Publications

Abstract

P. A. Starreveld and W. La Heij (1995) tested the seriality view of lexical access in speech production, according to which lexical selection and the encoding of a word's form proceed in serial order without feedback. In 2 experiments, they looked at the combined effect of semantic and orthographic relatedness of written distracter words in tasks that required conceptually driven naming. They found an interaction between semantic relatedness and orthographic relatedness and argued that the observed interaction refutes the seriality view of lexical access. In this comment, the authors argue that Starreveld and La Heij's rejection of serial access was based on an oversimplified conception of the seriality view and that interaction, rather than additivity, is predicted by existing conceptions of serial access.

Abstract

Pragmatic phenomena are characterized by extreme variability, which makes it difficult to draw sound generalizations about the role of social cognition in pragmatic language by and large. I introduce cultural evolutionary pragmatics as a new framework for the study of the interdependence between language and social cognition, and point at the study of common-ground management across languages and ages as a way to test the reliance of pragmatic language on social cognition. I illustrate this new research line with three experiments on article use by second language speakers, whose mother tongue lacks articles. These L2 speakers are known to find article use challenging and it is often argued that their difficulties stem from articles being pragmatically redundant. Contrary to this view, the results of this exploratory study support the view that proficient article use requires automatizing basic socio-cognitive processes, offering a window into the interdependence between language and social cognition.

Abstract

How might social cognition help us communicate through language? At what levels does this interaction occur? In classical views, social cognition is independent of language, and integrating the two can be slow, effortful, and error-prone. But new research into word level processes reveals that communication
is brimming with social micro-processes that happen in real time, guiding even the simplest choices like how we use adjectives, articles, and demonstratives. We interpret these findings in the context of advances in theoretical models of social cognition and propose a Communicative Mind-Tracking
framework, where social micro-processes aren’t a secondary process in how we use language—they are fundamental to how communication works.

Abstract

Brain tumors are classified as rare diseases, with an annual occurrence of 300,000 cases and account for an annual loss of 241,000 lives, highlighting their devastating nature. Recent advancements in diagnosis and treatment have significantly improved the management and care of brain tumors. This chapter provides an overview of the common types of primary brain tumors affecting language functions—gliomas and meningiomas. Techniques for identifying and mapping critical language areas, including the white matter language system, such as awake brain tumor surgery and diffusion-weighted tractography, are pivotal for understanding language localization and informing personalized treatment approaches. Numerous studies have demonstrated that gliomas in the dominant hemisphere can lead to (often subtle) impairments across various cognitive domains, with a particular emphasis on language. Recently, increased attention has been directed toward (nonverbal) cognitive deficits in patients with gliomas in the nondominant hemisphere, as well as cognitive outcomes in patients with meningiomas, a group historically overlooked. A patient-tailored approach to language and cognitive functions across the pre-, intra-, and postoperative phases is mandatory for brain tumor patients to preserve quality of life. Continued follow-up studies, in conjunction with advanced imaging techniques, are crucial for understanding the brain's potential for neuroplasticity and optimizing patient outcomes.

Abstract

The CELEX lexical database includes a list of Dutch syllables and their frequencies, based on syllabification of isolated word forms. In connected speech, however, sentence-level phonological rules can modify the syllables and their token frequencies. In order to estimate the changes syllables may undergo in connected speech, an empirical investigation was carried out. A large Dutch text corpus (TROUW) was transcribed, processed by word level rules, and syllabified. The resulting lexeme syllables were evaluated by comparing them to the CELEX lexical database for Dutch. Then additional phonological sentence-level rules were applied to the TROUW corpus, and the frequencies of the resulting connected speech syllables were compared with those of the lexeme syllables from TROUW. The overall correlation between lexeme and speech syllables was very high. However, speech syllables generally had more complex CV structures than lexeme syllables. Implications of the results for research involving syllables are discussed. With respect to the notion of a mental syllabary (a store for precompiled articulatory programs for syllables, see Levelt & Wheeldon, 1994) this study revealed an interesting statistical result. The calculation of the cumulative syllable frequencies showed that 85% of the syllable tokens in Dutch can be covered by the 500 most frequent syllable types, which makes the idea of a syllabary very attractive.

Abstract

Left-right asymmetry is an important aspect of human brain organization for functions including language and hand motor control, which can be altered in some psychiatric traits. The last five years have seen rapid advances in the identification of specific genes linked to variation in asymmetry of the human brain and/or handedness. These advances have been driven by a new generation of large-scale genome-wide association studies, carried out in samples ranging from roughly 16,000 to over 1.5 million participants. The implicated genes tend to be most active in the embryonic and fetal brain, consistent with early developmental patterning of brain asymmetry. Several of the genes encode components of microtubules, or other microtubule-associated proteins. Microtubules are key elements of the internal cellular skeleton (cytoskeleton). A major challenge remains to understand how these genes affect, or even induce, the brain’s left-right axis. Several of the implicated genes have also been associated with psychiatric or neurological disorders, and polygenic dispositions to autism and schizophrenia have been associated with structural brain asymmetry. Knowledge of developmental mechanisms that lead to hemispheric specialization may ultimately help to define etiologic subtypes of brain disorders.

Abstract

To date, research has reliably shown that language can engage and modify perceptual processes in a top-down manner. However, our understanding of the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying such top-down influences is still under debate. In this review, we provide an overview of findings from literature investigating the organization of semantic networks in the brain (spontaneous engagement of the visual system while processing linguistic information), and linguistic cueing studies (looking at the immediate effects of language on the perception of a visual target), in an effort to isolate such mechanisms. Additionally, we connect the findings from linguistic cueing studies to those reported in (nonlinguistic) literature on priors in perception, in order to find commonalities in neural processes allowing for top-down influences on perception. In doing so, we discuss the effects of language on perception in the context of broader, general cognitive and neural principles. Finally, we propose a way forward in the study of linguistic influences on perception.

Abstract

Purpose:
This study aimed to identify how a set of predefined factors modulates phoneme articulation time within a speaker.
Method:
We used a custom in-lab system that records lip muscle activity through electromyography signals, aligned with the produced speech, to measure phoneme articulation time. Twenty Spanish-speaking participants (12 females) were evaluated while producing sequences of a consonant–vowel syllable, with each sequence consisting of repeated articulations of either /pa/ or /pu/. Before starting the sequences, participants underwent a priming step with either a fast or slow speech rate. Additionally, the general attentional state level was assessed at the beginning, middle, and end of the protocol. To analyze the variability in the duration of /p/ and vowel articulation, we fitted individual linear mixed-models considering three factors: general attentional state level, priming rate, and coarticulation effects (for /p/, i.e., followed by /a/ or /u/) or phoneme identity (for vowels, i.e., being /a/ or /u/).
Results:
We found that the level of general attentional state positively correlated with production time for both the consonant /p/ and the vowels. Additionally, /p/ production was influenced by the nature of the following vowel (i.e., coarticulation effects), while vowel production time was affected by the primed speech rate.
Conclusions:
Phoneme duration appears to be influenced by both stable, speaker-specific characteristics (idiosyncratic traits) and internal, state-dependent factors related to the speaker's condition at the time of speech production. While some factors affect both consonants and vowels, others specifically modify only one of these types.

Abstract

“Dimensional expressions” single out and describe one symmetric axis of a 1D, 2D, or 3D object (e.g., The road is long). “Bloxes” is an interactive, object-matching task that elicits descriptions of dimensional contrasts between simple geometrical objects (rectangular blocks, rectangular boxes, and cylinders). The aim is to explore the linguistic encoding of dimensions, focusing on features of axis, orientation, flatness/solidity, size and shape. See also 'Suggestions for field research on dimensional expressions' (https://doi.org/10.17617/2.3003382).

Abstract

The aim of this task is to explore the linguistic expression of “dimensions” — e.g., the height, width or depth — of objects in the world around us. In a dimensional expression, one symmetric axis of a 1D, 2D, or 3D object is singled out and described (e.g., That man is tall). Dimensional expressions in different languages show a range of different combinatorial and extensional uses. This document guides the researcher through some spatial situations where contrastive features of dimensional expressions are likely to be observable.

Abstract

Children’s speech becomes longer and more complex as they develop, but the reasons for this have been insufficiently studied. This study examines how changing linguistic choices in children are linked to interactive factors by analysing Who-question sequences in Japanese child–caregiver conversations. The interactive factors in focus are progressivity and balanced joint activity, which are core aspects of conversational interaction. Our analysis reveals that as children respond to Who-questions, their responses grow in length and multifunctionality. This growth is positively associated with progressivity, namely a quicker completion of the question sequence, and reduced functional load in the interlocutor’s contributions, resulting in more balanced joint activity. These findings suggest that children adapt their linguistic choices by observing and aligning them with their interactive goals in conversational sequences.

Abstract

Despite the importance of greetings for opening social interactions, their multimodal coordination processes remain poorly understood. We used a naturalistic, lab-based setup where pairs of unacquainted participants approached and greeted each other while unaware their greeting behavior was studied. We measured the prevalence and time course of multimodal behaviors potentially culminating in a handshake, including motor behaviors (e.g., walking, standing up, hand movements like raise, grasp, and retraction), gaze patterns (using eye tracking glasses), and speech (close and distant verbal salutations). We further manipulated the visibility of partners’ eyes to test its effect on gaze. Our findings reveal that gaze to a partner's face increases over the course of a greeting, but is partly averted during approach and is influenced by the visibility of partners’ eyes. Gaze helps coordinate handshakes, by signaling intent and guiding the grasp. The timing of adjacency pairs in verbal salutations is comparable to the precision of floor transitions in the main body of conversations, and varies according to greeting phase, with distant salutation pair parts featuring more gaps and close salutation pair parts featuring more overlap. Gender composition and a range of multimodal behaviors affect whether pairs chose to shake hands or not. These findings fill several gaps in our understanding of greetings and provide avenues for future research, including advancements in social robotics and human−robot interaction.

Abstract

When engaged in spoken conversation, speakers convey meaning using both speech and visual signals, such as facial expressions and manual gestures. An important question is how information is distributed in utterances during face-to-face interaction when information from visual signals is also present. In a corpus of casual Dutch face-to-face conversations, we focus on spoken questions in particular because they occur frequently, thus constituting core building blocks of conversation. We quantified information density (i.e. lexical entropy and surprisal) and the number and relative duration of facial and manual signals. We tested whether lexical information density or the number of visual signals differed between the first and last halves of questions, as well as whether the number of visual signals occurring in the less-predictable portion of a question was associated with the lexical information density of the same portion of the question in a systematic manner. We found that information density, as well as number of visual signals, were higher in the first half of questions, and specifically lexical entropy was associated with fewer, but longer visual signals. The multimodal front-loading of questions and the complementary distribution of visual signals and high entropy words in Dutch casual face-to-face conversations may have implications for the parallel processes of utterance comprehension and response planning during turn-taking.

Abstract

During conversation, speakers coordinate and synergize their behaviors at multiple levels, and in different ways. The extent to which individuals converge or diverge in their behaviors during interaction may relate to interpersonal differences relevant to social interaction, such as empathy as measured by the empathy quotient (EQ). An association between interpersonal difference in empathy and interpersonal entrainment could help to throw light on how interlocutor characteristics influence interpersonal entrainment. We investigated this possibility in a corpus of unconstrained conversation between dyads. We used dynamic time warping to quantify entrainment between interlocutors of head motion, hand motion, and maximum speech f0 during question–response sequences. We additionally calculated interlocutor differences in EQ scores. We found that, for both head and hand motion, greater difference in EQ was associated with higher entrainment. Thus, we consider that people who are dissimilar in EQ may need to “ground” their interaction with low-level movement entrainment. There was no significant relationship between f0 entrainment and EQ score differences.

Abstract

This study investigated a developmental cascade between prosocial and linguistic abilities in a large sample (N = 11,051) from the general youth population in the United Kingdom (50% female, 46% living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, 13% non-White). Cross-lagged panel models showed that verbal ability at age 3 predicted prosociality at age 7, which in turn predicted verbal ability at age 11. Latent growth models also showed that gains in prosociality between 3 and 5 years were associated with increased verbal ability between 5 and 11 years and vice versa. Theory of mind and social competence at age 5 mediated the association between early childhood prosociality and late childhood verbal ability. These results remained robust even after controlling for socioeconomic factors, maternal mental health, parenting microclimate in the home environment, and individual characteristics (sex, ethnicity, and special educational needs). The findings suggest that language skills could be boosted through mentalizing activities and prosocial behaviors.

Abstract

In spoken languages, children acquire locative terms in a cross-linguistically stable order. Terms similar in meaning to in and on emerge earlier than those similar to front and behind, followed by left and right. This order has been attributed to the complexity of the relations expressed by different locative terms. An additional possibility is that children may be delayed in expressing certain spatial meanings partly due to difficulties in discovering the mappings between locative terms in speech and spatial relation they express. We investigate cognitive and mapping difficulties in the domain of spatial language by comparing how children map spatial meanings onto speech versus visually motivated forms in co-speech gesture across different spatial relations. Twenty-four 8-year-old and 23 adult native Turkish-speakers described four-picture displays where the target picture depicted in-on, front-behind, or left-right relations between objects. As the complexity of spatial relations increased, children were more likely to rely on gestures as opposed to speech to informatively express the spatial relation. Adults overwhelmingly relied on speech to informatively express the spatial relation, and this did not change across the complexity of spatial relations. Nevertheless, even when spatial expressions in both speech and co-speech gesture were considered, children lagged behind adults when expressing the most complex left-right relations. These findings suggest that cognitive development and mapping difficulties introduced by the modality of expressions interact in shaping the development of spatial language.

Abstract

Dealing with text is crucial in modern societies. However, not everyone acquires sufficient literacy skills during school education. This systematic review summarizes and synthesizes research on adults with low literacy skills (ALLS) in alphabetic writing systems, includes results from behavioral and neurobiological studies, and compares these findings with those on developmental dyslexia given that this developmental disorder is one possible explanation for low literacy skills in adulthood. Twenty-seven studies focusing on the cognitive profile of ALLS met the three predefined criteria of reading level, age, and education. Results showed that ALLS performed worse than literate adults in various tasks at skill and information processing level, and exhibited structural and functional differences at the neurobiological level. The cognitive profile of ALLS was closer to that of primary school children than of literate adults. However, relative to children, ALLS’ literacy skills relied less on phonological and more on orthographic strategies. A narrative comparison of results with meta-analyses on developmental dyslexia showed large, though not complete, overlap in the cognitive profiles. The present results helps to better understand the literacy skills and reading-related cognitive functions of ALLS and may support the development of tailored interventions directed to the specific cognitive difficulties ALLS have.

Abstract

Dutch words with certain final consonant clusters are subject to optional schwa epenthesis. The present research aimed at investigating how Dutch listeners deal with this type of phonological variation. By means of syllable monitoring experiments, it was investigated whether Dutch listeners process words with epenthetic schwa (e.g., ’balluk’) as bisyllabic words or rather as monosyllabic words. Real words (e.g., ’balk’, ’balluk’) and pseudowords (e.g., ’golk’, ’golluk’) were compared, to examine effects of lexical representation. No difference was found between monitoring times for BAL targets in ’balluk’ carriers as compared to ’balk’ carriers. This suggests that words with epenthetic schwa are not processed as bisyllabic words. The effects for the pseudo-words paralleled those for the real words, which suggests that they are not due to lexical representation but rather to the application of phonological rules.

Abstract

This chapter explores grammatical gender as a linguistic phenomenon. First, I define gender in terms of agreement, and look at the parts of speech that can take gender agreement. Because it relates to assumptions underlying much psycholinguistic gender research, I also examine the reasons why gender systems are thought to emerge, change, and disappear. Then, I describe the gender system of Dutch. The frequent confusion about the number of genders in Dutch will be resolved by looking at the history of the system, and the role of pronominal reference therein. In addition, I report on three lexical- statistical analyses of the distribution of genders in the language. After having dealt with Dutch, I look at whether the genders of Dutch and other languages are more or less randomly assigned, or whether there is some system to it. In contrast to what many people think, regularities do indeed exist. Native speakers could in principle exploit such regularities to compute rather than memorize gender, at least in part. Although this should be taken into account as a possibility, I will also argue that it is by no means a necessary implication.

Abstract

Do aesthetic preferences for images of neatly organized compositions (e.g., images collected on blogs like Things Organized Neatly©) generalize across cultures? In an earlier study, focusing on stimulus and personal properties related to order and complexity, Western participants indicated their preference for one of two simultaneously presented images (100 pairs). In the current study, we compared the data of the native Dutch-speaking participants from this earlier sample (N = 356) to newly collected data from a native Chinese-speaking sample (N = 220). Overall, aesthetic preferences were quite similar across cultures. When relating preferences for each sample to ratings of order, complexity, soothingness, and fascination collected from a Western, mainly Dutch-speaking sample, the results hint at a cross-culturally consistent preference for images that Western participants rate as more ordered, but a cross-culturally diverse relation between preferences and complexity.

Abstract

Aims and objectives:
Masked priming lexical decision research involving relatively high-proficient Japanese–English bilinguals suggests that past-tense and present-tense morphological connections (e.g., fell-FALL and looked-LOOK) are represented in their L2 (English) lexicons in a way that is similar to how they are represented in L1 (English) lexicons. The goal of the present research was to determine whether the same is true for low-proficient Japanese–English bilinguals.

Methodology:
Seventy-seven low-proficient Japanese–English bilinguals were tested in the masked priming lexical decision task. We manipulated the morphological or orthographic similarity between L2 English prime-target pairs.

Data and analysis:
We analyzed response latencies and error rates using (generalized) linear mixed-effects models.

Findings:
Although participants responded significantly faster to targets preceded by past-tense primes (e.g., fell-FALL and looked-LOOK) when compared to unrelated primes (e.g., slow-FALL and danger-LOOK), those priming effects were the same size as priming effects produced by orthographically similar primes (e.g., fill-FALL and lonely-LOOK), suggesting that the facilitation from past-tense primes is likely orthographic in nature. Nevertheless, the low-proficient bilinguals showed significant L2-L2 repetition priming (e.g., fall-FALL and look-LOOK), suggesting that, for those individuals, L2 (English) words are at least represented at the lexical level.

Originality:
The present study empirically confirmed a prediction, derived from a post hoc exploratory analysis in our previous research, that masked morphological priming effects are no larger than orthographic priming effects in low-proficient bilinguals. This indicates that a certain level of functional proficiency is required to observe morphological priming effects for Japanese–English bilinguals.

Implications:
Our results suggest that morphological connections in L2 are not yet established for low-proficient bilinguals, even when L2 words are lexically represented in their mental lexicon.

Abstract

A combination of Southern blot analysis on a panel of tumor-derived somatic cell hybrids and fluorescence in situ hybridization techniques was used to map YACs, cosmids and DNA markers from the Xp11.2 region relative to the X chromosome breakpoint of the renal cell carcinoma-associated t(X;1)(p11;q21). The position of the breakpoint could be determined as follows: Xcen-OATL2-DXS146-DXS255-SYP-t(X;1)-TFE 3-OATL1-Xpter. Fluorescence in situ hybridization experiments using TFE3-containing YACs and cosmids revealed split signals indicating that the corresponding DNA inserts span the breakpoint region. Subsequent Southern blot analysis showed that a 2.3-kb EcoRI fragment which is present in all TFE3 cosmids identified, hybridizes to aberrant restriction fragments in three independent t(X;1)-positive renal cell carcinoma DNAs. The breakpoints in these tumors are not the same, but map within a region of approximately 6.5 kb. Through preparative gel electrophoresis an (X;1) chimaeric 4.4-kb EcoRI fragment could be isolated which encompasses the breakpoint region present on der(X). Preliminary characterization of this fragment revealed the presence of a 150-bp region with a strong homology to the 5' end of the mouse TFE3 cDNA in the X-chromosome part, and a 48-bp segment in the chromosome 1-derived part identical to the 5' end of a known EST (accession number R93849). These observations suggest that a fusion gene is formed between the two corresponding genes in t(X;1)(p11;q21)-positive papillary renal cell carcinomas.

Abstract

A new psycholinguistically motivated and neural network based model of human word recognition is presented. In contrast to earlier models it uses real speech as input. At the word layer acoustical and temporal information is stored by sequences of connected sensory neurons which pass on sensor potentials to a word neuron. In experiments with a small lexicon which includes groups of very similar word forms, the model meets high standards with respect to word recognition and simulates a number of wellknown psycholinguistical effects.

Abstract

Children vary in mathematical skills even before formal schooling. The current study investigated how parental math beliefs, parents’ math anxiety, and children's spontaneous gestures contribute to preschool-aged children’s math performance. Sixty-three Turkish-reared children (33 girls, Mage = 49.9 months, SD = 3.68) were assessed on verbal counting, cardinality, and arithmetic tasks (nonverbal and verbal). Results showed that parental math beliefs were related to children’s verbal counting, cardinality and arithmetic scores. Children whose parents have higher math beliefs along with low math anxiety scored highest in the cardinality task. Children’s gesture use was also related to lower cardinality performance and the relation between parental math beliefs and children’s performance became stronger when child gestures were absent. These findings highlight the importance of parent and child-related contributors in explaining the variability in preschool-aged children’s math skills.

Abstract

Children vary in mathematical skills even before formal schooling. The current study investigated how parental math beliefs, parents’ math anxiety, and children's spontaneous gestures contribute to preschool-aged children’s math performance. Sixty-three Turkish-reared children (33 girls, Mage = 49.9 months, SD = 3.68) were assessed on verbal counting, cardinality, and arithmetic tasks (nonverbal and verbal). Results showed that parental math beliefs were related to children’s verbal counting, cardinality and arithmetic scores. Children whose parents have higher math beliefs along with low math anxiety scored highest in the cardinality task. Children’s gesture use was also related to lower cardinality performance and the relation between parental math beliefs and children’s performance became stronger when child gestures were absent. These findings highlight the importance of parent and child-related contributors in explaining the variability in preschool-aged children’s math skills.

Abstract

Prosody underpins various linguistic domains ranging from semantics and syntax to discourse. For instance, prosodic information in the form of lexical stress modifies meanings and, as such, syntactic contexts of words as in Turkish kaz-má "pickaxe" (noun) versus káz-ma "do not dig" (imperative). Likewise, prosody indicates the focused constituent of an utterance as the noun phrase filling the wh-spot in a dialogue like What did you eat? I ate----. In the present study, we investigated the relevance of such prosodic variations for discourse comprehension in Turkish. We aimed at answering how lexical stress and prosodic focus mismatches on critical noun phrases-resulting in grammatical anomalies involving both semantics and syntax and discourse-level anomalies, respectively-affect the perceived correctness of an answer to a question in a given context. To that end, 80 native speakers of Turkish, 40 participating in a psychometric experiment and 40 participating in an EEG experiment, were asked to judge the acceptability of prosodic mismatches that occur either separately or concurrently. Psychometric results indicated that lexical stress mismatch led to a lower correctness score than prosodic focus mismatch, and combined mismatch received the lowest score. Consistent with the psychometric data, EEG results revealed an N400 effect to combined mismatch, and this effect was followed by a P600 response to lexical stress mismatch. Conjointly, these results suggest that every source of prosodic information is immediately available and codetermines the interpretation of an utterance; however, semantically and syntactically relevant lexical stress information is assigned more significance by the language comprehension system compared with prosodic focus information.