Adjusting the Manner of Language Processing to the Social Context: Attention Allocation During Interactions with Non-native Speakers

Electrophysiological modulations of lexical prediction by conversation requirements

10.31219/osf.io/3cwfz ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Cristina Baus ◽

Anne-Sophie Dubarry ◽

F.-Xavier Alario

Keyword(s):

Social Context ◽

Language Processing ◽

Language Comprehension ◽

Social Life ◽

Language Production ◽

Social Partner ◽

Social Relevance ◽

The Social ◽

Priming Paradigm ◽

Interactive Nature

Language mediates most of our social life and yet, despite such social relevance and ubiquity, little is known about language processing during social interactions. To explore this issue, two experiments were designed to isolate two basic components of a conversation: 1) the interplay between language production and comprehension systems, and 2) the participation of a social partner. We explored how prediction processes in language comprehension are modulated by two basic components of a conversation. Participants were asked to perform a cross-modal priming paradigm in two blocks, one involving only comprehension trials and another in which trials requiring production and comprehension were intermixed. In the first experiment, participants were alone during the task and in the second experiment, participants believed they were performing the task jointly with an interactive partner. A critical electrophysiological signature of lexical prediction was observed, the N400 component, allowing to assess its modulation across conditions and experiments. when production was involved in the task, the effect of lexical predictability was enhanced at the early stages of language comprehension (anticipatory phase), irrespective of the social context. In contrast, language production reduced the effect of lexical predictability at later stages (integration phase), only when participants performed the task alone but not in the social context. These results support production based-models and reveal the importance of exploring language considering its interactive nature.

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Male attention allocation depends on social context

10.1101/2021.02.27.433194 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shelby D. Burridge ◽

Ingo Schlupp ◽

Amber M. Makowicz

Keyword(s):

Social Context ◽

Social Environment ◽

Attention Allocation ◽

Social Environments ◽

Relevant Stimulus ◽

Stimulus Female ◽

Amazon Molly ◽

Poecilia Formosa ◽

The Social ◽

Social Partners

AbstractAttention, although limited, is a mechanism used to filter large amounts of information and determine what stimuli are most relevant at a particular moment. In dynamic social environments, multiple individuals may play a pivotal role in any given interaction where a male’s attention may be divided between a rival, a current mate, and/or future potential mates. Here, we investigated impacts of the social environment on attention allocation in male sailfin mollies, Poecilia latipinna, which are a part of a sexual-unisexual mating system with the Amazon molly, Poecilia formosa. We asked: 1) Does the species of female influence the amount of attention a male allocates to her? And 2) Is a male’s attention towards his mate influenced by different social partners? Males direct more attention toward a stimulus female when she was a conspecific. We also show that males perceive a larger male as a more relevant stimulus to pay attention to than a smaller male, and a conspecific female as a more relevant stimulus compared to a heterospecific female. Our results show differential allocation of attention is dependent upon multiple components of the social environment in which an individual interacts.SignificanceThis study investigates how attention is allocated in males when presented with social distractions. Assuming that attentional capacity is finite, males may face a tradeoff between different cognitive-demanding stimuli, such as rival males and potential future mates, when mating. Here, we show that male attention allocation in both intra- and intersexual interactions is multifaceted and context dependent. This suggests that individuals within the social environment vary in how meaningful (i.e., able to capture attention) they are to males during mating encounters. Understanding how social partners can cause a shift of attention away from a mating opportunity is essential to understanding the influence of the social context on sexual selection.

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ILM AL LUGHAH AL IJTIMAI WA TALIM AL LUGHAH AL ARABIYYAH LI AL NATHIQINA BI GHAIRIHA

ALSINATUNA ◽

10.28918/alsinatuna.v1i2.795 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 186

Author(s):

Ahmad Ubaedillah Fathuddin

Keyword(s):

Social Context ◽

Language Learning ◽

Language Learners ◽

Language Use ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Arabic Language ◽

Speech Community ◽

Foreign Language Learners ◽

The Social ◽

The Relationship

Language learning cannot work without integrating other fields of knowledge such as psychology, anthropology, sociolinguistics, etc. Sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics which discusses about language due to social factors. It has an important role in language learning especially in making it easily understandable for the language learners by understanding the language use of the native speakers. The contribution of sociolinguistics in Arabic language learning for foreign language learners can be seen from the relationship between language and social environment. In this case, it does not only learn about the elements or internal systems of Arabic language such as phonology, syntax, and morphology, but also the social context such as speech community, social class, language use and culture. It means sociolinguistics gives information about the definition and use of Arabic language based on the social context.

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