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Predictability and Variation in Language Are Differentially Affected by Learning and Production
In this study, we consider the relationship between working memory and regularization of linguistic variation. Regularization is a well-documented process whereby languages become less variable (on some dimension) over time. This process has been argued to be driven by the behavior of individual language users, but the specific mechanism is not agreed upon. Here, we use an artificial language learning experiment to investigate whether limitations in working memory during either language learning or language production drive regularization behavior. We find that taxing working memory during production results in the loss of...
Source: Cognitive Science - April 2, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Aislinn Keogh Simon Kirby Jennifer Culbertson Source Type: research

Unraveling Temporal Dynamics of Multidimensional Statistical Learning in Implicit and Explicit Systems: An X-Way Hypothesis
Cogn Sci. 2024 Apr;48(4):e13437. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13437.ABSTRACTStatistical learning enables humans to involuntarily process and utilize different kinds of patterns from the environment. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying the simultaneous acquisition of multiple regularities from different perceptual modalities remain unclear. A novel multidimensional serial reaction time task was developed to test 40 participants' ability to learn simple first-order and complex second-order relations between uni-modal visual and cross-modal audio-visual stimuli. Using the difference in reaction times between sequenced and rando...
Source: Cognitive Science - April 2, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Stephen Man-Kit Lee Nicole Sin Hang Law Shelley Xiuli Tong Source Type: research

The Importance of Linguistic Factors: He Likes Subject Referents
We report the results of one visual-world eye-tracking experiment and two referent selection tasks in which we investigated the effects of information structure in the form of prosody and word order manipulation on the processing of subject pronouns er and der in German. Factors such as subjecthood, focus, and topicality, as well as order of mention have been linked to an increased probability of certain referents being selected as the pronoun's antecedent and described as increasing this referent's prominence, salience, or accessibility. The goal of this study was to find out whether pronoun processing is primarily guided...
Source: Cognitive Science - April 2, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Regina Hert Juhani J ärvikivi Anja Arnhold Source Type: research

Correction to "Introducing meta-analysis in the evaluation of computational models of infant language development"
Cogn Sci. 2024 Mar;48(3):e13434. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13434.NO ABSTRACTPMID:38532259 | DOI:10.1111/cogs.13434 (Source: Cognitive Science)
Source: Cognitive Science - March 27, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Computational Modeling of the Segmentation of Sentence Stimuli From an Infant Word-Finding Study
Cogn Sci. 2024 Mar;48(3):e13427. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13427.ABSTRACTComputational models of infant word-finding typically operate over transcriptions of infant-directed speech corpora. It is now possible to test models of word segmentation on speech materials, rather than transcriptions of speech. We propose that such modeling efforts be conducted over the speech of the experimental stimuli used in studies measuring infants' capacity for learning from spoken sentences. Correspondence with infant outcomes in such experiments is an appropriate benchmark for models of infants. We demonstrate such an analysis by applying the DP-P...
Source: Cognitive Science - March 26, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Daniel Swingley Robin Algayres Source Type: research

Embodying Similarity and Difference: The Effect of Listing and Contrasting Gestures During U.S. Political Speech
Cogn Sci. 2024 Mar;48(3):e13428. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13428.ABSTRACTPublic speakers like politicians carefully craft their words to maximize the clarity, impact, and persuasiveness of their messages. However, these messages can be shaped by more than words. Gestures play an important role in how spoken arguments are perceived, conceptualized, and remembered by audiences. Studies of political speech have explored the ways spoken arguments are used to persuade audiences and cue applause. Studies of politicians' gestures have explored the ways politicians illustrate different concepts with their hands, but have not focused on ge...
Source: Cognitive Science - March 26, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Icy Yunyi Zhang Tina Izad Erica A Cartmill Source Type: research

Can Infants Retain Statistically Segmented Words and Mappings Across a Delay?
Cogn Sci. 2024 Mar;48(3):e13433. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13433.ABSTRACTInfants are sensitive to statistics in spoken language that aid word-form segmentation and immediate mapping to referents. However, it is not clear whether this sensitivity influences the formation and retention of word-referent mappings across a delay, two real-world challenges that learners must overcome. We tested how the timing of referent training, relative to familiarization with transitional probabilities (TPs) in speech, impacts English-learning 23-month-olds' ability to form and retain word-referent mappings. In Experiment 1, we tested infants' abili...
Source: Cognitive Science - March 26, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Ferhat Karaman Jill Lany Jessica F Hay Source Type: research

Looking at Mental Images: Eye-Tracking Mental Simulation During Retrospective Causal Judgment
Cogn Sci. 2024 Mar;48(3):e13426. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13426.ABSTRACTHow do people evaluate causal relationships? Do they just consider what actually happened, or do they also consider what could have counterfactually happened? Using eye tracking and Gaussian process modeling, we investigated how people mentally simulated past events to judge what caused the outcomes to occur. Participants played a virtual ball-shooting game and then-while looking at a blank screen-mentally simulated (a) what actually happened, (b) what counterfactually could have happened, or (c) what caused the outcome to happen. Our findings showed that par...
Source: Cognitive Science - March 26, 2024 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Kristina Krasich Kevin O'Neill Felipe De Brigard Source Type: research