scholarly journals Cohort and rhyme priming emerge from the multiplex network structure of the mental lexicon

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Stella
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representation ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Multiplex Network ◽  
Cognitive Patterns ◽  
Phonological Similarities ◽  
Retrieval From Memory

Complex networks recently opened new ways for investigating how language use is influenced by the mental representation of word similarities. This work adopts the framework of multiplex lexical networks for investigating lexical retrieval from memory. The focus is on priming effects, where the processing of couple of words sharing specific features is faster and more accurate. Supported by recent findings of network distance influencing lexical retrieval, the multiplex network approach tests how the layout of hundreds of thousands of word-word similarities in the mental lexicon of words can lead to priming effects on multiple, combined semantic and phonological levels.Results provides quantitative evidence that priming effects are encoded directly in the multiplex structure of the mental representation of words sharing phonemes either in their onsets (cohort priming) or at their ends (rhyme priming). By comparison with randomised null models, both cohort and priming effects are found to be emerging properties of the mental lexicon arising from its multiplexity: These priming effects are absent on individual layers but become prominent on the combined multiplex structure. The emergence of priming effects due to the multiplex nature of the mental lexicon is displayed both in case only semantic layers are considered, an approximated representation of the so-called semantic memory, but also when semantics is enriched with phonological similarities, an approximated representation of the lexical-auditory nature of the mental lexicon. These results indicate that multiplex lexical networks represent an insightful approach for shedding light on the interplay between multiple aspects of language and human cognition, as it can open new paths for the quantification of cognitive patterns in synergy with experimental psycholinguistic data.

scholarly journals Cohort and Rhyme Priming Emerge from the Multiplex Network Structure of the Mental Lexicon

Complexity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Stella
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representation ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Network Distance ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Quantitative Evidence ◽  
Multiplex Network ◽  
Phonological Similarities ◽  
Retrieval From Memory

Complex networks recently opened new ways for investigating how language use is influenced by the mental representation of word similarities. This work adopts the framework of multiplex lexical networks for investigating lexical retrieval from memory. The focus is on priming, i.e., exposure to a given stimulus facilitating or inhibiting retrieval of a given lexical item. Supported by recent findings of network distance influencing lexical retrieval, the multiplex network approach tests how the layout of hundreds of thousands of word-word similarities in the mental lexicon can lead to priming effects on multiple combined semantic and phonological levels. Results provide quantitative evidence that phonological priming effects are encoded directly in the multiplex structure of the mental representation of words sharing phonemes either in their onsets (cohort priming) or at their ends (rhyme priming). By comparison with randomised null models, both cohort and rhyming effects are found to be emerging properties of the mental lexicon arising from its multiplexity. These priming effects are absent on individual layers but become prominent on the combined multiplex structure. The emergence of priming effects is displayed both when only semantic layers are considered, an approximated representation of the so-called semantic memory, and when semantics is enriched with phonological similarities, an approximated representation of the lexical-auditory nature of the mental lexicon. Multiplex lexical networks can account for connections between semantic and phonological information in the mental lexicon and hence represent a promising modelling route for shedding light on the interplay between multiple aspects of language and human cognition in synergy with experimental psycholinguistic data.

scholarly journals The multiplex structure of the mental lexicon influences picture naming in people with aphasia

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 913-931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nichol Castro ◽  
Massimo Stella
Keyword(s):  
Picture Naming ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
Closeness Centrality ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Network Measures ◽  
Multiplex Network ◽  
Psycholinguistic Variables ◽  
Naming Performance

Abstract An emerging area of research in cognitive science is the utilization of networks to model the structure and processes of the mental lexicon in healthy and clinical populations, like aphasia. Previous research has focused on only one type of word similarity at a time (e.g., semantic relationships), even though words are multi-faceted. Here, we investigate lexical retrieval in a picture naming task from people with Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia and healthy controls by utilizing a multiplex network structure that accounts for the interplay between multiple semantic and phonological relationships among words in the mental lexicon. Extending upon previous work, we focused on the global network measure of closeness centrality which is known to capture spreading activation, an important process supporting lexical retrieval. We conducted a series of logistic regression models predicting the probability of correct picture naming. We tested whether multiplex closeness centrality was a better predictor of picture naming performance than single-layer closeness centralities, other network measures assessing local and meso-scale structure, psycholinguistic variables and group differences. We also examined production gaps, or the difference between the likelihood of producing a word with the lowest and highest closeness centralities. Our results indicated that multiplex closeness centrality was a significant predictor of picture naming performance, where words with high closeness centrality were more likely to be produced than words with low closeness centrality. Additionally, multiplex closeness centrality outperformed single-layer closeness centralities and other multiplex network measures, and remained a significant predictor after controlling for psycholinguistic variables and group differences. Furthermore, we found that the facilitative effect of closeness centrality was similar for both types of aphasia. Our results underline the importance of integrating multiple measures of word similarities in cognitive language networks for better understanding lexical retrieval in aphasia, with an eye towards future clinical applications.

scholarly journals The multiplex structure of the mental lexicon influences picture naming in people with aphasia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nichol Castro ◽  
Massimo Stella
Keyword(s):  
Picture Naming ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
Closeness Centrality ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Network Measures ◽  
Multiplex Network ◽  
Psycholinguistic Variables ◽  
Naming Performance

An emerging area of research in cognitive science is the utilization of networks to model the structure and processes of the mental lexicon in healthy and clinical populations, like aphasia. Previous research has focused on only one type of word similarity at a time (e.g., semantic relationships), even though words are multi-faceted. Here, we investigate lexical retrieval in a picture naming task from people with Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia and healthy controls by utilizing a multiplex network structure that accounts for the interplay between multiple semantic and phonological relationships among words in the mental lexicon. Extending upon previous work, we focused on the global network measure of closeness centrality which is known to capture spreading activation, an important process supporting lexical retrieval. We conducted a series of logistic regression models predicting the probability of correct picture naming. We tested whether multiplex closeness centrality was a better predictor of picture naming performance than single-layer closeness centralities, other network measures assessing local and meso-scale structure, psycholinguistic variables, and group differences. We also examined production gaps, or the difference between the likelihood of producing a word with the lowest and highest closeness centralities. Our results indicated that multiplex closeness centrality was a significant predictor of picture naming performance, where words with high closeness centrality were more likely to be produced than words with low closeness centrality. Additionally, multiplex closeness centrality outperformed single-layer closeness centralities and other multiplex network measures, and remained a significant predictor after controlling for psycholinguistic variables and group differences. Furthermore, we found that the facilitative effect of closeness centrality was similar for both types of aphasia. Our results underline the importance of integrating multiple measures of word similarities in cognitive language networks for better understanding lexical retrieval in aphasia, with an eye toward future clinical applications.

scholarly journals Multiplex model of mental lexicon reveals explosive learning in humans

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Stella
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Null Models ◽  
Core Structure ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Network Representation ◽  
Multiplex Network ◽  
Cognitive Patterns ◽  
Word Cluster

Word similarities affect language acquisition and use in a multi-relational way barely accounted for in the literature. We propose a multiplex network representation of this mental lexicon of word similarities as a natural framework for investigating large-scale cognitive patterns. Our representation accounts for semantic, taxonomic, and phonological interactions and it identifies a cluster of words which are used with greater frequency, are identified, memorised, and learned more easily, and have more meanings than expected at random. This cluster emerges around age 7 through an explosive transition not reproduced by null models. We relate this explosive emergence to polysemy – redundancy in word meanings. Results indicate that the word cluster acts as a core for the lexicon, increasing both lexical navigability and robustness to linguistic degradation. Our findings provide quantitative confirmation of existing conjectures about core structure in the mental lexicon and the importance of integrating multi-relational word-word interactions in psycholinguistic frameworks.

scholarly journals EXPRESS: Trajectories of verbal fluency and executive functions in multilingual and monolingual children and adults: A cross-sectional study

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110267
Author(s):  
Roberto Filippi ◽  
Andrea Ceccolini ◽  
Peter Bright
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Cross Sectional

The development of verbal fluency is associated with the maturation of executive function skills, such as the ability to inhibit irrelevant information, shift between tasks and hold information in working memory. Some evidence suggests that multilinguistic upbringing may underpin disadvantages in verbal fluency and lexical retrieval, but can also afford executive function advantages beyond the language system including possible beneficial effects in older age. This study examined the relationship between verbal fluency and executive function in 324 individuals across the lifespan by assessing the developmental trajectories of English monolingual and multilingual children aged 7 to 15 years (N=154) and adults from 18 to 80 years old (N=170). The childhood data indicated patterns of improvement in verbal fluency and executive function skills as a function of age. Multilingual and monolingual children had comparable developmental trajectories in all linguistic and non-linguistic measures used in the study with the exception of planning, for which monolingual children showed a steeper improvement over the studied age range relative to multilingual children. For adults, monolinguals and multilingual participants had comparable performance on all measures with the exception of non-verbal inhibitory control and response times on the Tower of London task: monolinguals showed a steeper decline associated with age. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that verbal fluency was associated with working memory and fluid intelligence in monolingual participants but not in multilinguals. These findings raise the possibility that early acquisition of an additional language may impact on the development of the functional architecture serving high-level human cognition.

Inflectional and Derivational Morphology in the Mental Lexicon: Symmetries and Asymmetries in Repetition Priming

1992 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Schriefers ◽  
A. Friederici ◽  
P. Graetz
Keyword(s):  
Repetition Priming ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Derivational Morphology ◽  
Lexical Organization ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Complex Forms ◽  
Complex Words ◽  
Prime Target

Using a repetition priming paradigm, the interrelations between morphologically related words in the mental lexicon were examined in two experiments. In contrast to most previous studies, in which morphologically complex words occur as primes and stems as targets, derivationally and inflectionally complex forms were fully crossed in prime–target pairs. Experiment 1 showed asymmetries in the pattern of priming effects between different inflectional forms of German adjectives. Such asymmetries are problematic for any theory that assumes that all members of an inflectional paradigm share one entry in the mental lexicon. Experiment 2 contrasted derivational and inflectional variants of the same stems used in Experiment 1. Once again, there were same clear asymmetries in the pattern of priming effects. The implications of these results for models of lexical organization of inflectional and derivational morphology are discussed.

Cognitive processes as evidence of the idiom principle

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britt Erman
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Important Implication ◽  
Basic Assumption ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Pause Duration ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Spreading Activation ◽  
Conceptual Network ◽  
Linguistic Units

The study seeks to establish whether pause frequency and pause duration could inform us about the size of linguistic units stored in the mental lexicon. Pauses are seen as a reflection of cognitive effort in lexical retrieval. The basic assumption is that a particular concept starts activating related concepts in a conceptual network via spreading activation. Pausing is assumed to be rare when spreading activation is at work, i.e. in the recall of multiword, or prefabricated, structures. The results show that pausing was significantly more frequent in connection with lexical search in computed as compared to prefabricated structures, thus indicating that prefabricated structures are stored and retrieved as wholes. The most important implication of the study is that the results give further support to John Sinclair’s proposed ‘idiom principle’, according to which strings that would appear to be analyzable into segments nevertheless constitute single choices.

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

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Chmiel
Keyword(s):  
International Institutions ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Context Effect ◽  
Context Effects ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Semantic Constraint ◽  
Word Translation

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.

scholarly journals Viability in Multiplex Lexical Networks and Machine Learning Characterizes Human Creativity

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Stella ◽  
Yoed N. Kenett
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Area Under The Curve ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
Multiplex Network ◽  
Fluency Task

Previous studies have shown how individual differences in creativity relate to differences in the structure of semantic memory. However, the latter is only one aspect of the whole mental lexicon, a repository of conceptual knowledge that is considered to simultaneously include multiple types of conceptual similarities. In the current study, we apply a multiplex network approach to compute a representation of the mental lexicon combining semantics and phonology and examine how it relates to individual differences in creativity. This multiplex combination of 150,000 phonological and semantic associations identifies a core of words in the mental lexicon known as viable cluster, a kernel containing simpler to parse, more general, concrete words acquired early during language learning. We focus on low (N = 47) and high (N = 47) creative individuals’ performance in generating animal names during a semantic fluency task. We model this performance as the outcome of a mental navigation on the multiplex lexical network, going within, outside, and in-between the viable cluster. We find that low and high creative individuals differ substantially in their access to the viable cluster during the semantic fluency task. Higher creative individuals tend to access the viable cluster less frequently, with a lower uncertainty/entropy, reaching out to more peripheral words and covering longer multiplex network distances between concepts in comparison to lower creative individuals. We use these differences for constructing a machine learning classifier of creativity levels, which leads to an accuracy of 65 . 0 ± 0 . 9 % and an area under the curve of 68 . 0 ± 0 . 8 % , which are both higher than the random expectation of 50%. These results highlight the potential relevance of combining psycholinguistic measures with multiplex network models of the mental lexicon for modelling mental navigation and, consequently, classifying people automatically according to their creativity levels.

Computer Ondersteunde Vreemde-Taalverwerving op de Hogere Niveaus

1999 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
Peter Groot
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Processing Theory ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Study Programme ◽  
Word Lists ◽  
Long Term Retention

The interactive self-study programme (called CAVOCA: Computer Assisted VOCabulary Acquisition) is based on generally accepted theories about the mental lexicon (cf. Aitchison's Words in the Mind) and the "levels of processing" theory first advanced by Craik and Lockhart. The programme constitutes a systematic attempt to operationalize the theoretical analysis of the word learning process that recognizes various stages in this same process: learning about the various features of the word, embedding it in various networks, consolidation etc. leading to efficient lexical retrieval. With this end in mind, the words are presented in a variety of L2 contexts, enabling the learner to process the word intensively and facilitating long-term retention. The programme is intended as an alternative to more orthodox word learning techniques such as bilingual word lists with their disappointing long-term retention results. The programme has been contrasted in various experimental (differential treatment) settings with bilingual word lists, and the results confirm the theory concerning the structure of the mental lexicon in that a deeper level of processing results in better long-term retention.

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