Language

PSYC2007 – Fall 2021

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 Outline
• Psycholinguistics – The psychological study of
language

• Inputs in language processing

• Understanding words
– The word frequency effects

• Understanding sentences

• Effect of language on cognition

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 Steven Pinker on language

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-B_ONJIEcE
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 What is language?
• Language is a system of communication.

• Human language is creative in its nature.

– The structure of language allows for creativity.
• Hierarchical nature – Language consists of components at different
levels.
• Rule-based nature – Combination of the components is governed by
certain rules.

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 Language acquisition device
• Noam Chomsky published Syntactic Structures in
1957.
– In addition to semantics, linguists should also study syntax,
i.e. sentence structures, in language.
– Humans are born with the capability to acquire and use
language.
– Chomsky hypothesized that we are all born with a
Language Acquisition Device (LAD).
– Chomsky’s work shaped the field of psycholinguistics.

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 Inputs in language processing
• Language has a hierarchical structure, and consists
of units at different scales.

• Linguists study language based on two types of

hierarchy, according to the sounds or the meanings.

• The smallest units are phonemes and morphemes, in

terms of the sounds and the meanings respectively.

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 Visualizing sounds
• We can plot sound energy as a function of time in a
speech.

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
- John F. Kennedy
Image source: https://www.bespokenart.com/products/john-f-kennedy?variant=26777197505
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 Phonemes
• A phoneme is the shortest segment of speech.
• Meaning of a word changes if a phoneme is
changed.

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 Morphemes
• The smallest unit in a word in terms of meaning.
– Examples: “key” and “board” are two morphemes forming
the word “keyboard”.

• Free morpheme vs. bound morpheme

– A free morpheme can stand alone and function as a word.
• Examples: room, bed, house, green
– A bound morpheme needs to attach to other morphemes to
form a word.
• Examples: pre-, -ment, -ed

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 Phonemic restoration effect
• Richard Warren (1970) replaced the first /s/ in
“legislatures” by the sound of a cough.
– It was hard to specify the moment of the cough.
– It was hard to detect that the first /s/ in “legislatures” was
missing.

• The missing phoneme was “restored” given the

context of the speech.

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 Cross-modality influence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-lN8vWm3m0
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 The McGurk effect
• The filling-in phenomenon in speech perception can
be influenced by visual inputs.

• Although the auditory inputs stay the same, the visual

inputs influence the perceived phoneme.

• When the auditory inputs and visual inputs conflict

with each other, the visual inputs dominate in the
McGurk effect.

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 Word-superiority effect

• Reicher (1969) asked:

Do people perceive a letter
better when it is presented in a
word than when it is presented
alone?

• Reicher’s participants performed

better (higher accuracy) in the
word condition than in the single-
letter condition.

Reicher (1969)
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 Word frequency effect
• Participant judges whether a presented letter string is
a word or not in the lexical decision task.

• Response time in the lexical decision task was faster

for the second list, compared to the first list in the
previous demonstration.

• The second list was compiled of more frequently

used words.

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 Eye movements in reading
• The word frequency effect was also observed in eye-
movement studies of reading.

• Duration of fixation on a high-frequency word is

typical shorter than that on a low-frequency word.
– Why?

• Behaviors are being shaped by experience.

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 Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area
• Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area were thought to be
responsible for language production and language
comprehension respectively.

• Recent studies have linked the two areas with two

key concepts in understanding sentences –
semantics and syntax.
– Broca’s aphasia was linked to problems with syntax.
– Wernicke’s aphasia was linked to problems with semantics.

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 Event-related potentials (ERPs)

San Martin & Huettel (2013)

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 ERP in semantic processing
Osterhout et al. - ERPs and language

N400
that elicit
s.
OO/SPS

propriate words:
and dog’. - The cats won’t EAT.
n new weby’.
.---- The cats won’t BAKE .
nships:
Osterhout, McLaughlin & Bersick (1997)
th prior knowledge:
• When the target word (“eat” vs. “bake”) was unexpected in
ving learned that John is
terms of the meaning, a strong N400 ERP response was
observed. ,..&-PGOOISPS
.. . .. . ., : ,* ~ ,“,

– à N400 was about semantics.

- The cats won’t EAT ‘y.f

ofproof the theorem’. ..--. *The cats won’t EATING .

N400
the stock’.
11/11/21 - T
F~.. J
Language 24
 ropriate
and dog’.
words:
ERP in syntactic processing
- The cats won’t EAT.
n new weby’.
.---- The cats won’t BAKE .
ships:

h prior knowledge:
ving learned that John is

~ ,..&-PGOOISPS
.. . .. . .,,“, : ,*
- The cats won’t EAT ‘y.f

ofproof the theorem’. ..--. *The cats won’t EATING .

N400
he stock’. - T
F~.. J
nomalies: Osterhout, McLaughlin & Bersick (1997)
guests at the party were
e’. • When the target word (“eat” vs. “eating”) was unexpected in
terms of the form of the sentence, a strong P600 ERP
that Mary leaves them’. - The cats won’t EAT
response was observed.
-..-. *The cats won’t BAKING .
succeed’. – à P600 (syntactic positive
T shift) was about syntax.
eement:
mselfto
the meal’.
ement: 11/11/21 Language 25
Fig. 2 Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) elicited by lin-
 What is your prediction?
• What is your prediction if we compare the ERP
responses of the following sentences (target word is
italicized)?

– he saw the group walk onto the stage and start playing
– he saw the group walk onto the guitar and start playing
– he saw the group walk onto the barn and start playing

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 Language processing in a context
• Here is the context:
Concert Scenario
The band was very popular and Joe was sure the
concert would be sold out. Amazingly, he was able
to get a seat down in front. He couldn’t believe how
close he was when he saw the group walk onto the
(stage/guitar/barn) and start playing.

• What is your prediction on the ERP response, e.g.,

guitar vs. barn?

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 Contextual influence

Expected à stage
Event-related à guitar
Event-unrelatedà barn

Metusalem et al. (2012)

• The word guitar was activated by the scenario, and

was less surprising, compared to the word barn.
• Therefore, guitar resulted in a smaller N400
response than barn did.

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 Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
• Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf hypothesized that
language could influence how people think in
different cultures.

• Jonathan Winawer and colleagues (2007) tested a

related hypothesis:
Does language influence color perception?

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 Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
• Winawer et al. (2007): Does language experience
influence color perception?
– In Russian, different shades of blue can be categorized
under two different labels (goluboy: lighter blues and siniy:
darker blues).
– Color matching task: Which of the two
test patches matches the reference?
– Within-category trials: Test patches
come from the same category in
Russian.
– Cross-category trials: Test patches
come from different categories.

Winawer et al., PNAS, 2007.

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 Category effects on Russians only
• Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
– Russian participants responded faster in the cross-
category trials than in the within-category trials.
Russian speakers English speakers

Interference conditions:
— Spatial: to hold a spatial pattern in memory
— Verbal: to rehearse digit strings silently
Winawer et al., PNAS, 2007.
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 Summary
• Human language is distinctive, compared to the
systems of communication used by other animals.

• Psycholinguists study comprehension, production,

representation and acquisition in language.

• Phonemes and morphemes are the smallest units in

a language, in terms of the sounds and the
meanings.

• Perception of phonemes and letters can be

influenced by the context.

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 Summary (cont’d)
• Recent research studies suggest that the Broca’s
area and Wernicke’s area were involved in syntactic
and semantic processing respectively.

• ERP studies demonstrated the differential neural

signals of syntactic and semantic processing.

• Language can also influence other cognitive

processes.

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 Sections from the textbook
• Chapter 11
– What is Language?
– Understanding Words: A few Complications
– Understanding Ambiguous Words
– Understanding Sentences
– Understanding Text and Stories

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