Showing papers in "Language, cognition and neuroscience in 2020"
TL;DR: It is argued that natural stimuli offer many advantages over simplified, controlled stimuli for studying how language is processed by the brain and the downsides of using natural language stimuli can be mitigated using modern statistical and computational techniques.
Abstract: Humans have a unique ability to produce and consume rich, complex, and varied language in order to communicate ideas to one another. Still, outside of natural reading, the most common methods for studying how our brains process speech or understand language use only isolated words or simple sentences. Recent studies have upset this status quo by employing complex natural stimuli and measuring how the brain responds to language as it is used. In this article we argue that natural stimuli offer many advantages over simplified, controlled stimuli for studying how language is processed by the brain. Furthermore, the downsides of using natural language stimuli can be mitigated using modern statistical and computational techniques.
175 citations
TL;DR: This article showed that the cortex shadows rhythmic acoustic information with oscillatory activity, a phenomenon termed "entrainment" in speech processing, which is often focused on the phenomenon of "shadowing".
Abstract: Research on speech processing is often focused on a phenomenon termed “entrainment”, whereby the cortex shadows rhythmic acoustic information with oscillatory activity. Entrainment has been observe...
89 citations
TL;DR: The authors proposed a neurocognitive model of language processing that obviates the need for incorporating emotion processes, while affective neuroscience theories have typically been concerned with ting emotion processes.
Abstract: Standard neurocognitive models of language processing have tended to obviate the need for incorporating emotion processes, while affective neuroscience theories have typically been concerned with t...
83 citations
TL;DR: The view that naturalistic experimental paradigms, utilising spontaneously produced speech as stimuli and suitable frequency-domain methodological tools, should be used to address an important question that remains open: whether cortical entrainment is observed during speech perception and comprehension in real-life communicative situations is advanced.
Abstract: The popular framework of cortical entrainment postulates that speech comprehension crucially depends on the continuous alignment of low-frequency cortical oscillatory activity with the amplitude en...
42 citations
TL;DR: The authors report an fMRI experiment where ToM regions were defined functionally in each participant, and their responses were examined to texts vs. unconnected sentences, suggesting a role for these regions in discourse comprehension independent of content.
Abstract: In addition to understanding individual word meanings and processing the syntactic and semantic dependencies among those words within a sentence, language comprehension often requires constructing a higher-order discourse structure based on the relationships among clauses and sentences in the extended context. Prior fMRI studies of discourse-level comprehension have reported greater activation for texts than unconnected sentences in what-appear-to-be regions of the Theory of Mind (ToM) network. However, those studies have generally used narratives rich in mental state content, thus confounding coherence and content. We report an fMRI experiment where ToM regions were defined functionally in each participant, and their responses were examined to texts vs. sentence lists. Critically, we used expository texts to minimize mental state content. Medial frontal but not posterior ToM regions exhibited small but reliable increases in their responses to texts relative to unconnected sentences, suggesting a role for these regions in discourse comprehension independent of content.
32 citations
TL;DR: This paper found a clear relationship between the N400 and sentence predictability, and proposed a N400-based approach for predictive language comprehension with less expected information, which is well established.
Abstract: Any proposal for predictive language comprehension must address receipt of less expected information. While a relationship between the N400 and sentence predictability is well established, a clear ...
30 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that synchronicity with these points to the existence of endogenous functional “oscillators”—or population rhythmic activity in Giraud’s (2020) terms—that underlie the inference, generation, and prediction of linguistic units.
Abstract: Could meaning be read from acoustics, or from the refraction rate of pyramidal cells innervated by the cochlea, everyone would be an omniglot. Speech does not contain sufficient acoustic cues to id...
29 citations
TL;DR: Transfer entropy is applied to source-localised MEG data during continuous speech perception to suggest a progression of prediction processes from higher-order to early sensory areas in at least two different frequency channels.
Abstract: Natural communication between interlocutors is enabled by the ability to predict upcoming speech in a given context. Previously we showed that these predictions rely on a fronto-motor top-down cont...
25 citations
TL;DR: Findings from a visual world eye-tracking experiment with L1 and L2 speakers of Mandarin show that L2 listeners experienced greater competition than L1 listeners from nouns that were grammatically incompatible with the classifier they heard but shared semantic features associated with it.
Abstract: This study examines long-standing claims that L2 learners rely more on non-grammatical than on grammatical information during sentence processing compared to native speakers. Nominal classi...
22 citations
TL;DR: The basic principles and applications of co-registration are introduced and how this approach may shed light on one of the most controversially discussed issues in reading research, contextual predictions in online language processing is reviewed.
Abstract: Sixteen years ago, Sereno and Rayner (2003. Measuring word recognition in reading: eye movements and event-related potentials. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(11), 489-493) illustrated how "by means of review and comparison" eye movement (EM) and event-related potential (ERP) studies may advance our understanding of visual word recognition. Attempts to simultaneously record EMs and ERPs soon followed. Recently, this co-registration approach has also been transferred to fMRI and oscillatory EEG. With experimental settings close to natural reading, co-registration enables us to directly integrate insights from EM and neuroimaging studies. This should extend current experimental paradigms by moving the field towards studying sentence-level processing including effects of context and parafoveal preview. This article will introduce the basic principles and applications of co-registration and selectively review how this approach may shed light on one of the most controversially discussed issues in reading research, contextual predictions in online language processing.
21 citations
TL;DR: Almost a century ago, Bishop proposed that brain oscillations reflect rhythmic fluctuations of neuronal populations between high and low excitability states (Bishop, 1932), while the implications of this work are still being investigated.
Abstract: Almost a century ago, Bishop proposed that brain oscillations reflect rhythmic fluctuations of neuronal populations between high and low excitability states (Bishop, 1932). While the implications o...
TL;DR: By means of combining eye-tracking and fMRI, this article investigated aspects of higher linguistic processing during natural reading which were formerly hard to assess with traditiona... and found that higher linguistic processes were associated with higher linguistic ability.
Abstract: By means of combining eye-tracking and fMRI, the present study aimed to investigate aspects of higher linguistic processing during natural reading which were formerly hard to assess with traditiona...
TL;DR: The results empirically demonstrate that N400 context effects are a function of each individual’s knowledge, which here is highly correlated with their reading experience, and confirm that context affects semantic processing by ∼250 ms or earlier, on average.
Abstract: During reading, effects of contextual support indexed by N400-a brain potential sensitive to semantic activation/retrieval-amplitude are presumably mediated by comprehenders' world knowledge. Moreover, variability in knowledge may influence the contents, timing, and mechanisms of what is brought to mind during real-time sentence processing. Since it is infeasible to assess the entirety of each individual's knowledge, we investigated a limited domain-the narrative world of Harry Potter (HP). We recorded event-related brain potentials while participants read sentences ending in words more/less contextually supported. For sentences about HP, but not about general topics, contextual N400 effects were graded according to individual participants' HP knowledge. Our results not only confirm that context affects semantic processing by ~250 ms or earlier, on average, but empirically demonstrate what has until now been assumed-that N400 context effects are a function of each individual's knowledge, which here is highly correlated with their reading experience.
TL;DR: This paper used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to extend the embodied cognition account of language processing to second language (L2) and found that 20 L2 English speakers and ten nativ...
Abstract: The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to extend the embodied cognition account of language processing to second language (L2). Twenty L2 English speakers and ten nativ...
TL;DR: The authors examine multimodal co-speech iconic gestures and find that concurrent visual and verbal information compete for attentional resources during multi-modal comprehension, and that listeners are sensitive to speakers' co speech iconic gestures.
Abstract: Listeners are sensitive to speakers’ co-speech iconic gestures. Concurrent visual and verbal information compete for attentional resources during multimodal comprehension. The current study examine...
TL;DR: Hinojosa, J. A., Moreno, E. M., and Ferre, P. as discussed by the authors proposed the emotion word type that has not been elucidated in the review.
Abstract: In this brief commentary, we propose the emotion word type that has not been elucidated in the review (Hinojosa, J. A., Moreno, E. M., & Ferre, P. (2019). Affective neurolinguistics: Towards a fram...
TL;DR: This paper examined whether learning new meanings for familiar words affects the processing of their existing meanings, and found that adults are skilled at learning new words and meanings, while children are less skilled at it.
Abstract: Research has shown that adults are skilled at learning new words and meanings. We examined whether learning new meanings for familiar words affects the processing of their existing meanings...
TL;DR: The authors examined how speaker identity affects the processing of speech errors and found that perceived speaker nativeness seems to modulate the integration of grammatical agreement violations into the utterance, whereas retrieval of lexico-semantic information (N400) is re...
Abstract: With event-related potentials we examined how speaker identity affects the processing of speech errors. In two experiments with probe verification and sentence correctness judgement tasks, respectively, grammatical agreement violations and slips of the tongue were embedded in German sentences spoken in native or Chinese accent. Portraits of European or Asian persons served as cues for speaker's identity. In Experiment 1, only a P600 was elicited by grammatical agreement errors in native speech in the second presentations. In Experiment 2, grammatical errors again elicited a P600 only in native speech. Slips of the tongue, however, elicited a P600 in both native and non-native speech and a N400 for native speech. Hence, perceived speaker nativeness seems to modulate the integration of grammatical agreement violations into the utterance. Slips of the tongue induced (re)interpretation processes (P600) for both native and non-native speech, whereas retrieval of lexico-semantic information (N400) is re...
TL;DR: This is a commentary on Meyer, Sun & Martin (2019), Synchronous, but not entrained: exogenous and endogenous cortical rhythms of speech and language processing.
Abstract: ABSTRACT This is a commentary on>
TL;DR: The results suggest that comprehenders can tailor their expectations to the talker, and that atypical exemplars elicit a larger post-N400 frontal positivity than typical and incongruous exemplars, indexing the integration of unexpected information.
Abstract: Language comprehension is shaped by world knowledge. After hearing about "a farm animal," meanings of typical ("cow") versus atypical exemplars ("ox") are more accessible, as evidenced by N400 responses. Moreover, atypical exemplars elicit a larger post-N400 frontal positivity than typical and incongruous ("ivy") exemplars, indexing the integration of unexpected information. Do listeners adapt this category knowledge to specific talkers? We first replicated typicality effects in the auditory modality. Then, we extended the design to a two-talker context: talkers alternated cueing (Bob: "Susan, name a farm animal") and answering (Susan: "cow"). Critically, participants first heard interviews in which one talker revealed strong associations with atypical exemplars (Susan works on an ox farm). We observed increased frontal positivity to a typical exemplar ("cow") said by Susan compared to Bob, indicating participants appreciated that the typical exemplar was atypical for Susan. These results suggest that comprehenders can tailor their expectations to the talker.
TL;DR: This investigation provides a test for theories claiming that prediction is a central learning mechanism, and calls for further evaluations of prediction in naturalistic settings.
Abstract: Prior research suggests that prediction supports language processing and learning. However, the ecological validity of such findings is unclear because experiments usually include constrained stimuli. While theoretically suggestive, previous conclusions will be largely irrelevant if listeners cannot generate predictions in response to complex and variable perceptual input. Taking a step toward addressing this limitation, three eye-tracking experiments evaluated how adults (N = 72) and 4- and 5-year-old children (N = 72) generated predictions in contexts with complex visual stimuli (Experiment 1), variable speech stimuli (Experiment 2), and both concurrently (Experiment 3). Results indicated that listeners generated predictions in contexts with complex visual stimuli or variable speech stimuli. When both were more naturalistic, listeners used informative verbs to generate predictions, but not adjectives or number markings. This investigation provides a test for theories claiming that prediction is a central learning mechanism, and calls for further evaluations of prediction in naturalistic settings.
TL;DR: In this paper, the predictive behavior observed in controlled lab environments generalises to rich, everyd... and it remains unclear, however, whether the predictive behaviour observed in the controlled lab environment generalizes to rich and everyd...
Abstract: The ability to predict upcoming actions is a hallmark of cognition. It remains unclear, however, whether the predictive behaviour observed in controlled lab environments generalises to rich, everyd...
TL;DR: This paper extended neuro-imaging into conversation through studying dialogue comprehension, with negative semiotics for delay, and explored how expectati cation can affect the response speed in a conversation.
Abstract: The present study extends neuro-imaging into conversation through studying dialogue comprehension. Conversation entails rapid responses, with negative semiotics for delay. We explored how expectati...
TL;DR: This article found that word frequency and contextual predictability effects share an early time course of processing target word frequency in the early stage of reading target word sentences in a target target language comprehension task.
Abstract: Previous research into written language comprehension has been equivocal as to whether word frequency and contextual predictability effects share an early time course of processing Target word fre
TL;DR: This article investigated how the Dutch discourse markers eigenlijk "actually" and "indeed" signal expectation disconfirmation and expectation confirmation, respectively, in two ERP experiments.
Abstract: In two ERP experiments, we investigated how the Dutch discourse markers eigenlijk “actually”, signalling expectation disconfirmation, and inderdaad “indeed”, signalling expectation confirmation, af...
TL;DR: A right ear advantage has been found during dichotic listening, but also in tasks requiring the sole imagery of auditory content, due to the left-hemispheric specialisation for language.
Abstract: A Right Ear Advantage (REA) has been found during dichotic listening, but also in tasks requiring the sole imagery of auditory content, due to the left-hemispheric specialisation for language. Acco...
TL;DR: It is proposed that the processing cost of low frequency words is reduced due to contextual cues, and meanings of high frequency words are more readily accessed and integrated with context resulting in enhanced processing in the semantic system.
Abstract: Word frequency is a central psycholinguistic variable that accounts for substantial variance in language processing. A number of neuroimaging studies have examined frequency at a single word level, typically demonstrating a strong negative, and sometimes positive correlation between frequency and hemodynamic response. Here, 40 subjects read passages of text in an MRI scanner while their eye movements were recorded. We used fixation-related analysis to identify neural activity tied to the frequency of each fixated word. We found that negative correlations with frequency were reduced, while strong positive correlations were found in the temporal and parietal areas associated with semantics. We propose that the processing cost of low frequency words is reduced due to contextual cues. Meanings of high frequency words are more readily accessed and integrated with context resulting in enhanced processing in the semantic system. The results demonstrate similarities and differences between single word and naturalistic text processing.
TL;DR: This paper investigates adjective–noun composition using EEG, focusing on the effects of the intensional and denotational semantics of the modifying adjective, using NPs from 4 semantic conditions in Bokmål Norwegian.
Abstract: A central question in neurolinguistics is how the brain computes the meaning of complex expressions from the meanings of the parts. We investigate adjective–noun composition using EEG, focusing on ...
TL;DR: In this article, a commentary on a review article by Meyer, Sun & Martin (2019), "Synchronous, but not entrained: exogenous and endogenous cortical rhythms of speech and language processing" is presented.
Abstract: This is a commentary on a review article by Meyer, Sun & Martin (2019), “Synchronous, but not entrained: exogenous and endogenous cortical rhythms of speech and language processing”, doi:10.1080/23...
TL;DR: Speakers who had experienced the driving task themselves before and who were presented with the difficult driving task first were more redundant than other speakers, suggesting that speakers only consider the listener’s needs in the presence of strong enough cues, and do not update their beliefs about these needs during the task.
Abstract: A controversial issue in psycholinguistics is the degree to which speakers employ audience design during language production. Hypothesising that a consideration of the listener’s needs is particula...