3 - Models of Word Recognition & Production Flashcards
Define lexicon? And what to which of the linguistic modalities of phonology and orthography belong? (hint: the third modality is visuospatial/gestural - sign language)
A lexicon is a mental dictionary.
Phonology is to auditory or spoken.
Orthography is to visual or written.
What is parallel activation of lexical competitors? how does this solve the problem of spoken words being slow to unfold?
The process by which word recognition and lexical selection unfold to predict speech.
- spoken words take approx. half-second to unfold, which is slow (problem)
- To solve this problem, speech is evaluated & re-evaluated continuously against numerous potential lexical competitor (hypotheses)
- parallel activation of a ‘cohort’ of multiple word forms.
How does the cross-modal priming effect work? How is this evidence for the parallel activation of lexical competitors (Marslen-Wilson, 1987)?
(hint: Capt.. captain/captive).
Hearing the fragment “capt-“ primes response times to recognise the written forms of both SHIP & GUARD (vs. Sharp or Guest).
This implies that aspects of the meanings of both words are accessed during the perception of the initial ambiguous sequence and that these are used to facilitate recognition of the related target words
When the same researchers’ used single fragment targets like “d-“, what did they find they primed more strongly?
Primed dog more than dock (compared to control condition for two words starting with a different sound but with similar relative frequencies - Road or Robe).
Evidence that when speech is ambiguous during word perception, frequency matching of candidates affects the degree to which their lexical representations are activated. i.e. the brain is activated based on probabilities.
What is the TRACE model of Spoken Word Recognition, the 3 levels and lateral inhibitory connections (McClelland & Elman, 1986)?
A neural network (connectionist) model where each level represents a processing system.
Lateral inhibitory connections at the lexical (word) level enable selection of the candidate that best matches the evidence accumulating from the input.
Levels:
- Words
- Phonemes
- Features
Describe the process by which lateral inhibition allows selection between lexical competitors.
- Parallel activation causes multiple lexical ‘candidates’ to compete during word recognition.
- Word recognition is a process of gradual building activation (evidence) for a set of lexical candidates over time.
- As activation accumulates in multiple nodes at the lexical level, nodes compete via lateral inhibitory mechanisms.
- Lexical nodes for higher frequency words have a lower ‘activation threshold’ & so exert inhibition on competitors more quickly & strongly than low-frequency words.
- “winner” is lexical node with the strongest activation once all excitatory & inhibitory inputs are accounted for.
What are the 4 theoretical viewpoints on bilingual word recognition models?
A. language-selective access, indepdent lexica.
B. Selective access, integrated lexicon.
C. Non-selective access, independent lexica.
D. Non-selective access, integrated lexicon.
What does the fMRI research suggest about the structured-integrated lexicon debate for bilinguals?
That the same brain areas are used to represent both languages in bilinguals.
And, that bilinguals represent language in the same areas of the brain as monolinguals.
What evidence did van Heuven et al. (1998) provide for the hypothesis that bilinguals activate words from languages non-selectively, even when the task only requires one language? (neighbour/cohort effect)
Investigated the effect of inter-lingual ‘neighbours’ on RTs for English lexical decision on Dutch-English bilinguals compared to English monolinguals.
(Neighbours: An orthographic neighbour is any word differing by a single letter from the target word).
- Varied the number of non-target language neighbours of the target word in D-L bilinguals using English visual lexical decision.
- For BLs, the more Dutch word neighbours the English word had, the slower the lexical decision time.
- Eng MLs not affected by Dutch neighbours.
Takeaway: both languages activated - non-selectively.
How did Marian & Spivey (2003) show the competing activation in bilingual language processing: witin- and between-language competition? (desk-lid paradigm).
- A paradigm in which two objects, e.g. desk and lid, presented but one was designed so that it’s presentation activated non-target language. (lid = “deckel” in german).
- Presented with cue ‘click on the de-“
- Takeaway: Bilinguals appear to simultaneously accumulate phonetic input into both of their lexicons as a word unfolds in real-time, even when the linguistic environment is purely monolingual.
How is the Bilingual Interactive Activation model for bilingual word recognition different to the TRACE model?
Along with word selection, it has an extra layer for language selection. i.e. language-specific top-down processing.
What is the main hypothesis of a Bilingual Advantage?
The constant requirement for a bilingual to manage two languages results in a generalised advantage on tasks that require cognitive control. Specifically, enhanced inhibitory control.
According to Green’s Inhibitory Control Model of Bilingual Language Production, what system operates as a ‘top-down’ IC mechanism to enable selection of language schemas relevant to a goal? Give an example of this process from Goal
Supervisory attentional system (SAS) - i.e. control centre, EF, IC etc.
Goal > conceptualiser > SAS > language task schemas > bilingual lexica-semantic system w/inhibition > outcome.
Brain imaging evidence does Abutalebi et al. (2011) offer of a bilingual advantage?
- BLs switch from L1 to L2 activates same area (dACC) that MLs do when switching from verbs to nouns.
- dACC is commonly used for monitoring correct responses for language tasks where control is needed.
- BLs develop more grey matter density in this area.
What are the other two areas of the brain proposed to benefit from BA?
Increased grey matter volume in DLPFC & ACC - both involved in cognitive control.
