Context Effects in Bilingual Language Processing

2022 ◽  
pp. 1026-1048
Author(s):  
Sugandha Kaur ◽  
Bidisha Som

Previous studies show that the presence of a context word in picture naming either facilitates or interferes with the naming. Although there has been extensive research in this area, there are many conflicting findings, making it difficult to reach firm conclusions. This chapter aims to delve into the dynamics of such processing and understand the nuances involved in experimental manipulations that may influence the pattern of results and be responsible for differences in outcomes. The series of experiments reported in this chapter was aimed at refining our understanding of mechanisms in the way bilinguals process language production by examining two different paradigms—primed picture naming and picture-word interference. This was investigated by manipulating both the type of visual context words presented with the picture and the time interval between the presentation of context word and picture. The results are interpreted within the context of current models of lexical access.

Author(s):  
Sugandha Kaur ◽  
Bidisha Som

Previous studies show that the presence of a context word in picture naming either facilitates or interferes with the naming. Although there has been extensive research in this area, there are many conflicting findings, making it difficult to reach firm conclusions. This chapter aims to delve into the dynamics of such processing and understand the nuances involved in experimental manipulations that may influence the pattern of results and be responsible for differences in outcomes. The series of experiments reported in this chapter was aimed at refining our understanding of mechanisms in the way bilinguals process language production by examining two different paradigms—primed picture naming and picture-word interference. This was investigated by manipulating both the type of visual context words presented with the picture and the time interval between the presentation of context word and picture. The results are interpreted within the context of current models of lexical access.


Author(s):  
Robert J. Hartsuiker ◽  
Lies Notebaert

A picture naming experiment in Dutch tested whether disfluencies in speech can arise from difficulties in lexical access. Speakers described networks consisting of line drawings and paths connecting these drawings, and we manipulated picture name agreement. Consistent with our hypothesis, there were more pauses and more self-corrections in the low name agreement condition than the high name agreement condition, but there was no effect on repetitions. We also considered determiner frequency. There were more self-corrections and more repetitions when the picture name required the less frequent (neuter-gender) determiner “het” than the more frequent (common-gender) determiner “de”. These data suggest that difficulties in distinct stages of language production result in distinct patterns of disfluencies.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cornelia van Scherpenberg ◽  
Rasha Abdel Rahman ◽  
Hellmuth Obrig

Semantic context modulates precision and speed of language production. Using different experimental designs including the Picture-Word-Interference (PWI) paradigm, it has consistently been shown that categorically related distractor words (e.g., cat) inhibit retrieval of the target picture name (dog). Here we introduce a novel variant of the PWI paradigm in which we present 8 words prior to a to be named target picture. Within this set, the number of words categorically related was varied between 3 and 5, and the picture to be named was either related or unrelated to the respective category. To disentangle interacting effects of semantic context we combined different naming paradigms manipulating the number of competitors, and assessing the effect of repeated naming instances. Evaluating processing of the cohort by eye-tracking provided us with a metric of the (implicit) recognition of the semantic cohort. Results replicate the interference effect in that overall naming of pictures categorically related to the distractor set was slower compared to unrelated pictures. However, interference did not increase with increasing number of distractors. Tracking this effect across naming repetitions, we found that interference is prominent at the first naming instance of every picture only, whereby it is stable across distractor conditions, but dissipates across the experiment. Regarding eye-tracking our data show that participants fixated longer on semantically related items, indicating the identification of the lexico-semantic cohort. Our findings confirm the validity of the novel paradigm and indicate that besides interference during first exposure, repeated exposure to the semantic context may facilitate picture naming and counteract lexical interference.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wessel O. van Dam ◽  
Inti A. Brazil ◽  
Harold Bekkering ◽  
Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIP HOFMEISTER ◽  
LAURA STAUM CASASANTO ◽  
IVAN A. SAG

abstractLinguistic acceptability judgments are widely agreed to reflect constraints on real-time language processing. Nonetheless, very little is known about how processing costs affect acceptability judgments. In this paper, we explore how processing limitations are manifested in acceptability judgment data. In a series of experiments, we consider how two factors relate to judgments for sentences with varying degrees of complexity: (1) the way constraints combine (i.e., additively or super-additively), and (2) the way a comprehender’s memory resources influence acceptability judgments. Results indicate that multiple sources of processing difficulty can combine to produce super-additive effects, and that there is a positive linear relationship between reading span scores and judgments for sentences whose unacceptability is attributable to processing costs. These patterns do not hold for sentences whose unacceptability is attributable to factors other than processing costs, e.g., grammatical constraints. We conclude that tests of (super)-additivity and of relationships to reading span scores can help to identify the effects of processing difficulty on acceptability judgments, although these tests cannot be used in contexts of extreme processing difficulty.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna K. Kuhlen ◽  
Rasha Abdel Rahman

AbstractThis study investigates in a joint action setting a well-established effect in speech production, cumulative semantic interference, an increase in naming latencies when naming a series of semantically related pictures. In a joint action setting, two task partners take turns naming pictures. Previous work in this setting demonstrated that naming latencies increase not only with each semantically related picture speakers named themselves, but also with each picture named by the partner (Hoedemaker, Ernst, Meyer, & Belke, 2017; Kuhlen & Abdel Rahman, 2017). This suggests that speakers pursue lexical access on behalf of their partner. In two electrophysiological experiments (N=30 each) we investigated the neuro-cognitive signatures of such simulated lexical access. As expected, in both experiments speakers’ naming latency increased with successive naming instances within a given semantic category. Correspondingly, speakers’ EEG showed an increasing posterior positivity between 250-400ms, an ERP modulation typically associated with lexical access. However, unlike previous experiments, speakers were not influenced by their partner’s picture naming. Accordingly, we found no electrophysiological evidence of lexical access on behalf of the partner. We conclude that speakers do not always represent their partner’s naming response and discuss possible factors that may have limited the participants’ evaluation of the task as a joint action.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Cornelia van Scherpenberg ◽  
Rasha Abdel Rahman ◽  
Frank Regenbrecht ◽  
Hellmuth Obrig

Abstract When we refer to an object or concept by its name, activation of semantic and categorical information is necessary to retrieve the correct lexical representation. Whereas in neurotypical participants it is well established that semantic context can interfere with or facilitate lexical retrieval, these effects are much less studied in people with lesions to the language network and impairment at different steps of lexical-semantic processing. Here, we applied a novel picture naming paradigm, where multiple categorically related and unrelated words were presented as distractors before a to-be-named target picture. Using eye tracking, we investigated preferential fixation on the cohort members versus nonmembers. Thereby, we can judge the impact of explicit acknowledgment of the category and its effect on semantic interference. We found that, in contrast to neurotypical participants [van Scherpenberg, C., Abdel Rahman, R., & Obrig, H. A novel multiword paradigm for investigating semantic context effects in language production. PLoS One, 15, e0230439, 2020], participants suffering from mild to moderate aphasia did not show a fixation preference on category members but still showed a large interference effect of ∼35 msec, confirming the implicit mechanism of categorical interference. However, preferential fixation on the categorically related cohort words correlated with clinical tests regarding nonverbal semantic abilities and integrity of the anterior temporal lobe. This highlights the role of supramodal semantics for explicit recognition of a semantic category, while semantic interference is triggered if the threshold of lexical cohort activation is reached. Confirming psycholinguistic evidence, the demonstration of a large and persistent interference effect through implicit lexico-semantic activation is important to understand deficits in people with a lesion in thelanguage network, potentially relevant for individualized intervention aiming at improving naming skills.


2018 ◽  
pp. 35-38
Author(s):  
O. Hyryn

The article deals with natural language processing, namely that of an English sentence. The article describes the problems, which might arise during the process and which are connected with graphic, semantic, and syntactic ambiguity. The article provides the description of how the problems had been solved before the automatic syntactic analysis was applied and the way, such analysis methods could be helpful in developing new analysis algorithms. The analysis focuses on the issues, blocking the basis for the natural language processing — parsing — the process of sentence analysis according to their structure, content and meaning, which aims to analyze the grammatical structure of the sentence, the division of sentences into constituent components and defining links between them.


2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
M SCHWARTZ ◽  
G DELL ◽  
N MARTIN ◽  
S GAHL ◽  
P SOBEL

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