1 cognitive psychology c81cog 1. language dr jonathan stirk
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Cognitive Psychology C81COG1. Language
Dr Jonathan Stirk
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Summary of lectures
6 lectures1. Psycholinguistics2. Word recognition & reading3. Memories in reading4. Iconic memory & reading (Sensory memory)
Categorical memory5. Structures & processes6. Representation of meaning
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Useful Books
Harley, T. (2001). The psychology of language: from data to theory (2nd Ed). Hove: Psychology Press.
Underwood, G. & Batt, V. (1996). Reading and understanding. Oxford: Blackwell.
Eysenck, M. (2001). Principles of Cognitive Psychology. Hove: Psychology Press.
Eysenck, M and Keane, M. (2000). Cognitive Psychology: A Student’s Handbook. (4th Ed). Hove: Psychology Press.
Payne, D. & Wenger, M. (1998). Cognitive Psychology. New York: Houghton-Mifflin.
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Further reading
For further information see Chapter 2 of Trevor Harley’s book
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Why should we study language?
Language is a unique form of abstraction, which is at the heart of cognition
Language has a major impact on the form of representation of information in memory
Language influences perception, from which we obtain the basic data for cognition
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Why Should Psychologists Study Reading?
Studies suggest that there is a large proportion of dyslexics within the prison system
At start of 2003, approx 72,500 inmates. Estimates of dyslexics : 17.5 - 50% (>12,500)
Dyslexics lacking appropriate support from early years of education, may lead to:
– poor literacy and numeracy skills – poor employment prospects all of which play their part in the climate of
offending– lack of confidence and low self esteem – boredom, disaffection – frustration, anger – behavioural problems
All of these factors may affect the development of criminal behaviour
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Some questions about the psychology of language
Q1. How do we produce sentences we may never have heard?
A1. By using generative rules (PSG) Q2. How do these rules govern the meaning of a
sentence? A2. By translating underlying meanings into surface
structures Q3. What else does a psychology of language need
to explain? A3. How we use language (Pragmatics)
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Psycholinguistics
‘The study of the psychological processes of language’
Understanding language (comprehension), producing language, remembering language, reading, speaking, writing
Psycholinguists divide language into domains/aspects:– Semantics– Syntax– Pragmatics– Phonetics– Phonology– Morphology
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Sentences, syntax and semanticsLanguage Comprehension
How do we understand and construct sentences? – We have the ability to understand / produce
sentences which we may never have heard or used before
How do we assemble a representation of the MEANING of a sentence?
Word order is important in determining meaning– SYNTAX
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1. The boy chased the dog.2. The dog chased the boy.3. The dog was chased by the boy.4. Boy the dog chased the. Sentences 1 and 2 have the same word order structure
(article noun verb article noun) but have different meanings Sentences 1 and 3 have different word order structure but
have the same meaning Sentence 4 contains the same words as 1 & 2 but makes no
sense! (not grammatical)
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Examples of how syntax effects meaning
Same syntax Same
meaning
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Grammar & Parsing
Word order is determined by rules of grammar– Phrase Structure Grammar (PSG)
THE CAT ATE THE MOUSE
article noun verb article noun
Noun phrase Verb phrase
Rule 1. S = NP + VP; Rule 2. NP= article + noun; Rule 3. VP = verb + NP
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Sentence
Noun Phrase Verb Phrase
Det Adj Noun Verb Noun Phrase
Det Adj Noun
The aging professor taught the sleepy students.
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Parsing – Parse Tree
Subject ObjectVerb
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Rule 1 S = NP + VP
Rule 2 NP = DET + (ADJ) + N
Rule 3 VP = V + NP
Rule 4 DET = a, an, the …
Rule 5 ADJ = aging, sleepy …
Rule 6 N = professor, students…
Rule 7 V = taught, lectured …..
PSG Re-write Rules
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Creating new sentences
We can use these rules to create new well-formed sentences
“The elephant drank the water”“The woman understood the joke”
However, parsing may not be as easy as one would think when it comes to AMBIGUOUS PHRASES
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Ambiguity She bit into the doughnut with relish!
Syntactic category (lexical) ambiguity
‘relish’ as adjective ‘relish’ as noun
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Structurally Ambiguous Phrases
THEY ARE EXCITING STUDENTS
S
N
NP
V NP
VP
NAdj.
Structure 1
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Phrase structure grammar helps untangle ambiguity
THEY ARE EXCITING STUDENTS
N
NP
VP
VP
NVAux.
S Structure 2
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Click displacement studies– Garrett, Bever & Fodor (1966)– Spoken sentence presented to 1 ear with headphones– Click presented in other ear at some point in the sentence– Aim is to report at what point the click appeared– Major syntactic\processing units should resist interruption
and hence the position of the click should be displaced (migrate) from its’ actual position
THAT HE WAS HAPPY WAS EVIDENT FROM THE WAY HE SMILED
– Click displaced to right to end of a clause
Investigating Parsing & Unit Size
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Investigating Parsing & Unit Size
However, one has to perceive, parse, understand, remember & respond– Demands are high, and displacement could occur at any of these
stages really– Reber & Anderson (1970) used ‘subliminal’ clicks– Listeners asked to guess where the non-audible clicks were– Displacement occurred as in Garrett et al (1966) study
Suggests that displacement may occur in the RESPONSE stage
Phrase structure grammar is real but click displacement is not a good demonstration of it
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PSG has trouble with meanings
Phrase structure grammar rules however allow us to produce meaningless yet grammatically correct sentences
COLOURLESS GREEN IDEAS SLEEP FURIOUSLY
Adj.Adj. Verb Adv.Noun
Noun Phrase Verb Phrase
Ugly biology students groan considerably
Ageing university lecturers die painfullyARE MEANINGFUL
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PSG has trouble with Related Sentences
1. The vampire chases the ghost.
2. The ghost is chased by the vampire.
These sentences are clearly related in meaning but PSG fails to capture this meaning. This is where Transformational Grammar steps in
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Transformational Grammar
Noam Chomsky influential during the linguistic period of the 60’s & 70’s
Competence & Performance– Competence is our knowledge of language in general & the
rules of language (linguistics)– Performance refers to our actual use of the language we
know. Our ability to actually follow the rules at any specific time (psycholinguistics)
He developed the idea of transformational grammar to help explain the role of meaning in sentence production
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Transformational Grammar
Special set of re-write rules which act on a string of symbols (Unlike PSG rules which act on single units)– Active to Passive: “John eats the food” -> “John
ate the food”– Statement to questions: “This is a cat” -> “Is this a
cat?” etc.
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Transformational Grammar
Sentences have surface structure and deep structure (s- and d-structure)
Surface structure – grammatical form (written or spoken) Deep structure – meaning
1. The shooting of the lecturers was terrible (SS)
Derived from:2. The way in which the lecturers shoot was terrible (DS1)
OR
3. It was terrible that the lecturers were shot (DS2)
Transform
ed to:
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Transformational Grammar
Chomsky argued that sentences (written or spoken) are generated by the operation of transformational rules on a deep-structure representation generated by phrase-structure rules (grammar), resulting in a surface-structure representation
PSG → Deep structure →TG →Surface structure
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Transformational Grammar
1. Jonathan is easy to please2. Jonathan is eager to please
3. It is easy to please Jonathan 4. It is eager to please Jonathan **(non-grammatical)
Harley, T (p. 39)
Similar surface structures
But different deep structuresTransform using same rule
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Pragmatics
The study of the INTENDED meaning of language / sentences.
E.g. We may say “wonderful weather!” on a rainy day
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A psychology of language must account for performance in language use
A. MEMORY PERFORMANCE LIMITATIONS
The man ran. ^
The man the dog bit ran. ^
The man the dog the girl owned bit ran. ^
The man the dog the girl who fed the cat owned bit ran.
[This is a self-embedded (centre embedded) sentence]
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A psychology of language must account for performance in language use
B. SOCIAL CONTEXT INFLUENCES SENTENCE PRODUCTION / MEANING (Pragmatics)
e.g. "Can you pass the salt?"e.g. Sergeant to Soldier:
"Do you see that cigarette butt?“
C. DIFFERENCES IN THE JUSTIFICATION AND VERIFICATION OF SENTENCES
Compare: "This is a language lecture"With: "Life is an empty dream"
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A psychology of language must account for performance in language use
D. PRODUCTION OF NON-GRAMMATICAL SENTENCESYou: “Time for a drink?”Me: “Trying to give it up”You: “Please yourself”
E. PERCEPTION - PRODUCTION VARIATIONS
PERCEPTION: recognition of words, their relations and the theme of the incoming message
PRODUCTION: translation of an idea (Deep Structure) into a form (Surface Structure) which will both capture the intended meaning and be recognizable. Hesitations reflect planning of the translation process.
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A psychology of language must account for performance in language use
F. STYLE AND SKILL"It was the man with the red nose""Was it not the man with the red nose?"
G. METAPHORICAL & POETIC USE OF LANGUAGE
Question: "Where are my chocolates?" (hesitation)
Answer: "Ah . . . where are the snows of yesteryear?“
Question: "Is Mrs Thatcher a good politician?" (hesitation)
Answer: "She has good taste in hats"
Statement: Adolf Hitler was a ButcherStatement: David kicked the bucket!