language comprehension

Question 1

what is a mental model/situational representation?

where is the leading edge represented?

how is it created?

Answer 1

a representation of the meaning conveyed, constructed in memory as we read as surface form not recorded (end product of comprehension)

leading edge (just-being-formed) of this representation is in working memory (suggesting semantic component of episodic buffer)

through text, direct experience etc.

Question 2

how is sentence meaning created?

Answer 2

propositions stated e.g who, where, what + the speech act (denying, stating etc.)

must be able to link propositions across sentences via co-reference

Question 3

what is the role of comprehension in sentence meaning?

Answer 3

activates and adds propositions to existing knowledge and memory

Question 4

what structure do sentences have?

Answer 4

tree-like: ordered hierarchy of constituents (phrases) which occupy essential roles in relation to main verb

constituents are replaceable by others of the same type without changing the structure (limited range of structures)

Question 5

what are some sentence structure clues which help to understand the meaning?

Answer 5

SYNTAX:

1. word order
2. function words - small fixed set of grammatical words that do structure-signalling e.g an and which and structures
3. word-modifying morphological inflections - signalling number, case etc. e.g -s = plural

Question 6

name some evidence for a specialised structure-computing (parsing) module in our brains?

Answer 6

some Broca’s aphasia patients have trouble comprehending

1. syntactically complex sentences
2. simple reversible sentences
3. senetnces whose meaning depends on function words

suggesting syntactic processing area located in Broca’s area

Question 7

what are 4 levels of ambiguity in language?

Answer 7

1) lexical ambiguity - words with several distinct meanings
2) syntactic abiguity - ambiguous sentences structures e.g missing propositions which must be inferred
3) ambiguity of reference
4) speech act abiguity - how to ‘take’ info being stated e.g being sarcastic?

Question 8

describe difference between direct and indirect speech act?

Answer 8

direct speech act: uttereances have surface forms which directly indicate the speech act e.g question

indirect speech act: having to infer speech act intended from utterance from e.g general knowledge and context to work out whether e.g sarcastic

Question 9

what are some of the ways we infer propositions in sentences?

Answer 9

1. extra-linguistic context (intentions of writer)
2. prosody and body language
3. liguistic context (what has been said before)
4. general knowledge
5. communication conventions

Question 10

evidence that some inferencing is automatic?

explanation for this?

Answer 10

fry better retrieval cue for chips than cook

we infer automatically and remember what we infer as if it were explicitly stated

Question 11

what are several factors which help in building the propositions of the mental model?

Answer 11

1) syntax and syntactic parsing
2) interpreting the speech act
3) inference

Question 12

what is the relationship between average fixation length and ambiguity of words?

what is an explanation of this?

Answer 12

average fixation durations are longer for ambiguous words

as sometimes have to backtrack to make sense of lexical or syntactic ambiguity resulting in regression eye movement

Question 13

what are the 2 kinds of local ambiguity?

Answer 13

lexical and syntactical

Question 14

what are the 3 strategies if lexical ambiguity?

what do all these strategies require?

Answer 14

1. minimal commitment strategy - postpone interpretation until all disambiguating info available
2. serial strategy (selective access) - construct most probable interpretation and backtrack if it turns out to be the wrong one
3. parallel strategy (exhaustive access) - construct multiple interpretations in parallel and delete those that don’t relate to prior context

all require working memory to hold input (words and order) and represent output (interpretations)

Question 15

what is meant by semantic priming?

how has evidence found this?

Answer 15

response to a target is faster when preceeded by a semantically related prime

e.g presenting bread or brain before butter and faster confirmation of butter being a word after bread presented as semantically related

Question 16

what did Swinney find relating to semantic priming?

Answer 16

both appropriate and inappropriate meaning activated when visual probe presented immediately

only appropriate meaning activated when visual probe appeared a few sylables later

• so parallel activation of meanings (both activated) then inappropriate meaning suppressed

Question 17

what did Rayner et al find regarding local lexical ambiguity?

Answer 17

that only strongly constraining contexts with most frequent word meaning can prevent activation of irrelevant meaning (parallel)

longer eye fixations on ambiguous words compared to control words

effect only present if not in a strongly constraining context or if word meaning intended is the less frequent meaning

so meaning of ambiguous word activated in parallel

Question 18

what does parsing mean in terms of local syntactic ambiguity?

Answer 18

assign syntactic roles and analyse sentence structure

Question 19

what are 2 explanations of the syntactic garden path effect?

Answer 19

1. parser constructs the most common/simplest structure and then recomputes if turns out to be wrong one (serial strategy)
   and not influenced by word meaning and frequency (Rayner)
2. interactive constraint-based model - rival syntactic interpretations are activated in parallel and then semantics analysed to determine which applicable

Question 20

issues with older semantic priming studies such as by Swinney?

Answer 20

1. didn’t manipulate degree of constraint of context

2. didn’t manipulate the frequency with which each meaning is used