Categorical data analysis: Away from ANOVAs (transformation or not) and towards logit mixed models

A spreading activation theory of retrieval in sentence production

Traditional approaches to human information processing tend to deal with perception and action planning in isolation, so that an adequate account of the perception-action interface is still missing On the perceptual side, the dominant cognitive view largely underestimates, and thus fails to account for, the impact of action-related processes on both the processing of perceptual information and on perceptual learning On the action side, most approaches conceive of action planning as a mere continuation of stimulus processing, thus failing to account for the goal-directedness of even the simplest reaction in an experimental task We propose a new framework for a more adequate theoretical treatment of perception and action planning, in which perceptual contents and action plans are coded in a common representational medium by feature codes with distal reference Perceived events (perceptions) and to-be-produced events (actions) are equally represented by integrated, task-tuned networks of feature codes – cognitive structures we call event codes We give an overview of evidence from a wide variety of empirical domains, such as spatial stimulus-response compatibility, sensorimotor synchronization, and ideomotor action, showing that our main assumptions are well supported by the data

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0140525X01000103

The Theory of Event Coding (TEC): a framework for perception and action planning.

The generation of words in speech involves a number of processing stages. There is, first, a stage of conceptual preparation; this is followed by stages of lexical selection, phonological encoding, phonetic encoding and articulation. In addition, the speaker monitors the output and, if necessary, self-corrects. Major parts of the theory have been computer modelled. The paper concentrates on experimental reaction time evidence in support of the theory.

/pdf/a-theory-of-lexical-access-in-speech-production-56yj14t9eb.pdf

A theory of lexical access in speech production

Traditional mechanistic accounts of language processing derive almost entirely from the study of monologue. Yet, the most natural and basic form of language use is dialogue. As a result, these accounts may only offer limited theories of the mechanisms that un- derlie language processing in general. We propose a mechanistic account of dialogue, the interactive alignment account, and use it to de- rive a number of predictions about basic language processes. The account assumes that, in dialogue, the linguistic representations em- ployed by the interlocutors become aligned at many levels, as a result of a largely automatic process. This process greatly simplifies production and comprehension in dialogue. After considering the evidence for the interactive alignment model, we concentrate on three aspects of processing that follow from it. It makes use of a simple interactive inference mechanism, enables the development of local di- alogue routines that greatly simplify language processing, and explains the origins of self-monitoring in production. We consider the need for a grammatical framework that is designed to deal with language in dialogue rather than monologue, and discuss a range of implica- tions of the account.

/pdf/toward-a-mechanistic-psychology-of-dialogue-2jquck2ahu.pdf

Toward a mechanistic psychology of dialogue

Syntactic persistence in language production

Structural priming in language production is a tendency to recreate a recently uttered syntactic structure in different words. This tendency can be seen independent of specific lexical items, thematic roles, or word sequences. Two alternative proposals about the mechanism behind structural priming include (a) short-term activation from a memory representation of a priming structure and (b) longer term adaptation within the cognitive mechanisms for creating sentences, as a form of procedural learning. Two experiments evaluated these hypotheses, focusing on the persistence of structural priming. Both experiments yielded priming that endured beyond adjacent sentences, persisting over 2 intervening sentences in Experiment 1 and over 10 in Experiment 2. Although memory may have short-term consequences for some components of this kind of priming, the persisting effects are more compatible with a learning account than a transient memory account.

/pdf/the-persistence-of-structural-priming-transient-activation-3xzu8qko6x.pdf

The persistence of structural priming: Transient activation or implicit learning?

To study the time course of sentence formulation, we monitored the eye movements of speakers as they described simple events. The similarity between speakers' initial eye movements and those of observers performing a nonverbal event-comprehension task suggested that response-relevant information was rapidly extracted from scenes, allowing speakers to select grammatical subjects based on comprehended events rather than salience. When speaking extem- poraneously, speakers began fixating pictured elements less than a second before naming them within their descriptions, a finding con- sistent with incremental lexical encoding. Eye movements anticipated the order of mention despite changes in picture orientation, in who- did-what-to-whom, and in sentence structure. The results support Wundt's theory of sentence production. From a psychological point of view, the sentence is both a simultaneous and a sequential structure. It is simultaneous because at each moment it is present in consciousness as a totality even though individual subordinate elements may occasionally disappear from it. It is sequential because the configuration changes from moment to moment in its cognitive condition as individual constituents move into the focus of attention and out again one after the other. (Wundt, 1900/1970, p. 21)

/pdf/what-the-eyes-say-about-speaking-3mbxilu0se.pdf

What the Eyes Say About Speaking

it is widely acknowledged that characteristics of the general information processing svstem in which sentence formulation occurs mav provide constraints on syntax in language use. This paper proposes one possibli&urce of such constraints. Evidence is reviewed indicating that the syntax of sentences may .to some degree reflect the transient processing demands of lexical retrieval, suggesting an interaction between syntactic and lexical processing. Specifically, the syntactic structure of utterances appears to be sensitive to the accessibility of lexical information, with phrases containing more accessible information occurring earlier in sentences. The existence of such an interaction argues that the utterance formulation system is not strictly hierarchical, as most current approaches to sentence production imply. A broad framework for models of production is outlined that incorporates these interactions within a limited-capacity processing system. This framework also permits a resolution of contradictions in the literature on pragmatic determinants of constituent order in adult language use.

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/rev/89/1/1.pdf

Toward a Cognitive Psychology of Syntax: Information Processing Contributions to Sentence Formulation

The distinction between underlying and superficial linguistic structure is a staple of modern cognitive psychology. Despite increasingly diverse conceptions of syntactic relations in linguistic theory, the received view in psycholinguistics has remained one in which the entities assigned to underlying relations may assume different surface relations. The present article examines this view in the context of language production and reviews evidence that the disposition to bind animate entities to the surface subject relation is a basic feature of language use, suggesting that mappings from conceptual categories to syntactic relations form a main support of the bridge from conception to language. Proceeding on this assumption, the article also evaluates competing accounts of the mapping process in production. The results argue against syntactic relation-changing operations, but favor a division between meaning- and form-related mechanisms.

/pdf/from-conceptual-roles-to-structural-relations-bridging-the-ev6be51way.pdf

Kathryn Bock

Papers

Syntactic persistence in language production

The persistence of structural priming: Transient activation or implicit learning?

What the Eyes Say About Speaking

Toward a Cognitive Psychology of Syntax: Information Processing Contributions to Sentence Formulation

From conceptual roles to structural relations: bridging the syntactic cleft.