scholarly journals Gesture Influences Resolution of Ambiguous Statements of Neutral and Moral Preferences

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hinnell ◽  
Fey Parrill
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Speech Signal ◽  
The Other ◽  
Reference Resolution ◽  
Reference Tracking ◽  
Personal Preference ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
Successful Resolution ◽  
Multimodal Cues ◽  
Outstanding Question

When faced with an ambiguous pronoun, comprehenders use both multimodal cues (e.g., gestures) and linguistic cues to identify the antecedent. While research has shown that gestures facilitate language comprehension, improve reference tracking, and influence the interpretation of ambiguous pronouns, literature on reference resolution suggests that a wide set of linguistic constraints influences the successful resolution of ambiguous pronouns and that linguistic cues are more powerful than some multimodal cues. To address the outstanding question of the importance of gesture as a cue in reference resolution relative to cues in the speech signal, we have previously investigated the comprehension of contrastive gestures that indexed abstract referents – in this case expressions of personal preference – and found that such gestures did facilitate the resolution of ambiguous statements of preference. In this study, we extend this work to investigate whether the effect of gesture on resolution is diminished when the gesture indexes a statement that is less likely to be interpreted as the correct referent. Participants watched videos in which a speaker contrasted two ideas that were either neutral (e.g., whether to take the train to a ballgame or drive) or moral (e.g., human cloning is (un)acceptable). A gesture to the left or right side co-occurred with speech expressing each position. In gesture-disambiguating trials, an ambiguous phrase (e.g., I agree with that, where that is ambiguous) was accompanied by a gesture to one side or the other. In gesture non-disambiguating trials, no third gesture occurred with the ambiguous phrase. Participants were more likely to choose the idea accompanied by gesture as the stimulus speaker’s preference. We found no effect of scenario type. Regardless of whether the linguistic cue expressed a view that was morally charged or neutral, observers used gesture to understand the speaker’s opinion. This finding contributes to our understanding of the strength and range of cues, both linguistic and multimodal, that listeners use to resolve ambiguous references.

scholarly journals Word predictability, prosody, gesture and mouth movements in face-to-face language comprehension

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ye Zhang ◽  
Diego Frassinelli ◽  
Jyrki Tuomainen ◽  
Jeremy I Skipper ◽  
Gabriella Vigliocco
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Linguistic Processing ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
Multimodal Cues ◽  
Word Predictability ◽  
Electroencephalographic Activity ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe ecology of human language is face-to-face interaction, comprising cues, like prosody, cospeech gestures, and mouth movements. Yet, the multimodal context is usually stripped away in experiments as dominant paradigms focus on linguistic processing only. In two studies we presented video-clips of an actress producing naturalistic passages to participants whose electroencephalographic activity was recorded. We quantified each cue and determined their effect on a well-established electroencephalographic marker of cognitive load in comprehension (N400). We found that brain responses to words were affected by informativeness of co-occurring multimodal cues, indicating that comprehension relies on linguistic and non-linguistic cues. Moreover, brain responses were affected by interactions between the multimodal cues, indicating that the impact of each cue dynamically changes based on the informativeness of other available cues. Thus, results show that multimodal cues are integral to comprehension, hence, our theories must move beyond the limited focus on speech and linguistic processing.

scholarly journals More than words: word predictability, prosody, gesture and mouth movements in natural language comprehension

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1955) ◽  
pp. 20210500
Author(s):  
Ye Zhang ◽  
Diego Frassinelli ◽  
Jyrki Tuomainen ◽  
Jeremy I. Skipper ◽  
Gabriella Vigliocco
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Linguistic Processing ◽  
Processing Load ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Video Clips ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
Multimodal Cues ◽  
Word Predictability ◽  
The Impact

The ecology of human language is face-to-face interaction, comprising cues such as prosody, co-speech gestures and mouth movements. Yet, the multimodal context is usually stripped away in experiments as dominant paradigms focus on linguistic processing only. In two studies we presented video-clips of an actress producing naturalistic passages to participants while recording their electroencephalogram. We quantified multimodal cues (prosody, gestures, mouth movements) and measured their effect on a well-established electroencephalographic marker of processing load in comprehension (N400). We found that brain responses to words were affected by informativeness of co-occurring multimodal cues, indicating that comprehension relies on linguistic and non-linguistic cues. Moreover, they were affected by interactions between the multimodal cues, indicating that the impact of each cue dynamically changes based on the informativeness of other cues. Thus, results show that multimodal cues are integral to comprehension, hence, our theories must move beyond the limited focus on speech and linguistic processing.

scholarly journals Managing Free Text for Secondary Use of Health Data

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (01) ◽  
pp. 167-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Griffon ◽  
J. Charlet ◽  
S. J. Darmoni ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Meaningful Use ◽  
Health Data ◽  
Structured Data ◽  
The Other ◽  
Free Text ◽  
Reference Resolution ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
Secondary Use ◽  
Corpus Creation

Summary Objective: To summarize the best papers in the field of Knowledge Representation and Management (KRM). Methods: A comprehensive review of medical informatics literature was performed to select some of the most interesting papers of KRM and natural language processing (NLP) published in 2013. Results: Four articles were selected, one focuses on Electronic Health Record (EHR) interoperability for clinical pathway personalization based on structured data. The other three focus on NLP (corpus creation, de-identification, and co-reference resolution) and highlight the increase in NLP tools performances. Conclusion: NLP tools are close to being seriously concurrent to humans in some annotation tasks. Their use could increase drastically the amount of data usable for meaningful use of EHR.

scholarly journals Advertising Narratives of Society and Politics: A Semiotic Analysis of Amul’s Print Ads

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 5112-5131
Author(s):  
Kamya Pandey ◽  
Ruchi Jaggi
Keyword(s):  
Political Communication ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Linguistic Knowledge ◽  
General Knowledge ◽  
Contextual Knowledge ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Situational Context ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Obvious Manner

Contextual knowledge is the most important aspect of language comprehension. We define contextual knowledge as both general knowledge and discourse knowledge, i.e., knowledge of the situational context, background knowledge, and co-textual context. In this paper, we will discuss the significance of contextual knowledge in comprehending the humor found in Amul's cartoon advertisements in India. Throughout the process, we will analyze these advertisements and determine whether humor is an effective tool for advertising and, as a result, marketing. These bilingual advertisements also assume that the audience has the necessary linguistic knowledge, such as vocabulary, morphology, and syntax in English and Hindi. Various techniques such as punning, portmanteaus, and parodies of popular proverbs, expressions, acronyms, famous dialogues, songs, and so on are used to convey the message humorously. The current study will focus on these linguistic cues and the necessary context for understanding wit and humor. This study will also employ semiotics and sign methodology to analyze the message provided by the cartoons. According to the research findings, cartoons serve two purposes: political communication and advertising; however, advertising is camouflaged and not placed in an obvious manner.

Conversational asymmetry between mothers and children

1981 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Kaye ◽  
Rosalind Charney
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Production ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cognitive Measures ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Puzzle Solving ◽  
Mothers And Children ◽  
Negative Effect

ABSTRACTTURNABOUTS, which both respond to and require a response from the other (either verbal or nonverbal), were produced more than twice as often by mothers as by their children at 2; 2 and 2; 6, in videotaped dialogues during semi-structured play. The 27 mothers showed stable individual differences in this aspect of their turn-taking, across situations and across time. Children tended to take a reciprocal role rather than an imitative one within the immediate situation: if a mother produced many mands, her child produced few. At 2; 10 the children were tested for language comprehension, puzzle-solving and conversational engagement with an investigator. Mothers' mands at the earlier ages appeared to have a negative effect upon these measures, even when social class differences were controlled; but causal interpretations were complicated by the fact that language production measures also predicted the 2; 10 cognitive measures.

Affective language processing and bilingualism: Complementary perspectives

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Ewa Tomczak ◽  
Dorota Jaworska-Pasterska
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
The Other ◽  
Academic Interest ◽  
Current Volume

AbstractRecent years have witnessed revival of academic interest in the study of two areas. One is related to processing of emotional input, both linguistic and nonlinguistic; the other is centred on mechanisms underlying bilingual language comprehension and production. The current volume comprises substantial contributions by researchers working within various fields of linguistics and psychology. The Authors elaborate upon cognitively sophisticated frameworks for conceptualising the complexities of attitudes towards and beliefs about language, i.e.

Assessing Individual Differences in Motivation and Their Effect on Performance of Number Facility

1967 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Hart
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Learning Effect ◽  
The Other ◽  
High Group ◽  
Personal Preference ◽  
Edwards Personal Preference Schedule

48 Ss were given 20 control trials and 10 trials under competitive conditions on a number facility test (NF). After the administration of NF Ss were divided into 2 groups on the basis of their n-Ach score on the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. The 24 highest Ss on n Ach were assigned to the high n-Ach group, the other 24 being designated the low n-Ach group. The NF performance of the high group was consistently above that of the low n-Ach group, although this difference was not significant under either control or competitive conditions. A significant learning effect was found over trials. The implications are discussed.

The systematic relationships of Brunonia.

Brunonia ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
RC Carolin
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Arid Areas ◽  
Personal Preference ◽  
Separate Family ◽  
Early Entry ◽  
History Of ◽  
Large Families ◽  
Systematic Relationships ◽  
Break Up ◽  
The Relationship

Although Brunonia has had a long separate history from the other Goodeniaceae, they do appear to be related, and it remains a matter of personal preference whether one places it in a subfamily of Goodeniaceae or in a separate family. Since I prefer large families to give easily recognizable groups, I opt for the first alternative. The long separate history of Brunonia may be the result of its early entry into the arid areas, possibly before other goodeniads, with secondary invasions of the higher rainfall zones only much later. The relationship between Goodeniaceae and Campanulaceae is not very close, and it seems they must both have arisen quite early in the evolution of the Metachlamydeae. The evolution of the Goodeniaceae as a whole and the Campanulaceae occurred after the break up of Gondwanaland, in the temperate areas of each continent. The Stylidiaceae are primitively a cool to cold montane group of southern Gondwanaland.

Resumptive Pronouns in Language Comprehension and Production

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aya Meltzer-Asscher
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Online Publication ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
The Other ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Resumptive Pronouns ◽  
Processing Function

Although the grammatical status of resumptive pronouns varies from one language to the other, these elements occur in spontaneous speech cross-linguistically, giving rise to a long-held intuition that resumption has a processing function, facilitating production and/or comprehension. In this review, I examine the central threads of thought related to resumption and processing and consider the prominent theories and findings that have shaped the discussion on this issue. I review grammatical and grammaticalization-based approaches to resumption and present the evidence suggesting that resumptive pronouns are a production artifact as well as the evidence that speaks in favor of or against the idea that resumptive pronouns aid comprehension. While the theory that resumption aids the producer receives straightforward support, the findings backing the claim that resumption helps the comprehender are much more equivocal, suggesting that in some cases resumption is not helpful and may even be detrimental to comprehension. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Linguistics, Volume 7 is January 14, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Phrase comprehension after brain damage

1982 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rita Sloan Berndt ◽  
Alfonso Caramazza
Keyword(s):  
Brain Damage ◽  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
The Other ◽  
Right Hemisphere Damage ◽  
Dimensional Adjectives ◽  
Neurologically Normal ◽  
The Right

ABSTRACTComprehension of six dimensional adjectives was found to be intact in groups of left hemisphere-damaged, right hemisphere-damaged and neurologically normal patients. Phrases with those adjectives were interpreted quite differently by left hemisphere-damaged patients than by the other two groups, and a subgroup of left-damaged patients appeared to be responsible for that group's deviant responses to phrases such as slightly bigger. All patients in the left-damaged group had some difficulty with negative phrases such as not big, however. Patients with right hemisphere-damage had difficulty interpreting only negative phrases with small. Results are interpreted with reference to Luria's discussion of semantic aphasia, and with regard to recent findings concerning the role of the right hemisphere in language comprehension.

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