Visual World Paradigm Research Papers (original) (raw)

Traditional language acquisition research that employs offline tasks, such as act-out, pointing, sentence-picture matching, truth-value and grammaticality judgments, has established that children up to the age of 6 make mistakes in the... more

Traditional language acquisition research that employs offline tasks, such as act-out, pointing, sentence-picture matching, truth-value and grammaticality judgments, has established that children up to the age of 6 make mistakes in the comprehension of anaphoric expressions. With the adaptation of the Visual World Eye-Tracking Paradigm (VWP) for language acquisition, it has become possible to investigate the interpretation of anaphoric expressions in children in real time to gain a better understanding of the development of pronominal reference. This chapter provides an overview of the VWP studies of 3- to 9-year-old children’s comprehension of reflexives and personal pronouns in terms of various linguistic constraints and their interaction. There is a developmental trajectory of such constraints, with morphological (gender) and lexico-semantic (verb transitivity) constraints being acquired first, followed by syntactic constraints (Principles A and B of the Binding Theory). Discourse-level constraints, such as information structure and order-of-mention, develop last and often need to be present in combination for children to apply them online.

In the theoretical framework of this paper, attention is part of the inference process that solves the visual recognition problem of what is where. The theory proposes a computational role for attention and leads to a model that predicts... more

In the theoretical framework of this paper, attention is part of the inference process that solves the visual recognition problem of what is where. The theory proposes a computational role for attention and leads to a model that predicts some of its main properties at the level of psychophysics and physiology. In our approach, the main goal of the visual system is to infer the identity and the position of objects in visual scenes: spatial attention emerges as a strategy to reduce the uncertainty in shape information while feature-based attention reduces the uncertainty in spatial information. Featural and spatial attention represent two distinct modes of a computational process solving the problem of recognizing and localizing objects, especially in difficult recognition tasks such as in cluttered natural scenes.

Background: Individuals with agrammatic aphasia (IWAs) have problems with grammatical decoding of tense inflection. However, these difficulties depend on the time frame that the tense refers to. Verb morphology with reference to the past... more

Background: Individuals with agrammatic aphasia (IWAs) have problems with grammatical decoding of tense inflection. However, these difficulties depend on the time frame that the tense refers to. Verb morphology with reference to the past is more difficult than with reference to the non-past, because a link needs to be made to the past event in discourse, as captured in the Past DIscourse LInking Hypothesis (PADILIH; Bastiaanse et al., 2011). With respect to reference to the (non-discourse-linked) future, data so far indicate that IWAs experience less difficulties as compared to past time reference (Bastiaanse et al., 2011), supporting the assumptions of the PADILIH. Previous online studies of time reference in aphasia used methods such as reaction times analysis (e.g., Faroqi-Shah & Dickey, 2009). So far, no such study used eye-tracking, even though this technique can bring additional insights (Burchert, Hanne, & Vasishth, 2013).
Aims: This study investigated (1) whether processing of future and past time reference inflection differs between non-brain-damaged individuals (NBDs) and IWAs, and (2) underlying mechanisms of time reference comprehension failure by IWAs.
Methods and Procedures: A visual-world experiment combining sentence-picture matching and eye-tracking was administered to 12 NBDs and 6 IWAs, all native speakers of German. Participants heard German sentences with periphrastic future (‘will + V’) or periphrastic past (‘has + V-d’) verb forms while they were presented with corresponding pictures on a computer screen.
Results and discussion: NBDs scored at ceiling and significantly higher than the IWAs. IWAs had below-ceiling performance on the future condition, and both participant groups were faster to respond to the past than to the future condition. These differences are attributed to a pre-existing preference to look at a past picture, which has to be overcome. Eye movement patterns suggest that both groups interpret future time reference similarly, while IWAs show a delay relative to NBDs in interpreting past time reference inflection. The eye tracking results support the PADILIH, because processing reference to the past in discourse syntax requires additional resources and, thus, is problematic and delayed for people with aphasia.

Since Bott and Noveck (2004), there has been an ongoing discussion about whether scalar implicatures are delayed in online processing relative to literal meaning. Bott and Noveck (2004) provided Reaction Time evidence for such a delay,... more

Since Bott and Noveck (2004), there has been an ongoing discussion about whether scalar implicatures are delayed in online processing relative to literal meaning. Bott and Noveck (2004) provided Reaction Time evidence for such a delay, replicated in a number of later variations of their study (e.g., Bott et al., 2012). Breheny et al. (2006) found corresponding delays in self- paced reading. More recently, the issue has been investigated using the visual world paradigm, where results have been more mixed. Huang and Snedeker (2009, and subsequent work) have found delays for eye movements based on the ‘not all’ implicature of ‘some.’ But various others, (e.g., Grodner et al. (2010), Breheny et al. (2013), and Degen and Tanenhaus (2011)), report results which they argue show that implicatures are available immediately. Schwarz et al. (2015) added another angle to this picture, by using a sentence picture matching task using a Covered Picture (or Covered Box; henceforth CB; Huang et al., 2013), that allowed RT comparisons both within ac- ceptance (target) and rejection (CB) responses. While replicating the delay for implicature-based rejection responses, they find the reverse pattern for acceptance responses, with faster RTs for implicature-compatible conditions. They propose that delays associated with literal acceptances and implicature-based rejections result from a conflict between the two possible interpretations, rather than reflecting a cost of implicature-calculation. The present experiment extends this ap- proach beyond RTs by combining Visual World eye-tracking with the CB paradigm. The results a) are consistent with the notion that both literal and implicature interpretations are available in par- allel; b) show that literal acceptances are nonetheless only provided reluctantly, presumably due to a preference for implicature meanings, in line with Schwarz et al’s proposal; and c) suggest that for both literal acceptances and implicature-based rejections, there is a competition effect between the two interpretations. In addition, the RT data display an implicature-based block-priming effect, suggesting that the resolution of this conflict can be sped up through repeated task-exposure.

In this chapter we review eye-tracking methodology as a way to investigate aspects of implicit and explicit L2 processing, given that the research context allows one to do so. We begin by briefly reviewing the L1 eye-tracking research of... more

In this chapter we review eye-tracking methodology as a way to investigate aspects of implicit and explicit L2 processing, given that the research context allows one to do so. We begin by briefly reviewing the L1 eye-tracking research of psychologists and cognitive scientists whose work provided (and continues to provide) a strong foundation for subsequent and now burgeoning L2 eye- movement studies. We discuss how eye-movement records can be used to investigate the workings of the language-processing system, which in adult L2 learners is often fraught with processing difficulties that can give rise to longer or more frequent fixations and rereading. We explain the premise that longer fixations and more regressions, as compared to baseline data, indicate more
effortful processing and, in some research designs, more attention. However, the resolution (successful or not, remembered or abandoned) of that processing is not specified through the eye-movement record. Following that premise, we outline how L2 researchers use eye-tracking data to investigate bilingualism’s effects
on language access and processing. We also review eye-movement research by applied linguists who have investigated L2 knowledge, processing, and implicit or explicit learning conditions. We conclude by recommending that researchers triangulate their eye-movement data with offline or other online measures
to provide more nuanced insights into the nature and effects of L2 learners’ processing, whether implicit or explicit and conducive to L2 development or not. In this way, future SLA researchers can employ eye trackers to robustly investigate L2 learning from an implicit vs. explicit perspective.

Bilinguals learn to resolve conflict between their two languages and that skill has been hypothesized to create long-term adaptive changes in cognitive functioning. Yet, little is known about how bilinguals recruit cognitive control to... more

Bilinguals learn to resolve conflict between their two languages and that skill has been hypothesized to create long-term adaptive changes in cognitive functioning. Yet, little is known about how bilinguals recruit cognitive control to enable efficient use of one of their languages, especially in the less skilled and more effortful second language (L2). Here we examined how real-time cognitive control engagement influences L2 sentence comprehension (i.e., conflict adaptation). We tested a group of English monolinguals and a group of L2 English speakers using a recently-developed cross-task adaptation paradigm. Stroop sequences were pseudo-randomly interleaved with a visual-world paradigm in which participants were asked to carry out spoken instructions that were either syntactically ambiguous or unambiguous. Consistent with previous research, eye-movement results showed that Stroop-related conflict improved the ability to engage correct-goal interpretations, and disengage incorrect-goal interpretations, during ambiguous instructions. Such cognitive-to-language modulations were similar in both groups, but only in the engagement piece. In the disengagement portion, the modulation emerged earlier in bilinguals than in monolinguals, suggesting group differences in attentional disengagement following cognitive control recruitment. Additionally, incorrect-goal eye-movements were modulated by individual differences in working memory, although differently for each group, suggesting an involvement of both language-specific and domain-general resources.

Studies on young children’s online comprehension of pronominal reference suggests that children follow similar syntactic, semantic and discourse constraints as adults. However, the observed effects are less stable and appear much later in... more

Studies on young children’s online comprehension of pronominal reference suggests that children follow similar syntactic, semantic and discourse constraints as adults. However, the observed effects are less stable and appear much later in the eye-movement record than in adults. It is not clear whether this is because children are cued by a different set of factors than adults; or whether children use the same set of constraints, like subjecthood or first mention, but the delay is caused by the developmental stage in which these cues are not yet fully acquired. We added an information structure cue (focus) and asked whether it affects syntactically more- or less-salient discourse referents (subjects/objects) the same way and shows a similar pattern in adults and children or whether it modulates the reliance on syntactic salience in children. Four-year-old German children and adults listened to stories with focused or unfocused syntactically prominent and non-prominent entities, subjects and objects, while we registered their eye movements to visually presented antecedents for ambiguous pronouns. Syntactic and information structural prominence interacted for children: focusing increased the looks to the syntactically salient subject antecedents, but not to the syntactically less salient object antecedents. This suggests that clefting helps children to locate the preferred antecedent. Adults’ pronoun resolution in contrast was not modulated by clefting in a clear way. Instead, they showed an overall effect of syntactic prominence. Our study suggests that children and adults are sensitive to the same structural cues in reference resolution but that these constraints may not yet be fully acquired. The process may be enhanced, but not modified, with additional cues such as clefts.

Νο Ονοματεπώνυμο Α.Μ. 1 ΠΑΠΑΣΤΕΦΑΝΗΣ ΕΠΑΜΕΙΝΩΝΔΑΣ 64210 2 ΠΑΠΑΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ 64198 3 ΠΑΠΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΧΑΡΙΚΛΕΙΑ 64196 4 ΠΑΣΠΑΤΗΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ 64230 ΣΧΟΛΙΑ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΚΑΘΗΓΗΤΗ Υπεύθυνη Δήλωση Φοιτητή: Βεβαιώνω ότι είμαι συγγραφέας αυτής της... more

Νο Ονοματεπώνυμο Α.Μ. 1 ΠΑΠΑΣΤΕΦΑΝΗΣ ΕΠΑΜΕΙΝΩΝΔΑΣ 64210 2 ΠΑΠΑΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ 64198 3 ΠΑΠΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΧΑΡΙΚΛΕΙΑ 64196 4 ΠΑΣΠΑΤΗΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ 64230 ΣΧΟΛΙΑ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΚΑΘΗΓΗΤΗ Υπεύθυνη Δήλωση Φοιτητή: Βεβαιώνω ότι είμαι συγγραφέας αυτής της εργασίας και ότι κάθε βοήθεια την οποία είχα για την προετοιμασία αυτής της εργασίας, είναι πλήρως αναγνωρισμένη και αναφέρεται, είτε στο σημείο «Σχόλια προς καθηγητή», είτε μέσα στην εργασία. Επίσης, έχω αναφέρει τις όποιες πηγές από τις οποίες έκανα χρήση δεδομένων, ιδεών ή λέξεων, είτε αυτές αναφέρονται ακριβώς, είτε παραφρασμένες. Επίσης, βεβαιώνω ότι αυτή η εργασία προετοιμάστηκε από εμένα προσωπικά ειδικά για τη συγκεκριμένη Θεματική Ενότητα. Συμφωνώ και αποδέχομαι την ανωτέρω δήλωση Δε συμφωνώ και δεν αποδέχομαι την ανωτέρω δήλωση (στην περίπτωση αυτή, ο Κ-Σ έχει δικαίωμα να μην αξιολογήσει την εργασία του φοιτητή) Ημερομηνία ανακοίνωσης εργασίας: 1/2/2013 Ημερομηνία παράδοσης εργασίας: 24/2/2013 Καταληκτική ημερομηνία παραλαβής: 26/2/2013 Καταληκτική ημερομηνία παραλαβής σε περίπτωση καθυστερημένης παράδοσης: 3/3/2013

Accumulating evidence suggests that time-pressured form-focused tasks like grammaticality judgment tests (GJTs) can measure second language (L2) implicit knowledge. The current paper, however, proposes that these tasks draw on automatized... more

Accumulating evidence suggests that time-pressured form-focused tasks like grammaticality judgment tests (GJTs) can measure second language (L2) implicit knowledge. The current paper, however, proposes that these tasks draw on automatized explicit knowledge. A battery of six grammar tests was designed to distinguish automatized explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge. While three time-pressured form-focused tasks (an auditory GJT, a visual GJT, and a fill-in-the-blank test) were hypothesized to measure automatized explicit knowledge, three real-time comprehension tasks (a visual-world task, a word-monitoring task, and a self-paced reading task) were hypothesized to measure implicit knowledge. One hundred advanced L2 Japanese learners with L1 Chinese residing in Japan took all six tests. Confirmatory factor analysis and multi-trait multi-method analysis provided an array of evidence supporting that these tests assessed two types of linguistic knowledge separately with little influence from the method effects. Results analyzed separately by length of residence in Japan (a proxy for the amount of naturalistic L2 exposure) showed that learners with longer residence in Japan can draw on implicit knowledge in the real-time comprehension tasks with more stability than those with shorter residence. These findings indicate the potential of finely tuned real-time comprehension tasks as measures of implicit knowledge.

One focus of work on the processing of linguistic meaning has been the relative processing speed of different aspects of meaning. While much early work has focused on implicatures in comparison to literal asserted content (e.g., , among... more

One focus of work on the processing of linguistic meaning has been the relative processing speed of different aspects of meaning. While much early work has focused on implicatures in comparison to literal asserted content (e.g., , among many others), the present paper extends recent efforts to experimentally investigate another aspect of meaning, namely presuppositions. It investigates the triggers again and stop using the visual world eye tracking paradigm, and provides evidence for rapid processing of presupposed content. Our study finds no difference in timing for the two triggers, which is of theoretical relevance given proposals for distinguishing classes of triggers, such as hard vs. soft (Abusch 2010). Whatever differences between these there may be are apparently not affecting the online processing time-course. As a further comparison, again was also compared to twice, which expresses essentially the same meaning without a presupposition. Shifts in eye movements for these two cases also appear to be entirely on par, further supporting the notion that presupposed and asserted content are available in parallel early on in online processing. for their assistance with experiment implementation and data collection, and to Dorothy Ahn for providing the visual stimuli. I'd also like to acknowledge my collaborators on various related projects, including Sonja Tiemann, Jacopo Romoli, and Cory Bill. I thank both them and audiences at SALT 24 and CUNY 27 for highly useful discussions of issues related to the present paper.

Models of spoken word recognition assume that words are represented as sequences of phonemes. We evaluated this assumption by examining phonemic anadromes, words that share the same phonemes but differ in their order (e.g., sub and bus).... more

Models of spoken word recognition assume that words are represented as sequences of phonemes. We evaluated this assumption by examining phonemic anadromes, words that share the same phonemes but differ in their order (e.g., sub and bus). Using the visual-world paradigm, we found that listeners show more fixations to anadromes (e.g., sub when bus is the target) than to unrelated words (well) and to words that share the same vowel but not the same set of phonemes (sun). This contrasts with the predictions of existing models and suggests that words are not defined as strict sequences of phonemes.

The main explanations for the exceptional behavior of reflexives in ‘‘representational noun phrases’’ such as a picture of himself rely on the linguistic structure that the Binding Theory is sensitive to: either the syntactic structure... more

The main explanations for the exceptional behavior of reflexives in ‘‘representational noun phrases’’ such as a picture of himself rely on the linguistic structure that the Binding Theory is sensitive to: either the syntactic structure (Chomsky, 1986; Davies & Dubinsky, 2003) or the argument structure (Pollard & Sag, 1992; Reinhart & Reuland, 1993). We present evidence from two scene verification experiments and one visual world eye-tracking experiment supporting a possible alternative explanation that links this exceptional behavior instead to the representational use of the NPs, essentially characterizing them as a type of ‘‘near reflexive’’ or ‘‘proxy reflexive’’ (Lidz, 2001; Reuland, 2001). We sketch analyses of representational noun phrase reflexives inspired by the Jackendoff (1992), Lidz (2001) and Reuland (2001) accounts of proxy reflexives, and explore the implications of these results on the structure-only accounts of representational noun phrase reflexives mentioned above.

This study investigated the time-course of activation of orthographic information in spoken word recognition with two visual world eye-tracking experiments in a task where L2 spoken word forms had to be matched with their printed... more

This study investigated the time-course of activation of orthographic information in spoken word recognition with two visual world eye-tracking experiments in a task where L2 spoken word forms had to be matched with their printed referents. Participants (n = 64) were L1 Finnish learners of L2 French ranging from beginners to highly proficient. In Exp. 1, L2 targets (e.g. /sidʀ/) were presented with either orthographically overlapping onset competitors (e.g. /sɛt̃ ʀ/) or phonologically overlapping onset competitors ( /sikl/). In Exp. 2, L2 targets (e.g., /pom/) were associated with L1 competitors in conditions symmetric to Exp. 1 ( /pauhu/ vs. /pom:i/). In the within-language experiment (Exp. 1), the difference in target identification between the experimental conditions was not significant. In the between-language experiment (Exp. 2), orthographic information impacted the mapping more in lower proficiency learners, and this effect was observed 600ms after the target word onset. The influence of proficiency on the matching was non-linear: proficiency impacted the mapping significantly more in the lower half of the proficiency scale in both experiments. These results are discussed in terms of co-activation of orthographic and phonological information in L2 spoken word recognition.

The amount of information attached to a noun phrase (henceforth, NP) has been shown to enhance accessibility and increase pronominal reference in language production. However, both the effect of information quantity on the comprehension... more

The amount of information attached to a noun
phrase (henceforth, NP) has been shown to enhance accessibility and increase pronominal reference in language production. However, both the effect of information quantity on the comprehension of ambiguous pronouns and the time course of any informativity effect have been left unexplored. In two eyetracking experiments, we investigated how additional information on the part of NP referents influenced the resolution of following ambiguous pronouns. The results of the first experiment revealed an informativity effect, with more looks to the informationally richer referent than to the competitor. However, the effect of additional information emerged late in time when the referent was the object of the verb. The second experiment replicated the results of the first and also showed that, consistent with the online results, an ambiguous pronoun is interpreted as referring to the informationally richer NP in an offline, explicit pronoun resolution task. The results lend support to theories of language processing that assume that explicit information increases the accessibility of the associated concept, in contrast to approaches that assume that accessibility is associated with givenness.

What is conveyed by a sentence frequently depends not only on the descriptive content carried by its words, but also on implicit alternatives determined by the context of use. Four visual world eye-tracking experiments examined how... more

What is conveyed by a sentence frequently depends not only on the descriptive content carried by its words, but also on implicit alternatives determined by the context of use. Four visual world eye-tracking experiments examined how alternatives are generated based on aspects of the discourse context and used in interpreting sentences containing the focus operators only and also. Experiment 1 builds on previous reading time studies showing that the interpretations of only sentences are constrained by alternatives explicitly mentioned in the preceding discourse, providing fine-grained time course information about the expectations triggered by only. Experiments 2 and 3 show that, in the absence of explicitly mentioned alternatives, lexical and situation-based categories evoked by the context are possible sources of alternatives. While Experiments 1–3 all demonstrate the discourse dependence of alternatives, only explicit mention triggered expectations about alternatives that were specific to sentences with only. By comparing only with also, Experiment 4 begins to disentangle expectations linked to the meanings of specific operators from those generalizable to the class of focus-sensitive operators. Together, these findings show that the interpretation of sentences with focus operators draws on both dedicated mechanisms for introducing alternatives into the discourse context and general mechanisms associated with discourse processing.

Two experiments explore the activation of semantic information during spoken word recognition. Experiment 1 shows that as the name of an object unfolds (e.g., lock), eye movements are drawn to pictorial representations of both the named... more

Two experiments explore the activation of semantic information during spoken word recognition. Experiment 1 shows that as the name of an object unfolds (e.g., lock), eye movements are drawn to pictorial representations of both the named object and semantically related objects (e.g., key). Experiment 2 shows that objects semantically related to an uttered word's onset competitors become active enough to draw visual attention (e.g., if the uttered word is logs, participants fixate on key because of partial activation of lock), despite that the onset competitor itself is not present in the visual display. Together, these experiments provide detailed information about the activation of semantic information associated with a spoken word and its phonological competitors and demonstrate that transient semantic activation is sufficient to impact visual attention. White for their extremely helpful comments and contributions to this project. We also thank Michelle Engle and Anjula Joshi for assistance with data collection, and Andrew Duchon for essential assistance with data processing. Portions of this research were presented at

Using a novel adaptation of the visual world eye-tracking paradigm we investigated children's and adults' online processing of reference in a naturalistic language context. Participants listened to a 5-minute long storybook while wearing... more

Using a novel adaptation of the visual world eye-tracking paradigm we investigated children's and adults' online processing of reference in a naturalistic language context. Participants listened to a 5-minute long storybook while wearing eye-tracking glasses. The gaze data were analyzed relative to the onset of referring expressions (i.e., full noun phrases (NPs) and pronouns) that were mentioned throughout the story. We found that following the mention of a referring expression there was an increase in the proportion of looks to the intended referent for both children and adults. However, this effect was only found early on in the story. As the story progressed, the likelihood that participants directed their eye gaze towards the intended referent decreased. We also found differences in the eye gaze patterns between NPs and pronouns, as well as between children and adults. Overall these findings demonstrate that the mapping between linguistic input and corresponding eye movements is heavily influenced by discourse context.

& Lexical processing requires both activating stored representations and selecting among active candidates. The current work uses an eye-tracking paradigm to conduct a detailed temporal investigation of lexical processing. Patients with... more

& Lexical processing requires both activating stored representations and selecting among active candidates. The current work uses an eye-tracking paradigm to conduct a detailed temporal investigation of lexical processing. Patients with Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia are studied to shed light on the roles of anterior and posterior brain regions in lexical processing as well as the effects of lexical competition on such processing. Experiment 1 investigates whether objects semantically related to an uttered word are preferentially fixated, for example, given the auditory target ''hammer,'' do participants fixate a picture of a nail? Results show that, like normal controls, both groups of patients are more likely to fixate on an object semantically related to the target than an unrelated object. Experiment 2 explores whether Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics show competition effects when words share onsets with the uttered word, for instance, given the auditory target ''hammer,'' do participants fixate a picture of a hammock? Experiment 3 investigates whether these patients activate words semantically related to onset competitors of the uttered word, for example, given the auditory target ''hammock,'' do participants fixate a nail due to partial activation of the onset competitor hammer? Results of Experiments 2 and 3 show pathological patterns of performance for both Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics under conditions of lexical onset competition. However, the patterns of deficit differed, suggesting different functional and computational roles for anterior and posterior areas in lexical processing. Implications of the findings for the functional architecture of the lexical processing system and its potential neural substrates are considered. &

Using visual world eye-tracking, we examined whether adults (N = 58) and children (N = 37; 3;1–6;3) use linguistic focussing devices to help resolve ambiguous pronouns. Participants listened to English dialogues about potential referents... more

Using visual world eye-tracking, we examined whether adults (N = 58) and children (N = 37; 3;1–6;3) use linguistic focussing devices to help resolve ambiguous pronouns. Participants listened to English dialogues about potential referents of an ambiguous pronoun he. Four conditions provided prosodic focus marking to the grammatical subject or to the object, which were either additionally it-clefted or not. A reference condition focussed neither the subject nor object. Adult online data revealed that linguistic focussing via prosodic marking enhanced subject preference, and overrode it in the case of object focus, regardless of the presence of clefts. Children’s processing was also influenced by prosodic marking; however, their performance across conditions showed some differences from adults, as well as a complex interaction with both their memory and language skills. Offline interpretations showed no effects of focus in either group, suggesting that while multiple cues are processed, subjecthood and first mention dominate the final interpretation in cases of conflict.

Filled pause disfluencies (e.g., uh) elicit a disfluency bias in listeners: listeners predict that a speaker will name an unfamiliar object, versus a familiar one, when both are equally plausible referents. When listeners receive... more

Filled pause disfluencies (e.g., uh) elicit a disfluency bias in listeners: listeners predict that a speaker will name an unfamiliar object, versus a familiar one, when both are equally plausible referents. When listeners receive speaker-specific information indicating that disfluency is not reliably tied to word familiarity, the disfluency bias can be suspended. The first aim of this study was to determine if stuttered disfluencies would also elicit the disfluency bias in listeners. The second aim of this study was to determine if informing the listener that they will hear a speaker who stutters, would suspend the disfluency bias. Eye tracking data from 52 participants were analyzed using a 2 (acknowledgement) x 2 (target type) x 3 (fluency) mixed ANOVA. The dependent variable was the proportion of looks to the competitor object. The disfluency bias was found with typical and stuttered disfluencies when the target type was unfamiliar. Acknowledgement of stuttering did not suspend the bias.

Several fundamental questions about speech perception concern how listeners understand spoken language despite considerable variability in speech sounds across di erent contexts (the problem of lack of invariance in speech). This... more

Several fundamental questions about speech perception concern how listeners understand spoken language despite considerable variability in speech sounds across di erent contexts (the problem of lack of invariance in speech). This contextual variability is caused by several factors, including di erences between individual talkers' voices, variation in speaking rate, and e ects of coarticulatory context. A number of models have been proposed to describe how the speech system handles di erences across contexts. Critically, these models make di erent predictions about (1) whether contextual variability is handled at the level of acoustic cue encoding or categorization, (2) whether it is driven by feedback from category-level processes or interactions between cues, and (3) whether listeners discard ne-grained acoustic information to compensate for contextual variability.

Two experiments explored the effects of changes in distance and location on the accessibility of event-related information during language comprehension. In Experiment 1, listeners viewed visual scenes depicting a location containing... more

Two experiments explored the effects of changes in distance and location on the accessibility of event-related information during language comprehension. In Experiment 1, listeners viewed visual scenes depicting a location containing several objects, while they listened to narratives describing an agent either staying in that initial location, or moving to a new one (either close or far away), and then thinking about one of the depicted objects. We found that eye movements to these objects were modulated (reduced) by changes in location, rather than distance. In Experiment 2, listeners viewed scenes depicting two rooms, while they listened to narratives describing an object moving either between the rooms, or within one room. When the object was mentioned following the event, we found fewer eye movements to it when the movement occurred between rooms. We discuss these results in relation to the Event Horizon model.

We report two experiments that investigate the time-course of the online interpretation of the presupposition of also, first relative to a control, and secondly relative to asserted content, namely the exclusivity of only, using the... more

We report two experiments that investigate the time-course of the online interpretation of the presupposition of also, first relative to a control, and secondly relative to asserted content, namely the exclusivity of only, using the visual world paradigm. Both studies reveal rapid shifts in fixations to target pictures based on the presupposition expressed by also, within 400ms after its onset. In contrast, the asserted exclusivity introduced by only arises roughly 400ms later, suggesting that -if anything -presupposed content is evaluated prior to asserted content. This is as expected on semantic accounts of presuppositions, which see them as preconditions on interpreting the sentence in the first place, but somewhat surprising (though not necessarily strictly inconsistent) with pragmatic accounts that derive presuppositions via conversational reasoning, which has been found to require additional processing time in the case of scalar implicature computation.

To examine how readers of Chinese and English take advantage of orthographic and phonological features in reading, the authors investigated the effects of spelling errors on reading text in Chinese and English using the error disruption... more

To examine how readers of Chinese and English take advantage of orthographic and
phonological features in reading, the authors investigated the effects of spelling errors on
reading text in Chinese and English using the error disruption paradigm of M. Daneman and
E. Reingold (1993) . Skilled readers in China and the United States read passages in their
native language that contained occasional spelling errors. Results showed that under some
circumstances very early phonological activation can be identified in English, but no
evidence for early phonology was found in Chinese. In both languages, homophone errors
showed a benefit in measures of later processing, suggesting that phonology helps readers
recover from the disruptive effects of errors. These results suggest that skilled readers take
advantage of the special features of particular orthographies but that these orthographic
effects may be most pronounced in the early stages of lexical access.

This paper reports three eye-tracking experiments using the visual world paradigm to explore the meaning of conditionals in Mandarin Chinese. Experiment 1 found that, when all the tokens were actually true in the experimental setting, the... more

This paper reports three eye-tracking experiments using the visual world paradigm to explore the meaning of conditionals in Mandarin Chinese. Experiment 1 found that, when all the tokens were actually true in the experimental setting, the conditional connective if...then... didn’t elicit significantly more anticipatory fixations than the conjunctive connective ... and ... on a token that is appropriately to be merged by the sentential connectives. By contrast, Experiments 2 and 3 found that, when a token was designed as hypothetically but not actually true in the experimental setting, the conditional connective elicited significantly more anticipatory fixations than the conjunctive connective on this hypothetical token. The implications of the experimental paradigm and the observed results were then discussed in relation to theories of conditionals, and to models of rationality in general.

Extensive cross-linguistic work has documented that children up to the age of 9–10 make errors when performing a sentence-picture verification task that pairs spoken sentences with the universal quantifier every and pictures with entities... more

Extensive cross-linguistic work has documented that children up to the age of 9–10 make errors when performing a sentence-picture verification task that pairs spoken sentences with the universal quantifier every and pictures with entities in partial one-to-one correspondence. These errors stem from children's difficulties in restricting the domain of a universal quantifier to the appropriate noun phrase and are referred in the literature as quantifier-spreading (q-spreading). We adapted the task to be performed in conjunction with eye-movement recordings using the Visual World Paradigm. Russian-speaking 5-to-6-year-old children (N = 31) listened to sentences like Kazhdyj alligator lezhit v vanne 'Every alligator is lying in a bathtub' and viewed pictures with three alligators, each in a bathtub, and two extra empty bathtubs. Non-spreader children (N = 12) were adult-like in their accuracy whereas q-spreading ones (N = 19) were only 43% correct in interpreting such sentences compared to the control sentences. Eye movements of q-spreading children revealed that more looks to the extra containers (two empty bathtubs) correlated with higher error rates reflecting the processing pattern of q-spreading. In contrast, more looks to the distractors in control sentences did not lead to errors in interpretation. We argue that q-spreading errors are caused by interference from the extra entities in the visual context, and our results support the processing difficulty account of acquisition of quantification. Interference results in cognitive overload as children have to integrate multiple sources of information, i.e., visual context with salient extra entities and the spoken sentence in which these entities are mentioned in real-time processing.

Models of spoken word recognition assume that words are represented as sequences of phonemes. We evaluated this assumption by examining phonemic anadromes, words that share the same phonemes but differ in their order (e.g., sub and bus).... more

Models of spoken word recognition assume that words are represented as sequences of phonemes. We evaluated this assumption by examining phonemic anadromes, words that share the same phonemes but differ in their order (e.g., sub and bus). Using the visual-world paradigm, we found that listeners show more fixations to anadromes (e.g., sub when bus is the target) than to unrelated words (well) and to words that share the same vowel but not the same set of phonemes (sun). This contrasts with the predictions of existing models and suggests that words are not defined as strict sequences of phonemes.

Participants' eye movements were monitored as they heard sentences and saw four pictured objects on a computer screen. Participants were instructed to click on the object mentioned in the sentence. There were more transitory fixations to... more

Participants' eye movements were monitored as they heard sentences and saw four pictured objects on a computer screen. Participants were instructed to click on the object mentioned in the sentence. There were more transitory fixations to pictures representing monosyllabic words (e.g. ham) when the first syllable of the target word (e.g. hamster) had been replaced by a recording of the monosyllabic word than when it came from a different recording of the target word. This demonstrates that a phonemically identical sequence can contain cues that modulate its lexical interpretation. This effect was governed by the duration of the sequence, rather than by its origin (i.e. which type of word it came from). The longer the sequence, the more monosyllabic-word interpretations it generated. We argue that cues to lexical-embedding disambiguation, such as segmental lengthening, result from the realization of a prosodic boundary that often but not always follows monosyllabic words, and that lexical candidates whose word boundaries are aligned with prosodic boundaries are favored in the word-recognition process.

This work focuses on a particular case of negative sentences, the Surprise Negation sen- tences (SNEGs). SNEGs belong to the class of expletive negation sentences, i.e., they are affirmative in meaning but involve a clausal negation. A... more

This work focuses on a particular case of negative sentences, the Surprise Negation sen- tences (SNEGs). SNEGs belong to the class of expletive negation sentences, i.e., they are affirmative in meaning but involve a clausal negation. A clear example is offered by Italian: ‘E non mi è scesa dal treno Maria?!’ (let. ‘and not CLITIC.to_me is got off-the train Mary’=‘The surprise was that Maria got off the train!’). From a theoretical point of view, the interpretation of SNEGs as affirmative can be derived from their specific syntac- tic and semantic structure. Here we offer an implementation of the visual world paradigm to test how SNEGs are interpreted. Participants listened to affirmative, negative or exple- tive negative clauses while four objects (two relevant—either expected or unexpected—and two unrelated) were shown on the screen and their eye movements were recorded. Growth Curve Analysis showed that the fixation patterns to the relevant objects were very similar for affirmative and expletive negative sentences, while striking differences were observed between negative and affirmative sentences. These results showed that negation does play a different role in the mental representation of a sentence, depending on its syntactic deri- vation. Moreover, we also found that, compared to affirmative sentences, SNEGs require higher processing efforts due to both their syntactic complexity and pragmatic integration, with slower response time and lower accuracy.

Recent evidence from adult pronoun comprehension suggests that semantic factors such as verb transitivity affect referent salience and thereby anaphora resolution. We tested whether the same semantic factors influence pronoun... more

Recent evidence from adult pronoun comprehension suggests that semantic factors such as verb transitivity affect referent salience and thereby anaphora resolution. We tested whether the same semantic factors influence pronoun comprehension in young children. In a visual world study, 3-year-olds heard stories that began with a sentence containing either a high or a low transitivity verb. Looking behaviour to pictures depicting the subject and object of this sentence was recorded as children listened to a subsequent sentence containing a pronoun. Children showed a stronger preference to look to the subject as opposed to the object antecedent in the low transitivity condition. In addition there were general preferences (1) to look to the subject in both conditions and (2) to look more at both potential antecedents in the high transitivity condition. This suggests that children, like adults, are affected by semantic factors, specifically semantic prominence, when interpreting anaphoric pronouns.

Filled pause disfluencies (e.g., uh) elicit a disfluency bias in listeners: listeners predict that a speaker will name an unfamiliar object, versus a familiar one, when both are equally plausible referents. When listeners receive... more

Filled pause disfluencies (e.g., uh) elicit a disfluency bias in listeners: listeners predict that a speaker will name an unfamiliar object, versus a familiar one, when both are equally plausible referents. When listeners receive speaker-specific information indicating that disfluency is not reliably tied to word familiarity, the disfluency bias can be suspended. The first aim of this study was to determine if stuttered disfluencies would also elicit the disfluency bias in listeners. The second aim of this study was to determine if informing the listener that they will hear a speaker who stutters, would suspend the disfluency bias. Eye tracking data from 52 participants were analyzed using a 2 (acknowledgement) x 2 (target type) x 3 (fluency) mixed ANOVA. The dependent variable was the proportion of looks to the competitor object. The disfluency bias was found with typical and stuttered disfluencies when the target type was unfamiliar. Acknowledgement of stuttering did not suspend the bias.

Recognizing objects in cluttered scenes requires attentional mechanisms to filter out distracting information. Previous studies have found several physiological correlates of attention in visual cortex, including larger responses for... more

Recognizing objects in cluttered scenes requires attentional mechanisms to filter out distracting information. Previous studies have found several physiological correlates of attention in visual cortex, including larger responses for attended objects. However, it has been unclear whether these attention-related changes have a large impact on information about objects at the neural population level. To address this question, we trained monkeys to covertly deploy their visual attention from a central fixation point to one of three objects ...

Recognizing objects in cluttered scenes requires attentional mechanisms to filter out distracting information. Previous studies have found several physiological correlates of attention in visual cortex, including larger responses for... more

Recognizing objects in cluttered scenes requires attentional mechanisms to filter out distracting information. Previous studies have found several physiological correlates of attention in visual cortex, including larger responses for attended objects. However, it has been unclear whether these attention-related changes have a large impact on information about objects at the neural population level. To address this question, we trained monkeys to covertly deploy their visual attention from a central fixation point to one of three objects displayed in the periphery, and we decoded information about the identity and position of the objects from populations of ∼200 neurons from the inferior temporal cortex using a pattern classifier. The results show that before attention was deployed, information about the identity and position of each object was greatly reduced relative to when these objects were shown in isolation. However, when a monkey attended to an object, the pattern of neural activity, represented as a vector with dimensionality equal to the size of the neural population, was restored toward the vector representing the isolated object. Despite this nearly exclusive representation of the attended object, an increase in the salience of nonattended objects caused "bottom-up" mechanisms to override these "top-down" attentional enhancements. The method described here can be used to assess which attention-related physiological changes are directly related to object recognition, and should be helpful in assessing the role of additional physiological changes in the future. macaque | vision | readout | population coding | neural coding P revious work examining how attention influences the ventral visual pathway has shown that attending to a stimulus in the receptive field (RF) of a neuron is correlated with increases in firing rates or effective contrast, increases in gamma synchronization, and decreases in the Fano factor and noise correlation, compared with when attention is directed outside the RF (1-8). However, because these effects are often relatively modest, it has been unclear whether these effects would have a large impact on information contained at the population level when any arbitrary stimulus needs to be represented. Indeed, recent work has suggested that high-level brain areas can represent multiple objects with the same accuracy as single objects even when attention is not directed to a specific object , which raises questions about the importance of the attention-related effects that have been reported in previous studies.

Eye movements were monitored as participants followed spoken instructions to manipulate one of four objects pictured on a computer screen. Target words occurred in utterance-medial (e.g., Put the cap next to the square) or utterance-final... more

Eye movements were monitored as participants followed spoken instructions to manipulate one of four objects pictured on a computer screen. Target words occurred in utterance-medial (e.g., Put the cap next to the square) or utterance-final position (e.g., Now click on the cap). Displays consisted of the target picture (e.g., a cap), a monosyllabic competitor picture (e.g., a cat), a polysyllabic competitor picture (e.g., a captain) and a distractor (e.g., a beaker). The relative proportion of fixations to the two types of competitor pictures changed as a function of the position of the target word in the utterance, demonstrating that lexical competition is modulated by prosodically-conditioned phonetic variation.