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Carrol G. Old Dogs and New Tricks: Assessing Idiom Knowledge Amongst Native Speakers of Different Ages. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2023; 52:2287-2302. [PMID: 37530926 PMCID: PMC10703978 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-023-09996-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/09/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023]
Abstract
Idioms, along with other formulaic multiword phrases, represent a substantial part of vocabulary knowledge. This study investigates how idiom knowledge develops through the adult lifespan, comparing familiarity and transparency ratings for a large set of common English idioms. A total of 237 participants, ranging from 18 to 77 years old, collectively rated 200 idioms. They also completed a short single-word vocabulary test and provided information about their educational background. Results showed a clear increase in idiom and single-word knowledge throughout the lifespan. For idioms, this represented a jump from the youngest age-group, then a steady increase from the age of around 25 onward. Single word vocabulary knowledge increased more evenly as a function of age. Perceptions of transparency were not affected in the same way. I discuss what these results suggest about the development of vocabulary through the lifespan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gareth Carrol
- Department of English Language and Linguistics, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
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Yeh SL, Li SH, Jingling L, Goh JOS, Chao YP, Tsai AC. Age-Related Differences in the Neural Processing of Idioms: A Positive Perspective. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 14:865417. [PMID: 35693339 PMCID: PMC9177212 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.865417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined whether older adults benefit from a larger mental-lexicon size and world knowledge to process idioms, one of few abilities that do not stop developing until later adulthood. Participants viewed four-character sequences presented one at a time that combined to form (1) frequent idioms, (2) infrequent idioms, (3) random sequences, or (4) perceptual controls, and judged whether the four-character sequence was an idiom. Compared to their younger counterparts, older adults had higher accuracy for frequent idioms and equivalent accuracy for infrequent idioms. Compared to random sequences, when processing frequent and infrequent idioms, older adults showed higher activations in brain regions related to sematic representation than younger adults, suggesting that older adults devoted more cognitive resources to processing idioms. Also, higher activations in the articulation-related brain regions indicate that older adults adopted the thinking-aloud strategy in the idiom judgment task. These results suggest re-organized neural computational involvement in older adults' language representations due to life-long experiences. The current study provides evidence for the alternative view that aging may not necessarily be solely accompanied by decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Su-Ling Yeh
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Shuo-Heng Li
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Li Jingling
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
| | - Joshua O. S. Goh
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Graduate Institute of Brain and Mind Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Neurobiology and Cognitive Science Center, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Center for Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Robotics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Taiwan International Graduate Program, Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Ping Chao
- Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Arthur C. Tsai
- Institute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
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Hattouti J, Gil S, Almecija Y, Laval V. Inferential language processes across adolescence: A test with novel idioms. Scand J Psychol 2019; 60:213-221. [PMID: 30847949 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2018] [Accepted: 12/14/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Idiom comprehension relies on the ability to draw inferences from different cues in a communication situation. Adopting a developmental perspective, we investigated how this ability changes across adolescence. To this end, we designed a computerized system that allowed us to simulate a communication situation through short videos placing participants at the center of the interaction. Four groups of participants (11, 13, 15, and adult students) performed an idiomatic expression comprehension task, in which idiom familiarity was controlled. We manipulated the idioms' transparency (vs. opacity) and presentation (supportive narrative context inducing an idiomatic interpretation of the expression vs. nonsupportive narrative context). Analyses revealed an improvement in idiom comprehension in terms of contextual inferences but they failed to reveal any significant difference in terms of semantic inferences. This study yields fresh arguments in support of the notion that inferential ability based on context continues to develop beyond childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamila Hattouti
- Université de Poitiers, France.,CNRS (CeRCA UMR7295), France
| | - Sandrine Gil
- Université de Poitiers, France.,CNRS (CeRCA UMR7295), France
| | - Yves Almecija
- Université de Poitiers, France.,CNRS (CeRCA UMR7295), France
| | - Virginie Laval
- Université de Poitiers, France.,CNRS (CeRCA UMR7295), France
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Grindrod CM, Raizen AL. Age-related changes in processing speed modulate context use during idiomatic ambiguity resolution. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2018; 26:842-864. [PMID: 30355055 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2018.1537437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
The goal of the current study was to investigate whether age-related changes in processing speed, as indexed by verbal fluency, modulate context use in the resolution of ambiguous idioms (e.g., tie the knot). Younger and older adults completed a cross-modal priming experiment where they decided whether visual word targets were related in meaning to idiomatically or literally biased auditory sentence primes. Older adults with high verbal fluency, similar to younger adults, showed context-dependent facilitation in both biasing sentence contexts. In contrast, older adults with low verbal fluency did not show facilitation of literal meanings in literally biased sentence contexts, likely because they had difficultly inhibiting the dominant figurative meaning. These findings argue that age-related changes in context use during ambiguity resolution are restricted to older adults with reduced processing speed. The results also suggest that verbal fluency may reflect the speed in recruiting frontally-mediated selection mechanisms during ambiguity resolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher M Grindrod
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Maine , Orono , ME , USA
| | - Adina L Raizen
- Department of Linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana , IL , USA
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Coane JH, Sánchez-Gutiérrez C, Stillman CM, Corriveau JA. False memory for idiomatic expressions in younger and older adults: evidence for indirect activation of figurative meanings. Front Psychol 2014; 5:764. [PMID: 25101030 PMCID: PMC4104352 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2013] [Accepted: 06/30/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Idiomatic expressions can be interpreted literally or figuratively. These two meanings are often processed in parallel or very rapidly, as evidenced by online measures of idiomatic processing. Because in many cases the figurative meaning cannot be derived from the component lexical elements and because of the speed with which this meaning is accessed, it is assumed such meanings are stored in semantic memory. In the present study, we examined how literal equivalents and intact idiomatic expressions are stored in memory and whether episodic memory traces interact or interfere with semantic-level representations and vice versa. To examine age-invariance, younger and older adults studied lists of idioms and literal equivalents. On a recognition test, some studied items were presented in the alternative form (e.g., if the idiom was studied, its literal equivalent was tested). False alarms to these critical items suggested that studying literal equivalents activates the idiom from which they are derived, presumably due to spreading activation in lexical/semantic networks, and results in high rates of errors. Importantly, however, the converse (false alarms to literal equivalents after studying the idiom) were significantly lower, suggesting an advantage in storage for idioms. The results are consistent with idiom processing models that suggest obligatory access to figurative meanings and that this access can also occur indirectly, through literal equivalents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer H. Coane
- Memory and Language Lab, Department of Psychology, Colby CollegeWaterville, ME, USA
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