID: 32256432 PMCID: PMC7094757 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2019] [Accepted: 02/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Syntactic priming is known to facilitate comprehension of the target sentence if the syntactic structure of the target sentence aligns with the structure of the prime (Branigan et al., 2005; Tooley and Traxler, 2010). Such a processing facilitation is understood to be constrained due to factors such as lexical overlap between the prime and the target, frequency of the prime structure, etc. Syntactic priming in SOV languages is also understood to be influenced by similar constraints (Arai, 2012). Sentence comprehension in SOV languages is known to be incremental and predictive. Such a top-down parsing process involves establishing various syntactic relations based on the linguistic cues of a sentence and the role of preverbal case-markers in achieving this is known to be critical. Given the evidence of syntactic priming during comprehension in these languages, this aspect of the comprehension process and its effect on syntactic priming becomes important. In this work, we show that syntactic priming during comprehension is affected by the probability of using the prime structure while parsing the target sentence. If the prime structure has a low probability given the sentential cues (e.g., nominal case-markers) in the target sentence, then the chances of persisting with the prime structure in the target reduces. Our work demonstrates the role of structural complexity of the target with regard to syntactic priming during comprehension and highlights that syntactic priming is modulated by an overarching preference of the parser to avoid rare structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samar Husain
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India
| | - Himanshu Yadav
- Department of Linguistics, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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77
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Schwering SC, MacDonald MC. Verbal Working Memory as Emergent from Language Comprehension and Production. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:68. [PMID: 32226368 PMCID: PMC7081770 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Accepted: 02/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
This article reviews current models of verbal working memory and considers the role of language comprehension and long-term memory in the ability to maintain and order verbal information for short periods of time. While all models of verbal working memory posit some interaction with long-term memory, few have considered the character of these long-term representations or how they might affect performance on verbal working memory tasks. Similarly, few models have considered how comprehension processes and production processes might affect performance in verbal working memory tasks. Modern theories of comprehension emphasize that people learn a vast web of correlated information about the language and the world and must activate that information from long-term memory to cope with the demands of language input. To date, there has been little consideration in theories of verbal working memory for how this rich input from comprehension would affect the nature of temporary memory. There has also been relatively little attention to the degree to which language production processes naturally manage serial order of verbal information. The authors argue for an emergent model of verbal working memory supported by a rich, distributed long-term memory for language. On this view, comprehension processes provide encoding in verbal working memory tasks, and production processes maintenance, serial ordering, and recall. Moreover, the computational capacity to maintain and order information varies with language experience. Implications for theories of working memory, comprehension, and production are considered.
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78
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Cho SJ, Brown-Schmidt S, Boeck PD, Shen J. Modeling Intensive Polytomous Time-Series Eye-Tracking Data: A Dynamic Tree-Based Item Response Model. PSYCHOMETRIKA 2020; 85:154-184. [PMID: 32086751 DOI: 10.1007/s11336-020-09694-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2018] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
This paper presents a dynamic tree-based item response (IRTree) model as a novel extension of the autoregressive generalized linear mixed effect model (dynamic GLMM). We illustrate the unique utility of the dynamic IRTree model in its capability of modeling differentiated processes indicated by intensive polytomous time-series eye-tracking data. The dynamic IRTree was inspired by but is distinct from the dynamic GLMM which was previously presented by Cho, Brown-Schmidt, and Lee (Psychometrika 83(3):751-771, 2018). Unlike the dynamic IRTree, the dynamic GLMM is suitable for modeling intensive binary time-series eye-tracking data to identify visual attention to a single interest area over all other possible fixation locations. The dynamic IRTree model is a general modeling framework which can be used to model change processes (trend and autocorrelation) and which allows for decomposing data into various sources of heterogeneity. The dynamic IRTree model was illustrated using an experimental study that employed the visual-world eye-tracking technique. The results of a simulation study showed that parameter recovery of the model was satisfactory and that ignoring trend and autoregressive effects resulted in biased estimates of experimental condition effects in the same conditions found in the empirical study.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Paul De Boeck
- The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA
- KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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79
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Do domain-general executive resources play a role in linguistic prediction? Re-evaluation of the evidence and a path forward. Neuropsychologia 2020; 136:107258. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2019] [Revised: 11/07/2019] [Accepted: 11/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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80
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Gross MC, Lopez E, Buac M, Kaushanskaya M. Processing of code-switched sentences by bilingual children: Cognitive and linguistic predictors. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2019; 52. [PMID: 31885416 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2019.100821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Production studies of language switching have identified costs in the speed and/or accuracy of word production, but it is unclear whether processing costs are experienced by listeners as well. A related question is whether language control during comprehension recruits domain-general cognitive control. The current study examined processing of code-switching in Spanish-English bilingual children (ages 6;0-11;10) using an auditory moving window paradigm. Cognitive control was indexed by the Dimensional Change Card Sort. Children exhibited significant costs in processing speed when listening to code-switched sentences, but no costs in a measure of offline comprehension. The extent to which cognitive control skills moderated processing costs depended on the robustness of the language system: children with higher language skills exhibited a greater moderating effect of cognitive control. Taken together, the findings provide limited support for a role of cognitive control in children's code-switching processing and suggest that the processing costs incurred may be transitory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan C Gross
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Language Acquisition & Bilingualism Lab, 1500 Highland Avenue, Room 476, Madison, WI 53705, United States
| | - Eva Lopez
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Language Acquisition & Bilingualism Lab, 1500 Highland Avenue, Room 476, Madison, WI 53705, United States
| | - Milijana Buac
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Language Acquisition & Bilingualism Lab, 1500 Highland Avenue, Room 476, Madison, WI 53705, United States
| | - Margarita Kaushanskaya
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, Language Acquisition & Bilingualism Lab, 1500 Highland Avenue, Room 476, Madison, WI 53705, United States
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81
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Langlois VJ, Arnold JE. Print exposure explains individual differences in using syntactic but not semantic cues for pronoun comprehension. Cognition 2019; 197:104155. [PMID: 31874414 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 12/04/2019] [Accepted: 12/06/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Comprehenders have been shown to use both syntactic and semantic cues to understand pronouns like he and she. In Ana threw the ball to Liz. She…, there is a syntactic bias to assign "she" to the previous subject (Ana), and a semantic bias to assign it to the goal referent (Liz). How do people learn these biases? We tested how sensitivity to these cues is modulated by linguistic experience, measured with an Author Recognition Task (Stanovich & West, 1989). In two experiments, we found both the subject and goal biases overall, but higher print exposure only predicted use of the subject bias, not the goal bias. Our results suggest that the subject bias, and not the goal bias, may be learned from exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valerie J Langlois
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States of America.
| | - Jennifer E Arnold
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States of America
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82
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Szmrecsanyi B, Grafmiller J, Rosseel L. Variation-Based Distance and Similarity Modeling: A Case Study in World Englishes. Front Artif Intell 2019; 2:23. [PMID: 33733112 PMCID: PMC7861267 DOI: 10.3389/frai.2019.00023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2019] [Accepted: 10/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Inspired by work in comparative sociolinguistics and quantitative dialectometry, we sketch a corpus-based method (Variation-Based Distance & Similarity Modeling-VADIS for short) to rigorously quantify the similarity between varieties and dialects as a function of the correspondence of the ways in which language users choose between different ways of saying the same thing. To showcase the potential of the method, we present a case study that investigates three syntactic alternations in some nine international varieties of English. Key findings include that (a) probabilistic grammars are remarkably similar and stable across the varieties under study; (b) in many cases we see a cluster of "native" (a.k.a. Inner Circle) varieties, such as British English, whereas "non-native" (a.k.a. Outer Circle) varieties, such as Indian English, are a more heterogeneous group; and (c) coherence across alternations is less than perfect.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jason Grafmiller
- Department of English Language and Linguistics, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Laura Rosseel
- Linguistic and Literary Studies (LIST), Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
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83
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Karimi H, Diaz M, Ferreira F. "A cruel king" is not the same as "a king who is cruel": Modifier position affects how words are encoded and retrieved from memory. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 2019; 45:2010-2035. [PMID: 30883170 DOI: 10.1037/xlm0000694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
We examined whether the position of modifiers in English influences how words are encoded and subsequently retrieved from memory. Compared with premodifiers, postmodifiers might confer more perceptual significance to the associated head nouns, are more consistent with the "given-before-new" information structure, and might also be easier to integrate because the head noun is available before the modifications are encountered. In 4 experiments, we investigated whether premodified (the cruel and merciless king), and postmodified (the king who was cruel and merciless) noun phrases (henceforth, NPs) could induce variations in ease of subsequent retrieval. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, participants used more pronouns (he), as opposed to full descriptions (the king) to refer to postmodified NPs than to unmodified competitors, but pronominal reference to premodified NPs and unmodified competitors did not differ, suggesting that postmodified NPs are more accessible in memory. When the data from all 3 experiments were combined, we also observed significantly more pronominal reference to post- than to premodified NPs, as well as a greater increase in pronominal reference rates between postmodified NPs and unmodified competitors than between premodified NPs and unmodified competitors. In Experiment 4, words following critical pronouns were read faster when the pronouns referred to modified than to unmodified NPs, and also when the pronouns referred to post- rather than premodified NPs. Taken together, our results show enhanced retrieval facilitation for postmodified NPs compared with premodified NPs. These results are the first to demonstrate that the linear position of modifications results in measurable processing cost at a subsequent point. The results have important implications for memory-based theories of language processing, and also for theories assigning a central role for discourse status and information structure during sentence processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michele Diaz
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University
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84
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Sainburg T, Theilman B, Thielk M, Gentner TQ. Parallels in the sequential organization of birdsong and human speech. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3636. [PMID: 31406118 PMCID: PMC6690877 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11605-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2018] [Accepted: 07/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Human speech possesses a rich hierarchical structure that allows for meaning to be altered by words spaced far apart in time. Conversely, the sequential structure of nonhuman communication is thought to follow non-hierarchical Markovian dynamics operating over only short distances. Here, we show that human speech and birdsong share a similar sequential structure indicative of both hierarchical and Markovian organization. We analyze the sequential dynamics of song from multiple songbird species and speech from multiple languages by modeling the information content of signals as a function of the sequential distance between vocal elements. Across short sequence-distances, an exponential decay dominates the information in speech and birdsong, consistent with underlying Markovian processes. At longer sequence-distances, the decay in information follows a power law, consistent with underlying hierarchical processes. Thus, the sequential organization of acoustic elements in two learned vocal communication signals (speech and birdsong) shows functionally equivalent dynamics, governed by similar processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Sainburg
- Department of Psychology, University of California, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
- Center for Academic Research & Training in Anthropogeny, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Brad Theilman
- Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Marvin Thielk
- Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Timothy Q Gentner
- Department of Psychology, University of California, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
- Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
- Neurobiology Section, Division of Biological Sciences, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
- Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
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85
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Blasi DE, Moran S, Moisik SR, Widmer P, Dediu D, Bickel B. Human sound systems are shaped by post-Neolithic changes in bite configuration. Science 2019; 363:363/6432/eaav3218. [PMID: 30872490 DOI: 10.1126/science.aav3218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2018] [Accepted: 02/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Linguistic diversity, now and in the past, is widely regarded to be independent of biological changes that took place after the emergence of Homo sapiens We show converging evidence from paleoanthropology, speech biomechanics, ethnography, and historical linguistics that labiodental sounds (such as "f" and "v") were innovated after the Neolithic. Changes in diet attributable to food-processing technologies modified the human bite from an edge-to-edge configuration to one that preserves adolescent overbite and overjet into adulthood. This change favored the emergence and maintenance of labiodentals. Our findings suggest that language is shaped not only by the contingencies of its history, but also by culturally induced changes in human biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- D E Blasi
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland. .,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745 Jena, Germany.,Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.,Laboratory of Quantitative Linguistics, Kazan Federal University, 420000 Kazan, Russia
| | - S Moran
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - S R Moisik
- Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, Nanyang Technological University, 637332 Singapore
| | - P Widmer
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - D Dediu
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage UMR 5596, Université Lumière Lyon 2, 69363 Lyon Cedex 07, France.,Language and Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, 6525 XD Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - B Bickel
- Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland
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86
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Cilibrasi L, Adani F, Tsimpli I. Reading as a Predictor of Complex Syntax. The Case of Relative Clauses. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1450. [PMID: 31354557 PMCID: PMC6635578 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2019] [Accepted: 06/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The current study aims at better characterizing the role of reading skills as a predictor of comprehension of relative clauses. Well-established cross-linguistic evidence shows that children are more accurate in the comprehension of subject-extracted relative clauses in comparison to the object-extracted counterpart. Children with reading difficulties are known to perform less accurately on object relatives at the group level compared to typically developing children. Given that children’s performance on reading tasks is shown to shape as a continuum, in the current study we attempted to use reading skills as a continuous variable to predict performance on relative clauses. Methods We examined the comprehension of relative clauses in a group of 30 English children (7–11 years) with varying levels of reading skills. Reading skills varied on a large spectrum, from poor readers to very skilled readers, as assessed by the YARC standardized test. The experimental task consisted of a picture-matching task. Children were presented with subject and object relative clauses and they were asked to choose one picture - out of four - that would best represent the sentence they heard. At the same time, we manipulated whether the subject and object nouns were either matching (both singular or both plural) or mismatching (one singular, the other plural) in number. Results Our analysis of accuracy shows that subject relatives were comprehended more accurately overall than object relatives, that responses to sentences with noun phrases mismatching in number were more accurate overall than the ones with matching noun phrases and that performance improved as a function of reading skills. Within the match subset, while the difference in accuracy between subject and object relatives is large in poor readers, the difference is reduced with better reading skills, almost disappearing in very skilled readers. Discussion Beside replicating the well-established findings on the subject-object asymmetry, number facilitation in the comprehension of relative clauses, and a better overall performance by skilled readers, these results indicate that strong reading skills may determine a reduction of the processing difficulty associated with the hardest object relative clause condition (i.e., match), causing a reduction of the subject-object asymmetry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Cilibrasi
- Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.,Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Flavia Adani
- Department of Education and Psychology, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ianthi Tsimpli
- Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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87
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Kurumada C, Grimm S. Predictability of meaning in grammatical encoding: Optional plural marking. Cognition 2019; 191:103953. [PMID: 31234113 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2019.04.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2018] [Revised: 04/22/2019] [Accepted: 04/23/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The markedness principle plays a central role in linguistic theory: marked grammatical categories (like plural) tend to receive more linguistic encoding (e.g., morphological marking), while unmarked categories (like singular) tend to receive less linguistic encoding. What precisely makes a grammatical category or meaning marked, however, remains unclear. One prominent proposal attributes markedness to the frequency or predictability of meanings: infrequent or less predictable meanings are more likely to receive extra linguistic encoding than frequent or more predictable meanings. Existing support for the predictability account is limited to correlational evidence, leaving open whether meaning predictability can cause markedness patterns. We present two miniature language learning experiments that directly assess effects of predictability on morphological plural marking. We find that learners preferentially produce plural marking on nouns that are less probable to occur with plural meaning-despite the fact that no such pattern was present in learners' input. This suggests that meaning predictability can cause the markedness patterns like those that are cross-linguistically observed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chigusa Kurumada
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, United States.
| | - Scott Grimm
- Department of Linguistics, University of Rochester, United States
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88
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Litcofsky KA, van Hell JG. Bi-Directional Evidence Linking Sentence Production and Comprehension: A Cross-Modality Structural Priming Study. Front Psychol 2019; 10:1095. [PMID: 31191379 PMCID: PMC6546884 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2018] [Accepted: 04/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural language involves both speaking and listening. Recent models claim that production and comprehension share aspects of processing and are linked within individuals (Pickering and Garrod, 2004, 2013; MacDonald, 2013; Dell and Chang, 2014). Evidence for this claim has come from studies of cross-modality structural priming, mainly examining processing in the direction of comprehension to production. The current study replicated these comprehension to production findings and developed a novel cross-modal structural priming paradigm from production to comprehension using a temporally sensitive online measure of comprehension, Event-Related Potentials. For Comprehension-to-Production priming, participants first listened to active or passive sentences and then described target pictures using either structure. In Production-to-Comprehension priming, participants first described a picture using either structure and then listened to target passive sentences while EEG was recorded. Comprehension-to-Production priming showed the expected passive sentence priming for syntactic choice, but not response time (RT) or average syllable duration. In Production-to-Comprehension priming, primed, versus unprimed, passive sentences elicited a reduced N400. These effects support the notion that production and comprehension share aspects of processing and are linked within the individual. Moreover, this paradigm can be used for the exploration priming at different linguistic levels as well as the influence of extra-linguistic factors on natural language use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaitlyn A. Litcofsky
- Aphasia and Neurolinguistics Research Laboratory, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, United States
- Bilingualism and Language Development Lab, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Janet G. van Hell
- Bilingualism and Language Development Lab, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
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89
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Beatty-Martínez AL, Dussias PE. Revisiting Masculine and Feminine Grammatical Gender in Spanish: Linguistic, Psycholinguistic, and Neurolinguistic Evidence. Front Psychol 2019; 10:751. [PMID: 31024394 PMCID: PMC6460095 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2019] [Accepted: 03/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on grammatical gender processing has generally assumed that grammatical gender can be treated as a uniform construct, resulting in a body of literature in which different gender classes are collapsed into single analysis. The present work reviews linguistic, psycholinguistic, and neurolinguistic research on grammatical gender from different methodologies and across different profiles of Spanish speakers. Specifically, we examine distributional asymmetries between masculine and feminine grammatical gender, the resulting biases in gender assignment, and the consequences of these assignment strategies on gender expectancy and processing. We discuss the implications of the findings for the design of future gender processing studies and, more broadly, for our understanding of the potential differences in the processing reflexes of grammatical gender classes within and across languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne L Beatty-Martínez
- Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.,Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
| | - Paola E Dussias
- Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.,Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
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90
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Blumenthal-Dramé A, Malaia E. Shared neural and cognitive mechanisms in action and language: The multiscale information transfer framework. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2018; 10:e1484. [PMID: 30417551 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Revised: 09/20/2018] [Accepted: 10/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
This review compares how humans process action and language sequences produced by other humans. On the one hand, we identify commonalities between action and language processing in terms of cognitive mechanisms (e.g., perceptual segmentation, predictive processing, integration across multiple temporal scales), neural resources (e.g., the left inferior frontal cortex), and processing algorithms (e.g., comprehension based on changes in signal entropy). On the other hand, drawing on sign language with its particularly strong motor component, we also highlight what differentiates (both oral and signed) linguistic communication from nonlinguistic action sequences. We propose the multiscale information transfer framework (MSIT) as a way of integrating these insights and highlight directions into which future empirical research inspired by the MSIT framework might fruitfully evolve. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Language Linguistics > Language in Mind and Brain Psychology > Motor Skill and Performance Psychology > Prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Blumenthal-Dramé
- Department of English, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.,Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Evie Malaia
- Department of Communicative Disorders, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.,Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Freiburg, Germany
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91
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Poletiek FH, Conway CM, Ellefson MR, Lai J, Bocanegra BR, Christiansen MH. Under What Conditions Can Recursion Be Learned? Effects of Starting Small in Artificial Grammar Learning of Center-Embedded Structure. Cogn Sci 2018; 42:2855-2889. [PMID: 30264489 PMCID: PMC6585836 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2016] [Revised: 07/22/2018] [Accepted: 07/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
It has been suggested that external and/or internal limitations paradoxically may lead to superior learning, that is, the concepts of starting small and less is more (Elman, 1993; Newport, 1990). In this paper, we explore the type of incremental ordering during training that might help learning, and what mechanism explains this facilitation. We report four artificial grammar learning experiments with human participants. In Experiments 1a and 1b we found a beneficial effect of starting small using two types of simple recursive grammars: right‐branching and center‐embedding, with recursive embedded clauses in fixed positions and fixed length. This effect was replicated in Experiment 2 (N = 100). In Experiment 3 and 4, we used a more complex center‐embedded grammar with recursive loops in variable positions, producing strings of variable length. When participants were presented an incremental ordering of training stimuli, as in natural language, they were better able to generalize their knowledge of simple units to more complex units when the training input “grew” according to structural complexity, compared to when it “grew” according to string length. Overall, the results suggest that starting small confers an advantage for learning complex center‐embedded structures when the input is organized according to structural complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fenna H Poletiek
- Institute of Psychology, Leiden University.,Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen
| | | | | | - Jun Lai
- Institute of Psychology, Leiden University
| | - Bruno R Bocanegra
- Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Erasmus University
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92
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Abstract
Audience design refers to the situation in which speakers fashion their utterances so as to cater to the needs of their addressees. In this article, a range of audience design effects are reviewed, organized by a novel cognitive framework for understanding audience design effects. Within this framework, feedforward (or one-shot) production is responsible for feedforward audience design effects, or effects based on already known properties of the addressee (e.g., child versus adult status) or the message (e.g., that it includes meanings that might be confusable). Then, a forward modeling approach is described, whereby speakers independently generate communicatively relevant features to predict potential communicative effects. This can explain recurrent processing audience design effects, or effects based on features of the produced utterance itself or on idiosyncratic features of the addressee or communicative situation. Predictions from the framework are delineated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor S Ferreira
- Department of Psychology and Center for Research in Language, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA;
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93
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SCHWAB JF, LEW-WILLIAMS C, GOLDBERG AE. When regularization gets it wrong: children over-simplify language input only in production. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2018; 45:1054-1072. [PMID: 29463337 PMCID: PMC6076332 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000918000041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Children tend to regularize their productions when exposed to artificial languages, an advantageous response to unpredictable variation. But generalizations in natural languages are typically conditioned by factors that children ultimately learn. In two experiments, adult and six-year-old learners witnessed two novel classifiers, probabilistically conditioned by semantics. Whereas adults displayed high accuracy in their productions - applying the semantic criteria to familiar and novel items - children were oblivious to the semantic conditioning. Instead, children regularized their productions, over-relying on only one classifier. However, in a two-alternative forced-choice task, children's performance revealed greater respect for the system's complexity: they selected both classifiers equally, without bias toward one or the other, and displayed better accuracy on familiar items. Given that natural languages are conditioned by multiple factors that children successfully learn, we suggest that their tendency to simplify in production stems from retrieval difficulty when a complex system has not yet been fully learned.
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94
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Grammatical licensing and relative clause parsing in a flexible word-order language. Cognition 2018; 178:207-221. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2017] [Revised: 05/04/2018] [Accepted: 05/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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95
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From the Field to the Lab: A Converging Methods Approach to the Study of Codeswitching. LANGUAGES 2018. [DOI: 10.3390/languages3020019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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96
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Giannelli F, Molinaro N. Reanalyzing language expectations: Native language knowledge modulates the sensitivity to intervening cues during anticipatory processing. Psychophysiology 2018; 55:e13196. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2017] [Revised: 04/09/2018] [Accepted: 04/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Giannelli
- Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology; University of Barcelona; Barcelona Spain
- Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit; IDIBELL; L'Hospitalet de Llobregat Spain
| | - Nicola Molinaro
- Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language (BCBL); Donostia-San Sebastian Spain
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science; Bilbao Spain
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97
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Starting or finishing sooner? Sequencing preferences in object transfer tasks. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2018; 83:1674-1684. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-018-1022-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2018] [Accepted: 04/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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98
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Brehm L, Jackson CN, Miller KL. Speaker-specific processing of anomalous utterances. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2018; 72:764-778. [DOI: 10.1177/1747021818765547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Existing work shows that readers often interpret grammatical errors (e.g., The key to the cabinets *were shiny) and sentence-level blends (“without-blend”: Claudia left without her headphones *off) in a non-literal fashion, inferring that a more frequent or more canonical utterance was intended instead. This work examines how interlocutor identity affects the processing and interpretation of anomalous sentences. We presented anomalies in the context of “emails” attributed to various writers in a self-paced reading paradigm and used comprehension questions to probe how sentence interpretation changed based upon properties of the item and properties of the “speaker.” Experiment 1 compared standardised American English speakers to L2 English speakers; Experiment 2 compared the same standardised English speakers to speakers of a non-Standardised American English dialect. Agreement errors and without-blends both led to more non-literal responses than comparable canonical items. For agreement errors, more non-literal interpretations also occurred when sentences were attributed to speakers of Standardised American English than either non-Standardised group. These data suggest that understanding sentences relies on expectations and heuristics about which utterances are likely. These are based upon experience with language, with speaker-specific differences, and upon more general cognitive biases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurel Brehm
- Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Carrie N Jackson
- Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
- Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages and Literatures, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Karen L Miller
- Center for Language Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
- Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
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99
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100
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Mozuraitis M, Stevenson S, Heller D. Modeling Reference Production as the Probabilistic Combination of Multiple Perspectives. Cogn Sci 2018; 42 Suppl 4:974-1008. [DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2016] [Revised: 11/23/2017] [Accepted: 11/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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