In search of perceptual influences of sentence context on word recognition

A major issue in the study of word perception concerns the nature (perceptual or nonperceptual) of sentence context effects. The authors compared effects of legal, word replacement, nonword replacement, and transposed contexts on target word performance using the Reicher-Wheeler task to suppress nonperceptual influences of contextual and lexical constraint. Experiment 1 showed superior target word performance for legal (e.g., "it began to flap/flop") over all other contexts and for transposed over word replacement and nonword replacement contexts. Experiment 2 replicated these findings with higher constraint contexts (e.g., "the cellar is dark/dank") and Experiment 3 showed that strong constraint contexts improved performance for congruent (e.g., "born to be wild") but not incongruent (e.g., mild) target words. These findings support the view that the very perception of words can be enhanced when words are presented in legal sentence contexts.     

Rule-governed missing information in spoken word recognition: schwa vowel deletion

Vowel deletion is a phonological process in which an unstressed /inverted e/ (schwa) vowel is deleted during pronunciation. In Experiment 1, vowel-deleted and vowel-reduced versions of two- and three-syllable words rated for pronunciation acceptability showed reduced acceptability for deleted vowel versions with a greater decrement for two-syllable words. Experiments 2 and 3 used vowel-intact and vowel-deleted productions preceded by themselves (repetition prime), their alternative production (variant prime), or a control (unrelated) prime. Lexical decisions to three-syllable vowel-intact and vowel-deleted targets, as well as to two-syllable vowel-intact targets, showed greater priming in the repetition conditions than in the variant conditions. Two-syllable vowel-deleted targets, however, showed comparable repetition and variant priming. The results are discussed in terms of lexical activation and representation of phonological variants. A model is offered in which activation based on similarity triggers utilization of phonological inferences only when required for successful recognition.     

Language-specific Knowledge and Short-term Memory in Bilingual and Non-bilingual Children

The sensitivity of children's phonological short-term memory performance to languagespecific knowledge was investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, monolingual English children, English-French bilingual children, and English children who were learning French as a second language were compared on measures of phonological short-term memory and vocabulary in the two languages. The children's short-term memory performance in each language mirrored their familiarity with English and French, with greater vocabulary knowledge being associated with higher levels of recall of both words and nonwords in that language. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2, in which two groups of children with good knowledge of English and French were examined: native bilingual children who had comparable knowledge of the two languages and non-native bilingual children who had a greater knowledge of their native than second language. The findings indicate that phonological short-term memory is not a language-independent system but, rather, functions in a highly language-specific way.     

Relative contribution of perception/cognition and language on spatial categorization

This study investigated the relative contribution of perception/cognition and language-specific semantics in nonverbal categorization of spatial relations. English and Korean speakers completed a video-based similarity judgment task involving containment, support, tight fit, and loose fit. Both perception/cognition and language served as resources for categorization, and allocation between the two depended on the target relation and the features contrasted in the choices. Whereas perceptual/cognitive salience for containment and tight-fit features guided categorization in many contexts, language-specific semantics influenced categorization where the two features competed for similarity judgment and when the target relation was tight support, a domain where spatial relations are perceptually diverse. In the latter contexts, each group categorized more in line with semantics of their language, that is, containment/support for English and tight/loose fit for Korean. We conclude that language guides spatial categorization when perception/cognition alone is not sufficient. In this way, language is an integral part of our cognitive domain of space.     

Positional effects in the lexical retuning of speech perception

Listeners use lexical knowledge to adjust to speakers’ idiosyncratic pronunciations. Dutch listeners learn to interpret an ambiguous sound between /s/ and /f/ as /f/ if they hear it word-finally in Dutch words normally ending in /f/, but as /s/ if they hear it in normally /s/-final words. Here, we examined two positional effects in lexically guided retuning. In Experiment 1, ambiguous sounds during exposure always appeared in word-initial position (replacing the first sounds of /f/- or /s/-initial words). No retuning was found. In Experiment 2, the same ambiguous sounds always appeared word-finally during exposure. Here, retuning was found. Lexically guided perceptual learning thus appears to emerge reliably only when lexical knowledge is available as the to-be-tuned segment is initially being processed. Under these conditions, however, lexically guided retuning was position independent: It generalized across syllabic positions. Lexical retuning can thus benefit future recognition of particular sounds wherever they appear in words.     

Can hearing puter activate pupil? Phonological competition and the processing of reduced spoken words in spontaneous conversations

In listeners' daily communicative exchanges, they most often hear casual speech, in which words are often produced with fewer segments, rather than the careful speech used in most psycholinguistic experiments. Three experiments examined phonological competition during the recognition of reduced forms such as [pjut?r] for computer using a target-absent variant of the visual world paradigm. Listeners' eye movements were tracked upon hearing canonical and reduced forms as they looked at displays of four printed words. One of the words was phonologically similar to the canonical pronunciation of the target word, one word was similar to the reduced pronunciation, and two words served as unrelated distractors. When spoken targets were presented in isolation (Experiment 1) and in sentential contexts (Experiment 2), competition was modulated as a function of the target word form. When reduced targets were presented in sentential contexts, listeners were probabilistically more likely to first fixate reduced-form competitors before shifting their eye gaze to canonical-form competitors. Experiment 3, in which the original /p/ from [pjut?r] was replaced with a “real” onset /p/, showed an effect of cross-splicing in the late time window. We conjecture that these results fit best with the notion that speech reductions initially activate competitors that are similar to the phonological surface form of the reduction, but that listeners nevertheless can exploit fine phonetic detail to reconstruct strongly reduced forms to their canonical counterparts.     

A test of the Sophisticated Guessing Theory of word perception

Under difficult viewing conditions, a letter in a familiar word can be perceived more accurately than the same letter alone or in a string of unrelated letters. Sophisticated Guessing Theory asserts that perception is more accurate when a letter appears in a word because its identity is constrained by the identity of neighboring context letters. Experiment 1 tested the following prediction: A letter in a word should be perceived more accurately in strongly constraining word contexts than in weakly constraining word contexts. No such trend was found using a number of different measures of contextual constraint and perceptual accuracy. Experiment 2 verified that, with the same conditions used in Experiment 1 to test Sophisticated Guessing Theory, a strong perceptual advantage could be obtained for letters in words vs. letters alone or in unrelated-letter strings. Several alternative theories of word perception are discussed. The most attractive asserts that for words an additional higher-level perceptual code is formed that is more resistant to degradation than the code formed for letters.     

Structural constraints in the perception of English stop-sonorant clusters

Native-language phonemes combined in a non-native way can be misperceived so as to conform to native phonotactics, e.g. English listeners are biased to hear syllable-initial [tr] rather than the illegal [tl] (Perception and Psychophysics 34 (1983) 338; Perception and Psychophysics 60 (1998) 941). What sort of linguistic knowledge causes phonotactic perceptual bias? Two classes of models were compared: unit models, which attribute bias to the listener's differing experience of each cluster (such as their different frequencies), and structure models, which use abstract phonological generalizations (such as a ban on [coronal][coronal] sequences). Listeners (N=16 in each experiment) judged synthetic 6 x 6 arrays of stop-sonorant clusters in which both consonants were ambiguous. The effect of the stop judgment on the log odds ratio of the sonorant judgment was assessed separately for each stimulus token to provide a stimulus-independent measure of bias. Experiment 1 compared perceptual bias against the onsets [bw] and [dl], which violate different structural constraints but are both of zero frequency. Experiment 2 compared bias against [dl] in CCV and VCCV contexts, to investigate the interaction of syllabification with segmentism and to rule out a compensation-for-coarticulation account of Experiment 1. Results of both experiments favor the structure models (supported by NSF).     

Phonological priming effects on word retrieval and tip-of-the-tongue experiences in young and older adults

In a repetition priming paradigm, young and older participants read aloud prime words that sometimes shared phonological components with a target word that answered a general knowledge question. In Experiment 1, prior processing of phonologically related words decreased tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) and increased correct responses to subsequent questions. In Experiment 2, the priming task occurred only when the participant could not answer the question. Processing phonologically related words increased correct recall, but only when the participant was in a TOT state. Phonological priming effects were age invariant, although older adults produced relatively more TOTs. Results support the transmission deficit model that the weak connections among phonological representations that cause TOTs are strengthened by production of phonologically related words. There was no evidence that phonologically related words block TOT targets.     

Hemispheric differences in the effects of context on vowel perception

Listeners perceive speech sounds relative to context. Contextual influences might differ over hemispheres if different types of auditory processing are lateralized. Hemispheric differences in contextual influences on vowel perception were investigated by presenting speech targets and both speech and non-speech contexts to listeners’ right or left ears (contexts and targets either to the same or to opposite ears). Listeners performed a discrimination task. Vowel perception was influenced by acoustic properties of the context signals. The strength of this influence depended on laterality of target presentation, and on the speech/non-speech status of the context signal. We conclude that contrastive contextual influences on vowel perception are stronger when targets are processed predominately by the right hemisphere. In the left hemisphere, contrastive effects are smaller and largely restricted to speech contexts.     

Repetition blindness in sentence contexts: Not just an attribution?

Selective "blindness" to repeated words in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) occurs even when omitting these words compromises sentence syntax and meaning. The contributions of lexical and contextual factors to this repetition blindness (RB) phenomenon were evaluated using three tasks that combined RB and ambiguity resolution paradigms. During an RSVP sentence, a repeated word and matched but incongruous control were presented simultaneously, and participants were asked to report the entire sentence, including only the appropriate word. Substantial RB was evident in impaired report of repeated targets, whereas report of nonrepeated targets was enhanced when the distractor was a repeat. Experiment 2 confirmed these results with reduced reporting requirements, and Experiment 3 demonstrated the independence of repetition and sentence congruity effects. Results across all contexts support a lexical account of RB, which assumes that reactivation and identification of rapidly repeated words are impaired due to the refractory nature of lexical representations.     

Falling on sensitive ears: constraints on bilingual lexical activation

Abstract— Spoken word recognition is characterized by multiple activation of sound patterns that are consistent with the acoustic-phonetic input. Recently, an extreme form of multiple activation was observed: Bilingual listeners activated words from both languages that were consistent with the input. We explored the degree to which bilingual multiple activation may be constrained by fine-grained acoustic-phonetic information. Ina head-mounted eyetracking experiment, we presented Spanish-English bilinguals with spoken Spanish words having word-initial stop consonants with either English- or Spanish-appropriate voice onset times. Participants fixated interlingual distractors(nontarget pictures whose English names shared a phonological similarity with the Spanish targets) more frequently than control distractors when the target words contained English-appropriate voice onset times. These results demonstrate that fine-grained acoustic-phonetic information and a precise match between input and representation are criticalfor parallel activation of two languages.     

Some influences of accent structure on melody recognition

Two experiments were carried out to investigate the roles of joint accent structure and familiarity in delayed recognition of relatively long tonal melodies. Melodic themes of target melodies were defined by correlating contour-related pitch accents with temporal accents (accent coupling) during an initial familiarization phase. Later, subjects gave recognition responses to key-transposed versions of the target melodies as well as to decoys with same and different contour accent patterns. In Experiment 1, all to-be-recognized melodies occurred both in an original rhythm, which preserved accent coupling, and in a new rhythm, which did not. Listeners were best at distinguishing targets from different decoys, especially in the original rhythm. In Experiment 2, the familiarity of target tunes and the rhythmic similarity in recognition were varied. Similar rhythms preserved accent coupling, whereas dissimilar rhythms did not. Listeners were most adept in distinguishing familiar targets from different decoys (Experiment 2A), particularly when they appeared in novel but similar rhythms. However, in similar rhythm conditions, listeners also frequently mistook same decoys for targets. With less familiar targets (Experiment 2B), these effects were attenuated, and performance showed general effects of pitch contour.     

Phonological priming in auditory word recognition

Cohort theory, developed by Marslen-Wilson and Welsh (1978), proposes that a "cohort" of all the words beginning with a particular sound sequence will be activated during the initial stage of the word recognition process. We used a priming technique to test specific predictions regarding cohort activation in three experiments. In each experiment, subjects identified target words embedded in noise at different signal-to-noise ratios. The target words were either presented in isolation or preceded by a prime item that shared phonological information with the target. In Experiment 1, primes and targets were English words that shared zero, one, two, three, or all phonemes from the beginning of the word. In Experiment 2, nonword primes preceded word targets and shared initial phonemes. In Experiment 3, word primes and word targets shared phonemes from the end of a word. Evidence of reliable phonological priming was observed in all three experiments. The results of the first two experiments support the assumption of activation of lexical candidates based on word-initial information, as proposed in cohort theory. However, the results of the third experiment, which showed increased probability of correctly identifying targets that shared phonemes from the end of words, did not support the predictions derived from the theory. The findings are discussed in terms of current models of auditory word recognition and recent approaches to spoken-language understanding.     

Language differences in verbal short-term memory do not exclusively originate in the process of subvocal rehearsal

Language differences in verbal short-term memory were investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, bilinguals with high competence in English and French and monolingual English adults with extremely limited knowledge of French were assessed on their serial recall of words and nonwords in both languages. In all cases recall accuracy was superior in the language with which individuals were most familiar, a first-language advantage that remained when variation due to differential rates of articulation in the two languages was taken into account. In Experiment 2, bilinguals recalled lists of English and French words with and without concurrent articulatory suppression. First-language superiority persisted under suppression, suggesting that the language differences in recall accuracy were not attributable to slower rates of subvocal rehearsal in the less familiar language. The findings indicate that language-specific differences in verbal short-term memory do not exclusively originate in the subvocal rehearsal process. It is suggested that one source of language-specific variation might relate to the use of long-term knowledge to support short-term memory performance.     

句子背景下缺失音素的中文听觉词理解的音、义激活进程（Ⅰ）

听觉词的语义激活过程是认知心理学和心理语言学的热点问题。近期出现了两种假设：（1）全部通达理论;（2）语义背景依赖假设。采用缺失音素的中文双字词为材料,考察了中文听觉词的语音、语义激活进程。实验1考察了影响缺失音素的中文听觉词语音、语义激活的因素;实验2考察了在听觉词理解初期,词义提取是否存在句子背景效应。结果表明：（1）对缺失音素的中文听觉词识别受听觉词语音和句子语义背景影响;（2）句子语义背景在缺失音素的中文听觉词识别之初就开始发挥作用,并一直影响着中文听觉词的理解。     

The Differential Role of Syllabic Structure in Stem Completion for French and English

Four experiments were carried out to examine the role of a word's internal structure (i.e. syllables) in stem completion for French and English speakers. Subjects studied a series of unrelated words, selected so that two words shared their initial consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) segment (e.g. BALANCE-BALCON). Subjects were then presented with CV or CVC stems (e.g. BA or BAL), half of which corresponded to the studied words' initial segment, and were asked to produce the first word that came to mind. Half the subjects performed the entire task in the auditory modality, half did so in the visual modality (Experiment 1). In both modalities, French subjects completed the stems more often with studied words in which the initial syllable matched the stem structure (e.g. BALCON for BAL) than with studied words that did not match (e.g. BALANCE for BAL). These syllabic effects were dissociable from explicit memory (Experiment 2) and appear to be language-specific, since they were obtained with French speakers but not with English speakers (Experiments 3 and 4). The results are highly consistent with the notion that implicit memory for words reflects the operations of perceptual phonological representations which are organised differently in French and English.     

Perceptual and semantic sources of category-specific effects: event-related potentials during picture and word categorization

In two experiments the effect of object category on event-related potentials (ERPs) was assessed while subjects performed superordinate categorizations with pictures and words referring to objects from natural (e.g., animal) and artifactual (e.g., tool) categories. First, a category probe was shown that was presented as name in Experiment 1 and as picture in Experiment 2. Thereafter, the target stimulus was displayed. In both experiments, analyses of the ERPs to the targets revealed effects of category at about 160 msec after target onset in the pictorial modality, which can be attributed to category-specific differences in perceptual processing. Later, between about 300-500 msec, natural and artifactual categories elicited similar ERP effects across target and category modalities. These findings suggest that perceptual as well as semantic sources contribute to category-specific effects. They support the view that semantic knowledge associated with different categories is represented in multiple subsystems that are similarly accessed by pictures and words.     

Cross-modal priming and explicit memory in patients with verbal production deficits

Implicit memory is often thought to reflect an influence of past experience on perceptual processes, yet priming effects are found when the perceptual format of stimuli changes between study and test episodes. Such cross-modal priming effects have been hypothesized to depend upon stimulus recoding processes whereby a stimulus presented in one modality is converted to other perceptual formats. The present research examined recoding accounts of cross-modal priming by testing patients with verbal production deficits that presumably impair the conversion of visual words into auditory/phonological forms. The patients showed normal priming in a visual stem completion task following visual study (Experiment 1), but showed impairments following auditory study in both implicit (Experiment 2) and explicit (Experiment 3) stem completion. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that verbal production processes contribute to the recoding of visual stimuli and support cross-modal priming. The results also indicate that shared processes contribute to both explicit memory and cross-modal implicit memory.     

The Role of Antibody in Korean Word Recognition

A subsyllabic phonological unit, the antibody, has received little attention as a potential fundamental processing unit in word recognition. The psychological reality of the antibody in Korean recognition was investigated by looking at the performance of subjects presented with nonwords and words in the lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, the nonwords with a high-frequency antibody were processed more slowly than those with a low-frequency antibody. Experiment 2 showed that separating the antibody unit is advantageous in processing certain types of Korean words. These results indicate that the antibody is a part of the lexical representation system and is a fundamental unit of lexical processing.