Quantitative analysis of aphasic sentence production: further development and new data

The narrative production of patients with Broca's aphasia and age-and education-matched control subjects was analyzed using the Quantitative Production Analysis (Saffran et al., 1989), a procedure designed to provide measures of morphological and structural characteristics of aphasic production. In addition to providing data for a larger number of subjects than in the original study, we provide data on interrater and test-retest reliability. The data were also submitted to factor and cluster analyses. Two factors characterized the data and the cluster analysis yielded four sets of patients who performed differently on these factors. In particular, there is evidence that agrammatic patients can differ in their production of free and bound grammatical morphemes, substantiating earlier claims in the literature.     

The Effects of Scrambling on Spanish and Korean Agrammatic Interpretation: Why Linear Models Fail and Structural Models Survive

Several models of comprehension deficits in agrammatic aphasia rely heavily on linear considerations in the assignment of thematic roles to structural positions (e.g., the Trace-Deletion Hypothesis, the Mapping Hypothesis, and the Argument-Linking Hypothesis). These accounts predict that constructions in languages with rules that affect syntactic structure but preserve relative linear order should be unimpaired. Other models [e.g., the Double-Dependency Hypothesis, (DDH)] do not resort to linearity but are purely structural in conception and therefore should be immune to word-order effects. We tested linear and nonlinear accounts with scrambling structures in Korean and topicalization structures in Spanish. The results are very clear. The (nonlinear) DDH is entirely compatible with the evidence, but the linear accounts are not.     

Controversies about CP: a comparison of language acquisition and language impairments in Broca's aphasia

In both language acquisition research and the study of language impairments in Broca's aphasia there is an ongoing debate whether or not phrase-structure representations contain the Complementizer Phrase (CP) layer. To shed some light on this debate, I will provide data on German child language and on German agrammatic Broca's aphasia. Analyses of subordinate clauses, wh-questions, and verb placement indicate that early child grammars do not generate the CP layer yet, whereas the ability to project the CP layer is retained in agrammatism.     

Number processing of Arabic and Hebrew bilinguals: Evidence supporting the distance effect

In the current study, a direct assessment of the effect of language lexical‐syntactic structure and magnitude semantic access on numerical processing was made by contrasting the performance of Arabic/Hebrew bilinguals in a digital (Hindi‐digits/Arabic‐digits) and verbal numerical comparison task (Arabic, an inverted language: Units‐Decades, Hebrew, a non‐inverted language: Decades‐Units). Our data revealed in the digital presentation format (Experiment 1) a regular distance effect in Arabic language‐Hindi digits and Hebrew language‐Arabic digits, characterized by an inverse relation between reaction times and numerical distance with no difference in the mean reaction times of participants in Arabic‐L1 and Hebrew‐L2. This indicates that both lexical digits of two‐digit numbers in L1 and L2 are similarly processed and semantically accessed. However in the verbal presentation format (Experiment 2) a similar pattern of distance effect was found, but the mean reaction times in Arabic were lower than in Hebrew in each numerical distance. This indicates that the processing of two‐digit number words in L1 and L2 is semantically accessed and determined by the syntactic structure of each language.     

口语产生中的认知年老化及其神经机制

综述了口语产生的认知年老化现象及其认知神经机制, 总结了年龄因素对口语产生各阶段的影响及认知机制, 主要从从舌尖效应、同音词的图片命名及其启动效应等方面进行了阐述。在此基础上阐述了关于口语产生认知年老化的理论：激活不充分假说、传递不足假说和抑制不足假说, 从不同角度对认知年老化进行了分析。总结了采用fMRI和ERP技术所进行的口语产生认知年老化过程的认知神经科学研究, 概括了其认知神经机制及其发生的时间进程, 重点阐述了舌尖效应发生的神经机制。最后, 从“认知年老化”和“口语产生”这两个研究领域, 对口语产生认知年老化的研究提出了展望。     

从讲话者和听话者两个角度看韵律的句法解歧

综述了近年来韵律句法解歧方面的一些研究。首先介绍了韵律特征及其作用;其次,简单介绍了句法歧义及其加工模型;然后从讲话者和听话者两个角度,分析了讲话者在自然的情境中是否自发稳定的生成韵律线索,以及听话者是否能够即时的使用韵律信息引导最初的句法分析两个问题,并简要地阐述了汉语韵律和句法的独特特点以及国内的相关研究;最后,初步探讨了进行汉语相应研究应该注意的问题     

Syntactic working memory and the establishment of filler-gap dependencies: insights from ERPs and fMRI

In this contribution, we review an ERP experiment and an fMRI experiment which investigated the processing of German wh-questions. On the basis of the ERP results, we will discuss current models of sentence processing and resource distribution during sentence comprehension. We argue that there exists a separate cognitive or neural resource that supports syntactic working memory processes necessary for the temporary maintenance of syntactic information for the parser. In the context of wh-movement, such a memory component is necessary for establishing filler-gap dependencies. The data obtained from the fMRI experiment will be used to discuss the results of previous neuroimaging studies of sentence processing. It is claimed that syntactic working memory, rather than syntactic processing per se, is supported by Broca's Area.     

Production of Stress Retraction by Left- and Right-Hemisphere-Damaged Patients

An acoustic-perceptual investigation of a phonological phenomenon in which stress is retracted in double-stressed words (e.g., thirTEEN vs THIRteen MEN) was undertaken to identify the locus of functional impairments in speech prosody. Subjects included left-hemisphere-damaged (LHD) and right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) patients and nonneurological controls. They were instructed to read sentences containing double-stressed target words in the presence of a clause boundary or its absence. Whereas all three groups of subjects were capable of manipulating the acoustic parameters that signal a shift in stress, there were some differences between the performance of the patient groups and that of the normal controls. Further, stress production deficits were more severe in LHD aphasic patients than in RHD patients. LHD speakers exhibited deficits in the control of both temporal and F0 cues. Their F0 disturbance appears to be secondary to a primary deficit in temporal control at the phase or sentence level, as an increased number of continuation rises found for the LHD patients seemed to arise from lengthy pauses within sentences. Findings are highlighted to address the nature of breakdown in speech prosody and the competing views of prosodic lateralization.     

Effect of lexical cues on the production of active and passive sentences in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia

This study compared the sentence production abilities of individuals with Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia in an attempt to explore the extent to which impaired lexical retrieval impedes sentence production. The ability to produce active and passive reversible and non-reversible sentences was examined when varying amounts of lexical information was provided. The results showed that both Wernicke's and Broca's aphasic individuals were impaired in passive sentence production and that these difficulties were not overcome when lexical cues (the relevant nouns and uninflected verb) were provided. However when auxiliary and past tense morphemes were provided along with the verb stem, production of passive sentences improved drastically for both groups. Analysis of error patterns, however, revealed differences between the two groups, suggesting that Broca's aphasic subjects may find passive sentences difficult due to problems with retrieving the relevant grammatical morphemes. Subjects with Wernicke's aphasia may have been unable to automatically access the passive sentence structure.     

学习率的心理现实性及其对项目选择的影响

项目选择一直是元认知控制研究中的热点问题。本研究以不同难度和分值的计算题为实验材料,通过两个实验探讨学习率的心理现实性及其对项目选择的影响。实验1中,在不限时条件下,被试者需要完成不同难度的计算题并赋予不同分值。实验2中,在限时条件下,通过变化计算题的难度和分值设计了三种不同学习率的项目,被试只能选择其中一种项目来计算以获得更高的分值。研究表明：第一,当项目所用时间增多时,被试对该项目所赋分值就增大,而时间（难度）与分值的比例是不变的,即学习率是相同的;第二,被试倾向于选择学习率更高的项目来完成计算任务,而当学习率相同时,被试倾向于优先选择高分困难项目。研究证实了学习率的心理现实性,并确定了学习率是项目选择的主要依据。     

Inhibitory control and the speech patterns of second language users

Inhibitory control (IC), an ability to suppress irrelevant and/or conflicting information, has been found to underlie performance on a variety of cognitive tasks, including bilingual language processing. This study examines the relationship between IC and the speech patterns of second language (L2) users from the perspective of individual differences. While the majority of studies have supported the role of IC in bilingual language processing using single‐word production paradigms, this work looks at inhibitory processes in the context of extended speech, with a particular emphasis on disfluencies. We hypothesized that the speech of individuals with poorer IC would be characterized by reduced fluency. A series of regression analyses, in which we controlled for age and L2 proficiency, revealed that IC (in terms of accuracy on the Stroop task) could reliably predict the occurrence of reformulations and the frequency and duration of silent pauses in L2 speech. No statistically significant relationship was found between IC and other L2 spoken output measures, such as repetitions, filled pauses, and performance errors. Conclusions focus on IC as one out of a number of cognitive functions in the service of spoken language production. A more qualitative approach towards the question of whether L2 speakers rely on IC is advocated.     

On the Logical Positivists' Theory of Truth: The Fundamental Problem and a New Perspective

The present article purports to show that the protocol sentence debate, pursued by some leading members of the Vienna Circle in the mid-1930s, was essentially a controversy over the explanation and the real significance of the concept of truth. It is further shown that the fundamental issue underlying the discussions about the concept of truth was the relationship between form and content, as well as between logic/language and the world. R. Carnap was the philosopher who most explicitly and systematically attempted to come to grips with this problem. It is shown that the form-content distinction pervades the three most important phases of Carnap's philosophical development: the structuralist (in Der logische Aufbau der Welt), the syntactical and the semantical. His final semantical stance is essentially determined by the concept of linguistic frameworks. The article purports to demonstrate that this concept cannot be dispensed with in philosophy, but that Carnap failed to work out its ontological implications. Finally, the concept of an internal ontology is briefly delineated. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Specific effects of the Trier Social Stress Test on speech fluency in young and older adults

The notion that speech becomes less fluent during stressful speaking conditions has received little empirical test, and no research has tested this relationship in older adult participants. We analyzed speeches produced during the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) or during a less stressful placebo (pTSST) version of the task. We measured young and older adults’ speech fillers (e.g., um), unfilled pauses (at least 1 s in duration), and other disfluencies (e.g., repetitions, repairs). Neither young nor older adult participants rated themselves as having greater stress in the TSST than pTSST condition, but behavioral effects were obtained. Participants in the TSST condition produced more mid-phrase speech fillers and unfilled pauses than participants in the pTSST condition. Young adults produced more unfilled pauses than older adults overall, and older adults produced more mid-phrase fillers than young adults. Critically, age group interacted with experimental condition, such that older speakers produced disproportionately more mid-phrase fillers than young adults in the TSST compared to the pTSST condition. In sum, the negative effects of the TSST on fluency were generally similar across age, but this specific age-related increase in mid-phrase fillers indicates that older adults’ word retrieval may have been particularly negatively affected. Findings are generally consistent with previous research and add to understanding of how factors internal to the speaker (i.e., demographic, personality, and cognitive variables) and factors external to the speaker (i.e., variables regarding the situation, context, or content of speech) combine to affect speech fluency.