刊讯｜SSCI 期刊《语言、认知与神经科学》2022年第3期-第6期

LANGUAGE, COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE

Volume 37, Issue 3-6, September 2022

LANGUAGE, COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE（SSCI一区，2020 IF：2.331）2022年第3期-第6期共刊文26篇。研究论文涉及语言处理、语音感知产出、词汇激活、个体差异研究等方面。

往期推荐：

目录

ARTICLES

■ Neural correlates of individual differences in speech categorisation: evidence from subcortical, cortical, and behavioural measures by Jinghua Ou & Alan C. L. Yu

■ A meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies on developmental dyslexia across European orthographies: the ADOD model by F. Devoto, D. Carioti, L. Danelli & M. Berlingeri

■ Neural correlates of semantic integration in Spanish verb-noun compounds: an ERP study by Mercedes Güemes, Joaquín Menéndez, Carolina Gattei, Darío Demattíes, Alberto Iorio & Alejandro Wainselboim

■ Dysfunctional tissue correlates of unrelated naming errors in acute left hemisphere stroke by Erin L. Meier, Shannon M. Sheppard, Emily B. Goldberg, Catherine R. Kelly, Alexandra Walker, Delaney M. Ubellacker, Emilia Vitti, Kristina Ruch & Argye E. Hillis

■ The influence of affect on the production of referring expressions by Patrick Vonk, Martijn Goudbeek & Emiel Krahmer

■ Language comprehension may depend on who you are: how personality traits and social presence seemingly modulate syntactic processing by Laura Jiménez-Ortega, Clara Hinchcliffe, Francisco Muñoz, David Hernández-Gutiérrez, Pilar Casado, José Sánchez-García & Manuel Martín-Loeches

■ Modelling Maltese noun plural classes without morphemes by Jessica Nieder, Fabian Tomaschek, Enum Cohrs & Ruben van de Vijver

■ Extracting, computing, coordination: what does a triphasic ERP pattern say about language processing? by Gülay Cedden, Aykut Eken & Tuna Çakar

■ Hierarchy in language interpretation: evidence from behavioural experiments and computational modelling by Cas W. Coopmans, Helen de Hoop, Karthikeya Kaushik, Peter Hagoort & Andrea E. Martin

■ Decomposing response times in Williams syndrome in separate cognitive processes by Dimitris Katsimpokis, Leendert van Maanen & Spyridoula Varlokosta

■ How are words with diacritical vowels represented in the mental lexicon? Evidence from Spanish and German by Manuel Perea, Melanie Labusch & Ana Marcet

■ Syntactic priming across highly similar languages is not affected by language proficiency by Shun Liu, Danping Hong, Jian Huang, Suiping Wang, Xiqin Liu, Holly P. Branigan & Martin J. Pickering

■ Prediction of upcoming speech under fluent and disfluent conditions: eye tracking evidence from immersive virtual reality by Eleanor Huizeling, David Peeters & Peter Hagoort

■ Semantic cues in language learning: an artificial language study with adult and child learners by Helen Brown, Kenny Smith, Anna Samara & Elizabeth Wonnacott

■ Quick learning of novel vowel-consonant conjunctions within the mature speech production system – a commentary on Dell et al. (2019) by Eleonore H.M. Smalle & Arnaud Szmalec

■ Neural and behavioural effects of typicality, denotation and composition in an adjective–noun combination task by Isabella Fritz & Giosuè Baggio

■ Animacy modulates gender agreement comprehension in Hindi: An ERP study by Shikha Bhattamishra, R. Muralikrishnan & Kamal Kumar Choudhary

■ Cognate status modulates the comprehension of isolated reduced forms by Kimberley Mulder, Lucas Wloch, Lou Boves, Louis ten Bosch & Mirjam Ernestus

■ Ecological validity and bilingual language control: voluntary language switching between sentences by Luz María Sánchez, Esli Struys & Mathieu Declerck

■ Integrating prosody in anticipatory language processing: how listeners adapt to unconventional prosodic cues by Chie Nakamura, Jesse A. Harris & Sun-Ah Jun

■ Sentence formulation is easier when thematic and syntactic prominence align: evidence from psych verbs by Monica L. Do & Elsi Kaiser

■ Dynamics of nominal classification systems in language processing by Shiao-hui Chan

■ How does orthographic or phonological similarity produce repetition blindness? by Jennifer S. Burt & Julie K. Porter

■ Plasticity of categories in speech perception and production by Shane Lindsay, Meghan Clayards, Silvia Gennari & M. Gareth Gaskell

■ Lexical alignment in second language communication: evidence from a picture-naming task by Di Zhang & Janet Nicol

■ Vocabulary knowledge predicts individual differences in the integration of visual and linguistic constraints by Anuenue Kukona, Olivia Gaziano, Marie-Josee Bisson & Adrian Jordan

摘要

Neural correlates of individual differences in speech categorisation: evidence from subcortical, cortical, and behavioural measures by Jinghua Ou & Alan C. L. Yu

Jinghua Ou，Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

 Alan C. L. Yu，Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

Abstract 

Categorisation is a fundamental cognitive ability to group different objects as the same. This ability is particularly indispensable for human speech perception, yet individual differences in speech categorisation are nonetheless ubiquitous. The present study investigates the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the variability in categorisation of voice-onset time (VOT). Subcortical and cortical speech-evoked responses are recorded to investigate speech representations at two functional levels of auditory processing. Individual differences in psychometric functions correlate positively with how faithfully subcortical responses encode VOT differences. Moreover, individuals also differ in how strongly the subcortical and cortical representations correlate with each other. Listeners with gradient categorisation show higher correspondences between the two representations, indicating that acoustic information is relayed faithfully from the subcortical to the cortical level; listeners with discrete categorisation exhibit decreased similarity between the two representations, suggesting that the subcortical acoustic encoding is transformed at the cortical level to reflect phonetic category information.

KEYWORDS: Speech perceptionindividual differencescategorisation gradiencesubcortical responsecortical response

A meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies on developmental dyslexia across European orthographies: the ADOD model

F. Devoto, D. Carioti, a Department of Psychology and PhD Program in Neuroscience of the School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy;b fMRI Unit, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy;c Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy

L. Danelli d DISTUM, Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy

M. Berlingeri，c Milan Centre for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy;d DISTUM, Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy;f Center of Developmental Neuropsychology, Area Vasta 1, ASUR Marche, Pesaro, Italy

Abstract

According to the “classic” and the “new” model, developmental dyslexia (DD) is associated with dysfunctions of the left temporoparietal (TP), ventral occipitotemporal (vOT) and frontal brain circuits. However, these models make different anatomo-functional predictions about the effects of age and orthographic depth on the neural correlates of DD. To test the influence of age and orthographic depth and their interaction on the neurobiology of reading we meta-analyzed 34 fMRI studies by combining the CluB and the GingerALE methods. Our meta-analytic results challenged both models and allowed us to generate a refined neurocognitive framework called the “Anatomo-functional, Developmental, and Orthographic Depth (ADOD) model of DD”. The ADOD model describes the interacting effects of age and orthography on the neurobiology of DD and suggests brand new conceptions on the role of the left TP cortex in reading together with a subtler parcellation of the vOT areas according to a rostro-caudal gradient.

KEYWORDS: Developmental dyslexiareadingorthographic depthmeta-analysisneuroimaging

Neural correlates of semantic integration in Spanish verb-noun compounds: an ERP study

Mercedes Güemes, a Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Instituto de Filología y Literatura Hispánica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Joaquín Menéndez, b Laboratorio de Biología del Comportamiento, IBYME, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Carolina Gattei, c Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina;d Laboratorio de Neurociencia, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina;e Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Abstract

It is assumed that semantic transparency in compounds depends on integration of constituents and head transparency. Spanish verb-noun compounds are semantically and morphologically exocentric, lacking a head. We studied if verb argument structure determines differences in semantic integration and morphological decomposition. During a lexical decision task, Agentives (referent takes the role of agent), and Metaphoricals (involving methaphorical patterns to construct meaning), were displayed as whole words or separated into constituents. Agentives were responded better and faster than Metaphoricals, with no interaction between compound type and presentation mode, suggesting constituent decomposition for both compounds. Early electrophysiological effects related to visual recognition, and an N400 component for Metaphoricals, suggest constituent semantic integration. Differences seemed related to combinatorial procedures: in Agentives the meaning of constituents is easily integrated to form compound meaning; in Metaphoricals, this procedure is inhibited, and compound meaning is accessed through the metaphoric relation that links both constituents.

KEYWORDS: Verb-noun compoundssemantic integrationevent related potentialsverb argument structurecombinatorial procedures

Dysfunctional tissue correlates of unrelated naming errors in acute left hemisphere stroke

Erin L. Meier,a Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

Shannon M. Sheppard, a Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA;b Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Chapman University, Irvine, CA, USA

Emily B. Goldberg, a Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

Catherine R. Kelly, a Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

Alexandra Walker, a Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

Delaney M. Ubellacker, a Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

Abstract

Most naming error lesion-symptom mapping (LSM) studies have focused on semantic and/or phonological errors. Anomic individuals also produce unrelated word errors, which may be linked to semantic or modality-independent lexical deficits. To investigate the neural underpinnings of rarely-studied unrelated errors, we conducted LSM analyses in 100 individuals hospitalised with a left hemisphere stroke who completed imaging protocols and language assessments. We used least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression to capture relationships between naming errors and dysfunctional brain tissue metrics (regional damage or hypoperfusion in vascular territories) in two groups: participants with and without impaired single-word auditory comprehension. Hypoperfusion—particularly within the parietal lobe—was an important error predictor, especially for the unimpaired group. In both groups, higher unrelated error proportions were associated with primarily ventral stream damage, the language route critical for processing meaning. Nonetheless, brain metrics implicated in unrelated errors were distinct from semantic error correlates.

KEYWORDS: Acute strokeleft hemisphere strokelanguagenaming errorslesion symptom mapping

The influence of affect on the production of referring expressions

Patrick Vonk, Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands

Martijn Goudbeek，Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands

Emiel Krahmer，Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands

Abstract

Many studies have provided evidence for the influence of affect on cognitive processing. However, experimental investigations of the relationship between affect and speech production are scarce. This study explores whether a speaker’s affective state influences the production of referring expressions. In two experiments, affective states were elicited using film excerpts, after which speakers referred to target stimuli in a way that differentiated them from distractors. The affective states were opposites, either in terms of valence (happiness versus sadness) or approach-avoidance motivation (anger versus disgust). Affective conditions were then compared with respect to the frequency with which participants referred to a target’s affect, whether this affect was congruent with the speaker's affective state, the number of modifiers per expression, the ambiguity of referring expressions, and overspecification. Results revealed no differences between different affective states concerning these factors, suggesting that a speaker’s affective state does not influence the production of referring expressions.

KEYWORDS: Emotion speech productionemotional congruenceemotional referenceunderspecificationoverspecification

Language comprehension may depend on who you are: how personality traits and social presence seemingly modulate syntactic processing

Laura Jiménez-Ortega, a Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain;b Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Clara Hinchcliffe, a Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain

Francisco Muñoz, a Cognitive Neuroscience Section, UCM-ISCIII Center for Human Evolution and Behavior, Madrid, Spain;b Department of Psychobiology & Behavioral Sciences Methods, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Abstract

Although it has been scarcely investigated, personality might help shape language comprehension during social interaction. The aim is to investigate how differences in personality might affect morphosyntactic processing and whether it may be affected by social presence. In a correctness judgement task, participants read sentences that were correct or contained a morphosyntactic error, either while alone or in the mere presence of a confederate. Participants’ NEO-FFI personality inventory scores were used to analyse behavioural, and event related potential data. Neuroticism and Extraversion interacted with error rate and reaction time, while Conscientiousness only interacted with reaction time. A weak N400-like component to morphosyntactic anomalies was triggered for introverts in the social presence condition, compared to a LAN in the alone one, while a LAN was triggered in both conditions for extraverts. Whereas higher Conscientiousness was related to a stronger LAN and a weaker P600 component, lower Conscientiousness reflected the opposite pattern.

KEYWORDS: Personalitysocial presenceERPmorphosyntactic processingLAN

Modelling Maltese noun plural classes without morphemes

Jessica Nieder, a Department of General Linguistics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

Fabian Tomaschek, b Department of General Linguistics, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

Enum Cohrs，a Department of General Linguistics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

Abstract

Word-based models of morphology propose that complex words are stored without reference to morphemes. One of the questions that arises is whether information about word forms alone is enough to determine a noun's number from its form. We take up this question by modelling the classification and production of the Maltese noun plural system, using models that do not assume morphemic representations. We use the Tilburg Memory-Based Learner, a computational implementation of exemplar theory and the Naive Discriminative Learner, an implementation of Word and Paradigm, for classification. Both models classify Maltese nouns well. In their current implementations, TiMBL and NDL cannot concatenate sequences of phones that result in word forms. We used two neural networks architectures (LSTM and GRU) to model the production of plurals. We conclude that the Maltese noun plural system can be modelled on the basis of whole words without morphemes, supporting word-based models of morphology.

KEYWORDS: Computational modellingMaltese pluralsword and paradigmCV templateclassificationproduction

Extracting, computing, coordination: what does a triphasic ERP pattern say about language processing?

Gülay Cedden, a Foreign Language Education, EEG and Language Processing Laboratory, Faculty of Education, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

Aykut Eken, Icon b Brain Research and Application Center, Ankara University, Mamak-Ankara, Turkey

Tuna Çakar, c Computer Engineering Department, MEF University, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract

The current study aims at contributing to the interpretation of the most prominent language-related ERP effects, N400 and P600, by investigating how neural responses to congruent and incongruent sentence endings vary, when the language processor processes the full array of the lexico-syntactic content in verbs with three affixes in canonical Turkish sentences. The ERP signals in response to three different violation conditions reveal a similar triphasic (P200/N400/P600) pattern resembling in topography and peak amplitude The P200 wave is interpreted as the extraction of meaning from written.form by generating a code which triggers the computation of neuronal ensembles in the distributed LTM (N400). The P600 potential reflects the widely distributed coordination process of activated neuronal patterns of semantic and morphosyntactic cues by connecting the generated subsets of these patterns and adapting them into the current context. It further can be deduced that these ERP components reflect cognitive rather than linguistic processes.

KEYWORDS: P200/N400/P600triphasic patternTurkishsentence processingmorphologically complex language

Hierarchy in language interpretation: evidence from behavioural experiments and computational modelling

Cas W. Coopmans a Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands;b Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Icon,Helen de Hoop b Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Icon,Karthikeya Kaushik, c Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Peter Hagoort  a Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands;c Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Andrea E. Martin  a Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands;c Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Abstract

It has long been recognised that phrases and sentences are organised hierarchically, but many computational models of language treat them as sequences of words without computing constituent structure. Against this background, we conducted two experiments which showed that participants interpret ambiguous noun phrases, such as second blue ball, in terms of their abstract hierarchical structure rather than their linear surface order. When a neural network model was tested on this task, it could simulate such “hierarchical” behaviour. However, when we changed the training data such that they were not entirely unambiguous anymore, the model stopped generalising in a human-like way. It did not systematically generalise to novel items, and when it was trained on ambiguous trials, it strongly favoured the linear interpretation. We argue that these models should be endowed with a bias to make generalisations over hierarchical structure in order to be cognitively adequate models of human language.

KEYWORDS: Syntax constituency meaning human-like generalization LSTM

Decomposing response times in Williams syndrome in separate cognitive processes

Dimitris Katsimpokis a Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands;b Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland Icon,Leendert van Maanen a Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands;c Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Icon &Spyridoula Varlokosta d Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Philology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Abstract 

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder of genetic origin. The syndrome is characterised by a selective set of deficits in a number of cognitive domains. In spite of a wealth of studies, response times (RTs) of WS have attracted little attention. In the present study, we fill this gap by analysing data from a receptive vocabulary task using the Diffusion Decision Model (DDM). Our results show that the speed of accumulation, decision threshold and non-decision time parameters of WS individuals are similar to these of typically developing 5-year-old preschoolers. In addition, WS verbal intelligence scores were associated with the speed of accumulation of lexical information. Finally, the performance of WS and preschooler individuals was correlated across the vocabulary task and an additional orientation discrimination task only at the group but not at the individual level; therefore, pointing to domain-specific lexical and perceptual processing in WS.

KEYWORDS: Williams syndromediffusion decision modelreceptive vocabularyorientation discriminationatypical development

Decomposing response times in Williams syndrome in separate cognitive processes

Dimitris Katsimpokis a Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands;b Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland Icon,Leendert van Maanen a Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands;c Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands

Spyridoula Varlokosta d Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Philology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Abstract 

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder of genetic origin. The syndrome is characterised by a selective set of deficits in a number of cognitive domains. In spite of a wealth of studies, response times (RTs) of WS have attracted little attention. In the present study, we fill this gap by analysing data from a receptive vocabulary task using the Diffusion Decision Model (DDM). Our results show that the speed of accumulation, decision threshold and non-decision time parameters of WS individuals are similar to these of typically developing 5-year-old preschoolers. In addition, WS verbal intelligence scores were associated with the speed of accumulation of lexical information. Finally, the performance of WS and preschooler individuals was correlated across the vocabulary task and an additional orientation discrimination task only at the group but not at the individual level; therefore, pointing to domain-specific lexical and perceptual processing in WS.

KEYWORDS: Williams syndromediffusion decision modelreceptive vocabularyorientation discriminationatypical development

How are words with diacritical vowels represented in the mental lexicon? Evidence from Spanish and German

Manuel Perea, a Departamento de Metodología and ERI-Lectura, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain

Melanie Labusch a Departamento de Metodología and ERI-Lectura, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain

Ana Marcet, b Departamento de Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain

Abstract 

Recent research has shown that the omission of diacritics in words does not affect the initial contact with the lexical entries, as measured by masked priming. In the present study, we directly examined whether diacritics’ omission slows down lexical access using a single-presentation semantic categorisation task (“is the word an animal name?”). We did so in a language in which diacritics reflect lexical stress but not vowel quality (Spanish; e.g. ratón [mouse] vs. raton; Experiment 1) and in a language in which diacritics reflect vowel quality but not lexical stress (German; e.g. Kröte vs. Krote; Experiment 2). In Spanish, word response times were similar for words with diacritics that were either present or omitted. In contrast, German words were responded more slowly when the words’ diacritics were omitted. Thus, the function of diacritics in each language determines how words with diacritics are represented in the mental lexicon.

KEYWORDS: Word recognitionlexical accessmodellingcross-language differences

Syntactic priming across highly similar languages is not affected by language proficiency

Shun Liu, a School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

Danping Hong a School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China;b Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China;c Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China;d Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

Jian Huang,a School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China;b Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China;c Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China;d Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

Suiping Wang, e School of Foreign Languages, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

Xiqin Liu, f Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Abstract 

This study explores the mechanism underlying shared syntactic representations for highly similar languages by investigating whether cross-linguistic syntactic priming is affected by language proficiency. In two experiments, native (L1) Mandarin-Chaoshanese speakers with moderate proficiency in Cantonese (L2) heard Chaoshanese and Cantonese dative sentences with a prepositional object (PO) or a double object (DO) structure, and then completed a description of a depicted ditransitive event using Mandarin. Priming from L2 to L1 was equal to that from L1 to L1, irrespective of whether the prime and the target involved cognate verbs. Similarly, priming from L2 to L1 was not affected by speakers’ L2 proficiency, suggesting that shared representations across highly similar languages are insensitive to language proficiency. We interpret the results in terms of the development of shared representations for highly similar languages.

KEYWORDS: Multilingualismsyntactic representationcross-linguistic priminghighly similar languages

Prediction of upcoming speech under fluent and disfluent conditions: eye tracking evidence from immersive virtual reality

Eleanor Huizeling a Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands David Peeters a Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands;b Department of Communication and Cognition, TiCC, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands;c Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Peter Hagoort, a Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands;c Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Abstract 

Traditional experiments indicate that prediction is important for efficient speech processing. In three virtual reality visual world paradigm experiments, we tested whether such findings hold in naturalistic settings (Experiment 1) and provided novel insights into whether disfluencies in speech (repairs/hesitations) inform one’s predictions in rich environments (Experiments 2–3). Experiment 1 supports that listeners predict upcoming speech in naturalistic environments, with higher proportions of anticipatory target fixations in predictable compared to unpredictable trials. In Experiments 2–3, disfluencies reduced anticipatory fixations towards predicted referents, compared to conjunction (Experiment 2) and fluent (Experiment 3) sentences. Unexpectedly, Experiment 2 provided no evidence that participants made new predictions from a repaired verb. Experiment 3 provided novel findings that fixations towards the speaker increase upon hearing a hesitation, supporting current theories of how hesitations influence sentence processing. Together, these findings unpack listeners’ use of visual (objects/speaker) and auditory (speech/disfluencies) information when predicting upcoming words.

KEYWORDS: PredictionDisfluenciesVisual world paradigmVirtual realityEye tracking

Semantic cues in language learning: an artificial language study with adult and child learners

Helen Brown a Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Kenny Smith b School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Anna Samara c School of Human Sciences, University of Greenwich, Greenwich, UK

Elizabeth Wonnacott d Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK

Abstract

Grammatical regularities may correlate with semantics; e.g. grammatical gender is often partially predictable from the noun's semantics. We explore whether learners generalise over semantic cues, and whether the extent of exposure (1 versus 4 sessions) and number of exemplars for each semantic class (type-frequency) affect this. Six-year-olds and adults were exposed to semi-artificial languages where nouns co-occurred with novel particles, with particle usage fully or partially determined by the semantics of the nouns. Both adults and children generalised to novel nouns when semantic cues were fully consistent. Adults (but not children) also generalised when cues were partially consistent. Generalisation increased with exposure, however there was no evidence that increasing type-frequency (i.e. more nouns per semantic class) increased generalisation. Post-experiment interviews also suggested that successful generalisation depended on explicit awareness. These results suggest that semantic cues are particularly difficult for children to exploit during the early stages of language acquisition.

KEYWORDS: Artificial language learningLanguage acquisitionStatistical learningSemantic cuesChild language acquisition

Quick learning of novel vowel-consonant conjunctions within the mature speech production system – a commentary on Dell et al. (2019)

Eleonore H.M. Smalle  Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium;b Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Arnaud Szmalec a Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium;b Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Abstract 

This is a commentary on a review article by Dell et al. (2019), “Tuning the blueprint: how studies of implicit learning during speaking reveal the information processing components of the production system”, doi: 10.1080/23273798.2019.1613553. The authors describe limitations for what can be learned in the mature language production system. In particular, they demonstrate how adult speech slowly adapts to novel vowel-contingent phonotactic constraints. A connectionist framework is proposed for which variability in learning outcomes may be explained by the availability of hidden units as a function of early linguistic experience. Here, we enclose data from French-speaking adults in which rapid phonotactic constraint learning of vowel-consonant conjunctions could be observed. The data fit within their proposal for hidden units in a connectionist model, where hidden units can be variously accessible, and suggest that not only maturation but also linguistic knowledge may affect how language learning abilities evolve throughout life.

KEYWORDS: Speech productionimplicit learningspeech errorsphonotacticshidden units

Neural and behavioural effects of typicality, denotation and composition in an adjective–noun combination task

Isabella Fritz a Language and Brain Lab, Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Giosuè Baggiob Language Acquisition and Language Processing Lab, Department of Language and Literature, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Abstract

Formal semantics states that the meanings of phrases are composed from the meanings of constituent parts and syntax. Little is known about how composition is neurally implemented. We studied ERP and behavioural responses to determiner-adjective-noun phrases. We assessed the effects of typicality and denotation, using intersective (typical: “A green turtle”, atypical: “An orange turtle”) or subsective adjectives (typical: “A slow turtle”, atypical: “A fast turtle”). After each phrase, participants responded to two questions (e.g., for “A fast turtle”: “Is it a common turtle?”; “Is it a fast animal?”). We contrasted these 4 semantic conditions, requiring composition, to 2 nonsemantic conditions, where the adjective was replaced with a pseudoword or a nonword. This contrast revealed a larger P600, if participants performed the task without instructions and feedback (experiment 1), or a larger sustained negativity, if they were nudged to pay attention to meaning by instructions and feedback (experiment 2). Typicality or denotation had an impact only on behavioural responses. We discuss implications for theories of language processing and compositional semantics.

KEYWORDS: Semantics composition adjectives ERP P600

Animacy modulates gender agreement comprehension in Hindi: An ERP study

Shikha Bhattamishra, a Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Rupnagar, India

R. Muralikrishnan b Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, Germany

Kamal Kumar Choudharya Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Rupnagar, India

Abstract 

The animate–inanimate distinction is of crucial importance cognitively, and animacy has been known to influence language comprehension. However, little is known about the role of animacy in verb agreement processing. The present study employed event-related brain potentials to examine whether the gender agreement of the verb with animate (natural gender) and inanimate (grammatical gender) subject nouns reveal similar or different processing mechanisms in Hindi. Critical stimuli were intransitive sentences of the form subject–verb–aux. Subject nouns were either animate or inanimate, and the verb either showed correct gender agreement or violated it. The violation of gender agreement with animate subjects evoked a P600 effect, whereas gender agreement violation with inanimate subjects revealed a long-latency N400-like effect. The result suggests that different underlying mechanisms are involved in the computation of gender agreement with animate and inanimate arguments in Hindi, illustrating the crucial role that animacy plays in verb agreement processing.

KEYWORDS: Language N400 P600 Gender Agreement Animacy

Cognate status modulates the comprehension of isolated reduced forms

Kimberley Mulder, a Center for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Lucas Wloch, b Institute of Psychology, RWTH, Aachen, Germany

Lou Bovesa Center for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Louis ten Bosch Center for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Mirjam Ernestusa Center for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Abstract 

There are competing theories about the representation of reduced variants of words in the mental lexicon. At the same time, speech reduction is known to cause problems for non-natives' speech comprehension. We investigate whether processing of full and reduced forms of cognates can help to better understand how reduced forms are represented in the mental lexicon. In an English auditory lexical decision task during which the brain response (EEG) was recorded, highly proficient Dutch learners of English listened to full and reduced forms of cognates and non-cognates. In the reduced forms, schwa was omitted. This schwa reduction occurred in either poststress or prestress position. While behavioural data (accuracy and reaction time) did not yield convincing information about the status of reduced forms, EEG data strongly suggest that form representations play an important role, in both prestress and poststress words. The results have clear implications for theories and models of spoken word recognition.

KEYWORDS: Lexical representationslexical decisioncognatesreduced speechEEG

Ecological validity and bilingual language control: voluntary language switching between sentences

Luz María SánchezLinguistics and Literary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

,Esli StruysLinguistics and Literary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

Mathieu DeclerckLinguistics and Literary Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract 

Few language switching studies have found conditions in which there is no significant cost to switching languages. Since language-switch costs are a measure of language control, this could be seen as evidence for the ubiquity of this process in bilingual language production. However, one claim is that ecologically valid bilingual contexts lead to small or even absent switch costs. To further investigate this, we examined voluntary language switching between sentences. This ecologically more valid setup (compared to the more prominent involuntary language switching setup with single word production) resulted in switch costs for sentences produced in the second language, but no significant switch costs for sentences produced in the first language, whereas involuntary language switching between sentences resulted in substantial switch costs across both languages. These results indicate that more ecologically valid contexts can lead to circumstances that might require little to no language control.

KEYWORDS: Bilingual language productionvoluntary language switchingcued language switchingsentence production

Integrating prosody in anticipatory language processing: how listeners adapt to unconventional prosodic cues

Chie Nakamuraa Global Center for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

Jesse A. Harris b Department of Linguistics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Sun-Ah Jun，b Department of Linguistics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Abstract 

A growing body of research suggests that language users integrate diverse sources of information in processing and adapt to the variability of language at multiple levels. In two visual-world paradigm studies, we explored whether listeners use prosody to predict a resolution to structures with a PP that is structurally ambiguous between a modifier and an instrument interpretation. The first study revealed that listeners predict a referent that is most compatible with the location of a prosodic boundary, casting anticipatory looks to the appropriate object even before the onset of a disambiguating word. The second study indicated that listeners failed to anticipate instrument resolutions when the prosody of non-experimental filler items was unconventional, even though experimental items remained identical to the first study. The results suggest that listeners adjust their predictive processing to the utility of prosodic information according to whether a speaker reliably conforms to the conventional use of prosody.

KEYWORDS: Prosodyreliabilitypredictionanticipatory eye-movementsattachment ambiguity

Sentence formulation is easier when thematic and syntactic prominence align: evidence from psych verbs

Monica L. Do Linguistics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

Elsi Kaiser，Linguistics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

Abstract 

We use the visual world eye-tracking paradigm to investigate how the mapping from thematic event structures to grammatical structures, known as sentence formulation, unfolds during real time sentence production. Experiment 1 contrasted production of SubjExp (“LeslieEXP loves AnnSTIM”) versus ObjExp (“LeslieSTIM scares AnnEXP”) sentences. Experiment 2 investigated passivized SubjExp (“LeslieSTIM was loved by AnnEXP”) and passivized ObjExp sentences (“LeslieEXP was scared by AnnSTIM.”). In both studies, we found that speakers were faster to begin speaking and to preferentially fixate the subject when they were able to assign the thematically prominent Experiencer role to the subject of the sentence. We conclude that sentence formulation is easier when speakers can make use of a tight, systematic correspondence between event structures and linguistic structures. We discuss the implications of our work for the relationship between language and thought and for the formal accounts of SubjExp and ObjExp verbs.

KEYWORDS: Sentence formulationpsych verbseye-trackinglanguage productionpassivesthematic rolessubject selection

Dynamics of nominal classification systems in language processing

Shiao-hui Chan Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

Abstract 

Cognitive neuroscience research on conceptual systems mostly focused on concrete, universal semantic categories, whereas abstract, language-specific categorisation systems were rarely explored. This ERP study aimed to examine the organisation of conceptual systems from a temporal perspective by exploring Mandarin classifier and class term systems. Subjects judged the congruity of a classifier-noun pair, where the noun was with/without a class term. The results showed that classifier and class term information were activated and interacted with each other early in processing (P2: 150–250 ms), but only the classifier information was selected during the computation of classifier-noun agreement (N400: 350–500 ms; P600: 600–800 ms). After passing agreement computation, these two types of information interacted with each other again (800–1000 ms). The dynamics between these two systems revealed that concepts are flexible with dissociable components and that a convergence stage might be reached around 350 ms for processing classifier-noun agreement.

KEYWORDS: Nominal classification systemconceptual systemclassifierconvergenceconcept flexibility

How does orthographic or phonological similarity produce repetition blindness?

Jennifer S. Burt School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia

Julie K. Porter School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia

Abstract 

University students reported two words, C1 and C2, and an intervening filler word in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). The deficit in reporting the second target C2 (repetition blindness, RB) was examined when C1 and C2 were phonologically or orthographically similar. When C1 and C2 were homophones, there was a deficit in the report of both C1 and C2 and confusion between C1 and C2, suggesting a working memory involvement in phonological RB. The deficit was restricted to C2 when C1 and C2 were orthographically similar (Experiments 2 and 3). In Experiment 4, C1 and C2 shared the first three or the last three letters. Participants chose from two 3-letter fragments the one that came from C2. There was a deficit for similar C2s which was exacerbated for beginning matches with beginning probes. We propose that interference by C1 in the orthography-to-phonology conversion for C2 causes orthographic RB.

KEYWORDS: Repetition blindnessRSVPorthographic similarityphonological similarityword frequency

Plasticity of categories in speech perception and production

Di Zhanga Department of Educational Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA Janet Nicolb Departments of Linguistics and Psychology and Program in Cognitive Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

Abstract 

Language alignment occurs when interlocutors mimic each other’s language. Language alignment can happen as a result of priming, but may also be mediated by speakers’ beliefs about their interlocutor, including how language-proficient they believe the interlocutor to be. However, it is unknown whether bilingual speakers also show such effects. In this study, the participant and interlocutor took turns labelling pictured objects. These had alternative labels—one preferred, one dispreferred – with the latter used by the interlocutor. Participants were native Mandarin speakers who rated themselves as higher- or lower-intermediate L2 English learners. They were told their interlocutor was either a native English speaker, or another L2 English-learner. In a series of three experiments, the results showed that participants aligned with the interlocutor by using the dispreferred label. Rates of alignment varied, depending on the perceived proficiency of the interlocutor, and to a lesser extent, the L2 speaker’ self-rated proficiency.

KEYWORDS: Unmediated alignmentmediated alignmentL2 lexical alignmentL2 learnersL2 proficiencysecond language production

Vocabulary knowledge predicts individual differences in the integration of visual and linguistic constraints

Anuenue Kukona,Division of Psychology, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Olivia Gaziano, Division of Psychology, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Marie-Josee Bisson Division of Psychology, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Adrian Jordan Division of Psychology, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Abstract 

Two experiments investigated individual differences in the integration of visual and linguistic constraints during syntactic ambiguity resolution. Skilled adult comprehenders heard sentences like “Put the kiwi on the rectangle on the circle”, in which “on the rectangle … ” could temporarily reflect either the destination of “put” or a modifier of “kiwi”, while viewing visual arrays with either 1 kiwi (e.g. on a rectangle) or 2 kiwis (e.g. on a rectangle vs. triangle). While the noun “kiwi” provided sufficient information to distinguish the object of interest in the 1 referent context, modification was necessitated by the 2 referent context. Garden path eye (Experiment 1) and mouse (Experiment 2) movements to the incorrect (e.g. rectangle) destination were reduced in 2 vs 1 referent contexts, conceptually replicating prior findings, and these effects were weaker for participants with less vs. more vocabulary knowledge. Implications for models of sentence processing are discussed.

KEYWORDS: individual differenceslanguage experiencesyntactic ambiguity resolutionvisual world paradigmvocabulary knowledge

Situational expectancy or association? The influence of event knowledge on the N400

Elisabeth Rabs,Department of Language Science & Technology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

Francesca Delogu, Department of Language Science & Technology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

Heiner Drenhaus Department of Language Science & Technology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

Matthew W. CrockerDepartment of Language Science & Technology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany

Abstract 

Electrophysiological studies suggest that situational event knowledge plays an important role in language processing, but often fail to distinguish whether observed effects are driven by combinatorial expectations, or simple association with the context. In two ERP experiments, participants read short discourses describing ongoing events. We manipulated the situational expectancy of the target word continuing the event as well as the presence of an associated, but inactive event in the context. In both experiments we find an N400 effect for unexpected compared to expected target words, but this effect is significantly attenuated when the unexpected target is nonetheless associated with non-occurring context events. Our findings demonstrate that the N400 is simultaneously influenced by both simple association with – and combinatorial expectations derived from – situational event knowledge. Thus, experimental investigations and comprehension models of the use of event knowledge must accommodate the role of both expectancy and association in electrophysiological measures.

KEYWORDS: ERPsN400discourse comprehensionevent knowledgeassociationexpectancy

Default is different: relations and representations in agreement processing

Dustin A. Chacón，Neuroscience of Language Laboratory, NYU Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Abstract 

Theories of agreement processing typically focus on the mechanisms by which comprehenders relate the morphological features of the agreement-controlling NP and those of the verb. However, agreement is fundamentally a syntactic relation. In this paper, I examine the processing of default agreement with clausal subjects (“[cp That the doctors studied hard] was reassuring”) vs. the processing of agreement with near-synonymous NPs (“[np The fact that the doctors studied hard] was reassuring”). In the NP subject case, there is a syntactic agreement dependency between the head noun fact and the verb was but not in the the CP case. I show that the agreement processing profile for CP subjects differs from those of NP subjects. This suggests that agreement configurations with similar morphology and semantics may be processed using different strategies when embedded in different syntactic structures.

KEYWORDS: Syntaxsentence processingagreement attractiondefault agreementcue-based retrieval

期刊简介

Language, Cognition and Neuroscience is an international peer-reviewed journal promoting integrated cognitive theoretical studies of language and its neural bases.

《语言、认知与神经科学》是一本国际同行评审期刊，旨在促进语言及其神经基础的综合认知理论研究。

The journal takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of brain and language, aiming to integrate excellent cognitive science and neuroscience to answer key questions about the nature of language and cognition in the mind and the brain. It aims to engage researchers and practitioners alike in how to better understand cognitive language function, including:

Language cognition

Neuroscience

Brain and language

该期刊采用跨学科方法研究大脑和语言，旨在整合优秀的认知科学和神经科学研究，以回答有关语言本质和大脑和大脑认知的关键问题。它旨在让研究人员和从业人员更好地理解认知语言功能，包括：

语言认知

神经科学

大脑和语言

The journal publishes high-quality, theoretically-motivated cognitive behavioral studies of language function, and papers which integrate cognitive theoretical accounts of language with its neurobiological foundations.

该期刊发表高质量的、以理论为动机的语言功能认知行为研究，以及将语言的认知理论解释与其神经生物学基础相结合的论文。

官网地址：

https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/plcp21

本文来源：Language, Cognition and Neuroscience官网

课程推荐

欢迎加入

“语言学心得交流分享群”“语言学考博/考研/保研交流群”请添加“心得君”入群请务必备注“学校+专业/研究方向“

今日小编：神厨小福贵

  审     核：心得小蔓

转载&合作请联系

"心得君"

微信：xindejun_yyxxd

点击“阅读原文”可跳转下载