Syntactic Priming: Paradigm and Controversy in Language Comprehension

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing-Rong CHEN
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Priming Paradigm

Testing the automaticity of syntax using masked visual priming

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Pyatigorskaya ◽  
Matteo Maran ◽  
Emiliano Zaccarella
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Visual Words ◽  
Visual Priming ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Syntactic Information ◽  
Fast Pace ◽  
Behavioural Experiments

Language comprehension proceeds at a very fast pace. It is argued that context influences the speed of language comprehension by providing informative cues for the correct processing of the incoming linguistic input. Priming studies investigating the role of context in language processing have shown that humans quickly recognise target words that share orthographic, morphological, or semantic information with their preceding primes. How syntactic information influences the processing of incoming words is however less known. Early syntactic priming studies reported faster recognition for noun and verb targets (e.g., apple or sing) following primes with which they form grammatical phrases or sentences (the apple, he sings). The studies however leave open a number of questions about the reported effect, including the degree of automaticity of syntactic priming, the facilitative versus inhibitory nature, and the specific mechanism underlying the priming effect—that is, the type of syntactic information primed on the target word. Here we employed a masked syntactic priming paradigm in four behavioural experiments in German language to test whether masked primes automatically facilitate the categorization of nouns and verbs presented as flashing visual words. Overall, we found robust syntactic priming effects with masked primes—thus suggesting high automaticity of the process—but only when verbs were morpho-syntactically marked (er kau-t; he chew-s). Furthermore, we found that, compared to baseline, primes slow down target categorisation when the relationship between prime and target is syntactically incorrect, rather than speeding it up when the prime-target relationship is syntactically correct. This argues in favour of an inhibitory nature of syntactic priming. Overall, the data indicate that humans automatically extract abstract syntactic features from word categories as flashing visual words, which has an impact on the speed of successful language processing during language comprehension.

scholarly journals Electrophysiological modulations of lexical prediction by conversation requirements

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Baus ◽  
Anne-Sophie Dubarry ◽  
F.-Xavier Alario
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Interactive Nature

Language mediates most of our social life and yet, despite such social relevance and ubiquity, little is known about language processing during social interactions. To explore this issue, two experiments were designed to isolate two basic components of a conversation: 1) the interplay between language production and comprehension systems, and 2) the participation of a social partner. We explored how prediction processes in language comprehension are modulated by two basic components of a conversation. Participants were asked to perform a cross-modal priming paradigm in two blocks, one involving only comprehension trials and another in which trials requiring production and comprehension were intermixed. In the first experiment, participants were alone during the task and in the second experiment, participants believed they were performing the task jointly with an interactive partner. A critical electrophysiological signature of lexical prediction was observed, the N400 component, allowing to assess its modulation across conditions and experiments. when production was involved in the task, the effect of lexical predictability was enhanced at the early stages of language comprehension (anticipatory phase), irrespective of the social context. In contrast, language production reduced the effect of lexical predictability at later stages (integration phase), only when participants performed the task alone but not in the social context. These results support production based-models and reveal the importance of exploring language considering its interactive nature.

scholarly journals Syntactic Priming Effects and their Underlying Mechanisms in Language Production and Comprehension

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1370
Author(s):  
Reza Raissi ◽  
Neda Hedayat ◽  
Fakhereh Kazemirad
Keyword(s):  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Relationship

Exposure to a syntactic structure influences the way we process a similar syntactic structure in language production and comprehension in what has been called ‘syntactic priming’. Syntactic priming is a robust phenomenon which can be observed in spoken and written production, with a range of syntactic constructions in laboratory tasks and naturally occurring samples of speech, in many languages, and also across languages within the same speaker. It has been used as a vehicle for exploring language production, language comprehension, and the relationship between them. Research in syntactic priming has made it the dominant means of investigating the processes involved in language production and comprehension. Some researchers propose that there are distinct mechanisms underlying the production and comprehension of syntactic structures; however, other researchers suggest that the same mechanisms underlie syntactic priming in production and comprehension. Thus, the mechanisms underlying syntactic priming effects in production and comprehension are still under debate. Moreover, although a fairly large body of research has addressed syntactic priming in production or in comprehension, there are few studies that consider and compare priming effects in both of these modalities. Therefore, the current study reviews the literature on syntactic priming in production and contrasts these findings to those in comprehension. It also provides an overview of syntactic priming effects and mechanisms underlying these effects in both production and comprehension.

Modulating the sensitivity to syntactic factors in production: Evidence from syntactic priming in agrammatism

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 639-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELEONORA ROSSI
Keyword(s):  
Poor Performance ◽  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Linguistic Processing ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Processing Demands ◽  
And Control ◽  
Linguistic Structures ◽  
Grammatical Structures ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Alternative Theories

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the extent to which the production of complex morphosyntactic structures can be modulated in agrammatic speakers by utilizing a syntactic priming paradigm. Italian clitic pronouns (varying in morphosyntactic complexity) were chosen as the focal linguistic structure under investigation to test hypotheses based on alternative theories. Three experiments were performed. Experiment 1 analyzed clitic production in spontaneous speech. Experiments 2 and 3 used syntactic priming to prime the production of direct- and indirect-object clitics in finite and in restructuring sentences. These structures critically require different clitic positions (finite sentences: before the finite verb; restructuring sentences: before or after the verbal complex). The pattern of results shows that agrammatic speakers are impaired in clitic production. However, they show that the deficit is quantitative rather than qualitative, suggesting residual sensitivity despite the poor performance. The findings demonstrate that agrammatic (and control) speakers show a positive effect of syntactic priming across clitic types, suggesting that agrammatism can be characterized in terms of a linguistic processing deficit owing to increased processing demands for complex linguistic structures. Specifically, it is suggested that morphosyntactic complexity modulates both the level of impairment and the effect of priming for these grammatical structures.

Priming a perspective in Spanish monolingual children: The use of syntactic alternatives

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
PERLA B. GÁMEZ ◽  
PRIYA M. SHIMPI ◽  
HEIDI R. WATERFALL ◽  
JANELLEN HUTTENLOCHER
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Priming ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Scene Interpretation ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Baseline Experiment

ABSTRACTWe used a syntactic priming paradigm to show priming effects for active and passive forms in monolingual Spanish-speaking four- and five-year-olds. In a baseline experiment, we examined children's use of the fue-passive form and found it was virtually non-existent in their speech, although they produced important elements of the form. Children used a more frequent Spanish passive form, the subjectless/se-passive. In a priming experiment, we presented children with drawings described using either active or fue-passive sentences. Children then described novel drawings. Priming was induced for active and passive forms; however, children did not produce the fue-passive provided for them. Instead, children used the subjectless/se-passive and what we term the function-passive, which like the fue-passive, emphasize the patient of the action. We argue that children's use of different passive forms suggests they are sensitive to experimenter's input as it relates to scene interpretation and to syntax.

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