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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
Spreading activation
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
Criticism of Semantic Network Theory
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
Embodied Cognition
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
Hubs-and-Spokes Model
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
Sentence Processing
1. Syntactic parsing 2. Syntactic ambiguity
30
Syntactic Parsing
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
Types of Syntactic Ambiguity
1. Global 2. Temporary
32
Global Syntactic Ambiguity
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
Temporary Syntactic Ambiguity
Sentence is initially ambiguous, but at the end there’s only 1 grammatical meaning - Garden-path sentences
34
Garden-path Sentences
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
Costs of Syntactic Ambiguity
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
Ambiguous region: "While Mary dressed the baby played in the crib."
- “baby” = Object of current phrase - “baby” = Subject of new phrase
37
Disambiguating region: "While Mary dressed the baby played in the crib."
- A verb, which needs a Subject! - Need to fix the phrase structure
38
Principles of Online Sentence Processing
1. Immediacy principle & incremental processing strategy 2. Cognitive system needs to fix the initially-wrong interpretation
39
Immediacy Principle & Incremental Processing Strategy
- 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
Cognitive system needs to fix the initially-wrong interpretation
- 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
Discourse Processing
Construction-Integration Theory
42
Construction-Integration Theory
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
Surface Form
Syntactic parsing - Verbatim - Precise, but short-lived
44
Text Base
Create propositions - Abstract representation of event (with truth value) - Predicate [agent, recipient, theme] - Propositional approach to mental imagery
45
Situation Model
Building connections + Inferencing + Seeking coherence - Meaning of overall discourse
46
Higher Number of Propositions
Lower amount and accuracy of recall
47
Inferencing
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
Common Types of Inferences
1. Causal 2. Bridging 3. Instrument 4. Elaborative 5. Goal
49
Causal Inferences
The delicate vase fell from the shelf. Inference: It broke.
50
Bridging Inferences
Timmy was riding his bike. He came home covered with bruises. Inference: Timmy fell off his bike.
51
Instrument Inferences
The woman stirred her coffee. Inference: She used a spoon.
52
Elaborative Inferences
Dan ate 20 plates of sushi. Inference: Dan likes sushi.
53
Goal Inferences
Jan left early for the birthday party. She stopped at the mall on the way. Inference: Jan wanted to buy a birthday gift.
54
Seeking Coherence
Incoherence makes texts difficult to comprehend - More reading time

Foundation of Cognition (15 decks)

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