Producing Pronouns and Definite Noun Phrases: Do Speakers Use the Addressee’s Discourse Model?

We report two experiments that investigated the widely held assumption that speakers use the addressee's discourse model when choosing referring expressions (e.g., Ariel, 1990; Chafe, 1994; Givón, 1983; Prince, 1985), by manipulating whether the addressee could hear the immediately preceding linguistic context. Experiment 1 showed that speakers increased pronoun use (and decreased noun phrase use) when the referent was mentioned in the immediately preceding sentence compared to when it was not, even though the addressee did not hear the preceding sentence, indicating that speakers used their own, privileged discourse model when choosing referring expressions. The same pattern of results was found in Experiment 2. Speakers produced more pronouns when the immediately preceding sentence mentioned the referent than when it mentioned a referential competitor, regardless of whether the sentence was shared with their addressee. Thus, we conclude that choice of referring expression is determined by the referent's accessibility in the speaker's own discourse model rather than the addressee's.     

语言产生中词频效应老化的神经基础与时间进程

词频效应指语言产生中人们对高频词汇的加工比低频词汇更快更准确的一种现象, 它可能发生在语言产生中的不同阶段。对青年人和老年人词频效应的不同特点和加工机制进行比较, 可以考察语言产生的认知老化机制。通过语言产生理论可对词频效应的老化进行预测, 提出词频效应在个体发展和老化阶段的相对稳定性, 分析老化导致词频效应相关的神经基础和加工时间进程的改变。未来研究可进一步分离词频效应与习得年龄效应对语言产生老化的影响, 并扩展至神经退行性疾病患者中。     

阅读方式和学习次数对中文词汇的产生效应影响的发展研究

产生效应指朗读单词的记忆成绩要好于默读单词的记忆成绩。采用“学习-再认”的实验范式,以小学三年级、小学五年级、初一、初二和大学生为被试,采用2（阅读方式：朗读,默读）×2（学习次数：1次,3次）×5（年级：三年级,五年级,初一,初二,大学）的混合设计,探讨中文词汇产生效应的发展特点。结果发现：（1）年级的主效应显著,大学生的记忆成绩显著高于三年级、五年级和初一学生的;五年级、初一和初二学生的记忆成绩显著高于三年级学生的;（2）阅读方式的主效应显著,朗读的记忆成绩显著高于默读的;（3）学习次数的主效应显著,3次的记忆成绩显著高于1次的;（4）阅读方式和年级的交互作用显著,在朗读的记忆成绩上,小学三年级的与大学生的差异显著,但小学五年级、初一、初二学生的和大学生的差异均不显著,说明朗读的记忆成绩在小学五年级趋于成熟;在默读的记忆成绩上,小学三年级、五年级、初一学生的均与大学生的差异显著,初二学生的与大学生的无显著差异,表明默读的记忆成绩在初二年级趋于成熟。初一学生的产生效应大小与大学生的无差异。研究结果支持产生效应的特异观。     

Building phrases in language production: An MEG study of simple composition

Although research on language production has developed detailed maps of the brain basis of single word production in both time and space, little is known about the spatiotemporal dynamics of the processes that combine individual words into larger representations during production. Studying composition in production is challenging due to difficulties both in controlling produced utterances and in measuring the associated brain responses. Here, we circumvent both problems using a minimal composition paradigm combined with the high temporal resolution of magnetoencephalography (MEG). With MEG, we measured the planning stages of simple adjective–noun phrases (‘red tree’), matched list controls (‘red, blue’), and individual nouns (‘tree’) and adjectives (‘red’), with results indicating combinatorial processing in the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and left anterior temporal lobe (LATL), two regions previously implicated for the comprehension of similar phrases. These effects began relatively quickly (∼180 ms) after the presentation of a production prompt, suggesting that combination commences with initial lexical access. Further, while in comprehension, vmPFC effects have followed LATL effects, in this production paradigm vmPFC effects occurred mostly in parallel with LATL effects, suggesting that a late process in comprehension is an early process in production. Thus, our results provide a novel neural bridge between psycholinguistic models of comprehension and production that posit functionally similar combinatorial mechanisms operating in reversed order.     

The multidimensional nature of hyperspeech: Evidence from Japanese vowel devoicing

We investigate the hypothesis that infant-directed speech is a form of hyperspeech, optimized for intelligibility, by focusing on vowel devoicing in Japanese. Using a corpus of infant-directed and adult-directed Japanese, we show that speakers implement high vowel devoicing less often when speaking to infants than when speaking to adults, consistent with the hyperspeech hypothesis. The same speakers, however, increase vowel devoicing in careful, read speech, a speech style which might be expected to pattern similarly to infant-directed speech. We argue that both infant-directed and read speech can be considered listener-oriented speech styles—each is optimized for the specific needs of its intended listener. We further show that in non-high vowels, this trend is reversed: speakers devoice more often in infant-directed speech and less often in read speech, suggesting that devoicing in the two types of vowels is driven by separate mechanisms in Japanese.     

Preference for infant-directed speech in preterm infants

The current study explores the effects of exposure to maternal voice on infant sucking in preterm infants. Twenty-four preterm infants averaging 35 weeks gestational age were divided randomly into two groups. A contingency between high-amplitude sucking and presentation of maternal voice was instituted for one group while the other group served as a yoked control. No significant differences were observed in sucking of the two groups, but the degree of pitch modulation of the maternal voice predicted an increase in the rate of infant sucking.     

Associations among mothers’ representations of their relationship with their toddlers,maternal parenting stress,and toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors

This study examined the array of associations among the emotional valence and the coherence of mothers’ representations of their relationship with their toddlers, mothers’ reported parenting stress, and toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. To evaluate maternal representations, 55 mothers were interviewed using the Five Minute Speech Sample procedure (FMSS; Magaña et al., 1986), which was coded for criticism and positive comments (Magaňa-Amato, 1993), as well as coherence (Sher-Censor & Yates, 2015). Mothers also completed the Parenting Stress Index − Short Form (PSI; Abidin, 1997) to evaluate their parenting stress and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1.5–5; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000) to assess their toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Results indicated that parenting stress was associated with maternal criticism and fewer positive comments in the FMSS, but not with the coherence of mothers’ FMSS. Parenting stress, criticism, and lower coherence in the FMSS were associated with maternal reports of externalizing behaviors. Only parenting stress and lower coherence in the FMSS were related to mothers’ reports of internalizing behaviors of the child. Thus, the emotional valence and the coherence of mothers’ representations of their relationship with their child and parenting stress may each constitute a distinct aspect of parenting and contribute to the understanding of individual differences in toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Implications for research and practice with families of toddlers are discussed.     

Fifty years of American polarization and the changing roles of faith communities

The 2016 election of Donald Trump as president and the first year of his administration have been accompanied by intensified social and political divides in the United States. A comparison of today's polarization with that during the Vietnam War and civil rights movement of the 1960s suggests strategies for bridging the divides—and in particular for an expanding role by faith communities.     

Self‐reported inner speech use in university students

Remarkably little is known regarding what people talk to themselves about (inner speech use) in their everyday lives. Existing self‐directed speech measures (e.g., thought sampling and questionnaires) either uniquely capture inner speech frequency and neglect its content or classify self‐reported thoughts instances in overly simplistic categories determined by the researchers. In the current study, we describe an open‐format thought listing procedure as well as a refined coding scheme and present detailed inner speech content self‐generated by 76 university students. The most frequently self‐reported inner speech activities were self‐regulation (e.g., planning and problem solving), self‐reflection (e.g., emotions, self‐motivation, appearance, behavior/performance, and autobiography), critical thinking (e.g., evaluating, judging, and criticizing), people in general, education, and current events. Inner speech occurred most commonly while studying and driving. These results are consistent with the self‐regulatory and self‐referential functions of inner speech often emphasized in the literature. Future research avenues using the open‐format inner speech listing procedure and coding scheme are proposed.