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McConnell K. Individual Differences in Holistic and Compositional Language Processing. J Cogn 2023; 6:29. [PMID: 37397350 PMCID: PMC10312246 DOI: 10.5334/joc.283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Individual differences in cognitive abilities are ubiquitous across the spectrum of proficient language users. Although speakers differ with regard to their memory capacity, ability for inhibiting distraction, and ability to shift between different processing levels, comprehension is generally successful. However, this does not mean it is identical across individuals; listeners and readers may rely on different processing strategies to exploit distributional information in the service of efficient understanding. In the following psycholinguistic reading experiment, we investigate potential sources of individual differences in the processing of co-occurring words. Participants read modifier-noun bigrams like absolute silence in a self-paced reading task. Backward transition probability (BTP) between the two lexemes was used to quantify the prominence of the bigram as a whole in comparison to the frequency of its parts. Of five individual difference measures (processing speed, verbal working memory, cognitive inhibition, global-local scope shifting, and personality), two proved to be significantly associated with the effect of BTP on reading times. Participants who could inhibit a distracting global environment in order to more efficiently retrieve a single part and those that preferred the local level in the shifting task showed greater effects of the co-occurrence probability of the parts. We conclude that some participants are more likely to retrieve bigrams via their parts and their co-occurrence statistics whereas others more readily retrieve the two words together as a single chunked unit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyla McConnell
- English Department, Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, DE
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2
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Anurova I, Vetchinnikova S, Dobrego A, Williams N, Mikusova N, Suni A, Mauranen A, Palva S. Event-related responses reflect chunk boundaries in natural speech. Neuroimage 2022; 255:119203. [PMID: 35413442 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Chunking language has been proposed to be vital for comprehension enabling the extraction of meaning from a continuous stream of speech. However, neurocognitive mechanisms of chunking are poorly understood. The present study investigated neural correlates of chunk boundaries intuitively identified by listeners in natural speech drawn from linguistic corpora using magneto- and electroencephalography (MEEG). In a behavioral experiment, subjects marked chunk boundaries in the excerpts intuitively, which revealed highly consistent chunk boundary markings across the subjects. We next recorded brain activity to investigate whether chunk boundaries with high and medium agreement rates elicit distinct evoked responses compared to non-boundaries. Pauses placed at chunk boundaries elicited a closure positive shift with the sources over bilateral auditory cortices. In contrast, pauses placed within a chunk were perceived as interruptions and elicited a biphasic emitted potential with sources located in the bilateral primary and non-primary auditory areas with right-hemispheric dominance, and in the right inferior frontal cortex. Furthermore, pauses placed at stronger boundaries elicited earlier and more prominent activation over the left hemisphere suggesting that brain responses to chunk boundaries of natural speech can be modulated by the relative strength of different linguistic cues, such as syntactic structure and prosody.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irina Anurova
- Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki, Finland; BioMag Laboratory, HUS Medical Imaging Center, Helsinki, Finland.
| | | | | | - Nitin Williams
- Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki, Finland; Department of Languages, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Nina Mikusova
- Department of Languages, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Antti Suni
- Department of Languages, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anna Mauranen
- Department of Languages, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Satu Palva
- Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki, Finland; Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom.
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3
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Guan CQ, Meng W. Facilitative Effects of Embodied English Instruction in Chinese Children. Front Psychol 2022; 13:915952. [PMID: 35911001 PMCID: PMC9331189 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.915952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Research into the lexical quality of word representations suggests that building a strong sound, form, and meaning association is a crucial first step for vocabulary learning. For children who are learning a second language (L2), explicit instruction on word morphology is generally more focused on whole word, rather than sub-lexical, meaning. Though morphological training is emphasized in first language (L1) vocabulary instruction, it is unknown whether this training facilitates L2 word learning through sub-lexical support. To test this, we designed three experimental learning conditions investigating embodied morphological instruction [i.e., hand writing roots (HR), dragging roots (DR), gesturing roots (GR)] to compare against a control condition. One hundred students were randomly assigned to the four experimental groups. Pre- and post-tests examining knowledge of word meanings, forms, and sounds were administered. Results of mixed linear modeling revealed that three embodied morphological instruction on roots enhanced L2 vocabulary learning. Hand writing roots facilitated sound-meaning integration in all category-tasks for accessibility to word form and one task for word sound-form association. By contrast, GR facilitated meaning-based learning integration in two out of three category tasks for word form-meaning association. Chunking and DR facilitated meaning-based integration in one out of three category tasks for word form-meaning association. These results provide evidence that the underlying embodied morphological training mechanism contributes to L2 vocabulary learning during direct instruction. Future directions and implications are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Connie Qun Guan
- School of Foreign Studies, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
- *Correspondence: Connie Qun Guan,
| | - Wanjin Meng
- Department of Moral, Psychological and Special Education, China National Institute of Education Sciences, Beijing, China
- Wanjin Meng,
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4
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Skipper JI, Aliko S, Brown S, Jo YJ, Lo S, Molimpakis E, Lametti DR. Reorganization of the Neurobiology of Language After Sentence Overlearning. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:2447-2468. [PMID: 34585723 PMCID: PMC9157312 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 08/27/2021] [Accepted: 08/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
It is assumed that there are a static set of "language regions" in the brain. Yet, language comprehension engages regions well beyond these, and patients regularly produce familiar "formulaic" expressions when language regions are severely damaged. These suggest that the neurobiology of language is not fixed but varies with experiences, like the extent of word sequence learning. We hypothesized that perceiving overlearned sentences is supported by speech production and not putative language regions. Participants underwent 2 sessions of behavioral testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During the intervening 15 days, they repeated 2 sentences 30 times each, twice a day. In both fMRI sessions, they "passively" listened to those sentences, novel sentences, and produced sentences. Behaviorally, evidence for overlearning included a 2.1-s decrease in reaction times to predict the final word in overlearned sentences. This corresponded to the recruitment of sensorimotor regions involved in sentence production, inactivation of temporal and inferior frontal regions involved in novel sentence listening, and a 45% change in global network organization. Thus, there was a profound whole-brain reorganization following sentence overlearning, out of "language" and into sensorimotor regions. The latter are generally preserved in aphasia and Alzheimer's disease, perhaps explaining residual abilities with formulaic expressions in both.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sarah Aliko
- Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK.,London Interdisciplinary Biosciences Consortium, University College London, London, UK
| | - Stephen Brown
- Natural Sciences, University College London, London, UK
| | - Yoon Ju Jo
- Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Serena Lo
- Speech and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK
| | - Emilia Molimpakis
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, UK
| | - Daniel R Lametti
- Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK.,Department of Psychology, Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada
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5
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Zhao S, Wu Y, Tsang YK, Sui X, Zhu Z. Morpho-semantic analysis of ambiguous morphemes in Chinese compound word recognition: An fMRI study. Neuropsychologia 2021; 157:107862. [PMID: 33865849 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2020] [Revised: 03/31/2021] [Accepted: 04/14/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The present fMRI study examined the neural basis of processing context-supported or -unsupported interpretations of ambiguous morphemes during Chinese compound word reading in a masked priming lexical decision task. Targets were Chinese bimorphemic words that contained ambiguous morphemes. Prime words contained the same ambiguous morphemes with either the same meanings (context-supported interpretation) or different ones (context-unsupported interpretation). Lexical-level semantic sharing and unrelated control conditions were also included. Compared to the unrelated control condition, the context-supported morphemic meaning was associated with increased activity in the left SFG and bilateral MTG, and this priming effect could be dissociated from that of the lexical-level semantic-related condition. In broader brain regions, including the left SFG, bilateral MTG, left STG, right IOG, and left precuneus, the context-unsupported meaning condition showed decreased activity compared with the unrelated control condition. These findings indicate that both the context-supported and -unsupported meanings evoke significant priming effects, however, they differ from each other with different brain basis, providing new insight into the neural substrates of ambiguous morpheme processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simin Zhao
- School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China
| | - Yan Wu
- School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China.
| | - Yiu-Kei Tsang
- Department of Education Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
| | - Xue Sui
- Institute of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China
| | - Zude Zhu
- Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Competence, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, 221009, China.
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German Language Adaptation of the NAVS (NAVS-G) and of the NAT (NAT-G): Testing Grammar in Aphasia. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11040474. [PMID: 33918022 PMCID: PMC8069474 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11040474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Revised: 04/02/2021] [Accepted: 04/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Grammar provides the framework for understanding and producing language. In aphasia, an acquired language disorder, grammatical deficits are diversified and widespread. However, the few assessments for testing grammar in the German language do not consider current linguistic, psycholinguistic, and functional imaging data, which have been shown to be crucial for effective treatment. This study developed German language versions of the Northwestern Assessment of Verbs and Sentences (NAVS-G) and the Northwestern Anagram Test (NAT-G) to examine comprehension and production of verbs, controlling for the number and optionality of verb arguments, and sentences with increasing syntactic complexity. The NAVS-G and NAT-G were tested in 27 healthy participants, 15 right hemispheric stroke patients without aphasia, and 15 stroke patients with mild to residual aphasia. Participants without aphasia showed near-perfect performance, with the exception of (object) relative sentences, where accuracy was associated with educational level. In each patient with aphasia, deficits in more than one subtest were observed. The within and between population-groups logistic mixed regression analyses identified significant impairments in processing syntactic complexity at the verb and sentence levels. These findings indicate that the NAVS-G and NAT-G have potential for testing grammatical competence in (German) stroke patients.
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7
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Martinez Oeckel A, Rijntjes M, Glauche V, Kümmerer D, Kaller CP, Egger K, Weiller C. The extreme capsule and aphasia: proof-of-concept of a new way relating structure to neurological symptoms. Brain Commun 2021; 3:fcab040. [PMID: 33870191 PMCID: PMC8042249 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Revised: 01/15/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We present anatomy-based symptom-lesion mapping to assess the association between lesions of tracts in the extreme capsule and aphasia. The study cohort consisted of 123 patients with acute left-hemispheric stroke without a lesion of language-related cortical areas of the Stanford atlas of functional regions of interest. On templates generated through global fibre tractography, lesions of the extreme capsule and of the arcuate fascicle were quantified and correlated with the occurrence of aphasia (n = 18) as defined by the Token Test. More than 15% damage of the slice plane through the extreme capsule was a strong independent predictor of aphasia in stroke patients, odds ratio 16.37, 95% confidence interval: 3.11–86.16, P < 0.01. In contrast, stroke lesions of >15% in the arcuate fascicle were not associated with aphasia. Our results support the relevance of a ventral pathway in the language network running through the extreme capsule.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariane Martinez Oeckel
- Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg 79106, Germany
| | - Michel Rijntjes
- Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg 79106, Germany
| | - Volkmar Glauche
- Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg 79106, Germany
| | - Dorothee Kümmerer
- Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg 79106, Germany
| | - Christoph P Kaller
- Department of Neuroradiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg 79106, Germany
| | - Karl Egger
- Department of Neuroradiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg 79106, Germany
| | - Cornelius Weiller
- Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg 79106, Germany
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8
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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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Leminen A, Smolka E, Duñabeitia JA, Pliatsikas C. Morphological processing in the brain: The good (inflection), the bad (derivation) and the ugly (compounding). Cortex 2018; 116:4-44. [PMID: 30268324 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.08.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2018] [Revised: 07/01/2018] [Accepted: 08/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
There is considerable behavioral evidence that morphologically complex words such as 'tax-able' and 'kiss-es' are processed and represented combinatorially. In other words, they are decomposed into their constituents 'tax' and '-able' during comprehension (reading or listening), and producing them might also involve on-the-spot combination of these constituents (especially for inflections). However, despite increasing amount of neurocognitive research, the neural mechanisms underlying these processes are still not fully understood. The purpose of this critical review is to offer a comprehensive overview on the state-of-the-art of the research on the neural mechanisms of morphological processing. In order to take into account all types of complex words, we include findings on inflected, derived, and compound words presented both visually and aurally. More specifically, we cover a wide range of electro- and magnetoencephalography (EEG and MEG, respectively) as well as structural/functional magnetic resonance imaging (s/fMRI) studies that focus on morphological processing. We present the findings with respect to the temporal course and localization of morphologically complex word processing. We summarize the observed findings, their interpretations with respect to current psycholinguistic models, and discuss methodological approaches as well as their possible limitations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alina Leminen
- Cognitive Science, Department of Digital Humanities, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki, Finland; Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Eva Smolka
- Department of Linguistics, University of Konstanz, Germany
| | - Jon A Duñabeitia
- Facultad de Lenguas y Educación, Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, Spain; Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), Donostia, Spain
| | - Christos Pliatsikas
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
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10
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Blumenthal-Dramé A, Hanulíková A, Kortmann B. Editorial: Perceptual Linguistic Salience: Modeling Causes and Consequences. Front Psychol 2017; 8:411. [PMID: 28382009 PMCID: PMC5360726 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2017] [Accepted: 03/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Alice Blumenthal-Dramé
- Department of English, University of FreiburgFreiburg, Germany; Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, University of FreiburgFreiburg, Germany
| | - Adriana Hanulíková
- Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, University of FreiburgFreiburg, Germany; Department of German, University of FreiburgFreiburg, Germany
| | - Bernd Kortmann
- Department of English, University of FreiburgFreiburg, Germany; Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, University of FreiburgFreiburg, Germany
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