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Cognitive Science Oct 2023A central concern of the cognitive science of language since its origins has been the concept of the linguistic system. Recent approaches to the system concept in... (Review)
Review
A central concern of the cognitive science of language since its origins has been the concept of the linguistic system. Recent approaches to the system concept in language point to the exceedingly complex relations that hold between many kinds of interdependent systems, but it can be difficult to know how to proceed when "everything is connected." This paper offers a framework for tackling that challenge by identifying *scale* as a conceptual mooring for the interdisciplinary study of language systems. The paper begins by defining the scale concept-simply, the possibility for a measure to be larger or smaller in different instances of a system, such as a phonemic inventory, a word's frequency value in a corpus, or a speaker population. We review sites of scale difference in and across linguistic subsystems, drawing on findings from linguistic typology, grammatical description, morphosyntactic theory, psycholinguistics, computational corpus work, and social network demography. We consider possible explanations for scaling differences and constraints in language. We then turn to the question of *dependencies between* sites of scale difference in language, reviewing four sample domains of scale dependency: in phonological systems, across levels of grammatical structure (Menzerath's Law), in corpora (Zipf's Law and related issues), and in speaker population size. Finally, we consider the implications of the review, including the utility of a scale framework for generating new questions and inspiring methodological innovations and interdisciplinary collaborations in cognitive-scientific research on language.
Topics: Humans; Language; Linguistics; Psycholinguistics
PubMed: 37823747
DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13341 -
Physics of Life Reviews Sep 2023Sociality and timing are tightly interrelated in human interaction as seen in turn-taking or synchronised dance movements. Sociality and timing also show in... (Review)
Review
Sociality and timing are tightly interrelated in human interaction as seen in turn-taking or synchronised dance movements. Sociality and timing also show in communicative acts of other species that might be pleasurable, but also necessary for survival. Sociality and timing often co-occur, but their shared phylogenetic trajectory is unknown: How, when, and why did they become so tightly linked? Answering these questions is complicated by several constraints; these include the use of divergent operational definitions across fields and species, the focus on diverse mechanistic explanations (e.g., physiological, neural, or cognitive), and the frequent adoption of anthropocentric theories and methodologies in comparative research. These limitations hinder the development of an integrative framework on the evolutionary trajectory of social timing and make comparative studies not as fruitful as they could be. Here, we outline a theoretical and empirical framework to test contrasting hypotheses on the evolution of social timing with species-appropriate paradigms and consistent definitions. To facilitate future research, we introduce an initial set of representative species and empirical hypotheses. The proposed framework aims at building and contrasting evolutionary trees of social timing toward and beyond the crucial branch represented by our own lineage. Given the integration of cross-species and quantitative approaches, this research line might lead to an integrated empirical-theoretical paradigm and, as a long-term goal, explain why humans are such socially coordinated animals.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Phylogeny; Biological Evolution; Social Behavior; Hominidae
PubMed: 37419011
DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2023.06.006 -
Cognition Aug 2023The main goal of verbal metaphor interpretation is traditionally believed to be the recovery of a context-sensitive metaphorical meaning. One focus of experimental... (Review)
Review
The main goal of verbal metaphor interpretation is traditionally believed to be the recovery of a context-sensitive metaphorical meaning. One focus of experimental studies is to assess when and how pragmatic information derived from context shapes the online processing of specific utterances as conveying metaphorical, but not literal, messages. My aim in this article is to raise several critical complications with these beliefs. People employ metaphorical language not just to convey metaphorical meanings, but to concretely achieve various social, pragmatic goals. I describe several pragmatic complexities in the ways verbal and non-verbal metaphors function in communication. These pragmatic complexities affect both the cognitive effort and effects which emerge from interpreting metaphors in discourse. This conclusion suggests the need for new experimental studies and for theories of metaphor to be more sensitive to the influence of complex pragmatic goals in online metaphor interpretation.
Topics: Humans; Comprehension; Metaphor; Language; Communication; Motivation
PubMed: 37058837
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105455 -
Trends in Genetics : TIG Jul 2023The availability of public genomic resources can greatly assist biodiversity assessment, conservation, and restoration efforts by providing evidence for scientifically... (Review)
Review
The availability of public genomic resources can greatly assist biodiversity assessment, conservation, and restoration efforts by providing evidence for scientifically informed management decisions. Here we survey the main approaches and applications in biodiversity and conservation genomics, considering practical factors, such as cost, time, prerequisite skills, and current shortcomings of applications. Most approaches perform best in combination with reference genomes from the target species or closely related species. We review case studies to illustrate how reference genomes can facilitate biodiversity research and conservation across the tree of life. We conclude that the time is ripe to view reference genomes as fundamental resources and to integrate their use as a best practice in conservation genomics.
Topics: Conservation of Natural Resources; Biodiversity; Genomics; Genome
PubMed: 36801111
DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2023.01.005 -
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences Oct 2023The standardization account predicts short message service (SMS) interactions, allowed by current technology, will support the use and conventionalization of ideographs....
The standardization account predicts short message service (SMS) interactions, allowed by current technology, will support the use and conventionalization of ideographs. Relying on psycholinguistic theories of dialogue, we argue that ideographs (such as emoji) can be used by interlocutors in SMS interactions, so that the main contributor can use them to accompany language and the addressee can use them as stand-alone feedback.
Topics: Humans; Language; Psycholinguistics; Text Messaging
PubMed: 37779289
DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X23000572 -
Cognition Oct 2023We examine why some words are more memorable than others by using predictive machine learning models applied to word recognition and recall datasets. Our approach...
We examine why some words are more memorable than others by using predictive machine learning models applied to word recognition and recall datasets. Our approach provides more accurate out-of-sample predictions for recognition and recall than previous psychological models, and outperforms human participants in new studies of memorability prediction. Our approach's predictive power stems from its ability to capture the semantic determinants of memorability in a data-driven manner. We identify which semantic categories are important for memorability and show that, unlike features such as word frequency that influence recognition and recall differently, the memorability of semantic categories is consistent across recognition and recall. Our paper sheds light on the complex psychological drivers of memorability, and in doing so illustrates the power of machine learning methods for psychological theory development.
Topics: Humans; Semantics; Mental Recall; Recognition, Psychology; Models, Psychological
PubMed: 37442022
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105497 -
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research Dec 2023Research regarding dysgraphia, an impairment in writing, is attaining more attention in recent times. The existing studies on dysgraphia draw insights from cognitive,...
Research regarding dysgraphia, an impairment in writing, is attaining more attention in recent times. The existing studies on dysgraphia draw insights from cognitive, behavioural, neurological, and genetic fields of knowledge. However, these multiple studies on dysgraphia fail to illustrate how these cognitive, behavioural, neurological, and genetic systems interact and intersect in dysgraphia. Therefore, the studies could not offer a comprehensive understanding of dysgraphia. In order to fill this gap, the review attempts to study dysgraphia using the notion of modularity by accommodating insights from cognitive, behavioural, neurological, and genetic aspects of dysgraphia. Such a profound understanding could facilitate an early diagnosis and holistic intervention towards dysgraphia.
Topics: Humans; Agraphia; Writing
PubMed: 37930468
DOI: 10.1007/s10936-023-10029-6 -
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Dec 2023In order to successfully comprehend referring expressions, a listener must often consider how the speaker's perspective differs from their own. Such consideration of...
In order to successfully comprehend referring expressions, a listener must often consider how the speaker's perspective differs from their own. Such consideration of others' perspective is effortful and not always employed. Previous studies disagree about whether executive function predicts perspective-taking use in language comprehension. Furthermore, it is unclear whether or not there are consistent individual differences of perspective-taking ability in comprehension. This study tested participants in three perspective-taking in comprehension tasks and two measures of executive function to determine whether participants show consistency in their perspective-taking ability and whether this ability is predicted by measures of executive function. We found that (1) some but not all perspective-taking in comprehension tasks correlate with one another, and (2) inhibition control and working memory are not linked with any of the three perspective-taking measures. Based on these findings, we conclude that perspective-taking in comprehension may not be a unitary ability.
Topics: Humans; Comprehension; Communication; Memory, Short-Term; Executive Function; Individuality
PubMed: 37369976
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02315-0 -
Perspectives on Psychological Science :... Jul 2023We argue that the educational and psychological sciences must embrace the diversity of reading rather than chase the phantom of normal reading behavior. We critically...
We argue that the educational and psychological sciences must embrace the diversity of reading rather than chase the phantom of normal reading behavior. We critically discuss the research practice of asking participants in experiments to read "normally." We then draw attention to the large cross-cultural and linguistic diversity around the world and consider the enormous diversity of reading situations and goals. Finally, we observe that people bring a huge diversity of brains and experiences to the reading task. This leads to four implications: First, there are important lessons for how to conduct psycholinguistic experiments; second, we need to move beyond Anglocentric reading research and produce models of reading that reflect the large cross-cultural diversity of languages and types of writing systems; third, we must acknowledge that there are multiple ways of reading and reasons for reading, and none of them is normal or better or a "gold standard"; and fourth, we must stop stigmatizing individuals who read differently and for different reasons, and there should be increased focus on teaching the ability to extract information relevant to the person's goals. What is important is not how well people decode written language and how fast people read but what people comprehend given their own stated goals.
Topics: Humans; Reading; Dyslexia; Language; Writing; Linguistics
PubMed: 36355578
DOI: 10.1177/17456916221127226 -
Behavior Research Methods Sep 2023The number of databases that provide various measurements of lexical properties for psycholinguistic research has increased rapidly in recent years. The proliferation of...
The number of databases that provide various measurements of lexical properties for psycholinguistic research has increased rapidly in recent years. The proliferation of lexical variables, and the multitude of associated databases, makes the choice, comparison, and standardization of these variables in psycholinguistic research increasingly difficult. Here, we introduce The South Carolina Psycholinguistic Metabase (SCOPE), which is a metabase (or a meta-database) containing an extensive, curated collection of psycholinguistic variable values from major databases. The metabase currently contains 245 lexical variables, organized into seven major categories: General (e.g., frequency), Orthographic (e.g., bigram frequency), Phonological (e.g., phonological uniqueness point), Orth-Phon (e.g., consistency), Semantic (e.g., concreteness), Morphological (e.g., number of morphemes), and Response variables (e.g., lexical decision latency). We hope that SCOPE will become a valuable resource for researchers in psycholinguistics and affiliated disciplines such as cognitive neuroscience of language, computational linguistics, and communication disorders. The availability and ease of use of the metabase with comprehensive set of variables can facilitate the understanding of the unique contribution of each of the variables to word processing, and that of interactions between variables, as well as new insights and development of improved models and theories of word processing. It can also help standardize practice in psycholinguistics. We demonstrate use of the metabase by measuring relationships between variables in multiple ways and testing their individual contribution towards a number of dependent measures, in the most comprehensive analysis of this kind to date. The metabase is freely available at go.sc.edu/scope.
Topics: Humans; South Carolina; Psycholinguistics; Language; Linguistics; Semantics
PubMed: 35971041
DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-01934-0