Language Processing In Adults Research Articles

A Comprehensive Examination of Prediction-Based Error as a Mechanism for Syntactic Development: Evidence From Syntactic Priming.

Prediction-based accounts of language acquisition have the potential to explain several different effects in child language acquisition and adult language processing. However, evidence regarding the developmental predictions of such accounts is mixed. Here, we consider several predictions of these accounts in two large-scale developmental studies of syntactic priming of the English dative alternation. Study 1 was a cross-sectional study (N = 140) of children aged 3-9 years, in which we found strong evidence of abstract priming and the lexical boost, but little evidence that either effect was moderated by age. We found weak evidence for a prime surprisal effect; however, exploratory analyses revealed a protracted developmental trajectory for verb-structure biases, providing an explanation as for why prime surprisal effects are more elusive in developmental populations. In a longitudinal study (N = 102) of children in tightly controlled age bands at 42, 48, and 54 months, we found priming effects emerged on trials with verb overlap early but did not observe clear evidence of priming on trials without verb overlap until 54 months. There was no evidence of a prime surprisal effect at any time point and none of the effects were moderated by age. The results relating to the emergence of the abstract priming and lexical boost effects are consistent with prediction-based models, while the absence of age-related effects appears to reflect the structure-specific challenges the dative presents to English-acquiring children. Overall, our complex pattern of findings demonstrates the value of developmental data sets in testing psycholinguistic theory.

LABELS: Laboratoř behaviorálních a lingvistických studií

The Laboratory of Behavioural and Linguistic Studies is a joint project of the Institute of Psychology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. Currently, our laboratory is mainly concerned with vision science, language and speech acquisition in children, language processing in adults and cognition in children and adults in general, but it is also open to to other types of projects.

Abstract Action Language Processing in Eleven-Year-Old Children: Influence of Upper Limb Movement on Sentence Comprehension.

Regarding the embodiment of language processing in adults, there is evidence of a close connection between sensorimotor brain areas and brain areas relevant to the processing of action verbs. This thesis is hotly debated and has therefore been thoroughly studied in adults. However, there are still questions concerning its development in children. The present study deals with the processing of action verbs in concrete and abstract sentences in 60 eleven-year-olds using a decision time paradigm. Sixty-five children mirrored arm movements or sat still and rated the semantic plausibility of sentences. The data of the current study suggest that eleven-year-olds are likely to misunderstand the meaning of action verbs in abstract contexts. Their decision times were faster and their error rates for action verbs in concrete sentences were lower. However, the gender of the children had a significant influence on the decision time and the number of errors, especially when processing abstract sentences. Females were more likely to benefit from an arm movement before the decision, while males were better if they sat still beforehand. Overall, children made quite a few errors when assessing the plausibility of sentences, but the female participants more often gave plausibility assessments that deviated from our expectations, especially when processing abstract sentences. It can be assumed that the embodiment of language processing plays some role in 11-year-old children, but is not yet as mature as it is in adults. Especially with regard to the processing of abstract language, the embodied system still has to change and mature in the course of child development.

The Persistence of Priming: Exploring Long‐lasting Syntactic Priming Effects in Children and Adults

The implicit learning account of syntactic priming proposes that the same mechanism underlies syntactic priming and language development, providing a link between a child and adult language processing. The present experiment tested predictions of this account by comparing the persistence of syntactic priming effects in children and adults. Four-year-olds and adults first described transitive events after hearing transitive primes, constituting an exposure phase that established priming effects for passives. The persistence of this priming effect was measured in a test phase as participants described further transitive events but no longer heard primes. Their production of passives was compared to a baseline group who described the same pictures without any exposure to primes. Neither immediate nor long-term priming effects differed between children and adults but both children and adults showed significant immediate and persistent effects of the priming when the test phase occurred immediately after the exposure phase and when a short delay separated the exposure and test phase. The implications of these results for an implicit learning account of syntactic priming are discussed.

Brief Report: Emotional Picture and Language Processing in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

There is currently limited research and a lack of consensus on emotional processing impairments among adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present pilot study sought to characterize the extent to which adults with ASD are impaired in processing emotions in both words and pictures. Ten adults with ASD rated word and picture stimuli on emotional valence and arousal. Their ratings were compared to normative data for both stimuli sets using item-level correlations. Adults with ASD rank-ordered stimuli similarly to typically developing individuals, demonstrating relatively typical understanding of emotional words and pictures. However, they used a narrower range of the scales which suggests more subtle impairments affecting emotion-processing. Future directions arising from the findings of this pilot study are discussed.

The processing of passive sentences in German

Abstract This study examines the processing and interpretation of passive sentences in German-speaking seven-year-olds, ten-year-olds, and adults. This structure is often assumed to be particularly difficult to understand, and not yet fully mastered in primary school (Kemp, Bredel, & Reich, 2008), i.e. in children aged between six and eleven. Few studies provide empirical data concerning this age range; it is therefore unknown whether this assumption is warranted. Against this background, we tested whether the three age groups differed in their off-line comprehension of passive sentences. In addition, we employed Visual World eye-tracking to measure processing difficulties that may differ between age groups and may not be reflected in the final interpretations. Previous studies on adult language processing in German and English have documented a preference to interpret sentences according to an agent-first strategy. Our results show that all three groups make use of this strategy, and that all of them are able to revise this interpretation once the first cue indicating a passive sentence is encountered (the auxiliary verb form wurde). We conclude that at least from age seven on, children have the linguistic and cognitive prerequisites to process the passive morphosyntax of German and to revise initial sentence misinterpretations.

Human central auditory plasticity: A review of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure cochlear implant performance and tinnitus perception.

ObjectiveFunctional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging noninvasive technology used to study cerebral cortex activity. Being virtually silent and compatible with cochlear implants has helped establish fNIRS as an important tool when investigating auditory cortex as well as cortices involved with hearing and language processing in adults and during child development. With respect to this review article, more recently, fNIRS has also been used to investigate central auditory plasticity following hearing loss and tinnitus or phantom sound perception.MethodsHere, we review the currently available literature reporting the use of fNIRS in human studies with cochlear implants and tinnitus to measure human central auditory cortical circuits. We also provide the reader with detailed reviews of the technology and traditional recording paradigms/methods used in these auditory‐based studies.ResultsThe purpose of this review article is to summarize theoretical advancements in our understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying auditory processes and their plasticity through fNIRS research of human auditory performance with cochlear implantation and plasticity that may contribute to the central percepts of tinnitus.ConclusionfNIRS is an emerging noninvasive brain imaging technology that has wide reaching application that can be applied to human studies involving cochlear implants and tinnitus.Level of EvidenceN/A

The development of linguistic prediction: Predictions of sound and meaning in 2- to 5-year-olds

Language processing in adults is facilitated by an expert ability to generate detailed predictions about upcoming words. This may seem like an acquired skill, but some models of language acquisition assume that the ability to predict is a prerequisite for learning. This raises a question: Do children learn to predict, or do they predict to learn? We tested whether children, like adults, can generate expectations about not just the meanings of upcoming words but also their sounds, which would be critical for using prediction to learn about language. In two looking-while-listening experiments, we show that 2-year-olds can generate expectations about meaning based on a determiner (Can you see one…ball/two…ice creams?) but that even children as old as 5 years do not show an adult-like ability to predict the phonology of upcoming words based on a determiner (Can you see a…ball/an…ice cream?). Our results, therefore, suggest that the ability to generate detailed predictions is a late-acquired skill. We argue that prediction might not be the key mechanism driving children’s learning, but that the ability to generate accurate semantic predictions may nevertheless have facilitative effects on language development.

CroDA

Rad opisuje postupak prikupljanja podataka i transkripciju upotrijebljenu u razvoju Hrvatskog diskursnog korpusa govornika s afazijom razvijenog u sklopu projekta Adult Language Processing (HRZZ-2421-UIP-11-2013) i dostupnog od 2017. kao dio AphasiaBank - baze multimedijalne interakcije za proučavanje komunikacije među govornicima s afazijom. U skladu s protokolom AphasiaBanka uzorkovani su diskursi na temelju četiriju zadataka: pripovijedanja osobne priče, opisa slike, prepričavanja priče i proceduralnog diskursa. Snimljeni govorni uzorci transkribirani su u skladu s Codes for Human Analysis of Transcripts (CHAT). CroDA, kao prvi diskursni korpus govornika s afazijom u hrvatskom može dati nove uvide u specifična jezična obilježja diskursne proizvodnje govornika s afazijom i poslužiti kao korisni izvor za kvantitativne i kvalitativne analize.

Game-influenced methodology: Addressing child data attrition in language development research

Research on human development can be challenging for many reasons, one of which is high attrition rates for infants and children. To address the issues of attention and engagement, we examined whether gamification of an experimental methodology improved preschoolers participation on a task. The Primed Picture-Naming Task (PPNT) has been widely used to study language processing in adults; however, few studies have successfully implemented the methodology with children under 5 years of age, in part due to childrens difficulty in completing the task. One version of the PPNT incorporated narrative and goal-directed game-like elements, while the control version was presented in a traditional format. The results showed that preschoolers participated longer and completed more trials compared to children in the control version. Gamification is a valuable tool for creating assessments of preschoolers language development and for improving young childrens motivation and engagement in research. This study provides a beginning point for the development of ChildComputer Interactions which use childrens verbal responses as an interactive tool. Task engagement impacts the efficacy of developmental research with preschoolers.Preschoolers in the gamified group outperformed the control group on task performance.Gamification of language-based task improves preschoolers attention and engagement.Provides a beginning point for CCI using childrens verbal responses as an interactive tool.

Grammatical Constructions as Relational Categories.

This paper argues that grammatical constructions, specifically argument structure constructions that determine the "who did what to whom" part of sentence meaning and how this meaning is expressed syntactically, can be considered a kind of relational category. That is, grammatical constructions are represented as the abstraction of the syntactic and semantic relations of the exemplar utterances that are expressed in that construction, and it enables the generation of novel exemplars. To support this argument, I review evidence that there are parallel behavioral patterns between how children learn relational categories generally and how they learn grammatical constructions specifically. Then, I discuss computational simulations of how grammatical constructions are abstracted from exemplar sentences using a domain-general relational cognitive architecture. Last, I review evidence from adult language processing that shows parallel behavioral patterns with expert behavior from other cognitive domains. After reviewing the evidence, I consider how to integrate this account with other theories of language development.

Professional Music Training and Novel Word Learning: From Faster Semantic Encoding to Longer-lasting Word Representations.

On the basis of previous results showing that music training positively influences different aspects of speech perception and cognition, the aim of this series of experiments was to test the hypothesis that adult professional musicians would learn the meaning of novel words through picture-word associations more efficiently than controls without music training (i.e., fewer errors and faster RTs). We also expected musicians to show faster changes in brain electrical activity than controls, in particular regarding the N400 component that develops with word learning. In line with these hypotheses, musicians outperformed controls in the most difficult semantic task. Moreover, although a frontally distributed N400 component developed in both groups of participants after only a few minutes of novel word learning, in musicians this frontal distribution rapidly shifted to parietal scalp sites, as typically found for the N400 elicited by known words. Finally, musicians showed evidence for better long-term memory for novel words 5 months after the main experimental session. Results are discussed in terms of cascading effects from enhanced perception to memory as well as in terms of multifaceted improvements of cognitive processing due to music training. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing that music training influences semantic aspects of language processing in adults. These results open new perspectives for education in showing that early music training can facilitate later foreign language learning. Moreover, the design used in the present experiment can help to specify the stages of word learning that are impaired in children and adults with word learning difficulties.

Experience-Dependent Brain Development as a Key to Understanding the Language System.

An influential view of the nature of the language system is that of an evolved biological system in which a set of rules is combined with a lexicon that contains the words of the language together with a representation of their context. Alternative views, usually based on connectionist modeling, attempt to explain the structure of language on the basis of complex associative processes. Here, I put forward a third view that stresses experience-dependent structural development of the brain circuits supporting language as a core principle of the organization of the language system. In this view, embodied in a recent neuroconstructivist neural network of past tense development and processing, initial domain-general predispositions enable the development of functionally specialized brain structures through interactions between experience-dependent brain development and statistical learning in a structured environment. Together, these processes shape a biological adult language system that appears to separate into distinct mechanism for processing rules and exceptions, whereas in reality those subsystems co-develop and interact closely. This view puts experience-dependent brain development in response to a specific language environment at the heart of understanding not only language development but adult language processing as well.

Dual-dialects: a study of simultaneous verbal and gestural codes

This paper discusses linking codified speech patterns (dialect) to habitual, codified movements (physicality) in actor training using a concept referred to as “dual dialects.” The research compares the processes of verbal language acquisition and non-verbal communication acquisition in early childhood development. Moreover, this paper elaborates on the areas of the brain responsible for movement and language processing in adults. Studies in the fields of kinesiology, sociolinguistics, and sociology are used to support the notion of gesture and speech as one “multi-modal utterance.” Lastly, this research discusses the implications of how dual-dialects potentially affect students of pluralistic backgrounds in actor training.

Delayed Anticipatory Spoken Language Processing in Adults with Dyslexia—Evidence from Eye-tracking.

It is now well established that anticipation of upcoming input is a key characteristic of spoken language comprehension. It has also frequently been observed that literacy influences spoken language processing. Here, we investigated whether anticipatory spoken language processing is related to individuals' word reading abilities. Dutch adults with dyslexia and a control group participated in two eye-tracking experiments. Experiment 1 was conducted to assess whether adults with dyslexia show the typical language-mediated eye gaze patterns. Eye movements of both adults with and without dyslexia closely replicated earlier research: spoken language is used to direct attention to relevant objects in the environment in a closely time-locked manner. In Experiment 2, participants received instructions (e.g., 'Kijk naar de(COM) afgebeelde piano(COM)', look at the displayed piano) while viewing four objects. Articles (Dutch 'het' or 'de') were gender marked such that the article agreed in gender only with the target, and thus, participants could use gender information from the article to predict the target object. The adults with dyslexia anticipated the target objects but much later than the controls. Moreover, participants' word reading scores correlated positively with their anticipatory eye movements. We conclude by discussing the mechanisms by which reading abilities may influence predictive language processing.

Effects of acute hypoglycemia on working memory and language processing in adults with and without type 1 diabetes.

OBJECTIVETo examine the effects of hypoglycemia on language processing in adults with and without type 1 diabetes.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSForty adults were studied (20 with type 1 diabetes and 20 healthy volunteers) using a hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp to lower blood glucose to 2.5 mmol/L (45 mg/dL) (hypoglycemia) for 60 min, or to maintain blood glucose at 4.5 mmol/L (81 mg/dL) (euglycemia), on separate occasions. Language tests were applied to assess the effects of hypoglycemia on the relationship between working memory and language (reading span), grammatical decoding (self-paced reading), and grammatical encoding (subject-verb agreement).RESULTSHypoglycemia caused a significant deterioration in reading span (P < 0.001; η2 = 0.37; Cohen d = 0.65) and a fall in correct responses (P = 0.005; η2 = 0.19; Cohen d = 0.41). On the self-paced reading test, the reading time for the first sentence fragment increased during hypoglycemia (P = 0.039; η2 = 0.11; Cohen d = 0.25). For the reading of the next fragment, hypoglycemia affected the healthy volunteer group more than the adults with type 1 diabetes (P = 0.03; η2 = 0.12; Cohen d = 0.25). However, hypoglycemia did not significantly affect the number of errors in sentence comprehension or the time taken to answer questions. Hypoglycemia caused a deterioration of subject-verb agreement (correct responses: P = 0.011; η2 = 0.159; Cohen d = 0.31).CONCLUSIONSHypoglycemia caused a significant deterioration in reading span and in the accuracy of subject-verb agreement, both of which are practical aspects of language involved in its everyday use. Language processing is therefore impaired during moderate hypoglycemia.

Investigating the spatiotemporal neural dynamics of lexico‐semantic activity in 12–18 month old infants by combining magnetoencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging.

Knowledge of the neural basis of early language is limited because of the difficulties in assessing functional brain activity during infancy. Consequently, it is unclear whether infants and adults depend on similar underlying neural structures to understand words. Advances in magnetoencephalography combined with magnetic resonance imaging now make it possible to study this population. This method, dynamic statistical parametric mapping (dSPM), has been extensively validated during language processing in adults. Here, dSPM was used to examine the neural correlates of word understanding in 12–18 month old infants. Specifically, it was discovered that the lexico‐semantic neural processes indexed as the adult N400 event‐related component are functional during early stages of word learning and depend on similar left frontotemporal brain areas. These findings demonstrate that dSPM can be used to localize functional brain activity associated with language processes in pediatric populations. Moreover, discovery of a fundamental lexico‐semantic process present throughout the rapid burst of language acquisition permits this process to be quantified and thus related to behavioral and neural development and their disorders. Together, these findings illustrate the potential for dSPM and other non‐invasive neuroimaging techniques to increase current understandings of the neural basis of early language development. [Work supported by the Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind and NIH/NINDA R01 NS018741.]

Automaticity of tuning to distributional properties in language

Event Abstract Back to Event Automaticity of tuning to distributional properties in language Iris N. Knierim1* and Sonja A. Kotz1 1 MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Germany Different lines of research suggest an influence of distributional properties of language elements on their processing. For example, pseudowords with high-frequency syllables are produced faster than their low-frequency counterparts. During language acquisition, distributional properties manifest themselves as familiarity differences, i.e., distinct processing of familiar compared to unfamiliar words or stress patterns. In adult language processing, frequencies of words, syllables, or sound combinations modulate both production and perception. An open question concerns the automaticity of this influence: Is it rather context-dependent, i.e., occurs under circumstances of focused processing such as lexical retrieval, or is it better described as a context-free, automatic effect accompanying the processing of the language element in question. The current study compares EEG responses to two types of syllables that differ in frequency. Syllables were presented under passive listening conditions as first syllables of disyllabic pseudowords allowing for a lexicality-free context of speech processing. We report highly significant differences between the two syllable types consisting in a negative going deflection for the more frequent compared to the less frequent syllables starting about 190ms and peaking around 300ms post-stimulus onset with a fronto-central scalp distribution. Our findings support the notion that distributional properties of language elements, in this case syllable frequencies, shape the processing of those elements in an automatic manner. More precisely, we argue that after the distributional information is acquired it becomes part of the stimulus’ properties and is not bound to contextual requirements, e.g., lexical retrieval to complete a task. Keywords: EEG, Language Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Neural Bases of Language Citation: Knierim IN and Kotz SA (2011). Automaticity of tuning to distributional properties in language. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00511 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 22 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Iris N Knierim, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany, knierim@cbs.mpg.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Iris N Knierim Sonja A Kotz Google Iris N Knierim Sonja A Kotz Google Scholar Iris N Knierim Sonja A Kotz PubMed Iris N Knierim Sonja A Kotz Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

P32-19 Atypical language processing in adults who stutter: Evidence from event-related potentials

P32-19 Atypical language processing in adults who stutter: Evidence from event-related potentials

Cascading activation across levels of representation in children's lexical processing

Recent work in adult psycholinguistics has demonstrated that activation of semantic representations begins long before phonological processing is complete. This incremental propagation of information across multiple levels of analysis is a hallmark of adult language processing but how does this ability develop? In two experiments, we elicit measures of incremental activation of semantic representations during word recognition in children. Five-year-olds were instructed to select a target (logs) while their eye-movements were measured to a competitor (key) that was semantically related to an absent phonological associate (lock). We found that, like adults, children made increased looks to competitors relative to unrelated control items. However, unlike adults, children continued to look at the competitor even after the target word was uniquely identified and were more likely to incorrectly select this item. Altogether, these results suggest that early lexical processing involves cascading activation but less efficient resolution of competing entries.