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Foundation of Cognition > Lecture_11_Language Processing > Flashcards

Lecture_11_Language Processing Flashcards

1
Q

Language Behavior

A

Using bits (symbols) and rules to communicate

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2
Q

Why interesting to cognitive psychologists?

A
  • Unique to human species
  • “Biological instinct”
  • Highly structured signal, with specific rules
  • Highly ambiguous
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3
Q

B.F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior

A

Dominance of behaviorism
- Learning
- Imitation
- Reinforcement

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4
Q

Noam Chomsky

A

Nativist view of language (Innate)
- “Language is too complex to be learned through behaviorist principles only.”
- “Language knowledge and abilities are innate.”

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5
Q

Psycholinguistics

A

Cognitive psychology + linguistics (+ cognitive neuroscience)
- Cognitive & neural mechanisms in understanding, expressing, and learning language
- Language comprehension, production, acquisition
- Representation (storage) and real-time processing

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6
Q

Units of Language

A

Generated -> Stored
1. Phonemes
2. Words
3. Sentences
4. Discourse

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7
Q

Phonemes

A
  1. Phonology
    - Combining speech sounds into words
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8
Q

Words

A
  1. Morphology
    - Combining units of meaning into words (Affix)
  2. Semantics: Assigning literal meaning
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9
Q

Sentences

A
  1. Semantics
    - Assigning literal meaning
  2. Syntax
    - Combining words into sentences
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10
Q

Discourse

A
  1. Pragmatics
    - Assigning situational meaning in context of discourse
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11
Q

Language Comprehension System

A
  1. Input
  2. Language perception: Sensory
  3. Word recognition: hear and retrieve
  4. Syntactic parsing: structure
  5. Semantic & pragmatic analysis
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12
Q

Ambiguities in Language

A
  1. Phonemes
  2. Words
  3. Sentences
  4. Discourse
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13
Q

Ambiguities in Language: Phonemes

A
  • Coarticulation
  • Variations in accents, talking speed, noise
  • E.g. “Got a long list of Starbucks lovers”
  • Phonemes do not appear as separate chunks
  • Yet we usually perceive speech correctly
  • The brain somehow extract the right word
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14
Q

Ambiguities in Language: Words

A
  • Continuous stream of phonemes in the speech signal
  • Segmentation problem
  • More than one meaning
    E.g. bat, bark
  • No clear space between words the brain has to determine the distinction
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15
Q

Ambiguities in Language: Sentences

A
  • More than one meaning
  • Due to ambiguous structure (syntax)
  • E.g. Government plans to raise taxes failed
  • Miners refuse to work after death
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16
Q

Ambiguities in Language: Discourse

A
  • Meaning changes, depending on context
  • Inferring meaning that wasn’t directly said or written
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17
Q

Speech Perception

A
  1. Categorical Perception
  2. Prior Knowledge & Contextual Cues
  3. Phoneme Restoration Effect
  4. Visual Cues: McGurk Effect
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18
Q

Categorical Perception

A
  • To deal with coarticulation and immense variations in the speech signal…
  • Categorical perception of phonemes helps us mentally perceive varied acoustic patterns as discrete, separate categories of phonemes
  • The brain perception is categorical that helps solve ambiguity
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19
Q

Prior Knowledge & Contextual Cues

A

Top-down
- Knowledge and meaning
- Especially when the speech input is ambiguous, degraded, or noisy

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20
Q

Phoneme Restoration Effect

A

The brain restores the missing phoneme
- Silence -> missing/no restoration
- White noise -> clear speech/restoration

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21
Q

Visual Cues: McGurk Effect

A

Rely on visual articulatory information in speech perception
- When there is an ambiguous signal

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22
Q

Word Processing

A
  1. Mental Lexicon
  2. Semantic Network Theory
  3. Embodied Cognition
  4. Hubs-and-Spokes Model
23
Q

Mental Lexicon

A

Stored representations of all the words a person knows, in their long-term memory
- Pronunciation, spelling, part of speech
- Meaning pointer (meanings are stored in a separate semantic network)
- TRACE model of auditory word
recognition
- Connectionist, interactive architecture
- Words and semantics are store in the different brain unit but at the end somehow cooperate

24
Q

Semantic Network Theory

A

Concepts are represented in NODES, which are connected by LINKS (relationships)
- Meaning is based on physical features or similar things

25
Q

Spreading activation

A

Activity at one node spreads to other nodes through links
- Automatic and fast
- Decreases in proportion to distance travelled
- Apple -> Pear = Faster
- Apple -> Red -> Roses = Slower

26
Q

Criticism of Semantic Network Theory

A

Abstract view of meaning which embodied cognition approach suggest that meaning should use more of…
- Perceptual experience and
- Motor cortex or
- Interaction of the concept
- Not just abstract
- But with experience through 5 senses

27
Q

Embodied Cognition

A

Words (symbols) and stored and learned through the perceptual experience of interacting with that concept
- E.g. APPLE
- Round-ish shape
- Usually red or green color
- A specific, sweet and fruity smell
- Sweet-sour taste

28
Q

Hubs-and-Spokes Model

A

Storage and processing of word meanings in the brain
- Abstract + embodied representations
1) Abstract, amodal ‘hub’ (anterior temporal lobes)
2) Embodied semantics (distributed brain areas)
- E.g. Thunder sound activates other memory like what thunder sounds like

29
Q

Sentence Processing

A
  1. Syntactic parsing
  2. Syntactic ambiguity
30
Q

Syntactic Parsing

A

Constructing a syntactic structure from the words of the sentence, while you are hearing/reading
- Need to select a sentence interpretation
- Who did what to whom? (Where, when, how, why?)

31
Q

Types of Syntactic Ambiguity

A
  1. Global
  2. Temporary
32
Q

Global Syntactic Ambiguity

A

Overall meaning of sentence is ambiguous, even after reading the entire sentence
- Reason: at least 2 possible syntactic structures in your mind
- E.g. “The professor said on Monday he would give an exam.”

33
Q

Temporary Syntactic Ambiguity

A

Sentence is initially ambiguous, but at the end there’s only 1 grammatical meaning
- Garden-path sentences

34
Q

Garden-path Sentences

A

Temporarily ambiguous sentences that bias you towards a certain interpretation, which turns out to be wrong
- E.g. “The horse raced past the barn fell”

35
Q

Costs of Syntactic Ambiguity

A
  1. Offline Processing: Subtle syntax
    - E.g. “The horse raced past the barn fell”
  2. Online Processing: Visible syntax
    - E.g. “While Mary dressed, the baby played in the crib”
36
Q

Ambiguous region: “While Mary dressed the baby played in the crib.”

A
  • “baby” = Object of current phrase
  • “baby” = Subject of new phrase
37
Q

Disambiguating region: “While Mary dressed the baby played in the crib.”

A
  • A verb, which needs a Subject!
  • Need to fix the phrase structure
38
Q

Principles of Online Sentence Processing

A
  1. Immediacy principle & incremental processing strategy
  2. Cognitive system needs to fix the initially-wrong interpretation
39
Q

Immediacy Principle & Incremental Processing Strategy

A
  • Interpret as much as possible, as soon as possible
  • Use partial information to select 1 interpretation
  • Don’t wait until you have all info from entire sentence
40
Q

Cognitive system needs to fix the initially-wrong interpretation

A
  • Initial interpretation: “baby” as Object of the verb “dressing”
  • No place to attach the verb “play” !
  • New interpretation: Move “baby” to be the Subject of the verb “play”
41
Q

Discourse Processing

A

Construction-Integration Theory

42
Q

Construction-Integration Theory

A

3 types of mental representations in processing cycles in working memory
1) Surface form
2) Text base
3) Situation model
- Create propositions
- Activate knowledge from LTM
- Connect propositions together & to the preceding text

43
Q

Surface Form

A

Syntactic parsing
- Verbatim
- Precise, but short-lived

44
Q

Text Base

A

Create propositions
- Abstract representation of event (with truth value)
- Predicate [agent, recipient, theme]
- Propositional approach to mental imagery

45
Q

Situation Model

A

Building connections + Inferencing + Seeking coherence
- Meaning of overall discourse

46
Q

Higher Number of Propositions

A

Lower amount and accuracy of recall

47
Q

Inferencing

A

Essential to comprehension
- Use world knowledge to add information to situation model
- Information that was NOT directly stated in text
- E.g., missing link between 2
propositions

48
Q

Common Types of Inferences

A
  1. Causal
  2. Bridging
  3. Instrument
  4. Elaborative
  5. Goal
49
Q

Causal Inferences

A

The delicate vase fell from the shelf.
Inference: It broke.

50
Q

Bridging Inferences

A

Timmy was riding his bike. He came home covered with bruises.
Inference: Timmy fell off his bike.

51
Q

Instrument Inferences

A

The woman stirred her coffee.
Inference: She used a spoon.

52
Q

Elaborative Inferences

A

Dan ate 20 plates of sushi.
Inference: Dan likes sushi.

53
Q

Goal Inferences

A

Jan left early for the birthday party. She stopped at the mall on the way.
Inference: Jan wanted to buy a birthday gift.

54
Q

Seeking Coherence

A

Incoherence makes texts difficult to comprehend
- More reading time

Foundation of Cognition (15 decks)

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