Incremental processing of polymer materials using the INDUSTRY 4.0 network structure

The article presents the possibility of incremental processing of polymeric materials using the network structure of INDUSTRY 4.0. The selected network control systems for 3D printers processing polymer materials were analyzed in terms of software and hardware identification used in industrial conditions, science and education. Both solutions requiring continuous data exchange between the controlling computer and the 3D printer as well as systems dedicated to control with the use of a computer network were taken into account. The possibilities of adapting 3D printers to work in the remote control mode and control of the incremental process are presented. The possibilities of developing processes related to 3D printing based on remote control using network systems were also determined.

Incremental processing of telicity in Italian children

A sentence like 'Lyn has peeled the apple' triggers two types of inferences: a telicity inference that the event is telic; and a culmination inference that the event has reached its telos and has stopped. This results in the final interpretation of the sentence that Lyn has completely peeled the apple. We present an eye-tracking study to test children's ability to predict the upcoming noun (e.g., the apple) during the incremental processing of sentences like 'Look at the picture in which he/she has peeled the…' in which the predicate is telic and the verb appears in the perfective form. By means of the Visual World Paradigm, we aimed to investigate children's ability to use the lexical semantics and aspectual morphology of verbs during language processing. To test if children can predict the target (e.g., a completely peeled apple) by exploiting the lexical-semantic meaning of the verb, we contrasted the target picture with a picture of an object that cannot be peeled; to test if they can predict on the basis of the verb's perfective morphology, we compared the target with the picture of a half-peeled apple. Our results show that Italian children can anticipate the upcoming noun in both cases, providing evidence that children can exploit the morphosyntactic cue on the verb (perfective aspect) to incrementally derive the culmination inference that the telos is reached and the event is completed. We also show that the integration of aspect requires some additional time compared to the integration of the basic lexical semantics of the verb.

Overspecification and incremental referential processing: An eye-tracking study

Using eye-tracking, we examined if over-specification hinders or facilitates referent selection, and the extent to which this depends on the properties of the attribute mentioned in the referring expressions and the underpinning processing mode. Following spoken instructions, participants selected the referent in a visual display while their eye movements were monitored. The referring expressions were presented either simultaneously with the displays, so the attributes could be incrementally processed in sequence, or before the display presentation, so the attributes could be processed in parallel from the outset of search. Experiment 1 showed that when the attributes were processed incrementally, how quickly an earlier-mentioned attribute discriminated determined whether a late-mentioned, over-specified attribute contributed to discrimination: When color was mentioned first and is fully discriminating, the referent was selected fast regardless of the second-mentioned pattern, whereas when pattern was mentioned first and is fully discriminating, the second-mentioned color facilitated discrimination. Experiment 2 found that under incremental processing, color mention after a fully discriminating pattern increased fixations but delayed referent selection relative to a pattern-only description; under parallel processing, however, color mention immediately eliminated alternatives and sped up referent selection. Experiment 3 showed that pattern mention after a fully discriminating color delayed referent selection and tended to reduce fixations relative to a color-only description in both processing modes. Hence, additional attributes can speed up referent selection but only when they can discriminate much faster than alternative attributes mentioned in a more concise description, and critically, when they can be used early for referent search.

Processing cataphors: Active antecedent search is persistent

Cataphors precede their antecedents, so they cannot be fully interpreted until those antecedents are encountered. Some researchers propose that cataphors trigger an active search during incremental processing in which the parser predictively posits potential antecedents in upcoming syntactic positions (Kazanina et al., Journal of Memory and Language, 56[3], 384–409, 2007). One characteristic of active search is that it is persistent: If a prediction is disconfirmed in an earlier position, the parser should iteratively search later positions until the predicted element is found. Previous research has assumed, but not established, that antecedent search is persistent. In four experiments in English and Norwegian, we test this hypothesis. Two sentence completion experiments show a strong off-line preference for coreference between a fronted cataphor and the first available argument position (the main subject). When the main subject cannot be the antecedent, participants posit the antecedent in the next closest position: object position. Two self-paced reading studies demonstrate that comprehenders actively expect the antecedent of a fronted cataphor to appear in the main clause subject position, and then successively in object position if the subject does not match the cataphor in gender. Our results therefore support the claim that antecedent search is active and persistent.

The depth charge illusion, linear order, and “negated worlds” – Competence, performance, or both?

Compositionally incongruous sentences such as "No detail is too unimportant to be left out" are often assigned plausible non-compositional meanings (~ "Don’t leave out details"). The present research shows that moving the incongruous degree phrase to the beginning of the sentence ("Too unimportant to be left out is surely no detail") results in an attenuation of this semantic illusion, implying a role for incremental processing. Moreover, semantic operators cannot be readily applied to the generated propositions, and acceptability varies greatly between sentences and speakers, which is consistent with superficial interpretation. Implications of the present work with regard to the distinction between linguistic competence and performance are discussed, along with future directions for research.

The online processing of causal and concessive discourse connectives

While there is a substantial amount of evidence for language processing being a highly incremental and predictive process, we still know relatively little about how top-down discourse based expectations are combined with bottom-up information such as discourse connectives. The present article reports on three experiments investigating this question using different methodologies (visual world paradigm and ERPs) in two languages (German and English). We find support for highly incremental processing of causal and concessive discourse connectives, causing anticipation of upcoming material. Our visual world study shows that anticipatory looks depend on the discourse connective; furthermore, the German ERP study revealed an N400 effect on a gender-marked adjective preceding the target noun, when the target noun was inconsistent with the expectations elicited by the combination of context and discourse connective. Moreover, our experiments reveal that the facilitation of downstream material based on earlier connectives comes at the cost of reversing original expectations, as evidenced by a P600 effect on the concessive relative to the causal connective.

Lexical Access Changes Based on Listener Needs: Effects of Sentence Context on Real-Time Word Recognition in Cochlear Implant Users

ObjectivesOne key challenge in word recognition is the temporary ambiguity in the signal created by the fact that speech unfolds over time. Research with normal hearing (NH) listeners reveals that this temporary ambiguity is resolved through incremental processing of the signal and competition among possible lexical candidates. Post-lingually deafened cochlear implant (CI) users show similar incremental processing and competition to NH listeners but with slight delays. However, even brief delays could lead to drastic changes when compounded across multiple words in a sentence. This study asks whether words presented in non-informative sentence contexts are processed differently than words presented in isolation and whether any differences are shared among NH listeners and CI users or if the groups exhibit different patterns.DesignAcross two visual world paradigm experiments, listeners heard words presented either in isolation or in non-informative sentence contexts (“click on the…”). Listeners selected the picture corresponding to the target word from among four items including the target word (e.g., mustard), a cohort competitor (e.g., mustache), a rhyme competitor (e.g., custard), and an unrelated item (e.g., penguin). During this task, eye movements were tracked as an index of the relative lexical activation of each object type during word recognition. Subjects included 65 CI users and 48 NH controls across both experiments. ResultsBoth CI users and the NH controls were largely accurate at recognizing the words both in sentence contexts and in isolation. The time course of lexical activation (indexed by the fixations) differed substantially between groups. CI users were delayed in fixating the target relative to NH controls. Additionally, CI users showed less competition from cohorts (while previous studies have often found increased competition) compared to NH controls. However, CI users took longer to suppress the cohort and suppressed it less fully than the NH controls. For both CI users and NH controls, embedding words in sentences led to more immediacy in lexical access as observed by increases in cohort competition relative to when words were presented in isolation. However, CI users were not differentially affected by the sentencesConclusionsUnlike prior work, in both sentences and in isolated words CI users appeared to exhibit “wait-and-see” strategy, in which lexical access is delayed to minimize early competition. However, they simultaneously sustain competitor activation late in the trial possibly to preserve flexibility. This hybrid profile has not been observed previously. Both CI users and NH controls more heavily weight early information when target words are presented in sentence contexts. However, CI users (but not NH listeners) also commit less fully to the target when words are presented in sentence context potentially keeping options open if they need to recover from a misperception. This mix of patterns reflects a lexical system that is extremely flexible and adapts to fit the needs of a listener.

Intonational processing is incremental and holistic

Speakers modulate the intonation of an utterance to express essential communicative functions, and while intonational pitch contours span entire utterances, intonational melodies can be characterized as a sequence of discrete tonal events. A tonal event may constrain the interpretation of a temporally distant tonal event, and the entire tonal sequence is potentially relevant for recognizing a speaker’s communicative intention. The question arises whether listeners process intonational information as soon as they become available (incremental processing) or whether they wait until they have access to the entire intonation contour with all its tonal events (holistic processing). In a visual world eyetracking experiment, we explored how and when American English listeners integrate a sequence of two pitch accents relative to the discourse status of different referents. Analyses of listeners’ fixation patterns suggest that listeners incrementally process pitch accents as soon as they appear in the signal, and use this information to reduce uncertainty about the referents of both local and downstream expressions. Listeners also process early and late pitch accents in relation to one another, such that early cues in the utterance can restrict later inferences and late cues can be used to resolve uncertainty associated with earlier cues. These findings have implications for models of intonational processing, for which neither a local processing strategy nor a holistic view alone are sufficient. Effective comprehension of intonational events requires maintaining perceptual information long enough to integrate it with downstream intonational events. Open data, scripts, and materials can be retrieved here: https://osf.io/2wecs/.