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Language and Speech Jun 2024Human communication is inherently multimodal. Auditory speech, but also visual cues can be used to understand another talker. Most studies of audiovisual speech...
Human communication is inherently multimodal. Auditory speech, but also visual cues can be used to understand another talker. Most studies of audiovisual speech perception have focused on the perception of speech segments (i.e., speech sounds). However, less is known about the influence of visual information on the perception of suprasegmental aspects of speech like lexical stress. In two experiments, we investigated the influence of different visual cues (e.g., facial articulatory cues and beat gestures) on the audiovisual perception of lexical stress. We presented auditory lexical stress continua of disyllabic Dutch stress pairs together with videos of a speaker producing stress on the first or second syllable (e.g., articulating or ). Moreover, we combined and fully crossed the face of the speaker producing lexical stress on either syllable with a gesturing body producing a beat gesture on either the first or second syllable. Results showed that people successfully used visual articulatory cues to stress in muted videos. However, in audiovisual conditions, we were not able to find an effect of visual articulatory cues. In contrast, we found that the temporal alignment of beat gestures with speech robustly influenced participants' perception of lexical stress. These results highlight the importance of considering suprasegmental aspects of language in multimodal contexts.
PubMed: 38877720
DOI: 10.1177/00238309241258162 -
Wiadomosci Lekarskie (Warsaw, Poland :... 2024Aim: Studying of psycholinguistic features of doctors' communication competence in Ukraine under war conditions.
OBJECTIVE
Aim: Studying of psycholinguistic features of doctors' communication competence in Ukraine under war conditions.
PATIENTS AND METHODS
Materials and Methods: Bibliosemantic method; method of system analysis, comparison and generalization; empirical methods - direct observation of the doctors' and patients' living language, typology of empirical data according to socio-demographic indicators.
RESULTS
Results: Within the study, 286 dialogues were collected. With voluntary consent, they were recorded in video and audio formats in compliance with ethical, bioethical, and legal norms. Next, initial typology of dialogues, their lexical and semantic analysis with identification of typical positive and negative communicative strategies were carried out. With the help of the ≪Textanz≫ specialized computer software, 48 dialogues were subjected to the content analysis procedure for two separate ≪Doctors≫ and ≪Patients≫ samples.
CONCLUSION
Conclusions: The results of the analysis of ≪Doctor-Patient≫ dialogues enabled identifying and describing psycholinguistic markers of typical physiological, mental, social, and spiritual states of individuals seeking medical help under martial law. Thus, the markers of positive emotional states (optimism, confidence, empathy, etc.) and affective, negative emotional processes (anxiety, fear, anger, aggression, sadness, depression, etc.) were identified.
Topics: Humans; Psycholinguistics; Physician-Patient Relations; Ukraine; Communication; Physicians; Female; Male; Adult
PubMed: 38865621
DOI: 10.36740/WLek202404109 -
Memory & Cognition Jun 2024Large-scale collection of lexical-semantic norms for words in a given language has been instrumental in the progress of psycholinguistic research. However, such norms...
Large-scale collection of lexical-semantic norms for words in a given language has been instrumental in the progress of psycholinguistic research. However, such norms tend to be collected from speakers of the dominant variant or dialect. This research aims to determine if there may be differences across speakers of various dialects of English in the humor of individual words. Engelthaler and Hills (2018, Behavior Research Methods, 50[3], 1116-1124) observed that their humor ratings were most strongly correlated with inverse word frequency: Less frequent words tended to be rated as more humorous. We hypothesized that words that are less frequently occurring in a given English dialect should be perceived as more humorous by speakers of the same dialect. We selected words of relatively higher and lower frequencies across various corpora of North American, British, or Singapore English, and presented these words to participants who were native English speakers of North American, British, or Singapore English. Study 1 compared humor ratings of North Americans and Singaporeans; Study 2 compared humor ratings of North Americans and the British. Analyses of participants' random slope coefficients of frequency extracted from cumulative link mixed-effects models indicated that humor ratings were more strongly (and inversely) associated with the word's frequency in the corpora that aligned with the rater's English dialect. These results provide evidence that people are sensitive to the statistics of their specific language environment, and importantly suggest that creators of lexical-semantic norm databases should consider how the cultural, historical, or sociopolitical context of raters might influence the nature of their ratings.
PubMed: 38865076
DOI: 10.3758/s13421-024-01587-8 -
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic... Jun 2024This paper presents a collaboration between a clinician (C.M.J.) and a research team (W.B., B.M., and S.M.) to address the question: At an operational level, what...
This paper presents a collaboration between a clinician (C.M.J.) and a research team (W.B., B.M., and S.M.) to address the question: At an operational level, what happens in the special form of conversation that is psychotherapy? How can we study, beyond a priori lenses of psychoanalytic models, what we are actually doing when we engage in this process? How can we capture from the linear flow of conversation, the simultaneous, complex, active, interwoven, dimensional emotion schemas that words can only point toward? To address the question, we first present the need for new approaches in the current climate within the clinical and research communities. Next, we address the challenges for clinicians and researchers by using multiple code theory and derived linguistic measures that offer an objective view of the processes of subjectivity. We then apply the research methods to the clinical data to illustrate the yield of the collaborative effort-a yield that captures the connection between the linear flow of words and the arousal, verbal expression, and reflection/integration of emotion schemas without the usual filters of psychoanalytic models of process and change. The project illustrates the critical value of clinicians' perspectives to guide researchers and encourages clinicians to participate in research to advance our field. For researchers, this project represents a "fourth generation" of process research that includes the criteria of video-recorded, transcribed data; the clinician's report of their experience; a theory of how emotion-laden meaning and motivations (emotion schemas) are expressed in the therapeutic conversation; and reliable, valid measures to capture and represent those processes; and that encourages researchers to access the rich contributions of clinicians' understanding. The implication for clinical practice is a new way to look beyond the lens of psychoanalytic models into what is actually unfolding in real time.
PubMed: 38864203
DOI: 10.1177/00030651241256650 -
Molecular Autism Jun 2024Autism and different neurodevelopmental conditions frequently co-occur, as do their symptoms at sub-diagnostic threshold levels. Overlapping traits and shared genetic...
BACKGROUND
Autism and different neurodevelopmental conditions frequently co-occur, as do their symptoms at sub-diagnostic threshold levels. Overlapping traits and shared genetic liability are potential explanations.
METHODS
In the population-based Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort study (MoBa), we leverage item-level data to explore the phenotypic factor structure and genetic architecture underlying neurodevelopmental traits at age 3 years (N = 41,708-58,630) using maternal reports on 76 items assessing children's motor and language development, social functioning, communication, attention, activity regulation, and flexibility of behaviors and interests.
RESULTS
We identified 11 latent factors at the phenotypic level. These factors showed associations with diagnoses of autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions. Most shared genetic liabilities with autism, ADHD, and/or schizophrenia. Item-level GWAS revealed trait-specific genetic correlations with autism (items r range = - 0.27-0.78), ADHD (items r range = - 0.40-1), and schizophrenia (items r range = - 0.24-0.34). We find little evidence of common genetic liability across all neurodevelopmental traits but more so for several genetic factors across more specific areas of neurodevelopment, particularly social and communication traits. Some of these factors, such as one capturing prosocial behavior, overlap with factors found in the phenotypic analyses. Other areas, such as motor development, seemed to have more heterogenous etiology, with specific traits showing a less consistent pattern of genetic correlations with each other.
CONCLUSIONS
These exploratory findings emphasize the etiological complexity of neurodevelopmental traits at this early age. In particular, diverse associations with neurodevelopmental conditions and genetic heterogeneity could inform follow-up work to identify shared and differentiating factors in the early manifestations of neurodevelopmental traits and their relation to autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions. This in turn could have implications for clinical screening tools and programs.
Topics: Humans; Norway; Female; Male; Phenotype; Child, Preschool; Cohort Studies; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Mothers; Autistic Disorder; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Adult; Fathers; Genome-Wide Association Study; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Schizophrenia; Genetic Heterogeneity
PubMed: 38849897
DOI: 10.1186/s13229-024-00599-0 -
Heliyon Jun 2024The present research study aimed to investigate the psycholinguistic aspects of interlanguage (IL) variability in English as a second language learners from Iran. Three...
The present research study aimed to investigate the psycholinguistic aspects of interlanguage (IL) variability in English as a second language learners from Iran. Three morphological forms were specifically examined in this study: the plural "-s," past tense forms, and present tense forms. In order to investigate the learners' cognitive processes, the researchers used a mixed-method approach, combining qualitative semi-structured interviews with quantitative analysis of written task performance. Under various task conditions, learners exhibited two opposing patterns of IL variability (increasing and decreasing) in their morphological forms. Various degrees of accuracy were noted for every kind of morpheme. Different students allocated their attention differently to form and meaning in both under pressure and relaxed task environments. The observed variations could have been caused by limited working memory and attention capacity in addition to L1 transfer. The research indicated that the field of second language acquisition could benefit from an explanatory approach to comprehend IL variability from the learner's perspective. It provides recommendations for larger-scale research projects in a variety of educational contexts, along with pedagogical implications.
PubMed: 38845964
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31582 -
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research Jun 2024Researchers tend to use oral- and silent-reading fluency measures interchangeably and to generalize research findings across reading modes, especially from oral to...
Researchers tend to use oral- and silent-reading fluency measures interchangeably and to generalize research findings across reading modes, especially from oral to silent reading. In this study, we sought to examine if oral and silent word-reading fluency rely on the same cognitive-linguistic skills. Three hundred and forty-five Greek children (80 from Grade 2, 85 from Grade 4, 91 from Grade 6, and 89 from Grade 10) were assessed on measures of general cognitive ability, speed of processing, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, orthographic knowledge, articulation rate, and word-reading fluency (oral and silent). Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that phonological awareness was a unique predictor of both reading outcomes in Grade 2 and orthographic knowledge was a unique predictor of both reading outcomes in Grades 4, 6, and 10. However, rapid automatized naming predicted only oral word-reading fluency. These findings suggest that silent and oral word-reading fluency do not necessarily rely on the same cognitive-linguistic skills at the same grade level and we need to exercise some caution when we generalize the findings across reading modes.
Topics: Humans; Reading; Male; Child; Greece; Female; Cross-Sectional Studies; Cognition; Phonetics; Language; Linguistics
PubMed: 38844626
DOI: 10.1007/s10936-024-10090-9 -
Cognitive Research: Principles and... Jun 2024Multilingual speakers can find speech recognition in everyday environments like restaurants and open-plan offices particularly challenging. In a world where speaking...
Multilingual speakers can find speech recognition in everyday environments like restaurants and open-plan offices particularly challenging. In a world where speaking multiple languages is increasingly common, effective clinical and educational interventions will require a better understanding of how factors like multilingual contexts and listeners' language proficiency interact with adverse listening environments. For example, word and phrase recognition is facilitated when competing voices speak different languages. Is this due to a "release from masking" from lower-level acoustic differences between languages and talkers, or higher-level cognitive and linguistic factors? To address this question, we created a "one-man bilingual cocktail party" selective attention task using English and Mandarin speech from one bilingual talker to reduce low-level acoustic cues. In Experiment 1, 58 listeners more accurately recognized English targets when distracting speech was Mandarin compared to English. Bilingual Mandarin-English listeners experienced significantly more interference and intrusions from the Mandarin distractor than did English listeners, exacerbated by challenging target-to-masker ratios. In Experiment 2, 29 Mandarin-English bilingual listeners exhibited linguistic release from masking in both languages. Bilinguals experienced greater release from masking when attending to English, confirming an influence of linguistic knowledge on the "cocktail party" paradigm that is separate from primarily energetic masking effects. Effects of higher-order language processing and expertise emerge only in the most demanding target-to-masker contexts. The "one-man bilingual cocktail party" establishes a useful tool for future investigations and characterization of communication challenges in the large and growing worldwide community of Mandarin-English bilinguals.
Topics: Humans; Multilingualism; Speech Perception; Adult; Female; Male; Young Adult; Attention; Perceptual Masking; Psycholinguistics
PubMed: 38834918
DOI: 10.1186/s41235-024-00562-w -
Neurobiology of Language (Cambridge,... 2024When bilingual speakers switch back to speaking in their native language (L1) after having used their second language (L2), they often experience difficulty in...
When bilingual speakers switch back to speaking in their native language (L1) after having used their second language (L2), they often experience difficulty in retrieving words in their L1. This phenomenon is referred to as the . We used the L2 after-effect as a lens to explore the neural bases of bilingual language control mechanisms. Our goal was twofold: first, to explore whether bilingual language control draws on domain-general or language-specific mechanisms; second, to investigate the precise mechanism(s) that drive the L2 after-effect. We used a precision fMRI approach based on functional localizers to measure the extent to which the brain activity that reflects the L2 after-effect overlaps with the language network (Fedorenko et al., 2010) and the domain-general multiple demand network (Duncan, 2010), as well as three task-specific networks that tap into interference resolution, lexical retrieval, and articulation. Forty-two Polish-English bilinguals participated in the study. Our results show that the L2 after-effect reflects increased engagement of domain-general but not language-specific resources. Furthermore, contrary to previously proposed interpretations, we did not find evidence that the effect reflects increased difficulty related to lexical access, articulation, and the resolution of lexical interference. We propose that difficulty of speech production in the picture naming paradigm-manifested as the L2 after-effect-reflects interference at a nonlinguistic level of task schemas or a general increase of cognitive control engagement during speech production in L1 after L2.
PubMed: 38832359
DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00128 -
Open Mind : Discoveries in Cognitive... 2024Recent advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) have raised the question of replacing human subjects with LLM-generated data. While some believe that LLMs capture the...
Recent advances in Large Language Models (LLMs) have raised the question of replacing human subjects with LLM-generated data. While some believe that LLMs capture the "wisdom of the crowd"-due to their vast training data-empirical evidence for this hypothesis remains scarce. We present a novel methodological framework to test this: the "number needed to beat" (NNB), which measures how many humans are needed for a sample's quality to rival the quality achieved by GPT-4, a state-of-the-art LLM. In a series of pre-registered experiments, we collect novel human data and demonstrate the utility of this method for four psycholinguistic datasets for English. We find that NNB > 1 for each dataset, but also that NNB varies across tasks (and in some cases is quite small, e.g., 2). We also introduce two "centaur" methods for combining LLM and human data, which outperform both stand-alone LLMs and human samples. Finally, we analyze the trade-offs in data cost and quality for each approach. While clear limitations remain, we suggest that this framework could guide decision-making about whether and how to integrate LLM-generated data into the research pipeline.
PubMed: 38828431
DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00144