ABSTRACT
The growing interdisciplinary research field of psycholinguistics is in constant need of new and up-to-date tools which will allow researchers to answer complex questions, but also expand on languages other than English, which dominates the field. One type of such tools are picture datasets which provide naming norms for everyday objects. However, existing databases tend to be small in terms of the number of items they include, and have also been normed in a limited number of languages, despite the recent boom in multilingualism research. In this paper we present the Multilingual Picture (Multipic) database, containing naming norms and familiarity scores for 500 coloured pictures, in thirty-two languages or language varieties from around the world. The data was validated with standard methods that have been used for existing picture datasets. This is the first dataset to provide naming norms, and translation equivalents, for such a variety of languages; as such, it will be of particular value to psycholinguists and other interested researchers. The dataset has been made freely available.
Subject(s)
Multilingualism , Psycholinguistics , Databases, Factual , Humans , Language , Recognition, PsychologyABSTRACT
Las alteraciones sintácticas han sido documentadas en personas con diferentes perfiles de afasia. Este trabajo se propone mostrar el diseño de una prueba que permite evaluar específicamente la comprensión de oraciones en español con tres tipos de oraciones: activas, pasivas y hendidas o dislocadas de objeto. La primera presenta orden estructural canónico Sujeto-Verbo-Objeto, mientras que las otras dos presentan el orden inverso. Participaron del estudio 4 personas con afasia (PCA) y un grupo control de 18 sujetos sin lesiones ni alteraciones del lenguaje emparejados en edad y nivel de escolaridad. Los resultados mostraron que el grupo de pacientes tuvo un peor rendimiento que el grupo control lo que evidencia un perfil de PCA con alteraciones en la comprensión de oraciones. Además, el rendimiento de las PCA en las oraciones activas fue significativamente mejor que en las otras dos estructuras evidenciando un efecto de canonicidad. La prueba diseñada resulta ser un instrumento sensible y útil para el diagnóstico de los déficits sintácticos en la afasia(AU)
Syntactic deficits have been documented in people with different aphasia profiles. This work aims to show the design of a test that allows to assess comprehension in Spanish with three specific sentences types: active, passive and object cleft. The former presents canonical Subject-Verb-Object structural order, while the other two present the inverse order. Four people with aphasia (PWA) and a control group of 18 subjects without lesions or language disorders matched for age and level of education participated in the study. The results showed that the patient group had lower performance than the control group, evidencing a PWA profile with alterations in sentence comprehension. Furthermore, the performance of the PWA group attested the expected canonicity effect-- it was significantly better for active sentences than for the other two structures. The designed test turns out to be a sensitive and useful instrument for the assessment of syntactic deficits in aphasia(AU)
Subject(s)
Aphasia , Language , Comprehension , DiagnosisABSTRACT
En este trabajo se investigó el procesamiento de los rasgos de género y número en la producción de la concordancia sujeto-verbo y sujeto-adjetivo predicativo del español. Bajo el paradigma de elicitación de errores diseñamos un experimento en el que se manipuló el género del sustantivo núcleo del sujeto (N1) y del sustantivo interfiriente (N2) (masculino-femenino), y el número de N1 y de N2 (singular-plural): Ejemplo: El abuelo (N1) del chico (N2). Participaron del experimento 20 sujetos a los que se les presentó en forma visual la base del adjetivo por 500 ms (PEINAD_) y luego el preámbulo (4000 ms.) que debían leer y completar con el verbo ser o estar y el adjetivo flexionado. Ejemplo: El abuelo del chico está peinado. A cada sujeto se le administró una lista con 128 targets. Se analizó el patrón de errores y de omisiones de la concordancia sujeto-verbo (S-V) y sujeto-predicativo (S-P). Los resultados arrojaron efectos de marcación de número y de género. Los datos indicaron que los participantes produjeron más errores de concordancia S-V cuando el sustantivo interfiriente estaba en plural; mientras que el rasgo más influyente para la concordancia S-P fue el género femenino del sustantivo núcleo del sujeto. Los datos obtenidos en nuestro trabajo experimental fueron analizados en términos de una teoría general del procesamiento de modo que permiten informar un modelo de producción de la concordancia aún en desarrollo.
In this work the processing features of gender and number in subject-verb agreement and subject-predicate adjective in the sentence production in Spanish was investigated. As a general objective, in this work we set out to investigate the processing of the features that come into play in both subject-verb and subject-adjective predicative agreement in our language. Specifically, an attempt will be made to answer if the features of gender and number are processed in the same way, if the feature have a default value and if the values present differences, that is, if the singular differs from the plural, and the masculine from the feminine. This will allow us to establish if any of these values is more error-sensitive. In addition, we seek to identify the role of the marking concept. Under the paradigm of error elicitation we designed an experiment in which the Gender of the head noun (N1) and local noun (N2) (Masculine-Feminine),and the Number of N1 and N2 (Singular-Plural) was manipulated: Example: El abuelo (N1) del niño (N2). 20 subjects participated in the experiment which were presented in visual form the basis of the adjective for 500 ms. (PEINAD_) and then the preamble (4000 ms.) The participants read and completed with the verb "to be" and inflected adjective: Example: El abuelo del niño está peinado. Each participant was given a list of 128 targets. The pattern of errors and omissions of subject-verb agreement (S-V) and subject-predicate (S-P) was analyzed. The results showed main effects of number and gender. The data indicated that the participants produced more attraction errors of S-V when the local noun was in plural; while the most influential feature for S-P agreement was the feminine gender of the head noun of the subject. In summary, in relation to the agreement between the subject and the verb, and specifically, for the number feature, classical asymmetry was found, with greater interference when the head noun appeared in singular and the local noun in plural. The surprising fact, which could come to light given the characteristics of the design of the experiment, is that the attraction occurred more strongly when the gender of both nouns matched. With regard to agreement of subject- adjective predicate, and with respect to the gender of the nouns and the adjective, a main effect of the gender of the head noun was found, with more errors when the N1 appeared in feminine. We also found an interaction between the gender of N1 and the gender of N2, with more errors when the N1 appeared in feminine and N2 in masculine, and at the same time when the number of both coincided. The data suggest that it seems that the most influential feature to make the agreement between the subject and the predicate adjective is the gender of head noun, with a higher probability of interference when it appears in the feminine gender. In sum, our experimental research gathered evidence that allows us to progress in the characterization of how and when the processing of agreement and interference occurring in situations forced by experimental conditions as in natural speech. In particular, we analyze the characteristics of the gender and number features and the role of the marking concept. The data obtained in our experimental work were analyzed in terms of a general theory of processing so as to inform a production model of the still developing agreement.
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the computational cost associated with grammatical planning in sentence production. We measured people's pupillary responses as they produced spoken descriptions of depicted events. We manipulated the syntactic structure of the target by training subjects to use different types of sentences following a colour cue. The results showed higher increase in pupil size for the production of passive and object dislocated sentences than for active canonical subject-verb-object sentences, indicating that more cognitive effort is associated with more complex noncanonical thematic order. We also manipulated the time at which the cue that triggered structure-building processes was presented. Differential increase in pupil diameter for more complex sentences was shown to rise earlier as the colour cue was presented earlier, suggesting that the observed pupillary changes are due to differential demands in relatively independent structure-building processes during grammatical planning. Task-evoked pupillary responses provide a reliable measure to study the cognitive processes involved in sentence production.
Subject(s)
Association , Cognition , Cues , Psycholinguistics , Pupil/physiology , Semantics , Adult , Color , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Nonlinear Dynamics , Photic Stimulation , Reaction Time/physiology , Time Factors , Young AdultABSTRACT
Artificial grammars have been widely applied to the study of sequential learning in language, but few studies have directly compared the neural correlates of artificial and native grammar processing. In this study, we examined Event Related Potentials (ERPs) elicited by structural anomalies in semantic-free artificial grammar sequences and sentences in the subjects' native language (Spanish). Although ERPs differed during early stages, we observed similar posterior negativities (N400) and P600 effects in a late stage. We interpret these results as evidence of at least partially shared neural mechanisms for processing of language and artificial grammars. We suggest that in both the natural and artificial grammars, the N400 and P600 components we observed can be explained as the result of unfulfilled predictions about incoming stimuli.
Subject(s)
Brain/physiology , Evoked Potentials/physiology , Language , Learning/physiology , Semantics , Adult , Electroencephalography , Female , Humans , Male , Young AdultABSTRACT
A wide range of studies have found late positive ERP components in response to anomalies during processing of structured sequences. In language studies, this component is named Syntactic Positive Shift (SPS) or P600. It is characterized by an increase in potential peaking around 600 ms after the appearance of the syntactic anomaly and has a centroparietal topography. Similar late positive components were found more recently in non-linguistic contexts. These results have led to the hypothesis that these components index the detection of anomalies in rule-governed sequences, or the access to abstract rule representations, regardless of the nature of the stimuli. Additionally, there is evidence showing that the SPS/P600 is sensitive to probability manipulations, which affect the subjects' expectancy of the stimuli. Our aim in the present work was to address the hypothesis that the late positive component is modulated by the subject's expectancy of the stimuli. To do so, we employed an artificial grammar learning task, and controlled the frequency of presentation to different kind of sequences during training. Results showed that certain sequence types elicited a late positive component which was modulated by different factors in two distinct time windows. In an earlier window, the component was higher for sequences which had a low or null probability of occurrence during training, while in a later window, the component was higher for incorrect than correct sequences. Furthermore, this late window effect was absent in those subjects whose performance was not significantly above chance. Two possible explanations for this effect are suggested.
