Bilingual referential choice in cognitively demanding situations

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-95
Author(s):  
Carla Contemori ◽  
Iva Ivanova
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Cognitive Demand ◽  
Automatic Processing ◽  
Audience Design ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Interface Hypothesis ◽  
Referential Choice

AbstractUnder the Interface Hypothesis, bilinguals’ non-nativelike referential choices may be influenced by the increased cognitive demands and less automatic processing of bilingual production. We test this hypothesis by comparing pronoun production in the L2 of nonbalanced Spanish–English bilinguals to that of English monolinguals in two cognitively challenging contexts. In Experiment 1, both monolinguals and bilinguals produced more explicit references when part of the information was unavailable to their addressee (privileged ground) than when all information was shared (common ground), evidencing audience design. In Experiment 2, verbal load led to more unspecified references than visual load and no load (an effect statistically indistinguishable between groups but numerically driven by the monolingual group). While bilinguals produced overall more pronouns than monolinguals in both experiments, there was no indication that bilinguals’ referential choice was disproportionally affected by increased cognitive demand, contrary to the predictions of the Interface Hypothesis.

Young children use shared experience to interpret definite reference

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 1146-1157 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL SCHMERSE ◽  
ELENA LIEVEN ◽  
MICHAEL TOMASELLO
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Shared Experience ◽  
Joint Actions ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Shared Experiences ◽  
Communicative Intention ◽  
Linguistic Categories ◽  
Referential Choice

AbstractWe investigated whether children at the ages of two and three years understand that a speaker's use of the definite article specifies a referent that is in common ground between speaker and listener. An experimenter and a child engaged in joint actions in which the experimenter chose one of three similar objects of the same category to perform an action. In subsequent interactions children were asked to get ‘the X’ or ‘a X’. When children were instructed with the definite article they chose the shared object significantly more often than when they were instructed with the indefinite article in which case children's choice was at chance. The findings show that in their third year children use shared experiences to interpret the speaker's communicative intention underlying her referential choice. The results are discussed with respect to children's representation of linguistic categories and the role of joint action for establishing common ground.

Comparison of Common Ground Models for Human--Computer Dialogue

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Clayton D. Rothwell ◽  
Valerie L. Shalin ◽  
Griffin D. Romigh
Keyword(s):  
Human Computer Interaction ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
The Other ◽  
Audience Design ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Design Variant ◽  
Alignment Model ◽  
Complementarity Theory ◽  
Computer Interaction

Common ground processes [26] can improve performance in communication tasks [72, 42, 43, 24], and understanding these processes will likely benefit human--computer dialogue interfaces. However, there are multiple proposed theories with different implications for interface design. Fusaroli and Tylén [40] achieved a direct comparison by designing two models: one based on alignment theory and the other based on complementarity theory that encapsulated interpersonal synergy and audience design. The current research used these models, extending them to differentiate between interpersonal synergy and audience design. Few studies have tested multiple common ground models against tasks representative of envisioned human--computer interaction (HCI) applications. We report on four such tests, which allowed examination of generalizability of findings. Results supported the complementarity models over the alignment model, and were suggestive of the audience design variant of complementarity, providing guidance for HCI design that differs from contemporary approaches.

Cooperative Communications in Dynamic Fault Management

1994 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 225-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila J. Johannesen ◽  
Richard I. Cook ◽  
David D. Woods
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Communications ◽  
System Approach ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Intelligent System ◽  
Fault Management ◽  
Cooperative Interaction ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Artificial Intelligence Systems ◽  
Common Frame Of Reference

The motivation for this research is to further theory on the development of artificial intelligence systems that function as “team players” in dynamic fault management applications. One challenge is effectively supporting the practitioner in understanding the assessments and actions of the intelligent system. The typical expert system approach to explanations is not well suited to the cognitive demands of dynamic fault management. In order to gain insight into effective cooperative interaction in dynamic fault management, we have undertaken a field of study of practitioners in one such domain, anesthesiology. We analyze the findings using the theoretical framework of a common ground and common frame of reference.

scholarly journals Sensorimotor-Cognitive Couplings in the Context of Assistive Spatial Navigation for Older Adults

GeroPsych ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schellenbach ◽  
Martin Lövdén ◽  
Julius Verrel ◽  
Antonio Krüger ◽  
Ulman Lindenberger
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Cognitive Demand ◽  
Spatial Processing ◽  
Assistive Device ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Adult Age

With advancing adult age, sensorimotor functioning, spatial processing, and the motivation to explore new environments decline, leading to impaired spatial navigation skills. Using a controlled virtual-world laboratory equipped with a treadmill interface, we examined how assistive navigation technologies differing in cognitive demand affect walking regularity and navigation performance in younger and older adults. Relative to an assistive device with low cognitive demands, older, but not younger adults’ navigation performance decreased with a cognitively more demanding device. Furthermore, older adults showed higher gait irregularity than younger adults, especially with the cognitively demanding device. We conclude that assistive navigation devices show promise in supporting older adults’ pedestrian mobility if aging-induced increments in cognitive demands of spatial navigation and postural control are considered.

scholarly journals Measuring Collaboration Load With Pupillary Responses - Implications for the Design of Instructions in Task-Oriented HRI

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimosthenis Kontogiorgos ◽  
Joakim Gustafson
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Audience Design ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Pupillary Responses ◽  
Gaze Behaviour ◽  
Task Oriented

In face-to-face interaction, speakers establish common ground incrementally, the mutual belief of understanding. Instead of constructing “one-shot” complete utterances, speakers tend to package pieces of information in smaller fragments (what Clark calls “installments”). The aim of this paper was to investigate how speakers' fragmented construction of utterances affect the cognitive load of the conversational partners during utterance production and comprehension. In a collaborative furniture assembly, participants instructed each other how to build an IKEA stool. Pupil diameter was measured as an outcome of effort and cognitive processing in the collaborative task. Pupillometry data and eye-gaze behaviour indicated that more cognitive resources were required by speakers to construct fragmented rather than non-fragmented utterances. Such construction of utterances by audience design was associated with higher cognitive load for speakers. We also found that listeners' cognitive resources were decreased in each new speaker utterance, suggesting that speakers' efforts in the fragmented construction of utterances were successful to resolve ambiguities. The results indicated that speaking in fragments is beneficial for minimising collaboration load, however, adapting to listeners is a demanding task. We discuss implications for future empirical research on the design of task-oriented human-robot interactions, and how assistive social robots may benefit from the production of fragmented instructions.

Assertion and Mindreading

2018 ◽  
pp. 389-413
Author(s):  
William S. Horton
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Psychological Construct ◽  
Speaker Meaning

Pragmatic accounts of assertion commonly assume that language users engage in some form of mindreading. For example, Stalnaker proposed that the critical context for any assertion is the set of pragmatic presuppositions that can be taken as shared between speaker and addressee—that is, their common ground. From a cognitive psychological perspective, though, the processing and representational requirements of considering common ground are substantial. This chapter considers several cognitively oriented descriptions of mindreading in communication, contrasting the metarepresentational requirements of speaker meaning with the more general psychological construct of false belief in theory of mind. Ultimately, the cognitive demands of real-time conversation may circumscribe the ability of language users to engage in sophisticated forms of mindreading during the communication of assertion.

When Hearing Does Not Mean Understanding: On the Neural Processing of Syntactically Complex Sentences by Listeners With Hearing Loss

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Margreet Vogelzang ◽  
Christiane M. Thiel ◽  
Stephanie Rosemann ◽  
Jochem W. Rieger ◽  
Esther Ruigendijk
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Sentence Complexity ◽  
Complex Sentences ◽  
And Task

Purpose Adults with mild-to-moderate age-related hearing loss typically exhibit issues with speech understanding, but their processing of syntactically complex sentences is not well understood. We test the hypothesis that listeners with hearing loss' difficulties with comprehension and processing of syntactically complex sentences are due to the processing of degraded input interfering with the successful processing of complex sentences. Method We performed a neuroimaging study with a sentence comprehension task, varying sentence complexity (through subject–object order and verb–arguments order) and cognitive demands (presence or absence of a secondary task) within subjects. Groups of older subjects with hearing loss ( n = 20) and age-matched normal-hearing controls ( n = 20) were tested. Results The comprehension data show effects of syntactic complexity and hearing ability, with normal-hearing controls outperforming listeners with hearing loss, seemingly more so on syntactically complex sentences. The secondary task did not influence off-line comprehension. The imaging data show effects of group, sentence complexity, and task, with listeners with hearing loss showing decreased activation in typical speech processing areas, such as the inferior frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus. No interactions between group, sentence complexity, and task were found in the neuroimaging data. Conclusions The results suggest that listeners with hearing loss process speech differently from their normal-hearing peers, possibly due to the increased demands of processing degraded auditory input. Increased cognitive demands by means of a secondary visual shape processing task influence neural sentence processing, but no evidence was found that it does so in a different way for listeners with hearing loss and normal-hearing listeners.

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