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Brain Research Nov 2021Prediction in language processing has been a topic of major interest in psycholinguistics for at least the last two decades, but most investigations focus on semantic... (Review)
Review
Prediction in language processing has been a topic of major interest in psycholinguistics for at least the last two decades, but most investigations focus on semantic rather than syntactic prediction. This review begins with a discussion of some influential models of parsing which assume that comprehenders have the ability to anticipate syntactic nodes, beginning with left-corner parsers and the garden-path model and ending with current information-theoretic approaches that emphasize online probabilistic prediction. We then turn to evidence for the prediction of specific syntactic forms, including coordinate clauses and noun phrases, verb arguments, and individual nouns, as well as studies that use morphosyntactic constraints to assess whether a specific semantic prediction has been made. The last section considers the implications of syntactic prediction for theories of language architecture and describes four avenues for future research.
Topics: Comprehension; Humans; Language; Psycholinguistics; Reading
PubMed: 34453937
DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2021.147632 -
Brain Sciences Mar 2020This editorial follows an influential review paper published in Brain Sciences in 2018 ( by John Stein). In this editorial, I present a critical look at the arguments in...
This editorial follows an influential review paper published in Brain Sciences in 2018 ( by John Stein). In this editorial, I present a critical look at the arguments in Stein's review, with a particular view towards "looking ahead". In looking ahead, I will focus on why dyslexia has been largely neglected by psycholinguistics and, in particular, shortfalls in knowledge about sentence processing. I will highlight some things that I think psycholinguistic methodologies can contribute to the understanding of developmental dyslexia. The editorial will then turn to address the larger research context of dyslexia. In short, investigations of dyslexia tend to be conducted across a wide range of disciplines, and by individuals with varied backgrounds, divergent views, and different goals. One argument I advance is that dyslexia has reached a point where "interdisciplinary" collaboration is essential, and in the event that that is not successful, the field would at least benefit from "adversarial collaborations". Finally, I briefly address the issue of interventions (raised by Stein) for older children and adolescents by returning to the contributions that psycholinguistics can provide to dyslexia. The crux of my argument here is that there exists a missing link in interventions, and that missing link is sentence-level language comprehension.
PubMed: 32155923
DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10030151 -
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research Dec 2021In the long history of psycholinguistic research on verifying negative sentences, an often-reported finding is that participants take longer to correctly judge negative... (Review)
Review
In the long history of psycholinguistic research on verifying negative sentences, an often-reported finding is that participants take longer to correctly judge negative sentences true than false, while being faster to judge their positive counterparts true (e.g. Clark & Chase, Cogn Psychol 3(3):472-517, 1972; Carpenter & Just, Psychol Rev 82(1):45-73, 1975). While many linguists and psycholinguists have strongly advocated the idea that the costs and complexity of negation can be explained by appeal to context, context-based approaches have not been able to provide a satisfying account of this polarity*truth-value interaction. By contrast, the alternative theory of negation processing, which says that negation is processed by separately representing the positive, does provide a plausible account. Our proposals provide a means for reconciliation between the two views since we argue that negation is a strong cue to a positive context. Here we present our account of why and when negation is often apparently processed via the positive. We review many of the factors that are seen to be at play in sentence verification involving negation. We present evidence that participants' adoption of the positive-first procedure in sentence-picture verification tasks is conditioned by context.
Topics: Comprehension; Humans; Language; Psycholinguistics
PubMed: 34455529
DOI: 10.1007/s10936-021-09798-9 -
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research Dec 2021Negation is a universal component of human language; polarity sensitivity (i.e., lexical distributional constraints in relation to negation) is arguably so while being... (Review)
Review
Negation is a universal component of human language; polarity sensitivity (i.e., lexical distributional constraints in relation to negation) is arguably so while being pervasive across languages. Negation has long been a field of inquiry in psychological theories and experiments of reasoning, which inspired many follow-up studies of negation and negation-related phenomena in psycholinguistics. In generative theoretical linguistics, negation and polarity sensitivity have been extensively studied, as the related phenomena are situated at the interfaces of syntax, semantics and pragmatics, and are thus extremely revealing about the architecture of grammar. With the now long tradition of research on negation and polarity in psychology and psycholinguistics, and the emerging field of experimental semantics and pragmatics, a multitude of interests and experimental paradigms have emerged which call for re-evaluations and further development and integration. This special issue contains a collection of 16 research articles on the processing of negation and negation-related phenomena including polarity items, questions, conditionals, and irony, using a combination of behavioral (e.g., rating, reading, eye-tracking and sentence completion) and neuroimaging techniques (e.g., EEG). They showcase the processing of negation and polarity with or without context, in various languages and across different populations (adults, typically developing and ADHD children). The integration of multiple theoretical and empirical perspectives in this collection provides new insights, methodological advances and directions for future research.
Topics: Adult; Child; Humans; Language; Linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Reading; Semantics
PubMed: 34787786
DOI: 10.1007/s10936-021-09817-9 -
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) Mar 2020Syntax, the structure of sentences, enables humans to express an infinite range of meanings through finite means. The neurobiology of syntax has been intensely studied...
Syntax, the structure of sentences, enables humans to express an infinite range of meanings through finite means. The neurobiology of syntax has been intensely studied but with little consensus. Two main candidate regions have been identified: the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). Integrating research in linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neuroscience, we propose a neuroanatomical framework for syntax that attributes distinct syntactic computations to these regions in a unified model. The key theoretical advances are adopting a modern lexicalized view of syntax in which the lexicon and syntactic rules are intertwined, and recognizing a computational asymmetry in the role of syntax during comprehension and production. Our model postulates a hierarchical lexical-syntactic function to the pMTG, which interconnects previously identified speech perception and conceptual-semantic systems in the temporal and inferior parietal lobes, crucial for both sentence production and comprehension. These relational hierarchies are transformed via the pIFG into morpho-syntactic sequences, primarily tied to production. We show how this architecture provides a better account of the full range of data and is consistent with recent proposals regarding the organization of phonological processes in the brain.
Topics: Brain Mapping; Comprehension; Female; Humans; Language; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Prefrontal Cortex; Psycholinguistics; Speech Perception
PubMed: 31670779
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz180 -
Trends in Cognitive Sciences Aug 2019The field of cognitive aging has seen considerable advances in describing the linguistic and semantic changes that happen during the adult life span to uncover the... (Review)
Review
The field of cognitive aging has seen considerable advances in describing the linguistic and semantic changes that happen during the adult life span to uncover the structure of the mental lexicon (i.e., the mental repository of lexical and conceptual representations). Nevertheless, there is still debate concerning the sources of these changes, including the role of environmental exposure and several cognitive mechanisms associated with learning, representation, and retrieval of information. We review the current status of research in this field and outline a framework that promises to assess the contribution of both ecological and psychological aspects to the aging lexicon.
Topics: Aging; Brain; Cognition; Humans; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Vocabulary
PubMed: 31288976
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2019.05.003 -
Journal of Intelligence Mar 2023With the present paper, we sought to use research findings to illustrate the following thesis: the evolution of language follows the principles of human evolution. We... (Review)
Review
With the present paper, we sought to use research findings to illustrate the following thesis: the evolution of language follows the principles of human evolution. We argued that language does not exist for its own sake, it is one of a multitude of skills that developed to achieve a shared communicative goal, and all its features are reflective of this. Ongoing emerging language adaptations strive to better fit the present state of the human species. Theories of language have evolved from a single-modality to multimodal, from human-specific to usage-based and goal-driven. We proposed that language should be viewed as a multitude of communication techniques that have developed and are developing in response to selective pressure. The precise nature of language is shaped by the needs of the species (arguably, uniquely ) utilizing it, and the emergence of new situational adaptations, as well as new forms and types of human language, demonstrates that language includes an act driven by a communicative goal. This article serves as an overview of the current state of psycholinguistic research on the topic of language evolution.
PubMed: 37103246
DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence11040061 -
Scientific Data Jul 2022The growing interdisciplinary research field of psycholinguistics is in constant need of new and up-to-date tools which will allow researchers to answer complex...
The growing interdisciplinary research field of psycholinguistics is in constant need of new and up-to-date tools which will allow researchers to answer complex questions, but also expand on languages other than English, which dominates the field. One type of such tools are picture datasets which provide naming norms for everyday objects. However, existing databases tend to be small in terms of the number of items they include, and have also been normed in a limited number of languages, despite the recent boom in multilingualism research. In this paper we present the Multilingual Picture (Multipic) database, containing naming norms and familiarity scores for 500 coloured pictures, in thirty-two languages or language varieties from around the world. The data was validated with standard methods that have been used for existing picture datasets. This is the first dataset to provide naming norms, and translation equivalents, for such a variety of languages; as such, it will be of particular value to psycholinguists and other interested researchers. The dataset has been made freely available.
Topics: Databases, Factual; Humans; Language; Multilingualism; Psycholinguistics; Recognition, Psychology
PubMed: 35864133
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01552-7 -
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2020
PubMed: 33024428
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00324 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2022
PubMed: 36312166
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1055759