Siyun Liu - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Siyun Liu

In tone languages, the identity of a word depends on its tone pattern as well as its phonetic str... more In tone languages, the identity of a word depends on its tone pattern
as well as its phonetic structure. The primary cue to tone identity
is the fundamental frequency (F0) contour. Two experiments explore
how listeners perceive Mandarin monosyllables in which all or part
of the F0 information has been neutralized. In Experiment 1,
supposedly critical portions of the tonal pattern were neutralized
with signal processing techniques, yet identification of the tonal
pattern remained quite good. In Experiment 2, even more drastic removal of tonal information was tested, using stimuli whispered by Mandarin speakers, or signal processed to remove the pitch cues. Again, performance was surprisingly good, showing that listeners can use secondary cues when the primary cue is unavailable. Moreover, a
comparison of tone perception of naturally whispered monosyllables and the signal processed ones suggests that Mandarin speakers promote the utility of secondary cues when they know that the primary cue will be unavailable. The flexible use of cues to tone in Mandarin is similar to the flexibility that has been found in the production and
perception of cues to phonetic identity in Western languages.

The current study pursues Ye & Connine’s (1999) suggestion that tonal information is much more im... more The current study pursues Ye & Connine’s (1999) suggestion that tonal
information is much more important when words are presented in context, than in isolation. Disyllabic Mandarin words were either presented normally, or with changes in their segmental and/or tonal structure. Critically, these items were presented in isolation, in sentence context, and in idioms; previous studies have not examined these issues in sentential context. In Experiment 1, native Mandarin speakers made lexical decisions about these items. In Experiment 2, the critical stimuli were presented in white noise, and the listeners’ task was to detect the vowels and the tones of the stimuli. The results supported a more
important role for tonal cues when the stimulus is presented in context than when it is in isolation; this pattern depended on the task conditions, as suggested by Soto-Faraco et al. (2001), and Mattys et al. (2005).

The N400 component of ERP implies anomalous processing in language semantics, its amplitude refle... more The N400 component of ERP implies anomalous processing in language semantics, its amplitude reflects the difficulty of semantic integration during processing. The N400 can be used as an important index to observe how meaning is constructed under discourse context. Discourse context can be categorized into linguistic context and nonlinguistic context. Previous studies on discourse processes using the N400 indicated that the linguistic context plays a constraining and coordinating role in sentence comprehension, which were found to specifically function in aspects of semantic priming in words, scenario goodness-of-fit, text message and causal inference; whereas the nonlinguistic context plays a constraining and complementary role in sentence comprehension, with its functional mechanism not known very well. The semantic information from the two different sources may probably be processed in parallel during the on-line comprehension.

Precategorical acoustic storage (PAS) is described as a limited capacity buffer store in which ac... more Precategorical acoustic storage (PAS) is described as a limited capacity buffer store in which acoustic traces are overwritten by successive auditory events. The goal of this study is to extend the function of PAS by investigating whether the recency effect and the suffix effect could also be found when Mandarin lexical tones and emotional tones are recalled in a serial order. Four experiments were conducted. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were asked to recall lexical tones in a serial order. In these experiments, the recency effect and the suffix effect were found. In Experiments 3 and 4, emotional tones were required to be recalled in a serial order. Both effects were also found. The results of our current study suggest that lexical tones and emotional tones are
represented independently in PAS, but their representation status is affected by the attributes of suffix. The results also implied that representations of Mandarin pitch patterns were not as stable as segmental fragments, revealing their special status in short-term memory processing. A serial of lexical tones served as experimental stimuli in Experiments 1 and 2. In Experiment 1, 20 undergraduates were required to give immediate serial recall of the lexical tones presented auditorily via speech. In Experiment 2, a suffix was presented at the end of each serial of lexical tones. Another 20 undergraduates were asked to verbally report the serial as soon as the suffix disappeared. In that lexical tones have a close relationship with vowels, four types of suffixes were prepared at the end of each serial and were further compared with the results of Experiment 1. The results of the two experiments indicated that lexical tones, regardless of suffix type, showed a similar recency effect and suffix effect as vowels in serial recall performance. These findings imply a representation in PAS. A serial of emotional tones served as experimental stimuli in Experiments 3 and 4, which aimed to discover whether emotional tones also show the recency effect and the suffix effect, thus represented in PAS as well. The suffix in Experiment 4 was either consistent or inconsistent with the final item’s emotional information. The results of Experiment 3 indicated that emotional tones reveal a recency effect in the serial recall task. The results of Experiment 4 were compared with those of Experiment 3, and it was found that emotional tones had the suffix effect only when the emotional information of the suffix was inconsistent with that of the final item. The
relationship between the suffix and the final item may be a critical factor that causes the suffix effect. Our results are consistent with the notion that PAS, as a sensory memory system, is a storage that can represent and process various aspects of speech information in a similar way. Further implications of our findings are also discussed in terms of specific attributes of lexical tones and emotional tones.

The goal of this study is to investigate whether different types of structures and lexical tones ... more The goal of this study is to investigate whether different types of structures and lexical tones of Chinese characters cause different processing fluency. In Experiment 1, partici-pants' explicit affective assessments of Chinese characters with different structures, frequencies , and lexical tones were analyzed. Results indicated that participants showed explicit preferences and dispreferences to different structures and lexical tones. In Experiment 2, participants' implicit responses to different structures and lexical tones were investigated using a metaphor experimental paradigm. Results were consistent with the major findings of Experiment 1. In Experiments 3 and 4, participants' recognition of words of different structures and lexical tones were analyzed. Results revealed that participants had a better memory for Surround structure characters when stimuli were visually presented and for Tone 3 when stimuli were auditorily presented. Finally, the significance and implications of this study are discussed.

Previous research has found that a speaker's native phonological system has a great influence on ... more Previous research has found that a speaker's native phonological system has a great influence on perception of another language. In three experiments, we tested the perception and representation of Mandarin phonological contrasts by Guangzhou Cantonese speakers, and compared their performance to that of native Mandarin speakers. Despite their rich experience using Mandarin Chinese, the Cantonese speakers had problems distinguishing specific Mandarin segmental and tonal contrasts that do not exist in Guangzhou Cantonese. However, we found evidence that the subtle differences between two members of a contrast were nonetheless represented in the lexicon. We also found different processing patterns for non-native segmental vs. non-native tonal contrasts. The results provide substantial new information about the representation and processing of segmental and prosodic information by individuals listening to a closely-related, very well-learned, but still non-native language.

Phonological similarity effect and visual similarity effect are two typical effects found in imme... more Phonological similarity effect and visual similarity effect are two typical effects found in immediate serial recalls. Previous studies have proposed several theoretical models about the two effects, but no consensus on the processing mechanism of the two effects has been obtained. On the other hand, most previous research used alphabetic languages to investigate the phonological similarity effect, and used pictures and faces for visual similarity effect. Very few studies have investigated the interaction of the two effects. The orthographic features
of Chinese make Chinese language a perfect material to observe the interaction of phonological and visual similarity effects. Two experiments were conducted in this study: 1) in Experiment 1, the phonological and visual similarity of Chinese characters were manipulated in the immediate serial recall. Results showed that the phonological similarity effect was significant, and so was the interaction of the phonological and visual similarity effects. However, when the phonological information of the to-be-remembered items were similar, the visual similarity of the items improved the immediate serial recall; when the phonological information was dissimilar, the visual similarity of the items interfered the performance of the participants. 2) in Experiment 2, a mixed list was used in the immediate serial recall. Results indicated that both a phonological similarity effect and a reversed visual similarity effect were found, but not an interaction between the two. In addition, in the mixed list, the recall of the dissimilar items were not influenced by the similar ones; however, when the mixed list were visually manipulated, the dissimilar items were improved by the similar ones, which is exactly the mixed list advantage effect. In summary, current findings of the phonological similarity effect, the visual similarity effect, the interaction of the two effects, and the mixed list advantage effect in Chinese immediate serial recall helped us further understand the short-term memory processings underpinning performances of the tasks, and gave prominence of Chinese language in contribution to the studies of short-term memory.

This is a review paper. Synesthesia is the simultaneous perception of different senses. There a... more This is a review paper.

Synesthesia is the simultaneous perception of different senses. There are strong synesthesia and weak synesthesia, with the former referring to explicit consciousness of a second sense perception and the
latter to implicit feelings evoked by word descriptions of cross-modal sensories. Previous studies have found different types of strong synesthesia and provided evidence for many of these types by presenting various related activated brain areas. Reserachers attemped to explain the brain mechanisms of strong synesthesia by suggesting several corresponding theorietical models from the perspectives of either brain structure or cognitive processing. Furthermore, this article also reviewed the relationship between strong synesthesia and
other cognitive processes (e.g., attention, memory, creation), discussed the current research status about weak synesthesia, and suggested the future research trend in synesthesia.

Two major different approaches have been held when researchers study higher level cognitive proce... more Two major different approaches have been held when researchers study higher level cognitive processes. The classic symbolic approach suggested that our higher level cognitive processing belongs to an independent system from that of lower level cognitive processes; whereas embodied cognition theory proposed that our conceptual knowledge is grounded in our sensorimotor systems and shares common neural systems with them. Up till now, a growing number of behavioral and neurological data have provided supporting evidence for
embodied cognition theory. In this study, we explored whether different degree of cyber-experience would affect higher level of cognitive processing. Three experiments were designed to investigate the impacts of cyber-experience on the processing of facial expression verbs, body action verbs and action schema verbs. In Experiment 1, two experimental groups of participants were presented with facial expression verbs while their facial positive expressive capability was either facilitated or inhibited. Results showed that participants who had excessive cyber experiences showed no different performance under two different facial muscle controlling conditions, while the participants with less cyber experience recognized positive facial verbs more quickly under facilitated condition than that under inhibited condition. In Experiment 2, the switching costs paradigm was used to explore
the impact of cyber-experience on body action verb processing. Results showed that the participants with excessive cyber experience did not show any cost while they switched between verbs and nouns, but the
participants with less cyber experience showed significant cognitive cost while switching. In Experiment 3, the serial recall experimental paradigm was applied to explore the impact of cyber-experience on action schema verb processing. Results showed that the excessive cyber-experience participants’ recall performance of the action schemas verbs was no different between logic sequence and random sequence conditions, whereas those with less cyber-experience showed significantly worse performance in random sequence condition than that in logic sequence condition. In summary, current findings suggested that excessive cyber behaviors may hurt individuals’ higher level of cognitive processing, in that their verb processing may be weakened or delayed as a result of less normal conceptual representations. Our study also provided supportive evidence for the close relationship between the
sensorimotor systems and the higher level of conceptual processing.

Categorical perception is one of the most basic cognitive processes of human beings. When humans ... more Categorical perception is one of the most basic cognitive processes of human beings. When humans process incoming information, categorization help them further clarify and simplify the sophisticated inputs. The categorical perception effect refers to the phenomenon that individuals will respond faster or more accurately when discriminating two stimuli that cross a category boundary than when discriminating two stimuli from the same category, despite between- and within-category stimuli being equated in distance (Bornstein & Korda,
1984). However, inconsistent evidence has been obtained from previous studies on how language would influence categorical perception. The language label theory suggested that the language label is a cue that helps individuals to categorize information unconsciously and automatically; whereas perceptual feature theory suggested that categorical perception is based on a pure perceptual process, which arises from life experiences that eventually changes the mappings of perceptual neurons. The current study systematically investigates how language labels would interact with self-reference factor to play a mutual role on new object categorical perception. The hypothesis of this study is that language labels are not the only important factors that would influence categorical perception, other social or personality factors
may also play a role, but it is not sure whether language labels would play a more important role. In this study, three experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, a 2 (language label learning times: more vs. less) x 2 (object category: between vs. within) x 2 (visual field: left vs. right) mixed experiment was designed, and it is found that only the participants who have learned the labels for more times showed a significant right visual field advantage effect. In Experiment 2, a 2 (object self-reference connection: tight vs. loose) × 2 (object category: between vs. within) × 2 (visual field: left vs. right) mixed experiment was designed. This time, all the participants learned the language labels for only twice. As a result, it is found that only the participants who had
built a tight self-reference connection with the new object revealed a significant categorical perception effect, however, on both left- and right-visual fields. Furthermore, higher level of self-reference made the participants show a better discriminating ability for between-category objects, but not for within-category objects. In Experiment 3, a 2 (object self-reference connection: tight vs. loose) × 2 (object category: between vs. within) × 2 (visual field: left vs. right) mixed experiment was designed. This time all the participants learned the language labels for seven times. As a result, it is found that under higher level representation of language labels, both language label and the self-reference play a role on categorical perception. In summary, this study revealed an important and complicated role of language labels on categorical perception, and a nonetheless very important influence of self-reference as well.

The pioneer work on the irrelevant speech effect (ISE) can be traced back at Colle and Welsh’s re... more The pioneer work on the irrelevant speech effect (ISE) can be traced back at Colle and Welsh’s report in 1976, and since then many behavioral and neuropsychological experiments have been carried out on this topic.
In previous studies, the ISE refers to, compared to a silent-control condition, the disruption of serial recall due to the presentation of auditory distractors. To date, there are many models to explain ISE which have made great progress, such as phonological store hypothesis, changing state hypothesis, feature model and so on. However, most of the work were based on the working memory model, and none of them could satisfactorily explain the discrepancies among different models. And there are ongoing debates on how attention plays a role in the ISE. In the current study, we shifted the observed window to the earliest stage of visual perception (visual awareness or consciousness) and aimed to find out if the irrelevant speech would influence visual information processing earlier than in the memory stage.
Three experiments were conducted in this study. All the participants were required to detect the target stimulus which was presented near subjective threshold under three different acoustic conditions. In Experiment 1, a 3 (the type of the irrelevant speech: monosyllabic word vs. pure tone vs. silence) × 3 (the type of picture: gray solid circle vs. cartoon face vs. cartoon clock) mix design was implemented. In Experiment 2, a 3 (the type of the irrelevant speech: monosyllabic word vs. pure tone vs. silence) × 2 (the type of picture: real face vs. real
house) within-subject design was implemented. In Experiment 3, in order to examine the neural correlates of the irrelevant speech effect that was found in the previous two experiments, a single factor with 3 levels of the irrelevant sound background (monosyllabic word vs. pure tone vs. silence) were designed and the corresponding event-related potentials (VAN) were recorded. All the behavioral results were analyzed according to the Signal Detection Theory. The results in Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that the irrelevant speech did impair participants’ behavioral performances in the visual awareness task. The ERP results in Experiments 3 were in line with those of Experiments 1 and 2 in that
the visual awareness negativity (VAN) around 200ms disappeared under the condition of irrelevant speech, whereas not under the condition of pure tone or silence. In summary, it is concluded that the irrelevant speech damages visual awareness, and this damage was not on the content of visual awareness, nor on the concurrent attentional mechanism.

This is a review paper. Synesthesia is the simultaneous perception of different senses. There a... more This is a review paper.