What language says about the psychology of events

Despite the variety of verb meanings, linguistic research on their syntax and semantics has shown that they can be categorized into a finite and surprisingly small number of event types. More recently, research in the psycholinguistics of language acquisition and processing has emphasized the relevance of event type. The wider implication of these findings is that the conceptual fluidity of verbal concepts is confined by the fundamental structures of mental grammar, shedding light on this important interface between cognition and syntactic organization.     

From tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) data to theoretical implications in two steps: when more TOTs means better retrieval

Two experiments in which participants named pictured objects with difficult or easier names, and a reanalysis and review of published data, reveal that problematic measures used in previous studies obscured the implications of group differences in tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) rates. In Experiment 1, increased age led to more TOTs for difficult but not easy targets. In Experiment 2, bilinguals had more TOTs than monolinguals for easy targets but fewer TOTs for difficult targets. The authors developed a theoretically motivated measure that clarifies the implications of TOT data by linking all responses elicited in the TOT paradigm with either success or failure in completing 2 retrieval steps in current models of language production. The 2-step analysis reveals a common mechanism for the age and bilingualism effects and implies that age has both positive and negative effects on retrieval.     

Moving from cognition to behavior: What the research says

In 1994, R. G. Lord and P. E. Levy proposed a variant of control theory that incorporated human information processing principles. The current article evaluates the empirical evidence for their propositions and updates the theory by considering contemporary research on information processing. Considerable support drawing from diverse literatures was found for propositions concerning the activation of goal-relevant information, the inhibition of goal-irrelevant information, and the consequences of goal completion. These effects were verified by meta-analytic analyses, which also supported the meaningfulness of such effects on the basis of their unstandardized magnitudes. The authors conclude by proposing new directions for this version of control theory by invoking recent theorizing on goal emergence and the importance of velocity and acceleration information for goal striving and by reviewing research in cognitive neuroscience.     

Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states: retrieval,behavior, and experience

The tip-of-the-tongue state (TOT) is the feeling that accompanies temporary inaccessibility of an item that a person is trying to retrieve. TOTs have been studied experimentally since the seminal work of Brown and McNeill (1966). TOTs are experiences that accompany some failed or slow retrievals, and they can result in changes in retrieval behavior itself, allowing us to study the interplay among experience, retrieval, and behavior. We often attribute the experience of the TOT to the unretrieved target, but TOTs are based on a variety of cues, heuristics, or sources of evidence, such as partial information, related information, and cue familiarity, that predict the likelihood of overcoming retrieval failure. We present a synthesis of the direct-access view, which accounts for retrieval failure, and the heuristic–metacognitive view, which accounts for the experience of the TOT. We offer several avenues for future research and applications of TOT theory and data.     

Why simple verb forms can be so difficult to spell: the influence of homophone frequency and distance in Dutch.

Two experiments are reported in which the determinants of spelling errors on homophonous verb forms in Dutch were studied. Both experiments indicated that errors were determined by the frequency relationship between the two homophonous forms and the distance between the verb and the word determining its spelling. We propose an interference model for spelling in which a phonologically driven retrieval process is the locus of the frequency effect and a morphosyntactically driven computational component can account for the distance effect. Alternative explanations are also explored.     

What the progressive aspect tells us about processes

Numerous authors have attempted to carve an ontological distinction between events and processes on the basis of a widely noted linguistic datum involving count and mass nouns, where events are thought to be analogous to countable objects while processes to non-countable stuff. By assessing the most developed of these proposals—that of Helen Steward’s—this paper locates the motivations behind the project of carving some such distinction between events and processes, and proceeds to offer considerations toward an alternative account of processes—one whose ontology is more akin to that of states than it is to stuff.

     

What the precedence effect tells us about room acoustics

Sound produced in a room is typically followed by numerous reflected sounds from nearby surfaces; yet we perceive a single sound source. This perceptual phenomenon, known as the precedence effect, has long been assumed to involve echo suppression, but the nature of this suppression remains unclear. In two experiments, we investigated whether information about the lagging sound's location was perceived. Our hypothesis was that such information is critical because reflected sound can function to inform the listener about objects and structures in the room. Listeners reported hearing more echoes under a stimulus situation that simulated sudden, unexpected changes in the location of the lagging sounds, as compared with stable stimulus conditions. Placement of lagging sounds' locations proved to be critical in that a sudden shift per se did not disrupt the fusion aspect of the precedence effect; the new location had to occupy a site that specified a new reflecting surface. Perception of echoes appears to be modulated by room acoustic information contained in reflected sound and listeners' expectations about this.