Real-time Language Processing Research Articles

Chunking in the Second Language: Implications for Language Learning and Teaching

Among the various challenges that adult and other late language learners face on their journey to achieving nativelike proficiency, chunking has been identified as one of the most difficult tasks to master. Language users are able to derive and utilize chunks during language processing—both in the first (L1) and the second language (L2)—yet the extent to which the L2 learners utilize and benefit from chunking is not on a par with L1 speakers. L2 learners are generally less sensitive to the statistical regularities in the linguistic input and possess a smaller repertoire of multiword expressions, leaving them susceptible to slower real-time language processing, hampered comprehension during conversation, and distinct production errors. Drawing on insights from Brian MacWhinney's Unified Competition Model of L1 and L2 acquisition, this review examines these unique challenges in L2 chunking as a function of differences between L1 and L2 learning. According to the Unified Competition Model, the existence of deeply entrenched L1 linguistic representations may hinder effective L2 chunking by encouraging over-segmentation in favor of L1 transference at the lexical level and diverting the necessary attention away from the grammatical elements in prefabricated multiword units. Based on these observations, we offer practical suggestions for educators to facilitate chunking in L2 learners and bring them closer to nativelike fluency.

Left-dominance for resting-state temporal low-gamma power in children with impaired word-decoding and without comorbid ADHD.

One theory of the origins of reading disorders (i.e., dyslexia) is a language network which cannot effectively 'entrain' to speech, with cascading effects on the development of phonological skills. Low-gamma (low-γ, 30-45 Hz) neural activity, particularly in the left hemisphere, is thought to correspond to tracking at phonemic rates in speech. The main goals of the current study were to investigate temporal low-γ band-power during rest in a sample of children and adolescents with and without reading disorder (RD). Using a Bayesian statistical approach to analyze the power spectral density of EEG data, we examined whether (1) resting-state temporal low-γ power was attenuated in the left temporal region in RD; (2) low-γ power covaried with individual reading performance; (3) low-γ temporal lateralization was atypical in RD. Contrary to our expectations, results did not support the hypothesized effects of RD status and poor decoding ability on left hemisphere low-γ power or lateralization: post-hoc tests revealed that the lack of atypicality in the RD group was not due to the inclusion of those with comorbid attentional deficits. However, post-hoc tests also revealed a specific left-dominance for low-γ rhythms in children with reading deficits only, when participants with comorbid attentional deficits were excluded. We also observed an inverse relationship between decoding and left-lateralization in the controls, such that those with better decoding skills were less likely to show left-lateralization. We discuss these unexpected findings in the context of prior theoretical frameworks on temporal sampling. These results may reflect the importance of real-time language processing to evoke gamma rhythms in the phonemic range during childhood and adolescence.

Insights into the time course of evidentiality processing in Turkish heritage speakers using a self-paced reading task

IntroductionStudies with heritage language speakers (HLS) have often used offline measurements, investigating the post-interpretive effects which emerge after processing has been completed. Relatively few studies have investigated heritage language processing using time-sensitive methods that allow the collection of evidence regarding real-time language processing rather than post-interpretive judgments. Using a self-paced-reading paradigm, we aimed to expand our understanding of HLS language processing by investigating evidentiality-the linguistic marking of information source, which is grammatically expressed in Turkish, but not in English.MethodParticipants were 54 bilingual speakers of Turkish and English: 24 HLS (English onset: 0-5 yrs) and 30 emigrant Turkish speakers (ES) who grew up in Turkey before emigrating to Australia (English onset = 6-17 yrs). Participants read sentences with evidential-marked verb forms that either matched or mismatched to the information source context. Word-by-word reading times and end-of-sentence acceptability judgment speed and accuracy were measured.ResultsThe results showed that although the HLS' responses were slower and less accurate than the ES in both reading times and end-of-sentence acceptability judgments, they showed similarities in online processing patterns. Both groups were faster at reading the mismatching sentences compared to the matching sentences; however, this pattern emerged during the time course of reading first for the indirect condition for the ES, and only later for the direct condition and for the HLS for both evidential conditions. Only HLS read faster in the target region with the direct evidential that is shown to be acquired earlier in childhood, than they did for the indirect evidential which is mastered later. In contrast, the end-of-sentence judgment data showed that while the ES group responded faster to matching direct sentences than matching indirect, this effect was missing for the HLS. Nevertheless, there were similar patterns for accuracy across evidential conditions: both groups were more accurate with the direct evidential.DiscussionOverall, the use of the self-paced-reading paradigm allowed insights into HLS' evidentiality processing above and beyond their generally slower and less accurate processing compared to the reference group. This study provides further evidence for differences in the patterns observed using online vs. post interpretive measures in HLS, reinforcing the importance of combining these methodologies for further understanding of HLS competence and performance.

Modulating Phonological Working Memory With Anodal High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to the Anterior Portion of the Supplementary Motor Area.

Phonological working memory is key to vocabulary acquisition, spoken word recognition, real-time language processing, and reading. Transcranial direct current stimulation, when coupled with behavioral training, has been shown to facilitate speech motor output processes, a key component of nonword repetition, the primary task used to assess phonological working memory. In this study, we examined the efficacy of combining overt nonword repetition training with anodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD tDCS) to the presupplementary motor area (preSMA) to enhance nonword repetition. This study investigated whether 20 min of active or sham anodal HD tDCS targeting preSMA concurrently with a nonword repetition task differentially impacted nonword repetition ability. Twenty-eight neurotypical college-age adults (18-25 years; 19 females, eight males, one nonbinary) completed a 20-min nonword repetition training task where they received either active or sham 1-mA anodal HD tDCS to the preSMA while overtly repeating a list of four-, five-, six-, and seven-syllable English-like nonwords presented in a random order. Whole nonword accuracy and error patterns (phoneme and syllable) were measured prior to and following training. Following training, both groups showed a decrease in nonword repetition accuracy. The drop in performance was significantly greater for the active stimulation group compared to the sham stimulation group at the four-syllable nonword length. The findings suggest that targeting the speech motor component of nonword repetition through overt training and HD tDCS to the preSMA does not enhance phonological working memory ability.

Infants' lexical comprehension and lexical anticipation abilities are closely linked in early language development.

Theories across cognitive domains propose that anticipating upcoming sensory input supports information processing. In line with this view, prior findings indicate that adults and children anticipate upcoming words during real-time language processing, via such processes as prediction and priming. However, it is unclear if anticipatory processes are strictly an outcome of prior language development or are more entwined with language learning and development. We operationalized this theoretical question as whether developmental emergence of comprehension of lexical items occurs before or concurrently with the anticipation of these lexical items. To this end, we tested infants of ages 12, 15, 18, and 24months (N=67) on their abilities to comprehend and anticipate familiar nouns. In an eye-tracking task, infants viewed pairs of images and heard sentences with either informative words (e.g., eat) that allowed them to anticipate an upcoming noun (e.g., cookie), or uninformative words (e.g., see). Findings indicated that infants' comprehension and anticipation abilities are closely linked over developmental time and within individuals. Importantly, we do not find evidence for lexical comprehension in the absence of lexical anticipation. Thus, anticipatory processes are present early in infants' second year, suggesting they are a part of language development rather than solely an outcome of it.

The Pausing Strategies in Chinese Preschool Children's Narratives.

Language production, a dynamic process involving real-time language processing, is crucial for children's language and communication development. To explore the early development of children's real-time language production, this study investigated Chinese preschool children's pausing strategies in narratives and their associations with verbal working memory and vocabulary abilities. A picture-elicited narrative task was employed. Sixty Mandarin-speaking children aged 4-5 years were asked to tell a story according to the book Frog, Where Are You? The pausing types and positions in narratives were coded and analyzed. Additionally, children's verbal working memory and vocabulary were measured. The results showed that 4- to 5-year-old children prefer to use silent pauses and tend to produce pauses within clauses. The total frequency of pausing decreases with age and shows a significant gender difference. Girls prefer to use within-clause pauses, whereas boys prefer to use between-clause pauses. More importantly, children's pausing frequency is closely associated with their verbal working memory and vocabulary, in which working memory plays a more important role. This study is a first-step exploration of pausing strategies in 4- to 5-year-old Chinese children's narratives. The developmental characteristics of pausing strategies shown in typically developing children serve as a crucial reference for interventions for children with language deficits.

The emergence of bifurcated structure in children's language.

Human language is unique among animal communication systems, in part because of its dual patterning in which meaningless phonological units combine to form meaningful words (phonological structure) and words combine to form sentences (lexicosyntactic structure). Although dual patterning is well recognized, its emergence in language development has been scarcely investigated. Chief among questions still unanswered is the extent to which development of these separate structures is independent or interdependent, and what supports acquisition of each level of structure. We explored these questions by examining growth of lexicosyntactic and phonological structure in children with normal hearing (n = 49) and children with hearing loss who use cochlear implants (n = 56). Multiple measures of each kind of structure were collected at 2-year intervals (kindergarten through eighth grade), and used to construct latent scores for each type of structure. Growth curve analysis assessed (a) the relative independence of development for each level of structure; (b) interactions between these two levels of structure in real-time language processing; and (c) contributions to growth of each level of structure made by auditory input, socioeconomic status (as proxy for linguistic experience), and speech motor control. Findings suggested that phonological and lexicosyntactic structure develop largely independently. Auditory input, socioeconomic status, and speech motor control help shape these language structures, with the last two factors exerting stronger effects for children with cochlear implants. Only for children with cochlear implants were interdependencies in real-time processing observed, reflecting compensatory mechanisms likely present to help them handle the disproportionately large phonological deficit they exhibit. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A cognitive modeling approach to learning and using reference biases in language.

During real-time language processing, people rely on linguistic and non-linguistic biases to anticipate upcoming linguistic input. One of these linguistic biases is known as the implicit causality bias, wherein language users anticipate that certain entities will be rementioned in the discourse based on the entity's particular role in an expressed causal event. For example, when language users encounter a sentence like "Elizabeth congratulated Tina…" during real-time language processing, they seemingly anticipate that the discourse will continue about Tina, the object referent, rather than Elizabeth, the subject referent. However, it is often unclear how these reference biases are acquired and how exactly they get used during real-time language processing. In order to investigate these questions, we developed a reference learning model within the PRIMs cognitive architecture that simulated the process of predicting upcoming discourse referents and their linguistic forms. Crucially, across the linguistic input the model was presented with, there were asymmetries with respect to how the discourse continued. By utilizing the learning mechanisms of the PRIMs architecture, the model was able to optimize its predictions, ultimately leading to biased model behavior. More specifically, following subject-biased implicit causality verbs the model was more likely to predict that the discourse would continue about the subject referent, whereas following object-biased implicit causality verbs the model was more likely to predict that the discourse would continue about the object referent. In a similar fashion, the model was more likely to predict that subject referent continuations would be in the form of a pronoun, whereas object referent continuations would be in the form of a proper name. These learned biases were also shown to generalize to novel contexts in which either the verb or the subject and object referents were new. The results of the present study demonstrate that seemingly complex linguistic behavior can be explained by cognitively plausible domain-general learning mechanisms. This study has implications for psycholinguistic accounts of predictive language processing and language learning, as well as for theories of implicit causality and reference processing.

Associations between early efficiency in language processing and language and cognitive outcomes in children born full term and preterm: similarities and differences

ABSTRACT Associations between children’s early language processing efficiency and later verbal and non-verbal outcomes shed light on the extent to which early information processing skills support later learning across different domains of function. Examining whether the strengths of associations are similar in typically developing and at-risk populations provides an additional lens into the varying routes to learning that children may take across development. In this follow-up study, children born full-term (FT, n = 49) and preterm (PT, n = 45, ≤32 weeks gestational age, birth weight <1800 g) were assessed in the Looking While Listening (LWL) task at 18 months (corrected for degree of prematurity in PT group). This eye-tracking task assesses efficiency of real-time spoken language comprehension as accuracy and speed (RT) of processing. At 4 ½ years, children were assessed on standardized tests of receptive vocabulary, expressive language, and non-verbal IQ. Language processing efficiency was associated with both language outcomes (r 2-change: 7.0–19.7%, p < 0.01), after covariates. Birth group did not moderate these effects, suggesting similar mechanisms of learning in these domains for PT and FT children. However, birth group moderated the association between speed and non-verbal IQ (r 2-change: 4.5%, p < 0.05), such that an association was found in the PT but not the FT group. This finding suggests that information processing skills reflected in efficiency of real-time language processing may be recruited to support learning in a broader range of verbal and non-verbal domains in the PT compared to the FT group.

Moving visual world experiments online? A web-based replication of Dijkgraaf, Hartsuiker, and Duyck (2017) using PCIbex and WebGazer.js.

The visual world paradigm is one of the most influential paradigms to study real-time language processing. The present study tested whether visual world studies can be moved online, using PCIbex software (Zehr & Schwarz, 2018) and the WebGazer.js algorithm (Papoutsaki et al., 2016) to collect eye-movement data. Experiment 1 was a fixation task in which the participants looked at a fixation cross in multiple positions on the computer screen. Experiment 2 was a web-based replication of a visual world experiment by Dijkgraaf et al. (2017). Firstly, both experiments revealed that the spatial accuracy of the data allowed us to distinguish looks across the four quadrants of the computer screen. This suggest that the spatial resolution of WebGazer.js is fine-grained enough for most visual world experiments (which typically involve a two-by-two quadrant-based set-up of the visual display). Secondly, both experiments revealed a delay of roughly 300 ms in the time course of the eye movements, possibly caused by the internal processing speed of the browser or WebGazer.js. This delay can be problematic in studying questions that require a fine-grained temporal resolution and requires further investigation.

Tracking Object-State Representations During Real-Time Language Comprehension by Native and Non-native Speakers of English.

The present “visual world” eye-tracking study examined the time-course of how native and non-native speakers keep track of implied object-state representations during real-time language processing. Fifty-two native speakers of English and 46 non-native speakers with advanced English proficiency joined this study. They heard short stories describing a target object (e.g., an onion) either having undergone a substantial change-of-state (e.g., chop the onion) or a minimal change-of-state (e.g., weigh the onion) while their eye movements toward competing object-states (e.g., a chopped onion vs. an intact onion) and two unrelated distractors were tracked. We found that both groups successfully directed their visual attention toward the end-state of the target object that was implied in the linguistic context. However, neither group showed anticipatory eye movements toward the implied object-state when hearing the critical verb (e.g., “weigh/chop”). Only native English speakers but not non-native speakers showed a bias in visual attention during the determiner (“the”) before the noun (e.g., “onion”). Our results suggested that although native and non-native speakers of English largely overlapped in their time-courses of keeping track of object-state representations during real-time language comprehension, non-native speakers showed a short delay in updating the implied object-state representations.

Comparison of Structural Parsers and Neural Language Models as Surprisal Estimators.

Expectation-based theories of sentence processing posit that processing difficulty is determined by predictability in context. While predictability quantified via surprisal has gained empirical support, this representation-agnostic measure leaves open the question of how to best approximate the human comprehender's latent probability model. This article first describes an incremental left-corner parser that incorporates information about common linguistic abstractions such as syntactic categories, predicate-argument structure, and morphological rules as a computational-level model of sentence processing. The article then evaluates a variety of structural parsers and deep neural language models as cognitive models of sentence processing by comparing the predictive power of their surprisal estimates on self-paced reading, eye-tracking, and fMRI data collected during real-time language processing. The results show that surprisal estimates from the proposed left-corner processing model deliver comparable and often superior fits to self-paced reading and eye-tracking data when compared to those from neural language models trained on much more data. This may suggest that the strong linguistic generalizations made by the proposed processing model may help predict humanlike processing costs that manifest in latency-based measures, even when the amount of training data is limited. Additionally, experiments using Transformer-based language models sharing the same primary architecture and training data show a surprising negative correlation between parameter count and fit to self-paced reading and eye-tracking data. These findings suggest that large-scale neural language models are making weaker generalizations based on patterns of lexical items rather than stronger, more humanlike generalizations based on linguistic structure.

Do Children Use Multi-Word Information in Real-Time Sentence Comprehension?

Meaning in language emerges from multiple words, and children are sensitive to multi-word frequency from infancy. While children successfully use cues from single words to generate linguistic predictions, it is less clear whether and how they use multi-word sequences to guide real-time language processing and whether they form predictions on the basis of multi-word information or pairwise associations. We address these questions in two visual-world eye-tracking experiments with 5- to 8-year-old children. In Experiment 1, we asked whether children generate more robust predictions for the sentence-final object of highly frequent sequences (e.g., "Throw the ball"), compared to less frequent sequences (e.g., "Throw the book"). We further examined if gaze patterns reflect event knowledge or phrasal frequency by comparing the processing of phrases that have the same event structure but differ in multi-word content (e.g., "Brush your teeth" vs. "Brush her teeth"). In the second study, we employed a training paradigm to ask if children are capable of generating predictio.ns from novel multi-word associations while controlling for the overall frequency of the sequences. While the results of Experiment 1 suggested that children primarily relied on event associations to generate real-time predictions, those of Experiment 2 showed that the same children were able to use recurring novel multi-word sequences to generate real-time linguistic predictions. Together, these findings suggest that children can draw on multi-word information to generate linguistic predictions, in a context-dependent fashion, and highlight the need to account for the influence of multi-word sequences in models of language processing.

Expecting the unexpected: Code-switching as a facilitatory cue in online sentence processing

AbstractDespite its prominent use among bilinguals, psycholinguistic studies reported code-switch processing costs (e.g., Meuter &amp; Allport, 1999). This paradox may partly be due to the focus on the code-switch itself instead of its potential subsequent benefits. Motivated by corpus studies on CS patterns and sociopragmatic functions of CS, we asked whether bilinguals use code-switches as a cue to the lexical characteristics of upcoming speech. We report a visual world study testing whether code-switching facilitates the anticipation of lower-frequency words. Results confirm that US Spanish–English bilinguals (n = 30) use minority (Spanish) to majority (English) language code-switches in real-time language processing as a cue that a less frequent word would ensue, as indexed by increased looks at images representing lower- vs. higher-frequency words in the code-switched condition, prior to the target word onset. These results highlight the need to further integrate sociolinguistic and corpus observations into the experimental study of code-switching.

The pictures who shall not be named: Empirical support for benefits of preview in the Visual World Paradigm

A common critique of the Visual World Paradigm (VWP) in psycholinguistic studies is that what is designed as a measure of language processes is meaningfully altered by the visual context of the task. This is crucial, particularly in studies of spoken word recognition, where the displayed images are usually seen as just a part of the measure and are not of fundamental interest. Many variants of the VWP allow participants to sample the visual scene before a trial begins. However, this could bias their interpretations of the later speech or even lead to abnormal processing strategies (e.g., comparing the input to only preactivated working memory representations). Prior work has focused only on whether preview duration changes fixation patterns. However, preview could affect a number of processes, such as visual search, that would not challenge the interpretation of the VWP. The present study uses a series of targeted manipulations of the preview period to ask if preview alters looking behavior during a trial, and why. Results show that evidence of incremental processing and phonological competition seen in the VWP are not dependent on preview, and are not enhanced by manipulations that directly encourage phonological prenaming. Moreover, some forms of preview can eliminate nuisance variance deriving from object recognition and visual search demands in order to produce a more sensitive measure of linguistic processing. These results deepen our understanding of how the visual scene interacts with language processing to drive fixations patterns in the VWP, and reinforce the value of the VWP as a tool for measuring real-time language processing. Stimuli, data and analysis scripts are available at https://osf.io/b7q65/.

Real-time processing of event descriptions for partially- and fully-completed events: Evidence from the visual world paradigm

The current study investigated non-culminating accomplishments through an experimental lens. We used a well-established paradigm for studying real-time language processing using eye-tracking, the visual world paradigm. Our study was modeled after Altmann and Kamide’s (2007) investigation of processing of aspectual information contained in a perfect verb form (e.g., has eaten). We compared English-speaking adults’ interpretations of sentences like ‘The girl has eaten a cookie’ and ‘The girl was eating a cookie’ in the context of one of two visual scenes. In the Full Completion condition, the scene depicted two referents that were compatible with the predicate: one was compatible with the expected end state of the event (e.g., an empty plate), the other with an unrealized version of the event (e.g., an uneaten cookie). In the Partial Completion condition, the scene depicted a referent that was compatible with a partially-completed version of the event (e.g., part of a cookie on a plate) and an unrealized interpretation (e.g., an uneaten cookie). For verb forms in the perfect (e.g., has eaten) but not in the progressive, we found a difference between conditions; listeners preferred to look at the fully-affected referent in the Full Completion condition as compared to the partially-affected referent in the Partial Completion condition. We take the results as suggestive in favor of a pragmatic rather than semantic account of non-culmination interpretations in English.

Rapid development of perceptual gaze control in hearing native signing Infants and children.

Children's gaze behavior reflects emergent linguistic knowledge and real-time language processing of speech, but little is known about naturalistic gaze behaviors while watching signed narratives. Measuring gaze patterns in signing children could uncover how they master perceptual gaze control during a time of active language learning. Gaze patterns were recorded using a Tobii X120 eye tracker, in 31 non-signing and 30 signing hearing infants (5-14months) and children (2-8years) as they watched signed narratives on video. Intelligibility of the signed narratives was manipulated by presenting them naturally and in video-reversed ("low intelligibility") conditions. This video manipulation was used because it distorts semantic content, while preserving most surface phonological features. We examined where participants looked, using linear mixed models with Language Group (non-signing vs. signing) and Video Condition (Forward vs. Reversed), controlling for trial order. Non-signing infants and children showed a preference to look at the face as well as areas below the face, possibly because their gaze was drawn to the moving articulators in signing space. Native signing infants and children demonstrated resilient, face-focused gaze behavior. Moreover, their gaze behavior was unchanged for video-reversed signed narratives, similar to what was seen for adult native signers, possibly because they already have efficient highly focused gaze behavior. The present study demonstrates that human perceptual gaze control is sensitive to visual language experience over the first year of life and emerges early, by 6months of age. Results have implications for the critical importance of early visual language exposure for deaf infants. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ahWUluFAAg.

Low-Frequency Entrainment to Visual Motion Underlies Sign Language Comprehension.

When people listen to speech, neural activity tracks the entropy fluctuation in the acoustic envelope of the signal. This signal-based entrainment has been shown to be the basis of speech parsing and comprehension. In this electroencephalography (EEG) study, we compute sign language users’ cortical tracking of changes in visual dynamics of the communicative signal in the time-direct videos of sign language, and their time-reversed counterparts, and assess the relative contribution of response frequencies between.2 and 12.4 Hz to comprehension using a machine learning approach to brain state classification. Lower frequencies of EEG response (.2–4 Hz) yield 100% classification accuracy, while information about cortical tracking of the visual envelope in higher frequencies is less informative. This suggests that signers rely on lower visual frequency data, such as envelope of visual signal, for sign language comprehension. In the context of real-time language processing, given the speed of comprehension responses, this suggests that fluent signers employ a predictive processing heuristic based on sign language knowledge.

Morphological processing in heritage speakers: A masked priming study on the Turkish aorist

AbstractPrevious research has shown that heritage speakers struggle with inflectional morphology. ‘Limitations of online resources’ for processing a non-dominant language has been claimed as one possible reason for these difficulties. To date, however, there is very little experimental evidence on real-time language processing in heritage speakers. Here we report results from a masked priming experiment with 97 bilingual (Turkish/German) heritage speakers and a control group of 40 non-heritage speakers of Turkish examining regular and irregular forms of the Turkish aorist. We found that, for the regular aorist, heritage speakers use the same morphological decomposition mechanism (‘affix stripping’) as control speakers, whereas for processing irregularly inflected forms they exhibited more variability (i.e., less homogeneous performance) than the control group. Heritage speakers also demonstrated semantic priming effects. At a more general level, these results indicate that heritage speakers draw on multiple sources of information for recognizing morphologically complex words.

The activation of object-state representations during online language comprehension

Understanding the time-course of event knowledge activation is crucial for theories of language comprehension. We report two experiments using the ‘visual world paradigm’ (VWP) that investigated the dynamic mapping between object-state representations and real-time language processing. In Experiment 1, participants heard sentences that described events resulting in either a substantial change of state (e.g. The chef will chop the onion) or a minimal change of state (e.g. The chef will weigh the onion). Concurrently, they viewed pictures depicting two versions of the target object (e.g., an onion) corresponding to the intact and changed states, and two unrelated distractors. A second sentence referred to the object with either a backward or a forward shift in event time (e.g. But first/And then, he will smell the onion). In Experiment 2, Degree of Change was manipulated by using different nouns in the first sentence (e.g. The girl will stomp on thepenny/egg). The second sentence was similar to the ones used in Experiment 1 (e.g., But first/And then, she will look atthe penny/egg). The results from both experiments showed that participants looked more at the ‘appropriate’ state of the object that matched the language context, but the shift of visual attention emerged only when the object name was heard. Our findings suggest that situationally appropriate object representations do trigger eye movements to the corresponding states of the target object, but inappropriate representations are not necessarily eliminated from consideration until the language forces it.