scholarly journals Initiation of utterance planning in response to pre-recorded and “live” utterances

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias J Sjerps ◽  
Caitlin Decuyper ◽  
Antje S Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Planning Strategy ◽  
Speech Input ◽  
Sentence Planning ◽  
Speech Planning ◽  
Listening And Speaking

In everyday conversation, interlocutors often plan their utterances while listening to their conversational partners, thereby achieving short gaps between their turns. Important issues for current psycholinguistics are how interlocutors distribute their attention between listening and speech planning and how speech planning is timed relative to listening. Laboratory studies addressing these issues have used a variety of paradigms, some of which have involved using recorded speech to which participants responded, whereas others have involved interactions with confederates. This study investigated how this variation in the speech input affected the participants’ timing of speech planning. In Experiment 1, participants responded to utterances produced by a confederate, who sat next to them and looked at the same screen. In Experiment 2, they responded to recorded utterances of the same confederate. Analyses of the participants’ speech, their eye movements, and their performance in a concurrent tapping task showed that, compared with recorded speech, the presence of the confederate increased the processing load for the participants, but did not alter their global sentence planning strategy. These results have implications for the design of psycholinguistic experiments and theories of listening and speaking in dyadic settings.

scholarly journals Cognitive constraints on advance planning of sentence intonation

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0259343
Author(s):  
Nele Ots
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Voice Pitch ◽  
Cognitive Constraints ◽  
Sentence Planning ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Description Task ◽  
Time Planning ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Mental Resources

Pitch peaks tend to be higher at the beginning of longer than shorter sentences (e.g., ‘A farmer is pulling donkeys’ vs ‘A farmer is pulling a donkey and goat’), whereas pitch valleys at the ends of sentences are rather constant for a given speaker. These data seem to imply that speakers avoid dropping their voice pitch too low by planning the height of sentence-initial pitch peaks prior to speaking. However, the length effect on sentence-initial pitch peaks appears to vary across different types of sentences, speakers and languages. Therefore, the notion that speakers plan sentence intonation in advance due to the limitations in low voice pitch leaves part of the data unexplained. Consequently, this study suggests a complementary cognitive account of length-dependent pitch scaling. In particular, it proposes that the sentence-initial pitch raise in long sentences is related to high demands on mental resources during the early stages of sentence planning. To tap into the cognitive underpinnings of planning sentence intonation, this study adopts the methodology of recording eye movements during a picture description task, as the eye movements are the established approximation of the real-time planning processes. Measures of voice pitch (Fundamental Frequency) and incrementality (eye movements) are used to examine the relationship between (verbal) working memory (WM), incrementality of sentence planning and the height of sentence-initial pitch peaks.

scholarly journals Infants' Sensitivity to Vowel Harmony and its Role in Segmenting Speech

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toben Herbert Mintz ◽  
Rachel L. Walker ◽  
Celeste Kidd ◽  
Ashlee Welday
Keyword(s):  
Vowel Harmony ◽  
Continuous Speech ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Speech Input ◽  
Speech Stream ◽  
Sound Structure ◽  
Word Boundaries ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Shed Light

A critical part of infants’ ability to acquire any language involves segmenting continuous speech input into discrete word-forms. Certain properties of words could provide infants with reliable cues to word boundaries. Here we investigate the potential utility of vowel harmony (VH), a phonological property whereby vowels within a word systematically exhibit similarity (“harmony”) for some aspect of the way they are pronounced. We present evidence that infants with no experience of VH in their native language nevertheless actively use these patterns to generate hypotheses about where words begin and end in the speech stream. In two experiments, we exposed infants learning English, a language without VH, to a continuous speech stream in which the only systematic patterns available to be used as cues to word boundaries came from syllable sequences that showed VH or those that showed vowel disharmony (dissimilarity). After hearing less than one minute of the streams, infants showed evidence of sensitivity to VH cues. These results suggest that infants have an experience-independent sensitivity to VH, and are predisposed to segment speech according to harmony patterns. We also found that when the VH patterns were more subtle (Experiment 2), infants required more exposure to the speech stream before they segmented based on VH, consistent with previous work on infants’ preferences relating to processing load. Our findings evidence a previously unknown mechanism by which infants could discover the words of their language, and they shed light on the perceptual mechanisms that might be responsible for the emergence of vowel harmony as an organizing principle for the sound structure of words in many languages.

scholarly journals Eye-movements as a signature of age-related differences in global planning strategies for spatial navigation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa M. Tartaglia ◽  
Celine Boucly ◽  
Guillaume Tatur ◽  
Angelo Arleo
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Planning Strategy ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Visual Sampling ◽  
Global Planning ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Sampling Statistics ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe ability to efficiently find alternatives routes when faced with unexpected obstacles along our path is among the most compelling evidence of the flexibility of human behaviour. Although a plethora of plausible computations have been put forward to elucidate how the brain accomplishes efficient goal-oriented navigation, the mechanisms that guide an effective re-planning when facing obstructions are still largely undetermined. There is a fair consensus in postulating that possible alternatives routes are internally replayed sampling from past experiences, however, there is currently no account of the criterion according to which those memories are replayed. Here, we posit that paths, which are expected to be more rewarding are replayed more often and that eye movements are the explicit manifestation of this re-planning strategy. In other words, the visual sampling statistics reflects the retrieval of available routes on a mental representation of the environment.To test our hypothesis, we measured the ability of both young and old human subjects to solve a virtual version of the Tolman maze, while we recorded their eye movements. We used reinforcement learning (RL) to corroborate that eye movements statistics was crucially subtending the decision making process involved in re-planning and that the incorporation of this additional information to the algorithm was necessary to reproduce the behavioral performance of both screened populations.

Neural Correlates of Word Recognition: A Systematic Comparison of Natural Reading and Rapid Serial Visual Presentation

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 1374-1391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benthe Kornrumpf ◽  
Florian Niefind ◽  
Werner Sommer ◽  
Olaf Dimigen
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Rapid Serial Visual Presentation ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
The Impact

Neural correlates of word recognition are commonly studied with (rapid) serial visual presentation (RSVP), a condition that eliminates three fundamental properties of natural reading: parafoveal preprocessing, saccade execution, and the fast changes in attentional processing load occurring from fixation to fixation. We combined eye-tracking and EEG to systematically investigate the impact of all three factors on brain-electric activity during reading. Participants read lists of words either actively with eye movements (eliciting fixation-related potentials) or maintained fixation while the text moved passively through foveal vision at a matched pace (RSVP-with-flankers paradigm, eliciting ERPs). The preview of the upcoming word was manipulated by changing the number of parafoveally visible letters. Processing load was varied by presenting words of varying lexical frequency. We found that all three factors have strong interactive effects on the brain's responses to words: Once a word was fixated, occipitotemporal N1 amplitude decreased monotonically with the amount of parafoveal information available during the preceding fixation; hence, the N1 component was markedly attenuated under reading conditions with preview. Importantly, this preview effect was substantially larger during active reading (with saccades) than during passive RSVP with flankers, suggesting that the execution of eye movements facilitates word recognition by increasing parafoveal preprocessing. Lastly, we found that the N1 component elicited by a word also reflects the lexical processing load imposed by the previously inspected word. Together, these results demonstrate that, under more natural conditions, words are recognized in a spatiotemporally distributed and interdependent manner across multiple eye fixations, a process that is mediated by active motor behavior.

scholarly journals The effects of eye movements and alternative dual tasks on the vividness and emotionality of negative autobiographical memories: A meta-analysis of laboratory studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 204380872090774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanne T. L. Houben ◽  
Henry Otgaar ◽  
Jeffrey Roelofs ◽  
Harald Merckelbach ◽  
Peter Muris
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Autobiographical Memories ◽  
Dual Tasks ◽  
The Impact

Performing eye movements during memory retrieval is considered to be important for the therapeutic effect of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). We conducted a meta-analysis of laboratory studies that compared the effects of eye movements and/or alternative dual tasks (e.g., counting) on the vividness and emotionality of negative autobiographical memories with recall only (control) conditions. The databases PsycINFO and Web of Science were queried. Fifteen studies that involved 942 participants were included. Eye movements and alternative dual tasks produced similar vividness and emotionality decreases, with the impact on vividness being strong than that on emotionality. However, eye movements yielded a stronger overall vividness reduction than alternative dual tasks, although the associated effect size was small (Cohen’s d = .29). Because eye movements and alternative dual tasks produced comparable effects, one might conclude that both tasks are therapeutic equivalents. However, it should be acknowledged that only a limited number of laboratory studies were included in our meta-analysis, and the degree to which both procedures tax working memory was not independently established. Although our conclusion cannot be generalized to clinical practice, it does raise questions about the mode of action of EMDR.

scholarly journals Eye movements during speech planning: Talking about present and remembered objects

2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 553-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Meyer ◽  
Femke van der Meulen ◽  
Adrian Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Speech Planning

scholarly journals Neural signatures of syntactic variation in speech planning

PLoS Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. e3001038
Author(s):  
Sebastian Sauppe ◽  
Kamal K. Choudhary ◽  
Nathalie Giroud ◽  
Damián E. Blasi ◽  
Elisabeth Norcliffe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
Syntactic Variation ◽  
Sentence Planning ◽  
Neural Processes ◽  
Theta Frequency ◽  
Production Flexibility ◽  
Speech Planning ◽  
The Brain

Planning to speak is a challenge for the brain, and the challenge varies between and within languages. Yet, little is known about how neural processes react to these variable challenges beyond the planning of individual words. Here, we examine how fundamental differences in syntax shape the time course of sentence planning. Most languages treat alike (i.e., align with each other) the 2 uses of a word like “gardener” in “the gardener crouched” and in “the gardener planted trees.” A minority keeps these formally distinct by adding special marking in 1 case, and some languages display both aligned and nonaligned expressions. Exploiting such a contrast in Hindi, we used electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking to suggest that this difference is associated with distinct patterns of neural processing and gaze behavior during early planning stages, preceding phonological word form preparation. Planning sentences with aligned expressions induces larger synchronization in the theta frequency band, suggesting higher working memory engagement, and more visual attention to agents than planning nonaligned sentences, suggesting delayed commitment to the relational details of the event. Furthermore, plain, unmarked expressions are associated with larger desynchronization in the alpha band than expressions with special markers, suggesting more engagement in information processing to keep overlapping structures distinct during planning. Our findings contrast with the observation that the form of aligned expressions is simpler, and they suggest that the global preference for alignment is driven not by its neurophysiological effect on sentence planning but by other sources, possibly by aspects of production flexibility and fluency or by sentence comprehension. This challenges current theories on how production and comprehension may affect the evolution and distribution of syntactic variants in the world’s languages.

Hydrogen Cyanide Polymers from the Impact of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter

1997 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 179-187
Author(s):  
Clifford N. Matthews ◽  
Rose A. Pesce-Rodriguez ◽  
Shirley A. Liebman
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Solar System ◽  
Hydrogen Cyanide ◽  
Nitrogen Heterocycles ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Heterogeneous Solids ◽  
The Many ◽  
Comet Halley ◽  
The Impact ◽  
By Products

AbstractHydrogen cyanide polymers – heterogeneous solids ranging in color from yellow to orange to brown to black – may be among the organic macromolecules most readily formed within the Solar System. The non-volatile black crust of comet Halley, for example, as well as the extensive orangebrown streaks in the atmosphere of Jupiter, might consist largely of such polymers synthesized from HCN formed by photolysis of methane and ammonia, the color observed depending on the concentration of HCN involved. Laboratory studies of these ubiquitous compounds point to the presence of polyamidine structures synthesized directly from hydrogen cyanide. These would be converted by water to polypeptides which can be further hydrolyzed to α-amino acids. Black polymers and multimers with conjugated ladder structures derived from HCN could also be formed and might well be the source of the many nitrogen heterocycles, adenine included, observed after pyrolysis. The dark brown color arising from the impacts of comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter might therefore be mainly caused by the presence of HCN polymers, whether originally present, deposited by the impactor or synthesized directly from HCN. Spectroscopic detection of these predicted macromolecules and their hydrolytic and pyrolytic by-products would strengthen significantly the hypothesis that cyanide polymerization is a preferred pathway for prebiotic and extraterrestrial chemistry.

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