Do phonological representations specify variables? Evidence from the obligatory contour principle

Mental variables are central to symbolic accounts of cognition. Conversely, according to the pattern associator hypothesis, variables are obsolete. We examine the representation of variables by investigating the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP, McCarthy, 1986) in Hebrew. The OCP constrains gemination in Hebrew roots. Gemination is well formed at the root's end (e.g., SMM), but not in its beginning (e.g., SSM). Roots and geminates, however, are variables; hence, according to the pattern associator view, the OCP is unrepresentable. Three experiments demonstrate that speakers are sensitive to the presence of root gemination and constrain its location. In forming words from novel biconsonantal roots, speakers prefer to reduplicate the root's final over its initial radical, and they rate such outputs as more acceptable. The avoidance or rejection of root-initial gemination is independent of its position in the word and is inexplicable by the statistical frequency of root tokens. Our results suggest that linguistic representations specify variables. Speakers' competence, however, is governed by violable constraints.     

Antismoking norm and smokers' antismoking attitudes: The interplay between personal and group‐based self‐esteem

Scientific discoveries about the dangers of smoking and antismoking actions carried out in Western countries over recent decades have progressively helped create an antismoking social norm. Nevertheless, many smokers still refuse to quit. We conducted two studies to investigate smokers' resistance to this norm as a function of their personal self‐esteem (PSE) and group‐based self‐esteem (GBSE). An initial correlational study assessed smokers' perception of the antismoking social norm, their PSE, and their antismoking attitudes. Smokers with low PSE had lower antismoking attitudes than those with high PSE when the antismoking norm was strong. The second study assessed GBSE (i.e., smokers' satisfaction as smokers) and manipulated both the strength of the antismoking norm and PSE (i.e., focus on personal weaknesses or strengths). Smokers with low PSE displayed the lowest antismoking attitudes when the antismoking norm was strong and their GBSE was high. These results show that the antismoking norm can produce paradoxical effects and suggest that the way individuals cope with stigmatization is affected by the interplay between PSE and GBSE. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Childhood epilepsy and the role of psychology.

The relatively long history of psychology's involvement in the field of epilepsy is discussed. The view of epilepsy is that of a chronic disorder with onset in childhood, at a time when normal development is at risk for interference from the direct and secondary aspects of repetitive seizures, the neurological abnormalities from which they arise, and the clinical interventions that attempt to control them. The objective and scientifically based methods of psychology are viewed as particularly well suited to these topics. Past efforts by psychologists have increased understanding of the syndrome that is epilepsy, and have paved the way for opportunities to further contribute to the theoretically and practically important problems associated with epilepsy.     

Be is a raising verb: Psycholinguistic evidence

Psycholinguistic evidence is reported supporting the proposal from theoretical linguistics that the D-structure representation of English copular sentences likeJohn is a fool, The man is happy, etc., is [S [NP e] [vp BE [sc NP XP]]], containing a small clause (SC), rather than [s NP [vp BE XP]], in other words, thatbe is a raising verb. Response times to lexical targets following unaccusative, passive, intransitive, and transitive sentences were compared with response times to lexical targets following corresponding copular sentences. A raising analysis of copular sentences specifies a post-verbal NP-trace of the (raised) NP subject at S-structure. This trace should facilitate the response time to a post-sentence presentation of the head noun of the subject NP, causing copular sentence response times to pattern with the response times for corresponding unaccusatives and passives, which also contain such traces. A traditional nonraising analysis specifies no trace at S-structure. Response times to copular sentences should then pattern with corresponding intransitives and transitives, which also do not contain traces. The observed response-time patterns confirmed the raising analysis.This study was conducted at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, in the course of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education.     

Does a theory of language need a grammar? Evidence from Hebrew root structure

Hebrew constrains the occurrence of identical consonants in its roots: Identical consonants are acceptable root finally (e.g., skk), but not root initially (e.g., kks). Speakers' ability to freely generalize this constraint to novel phonemes (Berent, Marcus, Shimron, & Gafos, 2002) suggests that they represent segment identity-a relation among mental variables. An alternative account attributes the restriction on identical phonemes to their feature similarity, captured by either the number of shared features or their statistical frequency. The similarity account predicts that roots with partially similar consonants (e.g., sgk) should be at least as acceptable as roots with fully identical consonants (e.g., skk), and each of these roots should be less acceptable than dissimilar controls (e.g., gdn). Contrary to these predictions, three lexical decision experiments demonstrate that full identity is more acceptable than partial similarity and (in some cases) controls. Speakers' sensitivity to consonant identity suggests that linguistic competence, in general, and phonology, in particular, encompass a computational mechanism that operates over variables. This conclusion is consistent with linguistic accounts that postulate a symbolic grammatical component that is irreducible to the statistical properties of the lexicon.     

Skeletal structure of printed words: evidence from the stroop task

Do readers encode the sequencing of consonant (C) and vowel (V) phonemes (skeletal structure) in printed words? The authors used the Stroop task to examine readers' sensitivity to skeletal structure. In Experiment 1, CVC nonwords (e.g., pof) facilitated the naming of colors with congruent frames (e.g., red, a CVC word) but not with incongruent ones (e.g., green). In Experiment 2, the color black (a CCVC frame) was named faster with a congruent CCVC frame (e.g., grof) compared to either CCVCC (e.g., groft) or CVC (e.g., gof) incongruent controls. Finally, in Experiment 3, the color pink (a CVCC frame) was named faster with a CVCC frame (e.g., goft) compared to either CCVCC or CVC incongruent controls. In most cases, congruent frames shared no segments with the color name. These findings demonstrate that readers automatically assemble the skeletal structure of printed words.     

Is Phonology Embodied? Evidence from Mechanical Stimulation

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - Across languages, certain syllables are systematically preferred to others (e.g., plaf?>?ptaf). Here, we examine whether these preferences...