scholarly journals Does Local Coherence Lead to Targeted Regressions and Illusions of Grammaticality?

Open Mind ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Dario Paape ◽  
Shravan Vasishth ◽  
Ralf Engbert
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Noisy Channel ◽  
Channel Models ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Grammaticality Judgments ◽  
Local Coherence ◽  
On Line ◽  
Uncertain Input

Abstract Local coherence effects arise when the human sentence processor is temporarily misled by a locally grammatical but globally ungrammatical analysis (The coach smiled at the player tossed a frisbee by the opposing team). It has been suggested that such effects occur either because sentence processing occurs in a bottom-up, self-organized manner rather than under constant grammatical supervision (Tabor et al., 2004), or because local coherence can disrupt processing due to readers maintaining uncertainty about previous input (Levy, 2008b). We report the results of an eye-tracking study in which subjects read German grammatical and ungrammatical sentences that either contained a locally coherent substring or not and gave binary grammaticality judgments. In our data, local coherence affected on-line processing immediately at the point of the manipulation. There was, however, no indication that local coherence led to illusions of grammaticality (a prediction of self-organization), and only weak, inconclusive support for local coherence leading to targeted regressions to critical context words (a prediction of the uncertain-input approach). We discuss implications for self-organized and noisy-channel models of local coherence.

scholarly journals Does local coherence lead to targeted regressions and illusions of grammaticality?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Paape ◽  
Shravan Vasishth ◽  
Ralf Engbert
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Noisy Channel ◽  
Channel Models ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Grammaticality Judgments ◽  
Local Coherence ◽  
On Line ◽  
Uncertain Input

Local coherence effects arise when the human sentence processor is temporarily misled by a locally grammatical but globally ungrammatical analysis ("The coach smiled at THE PLAYER TOSSED A FRISBEE by the opposing team"). It has been suggested that such effects occur either because sentence processing occurs in a bottom-up, self-organized manner rather than being under constant grammatical supervision (Tabor, Galantucci, & Richardson, 2004), or because local coherence can disrupt processing due to readers maintaining uncertainty about previous input (Levy, 2008). We report the results of an eye-tracking study in which subjects read German grammatical and ungrammatical sentences that either contained a locally coherent substring or not and gave binary grammaticality judgments. In our data, local coherence affected on-line processing immediately at the point of the manipulation. There was, however, no indication that local coherence led to illusions of grammaticality (a prediction of self-organization), and only weak, inconclusive support for local coherence leading to targeted regressions to critical context words (a prediction of the uncertain-input approach). We discuss implications for self-organized and noisy-channel models of local coherence.

Processing delays

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 65-78
Author(s):  
Loes Koring ◽  
Hans van de Koot
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Visual World ◽  
Visual World Paradigm ◽  
Exact Time ◽  
On Line

Abstract An eye-tracking experiment using the Visual World Paradigm (VWP) shows that in on-line sentence processing in English the argument of an unaccusative verb reactivates late after verb offset. In contrast to previous studies, this VWP experiment establishes the exact time course of this effect, which matches the time course previously found for Dutch, despite differences in word order between the two languages. Furthermore, it uncovers an early reactivation of the argument of unergative verbs that has previously gone unnoticed. Such an effect has previously been observed for Dutch, but not for English. Moreover, the effect seems to occur earlier in English than in Dutch. We suggest that this difference may be due to the more rigid word order of English, which provides the parser with more informative cues.

scholarly journals Self-replication of a quantum artificial organism driven by single-photon pulses

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Valente
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Artificial Life ◽  
Single Photon ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Physical Systems ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Thermodynamic Mechanism ◽  
Self Replication

AbstractImitating the transition from inanimate to living matter is a longstanding challenge. Artificial life has achieved computer programs that self-replicate, mutate, compete and evolve, but lacks self-organized hardwares akin to the self-assembly of the first living cells. Nonequilibrium thermodynamics has achieved lifelike self-organization in diverse physical systems, but has not yet met the open-ended evolution of living organisms. Here, I look for the emergence of an artificial-life code in a nonequilibrium physical system undergoing self-organization. I devise a toy model where the onset of self-replication of a quantum artificial organism (a chain of lambda systems) is owing to single-photon pulses added to a zero-temperature environment. I find that spontaneous mutations during self-replication are unavoidable in this model, due to rare but finite absorption of off-resonant photons. I also show that the replication probability is proportional to the absorbed work from the photon, thereby fulfilling a dissipative adaptation (a thermodynamic mechanism underlying lifelike self-organization). These results hint at self-replication as the scenario where dissipative adaptation (pointing towards convergence) coexists with open-ended evolution (pointing towards divergence).

scholarly journals Travelling colourful patterns in self-organized cellulose-based liquid crystalline structures

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro E. S. Silva ◽  
Ricardo Chagas ◽  
Susete N. Fernandes ◽  
Pawel Pieranski ◽  
Robin L. B. Selinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Simple Model ◽  
Temporal Variation ◽  
Liquid Crystalline ◽  
Diffusion Mechanism ◽  
Reaction Diffusion ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽  
Living Matter ◽  
Equilibrium Conditions ◽  
Self Organized

AbstractCellulose-based systems are useful for many applications. However, the issue of self-organization under non-equilibrium conditions, which is ubiquitous in living matter, has scarcely been addressed in cellulose-based materials. Here, we show that quasi-2D preparations of a lyotropic cellulose-based cholesteric mesophase display travelling colourful patterns, which are generated by a chemical reaction-diffusion mechanism being simultaneous with the evaporation of solvents at the boundaries. These patterns involve spatial and temporal variation in the amplitude and sign of the helix´s pitch. We propose a simple model, based on a reaction-diffusion mechanism, which simulates the observed spatiotemporal colour behaviour.

scholarly journals Self-Organized Criticality on Twitter: Phenomenological Theory and Empirical Investigation Based on Data Analysis Results

Complexity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Dmitriev ◽  
Victor Dmitriev ◽  
Stepan Balybin
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Critical State ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Phenomenological Theory ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Protest Movements ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Self Organized Criticality ◽  
Stochastic Sources ◽  
Adiabatic Mode

Recently, there has been an increasing number of empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that spread of avalanches of microposts on social networks, such as Twitter, is associated with some sociopolitical events. Typical examples of such events are political elections and protest movements. Inspired by this phenomenon, we built a phenomenological model that describes Twitter’s self-organization in a critical state. An external manifestation of this condition is the spread of avalanches of microposts on the network. The model is based on a fractional three-parameter self-organization scheme with stochastic sources. It is shown that the adiabatic mode of self-organization in a critical state is determined by the intensive coordinated action of a relatively small number of network users. To identify the critical states of the network and to verify the model, we have proposed a spectrum of three scaling indicators of the observed time series of microposts.

scholarly journals The Role of Prosodic Breaks and Pitch Accents in Grouping Words during On-line Sentence Processing

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 2447-2467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Bögels ◽  
Herbert Schriefers ◽  
Wietske Vonk ◽  
Dorothee J. Chwilla
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
On Line ◽  
Group Words ◽  
Pitch Accents

The present study addresses the question whether accentuation and prosodic phrasing can have a similar function, namely, to group words in a sentence together. Participants listened to locally ambiguous sentences containing object- and subject-control verbs while ERPs were measured. In Experiment 1, these sentences contained a prosodic break, which can create a certain syntactic grouping of words, or no prosodic break. At the disambiguation, an N400 effect occurred when the disambiguation was in conflict with the syntactic grouping created by the break. We found a similar N400 effect without the break, indicating that the break did not strengthen an already existing preference. This pattern held for both object- and subject-control items. In Experiment 2, the same sentences contained a break and a pitch accent on the noun following the break. We argue that the pitch accent indicates a broad focus covering two words [see Gussenhoven, C. On the limits of focus projection in English. In P. Bosch & R. van der Sandt (Eds.), Focus: Linguistic, cognitive, and computational perspectives. Cambridge: University Press, 1999], thus grouping these words together. For object-control items, this was semantically possible, which led to a “good-enough” interpretation of the sentence. Therefore, both sentences were interpreted equally well and the N400 effect found in Experiment 1 was absent. In contrast, for subject-control items, a corresponding grouping of the words was impossible, both semantically and syntactically, leading to processing difficulty in the form of an N400 effect and a late positivity. In conclusion, accentuation can group words together on the level of information structure, leading to either a semantically “good-enough” interpretation or a processing problem when such a semantic interpretation is not possible.

Sentence processing in language-impaired children under conditions of filtering and time compression

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Stark ◽  
James W. Montgomery
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Language Impaired ◽  
Monitoring Task ◽  
Time Compression ◽  
Lower Accuracy ◽  
On Line ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Monitoring Performance

ABSTRACTNineteen language-impaired (LI) and 20 language-normal (LN) children participated in an on-line word-monitoring task. Words were presented in lists and in sentences readily comprehended by younger children. The sentences were unaltered, tow-pass filtered, and time- compressed. Both groups had shorter mean response times (MRTs), but lower accuracy, for words in sentences than words in lists. The LI children had significantly longer MRTs under sentence conditions and lower accuracy overall than the LN children. Filtering had an adverse effect upon accuracy and MRT for both subject groups. Time compression did not, suggesting that the reduction in high-frequency information and the rate of presentation exert different effects. Subject differences in attention, as well as in linguistic competence and motor control, may have influenced word-monitoring performance.

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