Medication Name Comprehension of Intelligent Virtual Assistants: A Comparison of Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri Between 2019 and 2021

The current study was a replication and comparison of our previous research which examined the comprehension accuracy of popular intelligent virtual assistants, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri for recognizing the generic and brand names of the top 50 most dispensed medications in the United States. Using the exact same voice recordings from 2019, audio clips of 46 participants were played back to each device in 2021. Google Assistant achieved the highest comprehension accuracy for both brand medication names (86.0%) and generic medication names (84.3%), followed by Apple Siri (brand names = 78.4%, generic names = 75.0%), and the lowest accuracy by Amazon Alexa (brand names 64.2%, generic names = 66.7%). These findings represent the same trend of results as our previous research, but reveal significant increases of ~10–24% in performance for Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri over the past 2 years. This indicates that the artificial intelligence software algorithms have improved to better recognize the speech characteristics of complex medication names, which has important implications for telemedicine and digital healthcare services.

The time-course of competition from the L1 grammar in L2 sentence processing: Evidence from cross-linguistic structural priming

In two visual-world eye-tracking experiments, we explore the extent to which conflicting first-language (L1) based grammatical parses influence second-language (L2) learners’ on-line and off-line interpretation of sentences in the L2. We used cross-linguistic structural priming to potentially boost competition from the L1 grammar during the processing of wh-questions in English. For L1-German learners (Experiment 1), sentence-final interpretations showed effects of conflicting L1 parses in the greater number of misinterpretations of English subject as object wh-questions than vice versa. In a follow-up experiment with a comparison group of L1-Japanese learners (Experiment 2), we found the reverse pattern in sentence-final interpretations, with lower accuracy on English object than subject wh-questions. The asymmetry in comprehension accuracy between Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that the effect observed among L1-German learners reflected grammar competition from the L1 rather than general L2 effects. In both experiments, we observed cross-linguistic priming from L1 object questions to L2 object questions in on-line processing. Yet, cross-linguistic priming did not enhance competition from L1 object questions on L2 subject questions in Experiment 1 as reflected in comprehension accuracy or eye-gaze during processing. Together, these findings present evidence of cross-linguistic structural priming for equivalent interpretations (object–object), but indicate that priming does not extend to competing L1 interpretations of word-order equivalent structures cross-linguistically (object–subject). We suggest that interference from conflicting L1-based grammatical parses is narrowly delimited in intermediate to advanced L2 sentence processing.

Number Dissimilarity Effects in Object-Initial Sentence Comprehension by German-Speaking Children With Specific Language Impairment

Purpose This study examines the contribution of number morphology to language comprehension abilities among children with specific language impairment (SLI) and age-matched controls. It addresses the question of whether number agreement facilitates the comprehension accuracy of object-initial declarative sentences. According to the predictions of the structural intervention account for German, number agreement should assist the correct interpretation of object-initial sentences. Method This study examines German-speaking children with SLI and a control group of age-matched typically developing children on their sentence comprehension skills for auditory presented subject–verb–object and object–verb–subject (OVS) sentences. The sentences were manipulated with respect to the number properties of the noun phrases (e.g., one plural and one singular, or both singular) and the number agreement of the verb. Results The group of children with SLI demonstrated poorer comprehension accuracy in comparison to controls. Comprehension difficulty was limited to OVS sentences among children with SLI. In addition, children with SLI comprehended OVS sentences in which number agreement (with plural subject and verb inflection) indicated the noncanonical word order more accurately than OVS sentences with two singular noun phrases and therein did not differ from controls. Conclusion The study suggests that number agreement helps alleviate the difficulty with OVS sentences and enhances comprehension accuracy, despite the finding that children with SLI exhibit lower comprehension accuracy and more heterogeneous interindividual differences, relative to controls. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.13718029

Testing young foreign language learners’ reading comprehension: Exploring the effects of working memory, grade level, and reading task

Extensive research has demonstrated the impact of working memory (WM) on first language (L1) reading comprehension across age groups (Peng et al., 2018), and on foreign language (FL) reading comprehension of adults and older adolescents (Linck et al., 2014). Comparatively little is known about the effect of WM on young FL readers’ comprehension, and even less within testing contexts. Young FL readers are still developing their L1 reading skills and general cognitive skills (e.g., attentional regulation abilities). Completing FL reading tests might be particularly taxing on their WM, and differences in WM capacity – as well as other learner and task characteristics – might create construct-irrelevant variance in test performance. In this study we investigate the effects of WM, grade level, and reading task on young learners’ FL reading test performances. Ninety-four young English language learners (Grades 6–7) in Hungary completed the TOEFL® Junior™ Comprehensive’s reading test and a WM test battery. Our mixed-effects model predicted significantly higher comprehension accuracy among learners with higher WM capacity, and among learners in Grade 7 compared to learners in Grade 6. Reading task differences were not associated with significant comprehension accuracy differences. We discuss the implications of our findings for testing young learners’ FL reading comprehension.

Preverbal syntactic complexity leads to local coherence effects in Hindi

The effective use of preverbal linguistic cues to make successful clause-final verbal prediction as well as robust prediction maintenance has been argued to be a cross-linguistic generalization for SOV languages such as German and Japanese. In this paper, we show that native speakers of Hindi (an SOV language) falter in maintaining clause-final verbal predictions in the presence of a center-embedded relative clause with a non-canonical word order. The fallibility of the parser is illustrated by the formation of a grammatically illicit locally coherent parse as well as by poor comprehension accuracy. Our investigations suggest that while plausibility is essential, presence of overt agreement features might not be necessary for forming a locally coherent parse in Hindi. The work highlights how top-down processing and bottom-up information interact during sentence comprehension in SOV languages – comprehension suffers with increased complexity of the preverbal linguistic environment.

Penerapan Metode Balanced Scorecard dan Analytical Hierarcy Process (AHP) Dalam Penentuan Karyawan Berprestasi (Studi Kasus : Kantor Pertanahan Kota Pekanbaru)

The National Land Agency (abbreviated BPN in Indonesian) is a non-ministerial government institution that is under and responsible to the President and led by the Head (in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 63 of 2013). The problems that occur at the Pekanbaru Land Office in determining outstanding employees are only seen based on the results of the work they do, not based on the criteria for each employee. Therefore, this study was conducted to provide application in determining outstanding employees with more detailed results based on the criteria of each employee using several methods, including the Balanced Scorecard method and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Based on the research results, it is known that based on the Balanced Scorecard method, the criteria to be used are Comprehension, Accuracy, Craft, and Discipline with the same highest value, namely 12.25. After that, each employee was assessed based on the criteria using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method with the highest score being DHEA with a value of 0.301.

Lingering misinterpretation in native and nonnative sentence processing: Evidence from structural priming

Native (L1) and nonnative (L2) speakers sometimes misinterpret temporarily ambiguous sentences like “When Mary dressed the baby laughed happily.” Recent studies suggest that the initially assigned misinterpretation (“Mary dressed the baby”) may persist even after disambiguation, and that L2 speakers may have particular difficulty discarding initial misinterpretations. The present study investigated whether L2 speakers are more persistent with misinterpretation compared with L1 speakers during sentence processing, using the structural priming and eye tracking while reading tasks. In the experiment, participants read prime followed by target sentences. Reading times revealed that unambiguous but not ambiguous prime sentences facilitated processing of the globally correct interpretation of ambiguous target sentences. However, this priming effect was only observed when the prime and target sentence shared the same verb. Comprehension accuracy rates were not significantly influenced by priming effects but did provide evidence of lingering misinterpretation. We did not find significant L1/L2 differences in either priming effects or persistence of misinterpretation. Together, these results suggest that initially assigned misinterpretations linger in both L1 and L2 readers during sentence processing and that L1 and L2 comprehension priming is strongly lexically mediated.

Effect of Text-to-Speech Rate on Reading Comprehension by Adults With Aphasia

Purpose Accessing auditory and written material simultaneously benefits people with aphasia; however, the extent of benefit as well as people's preferences and experiences may vary given different auditory presentation rates. This study's purpose was to determine how 3 text-to-speech rates affect comprehension when adults with aphasia access newspaper articles through combined modalities. Secondary aims included exploring time spent reviewing written texts after speech output cessation, rate preference, preference consistency, and participant rationales for preferences. Method Twenty-five adults with aphasia read and listened to passages presented at slow (113 words per minute [wpm]), medium (154 wpm), and fast (200 wpm) rates. Participants answered comprehension questions, selected most and least preferred rates following the 1st and 3rd experimental sessions and after receiving performance feedback, and explained rate preferences and reading and listening strategies. Results Comprehension accuracy did not vary significantly across presentation rates, but reviewing time after cessation of auditory content did. Visual data inspection revealed that, in particular, participants with substantial extra reviewing time took longer given fast than medium or slow presentation. Regardless of exposure amount or receipt of performance feedback, participants most preferred the medium rate and least preferred the fast rate; rationales centered on reading and listening synchronization, benefits to comprehension, and perceived normality of speaking rate. Conclusion As a group, people with aphasia most preferred and were most efficient given a text-to-speech rate around 150 wpm when processing dual modality content; individual differences existed, however, and mandate attention to personal preferences and processing strengths.