Speed Of Lexical Retrieval Research Articles

Longitudinal development of second language utterance fluency, cognitive fluency, and their relationship

AbstractThe development of L2 utterance fluency has been extensively researched, whereas that of cognitive fluency has rarely been examined. This study investigated the longitudinal development of L2 utterance and cognitive fluency and their relationship. Thirty-one Chinese learners of English completed speaking tasks and a set of tasks for cognitive fluency before and after 5 months’ study abroad. The results showed that participants made a significant improvement in mean syllable duration, end-clause pause frequency, and the speed of syntactic encoding and articulation but not in mid-clause pause frequency or lexical retrieval speed. Mixed-effects modeling confirmed a significant relationship between syntactic encoding speed and mean syllable duration and mid-clause pausing. Furthermore, the significant relationships were maintained over time. The findings highlight (a) the differences between mid-clause and end-clause pausing in terms of their developmental patterns and relationship with cognitive fluency and (b) a significant role of syntactic encoding speed in L2 utterance fluency.

The multidimensionality of second language oral fluency: Interfacing cognitive fluency and utterance fluency

AbstractThe current study examined the extent to which cognitive fluency (CF) contributes to utterance fluency (UF) at the level of constructs. A total of 128 Japanese-speaking learners of English completed four speaking tasks—argumentative task, picture narrative task, reading-to-speaking task, and reading-while-listening-to-speaking task—and a battery of linguistic knowledge tests, capturing vocabulary size, lexical retrieval speed, sentence construction skills, grammaticality judgments, and articulatory speed. Their speaking performance was analyzed in terms of speed, breakdown, and repair fluency (i.e., UF), and scores on linguistic knowledge tests were used to assess students’ L2 linguistic resources and processing skills (i.e., CF). Structural equation modeling revealed a complex interplay between the multidimensionality of CF and UF and speaking task types. L2 processing speed consistently contributed to all aspects of UF across speaking tasks, whereas the role of linguistic resources in speed and repair fluency varied, depending on task characteristics.

The relationship between cognitive control and lexical conflict resolution in developmental dyslexia

ABSTRACT Previous studies have revealed that cognitive control functions contribute to the resolution of lexical interference. Both cognitive control (CC) deficits and reduced speed of lexical retrieval in Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) tasks are characteristics of Developmental Dyslexia (DD), but it is still not fully understood how these deficits relate to each other and to reading problems. To examine this question, we tested adolescents with DD (n = 38), poor readers (PR; n = 25) and typical readers (TR; n = 33) matched on age and IQ, on CC functions with Stroop, Stop Signal, Simon, Backward Digit Span and n-back tasks and on lexical retrieval and lexical conflict resolution with RAN of pictures in semantically homogeneous vs. mixed trials. As expected, in the blocked RAN Task DD individuals showed longer naming times and a greater effect of lexical conflict resolution (indexed by difference scores of naming times in the homogeneous and mixed conditions) than TR participants. We also found significant group differences (TR = PR > DD) in CC measures. Naming time was associated with CC, while the lexical interference effect did not show any association with this set of abilities. These findings suggest that DD individuals show impairments in multiple cognitive functions, such as cognitive control, lexical retrieval and lexical conflict resolution. Our results also suggest that CC functions are involved in lexical retrieval, but we have not found evidence for their involvement in lexical conflict resolution processes.

Which cognitive functions subserve clustering and switching in category fluency? Generalisations from an extended set of semantic categories using linear mixed-effects modelling.

Clustering and switching are hypothesised to reflect the automatic and controlled components in category fluency, respectively, but how they are associated with cognitive functions has not been fully elucidated, due to several uncertainties. (1) The conventional scoring method that segregates responses by semantic categories could not optimally dissociate the automatic and controlled components. (2) The temporal structure of individual responses, as characterised by mean retrieval time (MRT) and mean switching time (MST), has seldom been analysed alongside the more well-studied variables, cluster size (CS) and number of switches (NS). (3) Most studies examined only one to a few semantic categories, raising concerns of generalisability. This study built upon a distance-based automatic clustering procedure, referred to as temporal-semantic distance procedure, to thoroughly characterise the category fluency performance. Linear mixed-effects (LME) modelling was applied to re-examine the differential associations of clustering and switching with cognitive functions with a sample of 80 university students. Our results revealed that although lexical retrieval speed (LRS) is clearly the determining factor for effective clustering and switching, matrix reasoning and processing speed also have significant roles to play, possibly in the processes of identifying and validating the semantic relationships. Interestingly, total fluency score was accurately predicted by the four clustering/switching indices alone; including the cognitive variables did not significantly improve the prediction. These findings underline the importance of the clustering and switching indices in explaining the category fluency performance and the cognitive demands in category fluency.

Comparison of Auditory, Language, Memory, and Attention Abilities in Children With and Without Listening Difficulties.

Objectives School-age children with and without parent-reported listening difficulties (LiD) were compared on auditory processing, language, memory, and attention abilities. The objective was to extend what is known so far in the literature about children with LiD by using multiple measures and selective novel measures across the above areas. Design Twenty-six children who were reported by their parents as having LiD and 26 age-matched typically developing children completed clinical tests of auditory processing and multiple measures of language, attention, and memory. All children had normal-range pure-tone hearing thresholds bilaterally. Group differences were examined. Results In addition to significantly poorer speech-perception-in-noise scores, children with LiD had reduced speed and accuracy of word retrieval from long-term memory, poorer short-term memory, sentence recall, and inferencing ability. Statistically significant group differences were of moderate effect size; however, standard test scores of children with LiD were not clinically poor. No statistically significant group differences were observed in attention, working memory capacity, vocabulary, and nonverbal IQ. Conclusions Mild signal-to-noise ratio loss, as reflected by the group mean of children with LiD, supported the children's functional listening problems. In addition, children's relative weakness in select areas of language performance, short-term memory, and long-term memory lexical retrieval speed and accuracy added to previous research on evidence-based areas that need to be evaluated in children with LiD who almost always have heterogenous profiles. Importantly, the functional difficulties faced by children with LiD in relation to their test results indicated, to some extent, that commonly used assessments may not be adequately capturing the children's listening challenges. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12808607.

Relating Lexical Access and Second Language Speaking Performance

Vocabulary plays a key role in speech production, affecting multiple stages of language processing. This pilot study investigates the relationships between second language (L2) learners’ lexical access and their speaking fluency, speaking accuracy, and speaking complexity. Fifteen L2 learners of Chinese participated in the experiment. A task-specific, native-referenced vocabulary test was used to measure learners’ vocabulary size and lexical retrieval speed. Learners’ speaking performance was measured by thirteen variables. The results showed that lexical access was significantly correlated with learners’ speech rate, lexical accuracy, syntactic accuracy, and lexical complexity. Vocabulary size and lexical retrieval speed were significant predictors of speech rate. However, vocabulary size and lexical retrieval speed each affected learners’ speaking performance differently. Learners’ speaking fluency, accuracy, and complexity were all affected by vocabulary size. No significant correlation was found between lexical retrieval speed and syntactic complexity. Findings in this study support the Model of Bilingual Speech Production, revealing the significant role lexical access plays in L2 speech production.

Explaining second language utterance fluency: Contribution of cognitive fluency and first language utterance fluency

AbstractGiven that utterance fluency in a second language (L2) is associated with not only L2 cognitive fluency but also utterance fluency in the first language (L1), the study examined to what extent different measures of L2 utterance fluency can be explained by L2-specific cognitive fluency and/or the corresponding L1 utterance fluency measures. Utterance fluency measures on speed, breakdown, and repair phenomena and cognitive fluency measures including speed of lexical retrieval, syntactic encoding, and articulation were collected in the L1 and the L2 from 44 Chinese learners of English. The results show that most L2 utterance fluency measures are accounted for by the combination of L2-specific cognitive fluency measures and the equivalent L1 utterance fluency measure, whereas the number of mid-clause silent pauses and corrections, and mean syllable duration are largely explained by L2-specific cognitive measures, suggesting that they reflect L2-specific knowledge and cognitive skills. In contrast, mean silent pause duration and the number of filled pauses are mainly explained by the corresponding L1 utterance fluency measures.

Bilingual reference production

AbstractWe investigate reference production in bilingual children. Based onKibrik (2011), we analyze the production of referring expressions in discourse in terms of activation of a referent. We propose a novel approach, which calculates activation by taking into account different activation-lending factors and their respective weight. This allows us to compare the activation encoded by referring expressions across languages and groups of speakers, and to run correlational analyses with the speakers’ cognitive profiles. In particular, the study addresses the correlation between activation and lexical processing among bilinguals, based on the distribution of referring expressions in narratives by 20 German-Greek bilingual children, compared to their monolingual peers. We found that bilingual pronouns correspond to a lower activation than monolingual ones. Speed of lexical retrieval is a predictor of the bilingual performance. Our model of analysis accounts for how reference production varies across individuals and which cognitive mechanisms underlie this variation.

Predictors of lexical retrieval in Hindi–English bilingual speakers

AbstractWhen bilinguals name pictures while in ‘monolingual mode’, we expect that under conditions of language-constraint and no cognate facilitation, factors influencing lexical retrieval in monolinguals ought to exert similar effects on bilinguals. To this end, we carried out a L1-only naming task on early Hindi–English bilinguals. Results of linear mixed effects analysis reveal AoA, Familiarity, Image Agreement and Codability (availability of alternate names) to be the most significant predictors of lexical retrieval speed for early bilinguals, confirming our expectations. However, we report, for the first time, a by-subject variation in Codability for bilinguals. Implications of the results are discussed in the context of current theories of bilingual lexical access and competition. In preparation for this study, Hindi norms from bilinguals for items in the Snodgrass and Vanderwart set have been established, which will be of use for stimuli selection in experimental studies involving bilinguals.

Multimodal conceptual knowledge influences lexical retrieval speed: evidence from object-naming and word-reading in healthy adults

Multimodal conceptual knowledge influences lexical retrieval speed: evidence from object-naming and word-reading in healthy adults

Why do older adults have difficulty with semantic fluency?

ABSTRACTAging involves many cognitive declines, particularly in fluid intelligence, with relative maintenance of crystallized intelligence. This paradox is evident in the language domain: lexical retrieval becomes slower and less accurate, despite well preserved vocabularies. Verbal fluency assesses both crystallized and fluid aspects of language. Semantic fluency hypothetically reflects semantic knowledge, while letter fluency putatively reflects executive functioning, which would predict a greater impact of aging on the latter. However, the opposite is typically observed.To investigate factors contributing to such asymmetries, we examined verbal fluency in 86 adults (30-89 years). Multiple regression analyses indicated that semantic fluency depends largely on lexical retrieval speed, as well as visualization strategies to support controlled retrieval, skills which may disproportionately decline with age. By contrast, letter fluency relies heavily on vocabulary knowledge, providing some protection against age-related declines. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms of typical age-related declines in word retrieval.

The Impact of Task Complexity on Cognitive Processes of L2 Writers and Writing Quality: The Case of Writing Expertise, L1, and Lexical Retrieval

Abstract This study scrutinized the effect of task complexity on cognitive processes of L2 writers with respect to L2 writing expertise, speed of lexical retrieval, L1, and text quality. Sixty TEFL students with different writing expertise completed a computerized Written Productive Translation, as well as three L1 and L2 argumentative writing tasks, manipulated in regard to resource-dispersing dimensions followed-up by retrospective questionnaires. The texts were analysed in terms of accuracy, fluency, and syntactic complexity. Running MANOVA indicated that task complexity had no effect on fluency, accuracy, and syntactic complexity. However, the speed of retrieval was remarkably affected by writer's expertise. Moreover, there was no difference between L2 and L1 writing processes. The upshot essentially substantiated Cummins⿿ (1978) Interdependence Hypothesis, and Kellogg's (1990) Overload hypothesis while laying a great stress on the rate of lexical retrieval for improvement of writing expertise.

Directionality and context effects in word translation tasks performed by conference interpreters

AbstractProfessional interpreters employed by international institutions usually work into their L1 from their L2, while freelance interpreters tend to work both into and from their L1. A study was devised to see if the long-term interpreting unidirectional practice (in the L2–L1 direction only), in contrast to bidirectional practice (in the L2–L1 and L1–L2 direction), influences the speed of lexical retrieval manifested through shorter translation latencies. Forty-eight professional conference interpreters produced oral translations of nouns presented in isolation, in high context constraint sentences and in low context constraint sentences. Contrary to predictions, unidirectional interpreters did not manifest directionality asymmetry and their L2–L1 translation latencies were not shorter than L1–L2 translation latencies. Surprisingly, the L2–L1 direction advantage was found in the group of bidirectional interpreters. The data suggest that the dominant directionality in interpreting practice has little impact on the strength of interlingual lexical links in the interpreter’s mental lexicon or that other factors (such as language use, exposure and immersion) might offset any such impact. The study also revealed an expected context effect, which shows that interpreters use semantic constraint to anticipate sentence-final words.

What's in a sentence? The crucial role of lexical content in sentence production in nonfluent aphasia

This study investigated the effect of lexical content on sentence production in nonfluent aphasia. Five participants with nonfluent aphasia, four with fluent aphasia, and eight controls were asked to describe pictured events in subject–verb–object sentences. Experiment 1 manipulated speed of lexical retrieval by varying the frequency of sentence nouns. Nonfluent participants' accuracy was consistently higher for sentences commencing with a high- than with a low-frequency subject noun, even when errors on those nouns were themselves excluded. This was not the case for the fluent participants. Experiment 2 manipulated the semantic relationship between subject and object nouns. The nonfluent participants produced sentences less accurately when they contained related than when they contained unrelated lexical items. The fluent participants exhibited the opposite trend. We propose that individuals with nonfluent aphasia are disproportionately reliant on activated conceptual–lexical representations to drive the sentence generation process, an idea we call the content drives structure (COST) hypothesis.

Multilingualism and the Brain

Over the last decade, research on multilingualism has grown and has provided researchers with new insights into the mechanisms at work in the multilingual brain. While some studies of multilinguals have shown similar results to what has been seen in studies of bilinguals, certain unique properties of multilinguals are beginning to be noticed, particularly regarding early language representation, gray matter density, and speed of lexical retrieval. In addition, research on cognitive control, language switching, working memory, and certain consequences of multilingualism (advantages and disadvantages) are reviewed in terms of their effects on the brains of bilinguals and multilinguals. Although there is little agreement among papers concerning specific regions that are structurally different in monolinguals and multilinguals, publications do show differences. Similarly, there are studies reporting somewhat different regions called upon for processing a given language in multilinguals compared to monolinguals.

Linguistic competences of learners of Dutch as a second language at the B1 and B2 levels of speaking proficiency of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)

This study examines the associations between the speaking proficiency of 181 adult learners of Dutch as a second language and their linguistic competences. Performance in eight speaking tasks was rated on a scale of communicative adequacy. After extrapolation of these ratings to the Overall Oral Production scale of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2001), 80 and 30 participants (on average per speaking task) were found to be, respectively, at the B1 and B2 levels of this scale. The following linguistic competences were tapped with non-communicative tasks: productive vocabulary knowledge, productive knowledge of grammar, speed of lexical retrieval, speed of articulation, speed of sentence building, and pronunciation skills. Discriminant analyses showed that all linguistic competences, except speed of articulation, discriminated participants at the two levels of oral production. Subsequent comparisons showed that the distance between B1ers and B2ers was smaller in knowledge of high-frequency words than in knowledge of medium- and low-frequency words. Extrapolation from scores on the vocabulary test yielded estimations of productive vocabularies of, on average, 4000 and 7000 words for B1ers and B2ers, respectively. The grammar test assessed grammatical knowledge in 10 domains. B2ers were found to outperform B1ers on all parts of the test. Thus, the differences in lexical and grammatical knowledge of B1ers and B2ers appear to be a matter of degree, rather than a matter of category or domain. The paper ends with a research agenda for a linguistic underpinning of the CEFR.

Working memory influences processing speed and reading fluency in ADHD

Processing-speed deficits affect reading efficiency, even among individuals who recognize and decode words accurately. Children with ADHD who decode words accurately can still have inefficient reading fluency, leading to a bottleneck in other cognitive processes. This “slowing” in ADHD is associated with deficits in fundamental components of executive function underlying processing speed, including response selection. The purpose of the present study was to deconstruct processing speed in order to determine which components of executive control best explain the “processing” speed deficits related to reading fluency in ADHD. Participants (41 ADHD, 21 controls), ages 9–14 years, screened for language disorders, word reading deficits, and psychiatric disorders, were administered measures of copying speed, processing speed, reading fluency, working memory, reaction time, inhibition, and auditory attention span. Compared to controls, children with ADHD showed reduced oral and silent reading fluency and reduced processing speed—driven primarily by deficits on WISC-IV Coding. In contrast, groups did not differ on copying speed. After controlling for copying speed, sex, severity of ADHD-related symptomatology, and GAI, slowed “processing” speed (i.e., Coding) was significantly associated with verbal span and measures of working memory but not with measures of response control/inhibition, lexical retrieval speed, reaction time, or intrasubject variability. Further, “processing” speed (i.e., Coding, residualized for copying speed) and working memory were significant predictors of oral reading fluency. Abnormalities in working memory and response selection (which are frontally mediated and enter into the output side of processing speed) may play an important role in deficits in reading fluency in ADHD, potentially more than posteriorally mediated problems with orienting of attention or perceiving the stimulus.

Language Profiles and Naming in Children with Word Finding Difficulties

Objective: To examine whether lexical access problems in children with word finding difficulties (WFDs) are restricted to measures of naming or include wider language impairments and the extent to which language skills are related to performance in the accuracy, latency and definitions of lexical items that are comprehended. Patients and Methods: Thirty-one children with identified WFDs completed a set of standardized language measures and an experimental naming and definition task. Results: The current cohort had difficulties with a range of language tasks. Phonological fluency and non-word repetition measures were significantly impaired and different from those of typically developing children. Phonological processes and measures of receptive and expressive language predicted accuracy in naming comprehended items but failed to predict the latency to name or the provision of accurate definitions. Conclusion: Children with WFDs often have additional language difficulties; these difficulties are predictive of performance on confrontational naming tasks. Latency to name, although a significant impairment, was not related to the standardized measures. Further research is needed to identify measures associated with speed of lexical retrieval. The data highlight the importance of examining the precursors to lexical access difficulties and examining different indices of lexical performance when intervening with children’s WFDs.

Effects of perceptual and conceptual similarity in lexical priming of young children who stutter: Preliminary findings

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of conceptual and perceptual properties of words on the speed and accuracy of lexical retrieval of children who do (CWS) and do not stutter (CWNS) during a picture-naming task. Participants consisted of 13 3–5-year-old CWS and the same number of CWNS. All participants had speech, language, and hearing development within normal limits, with the exception of stuttering for CWS. Both talker groups participated in a picture-naming task where they named, one at a time, computer-presented, black-on-white drawings of common age-appropriate objects. These pictures were named during four auditory priming conditions: (a) a neutral prime consisting of a tone, (b) a word prime physically related to the target word, (c) a word prime functionally related to the target word, and (d) a word prime categorically related to the target word. Speech reaction time (SRT) was measured from the offset of presentation of the picture target to the onset of participant's verbal speech response. Results indicated that CWS were slower than CWNS across priming conditions (i.e., neutral, physical, function, category) and that the speed of lexical retrieval of CWS was more influenced by functional than perceptual aspects of target pictures named. Findings were taken to suggest that CWS tend to organize lexical information functionally more so than physically and that this tendency may relate to difficulties establishing normally fluent speech and language.Educational objectives: The reader will learn about and be able to (1) communicate the relevance of examining lexical retrieval in relation to childhood stuttering and (2) describe the method of measuring speech reaction times of accurate and fluent responses during a picture-naming task as a means of assessing lexical retrieval skills.