Parsing complex noun phrases: effects hierarchical structure and sentence position on memory load

In this paper, we report two experiments in Spanish designed to find out what kind of processes underlie the online parsing of complex noun phrases (NPs). To that end, we used a 'click detection' paradigm coupled with an oral comprehension task with sentences made up of complex NPs comprising embedded prepositional phrases PPs or coordinate NPs. The critical NPs consisted of words or pseudowords, and were inserted either at subject position (Experiment 1) or at object position (Experiment 2) in the sentence. Results show an opposite pattern of RTs to clicks when the complex NP is located at subject (vs. object) position, with the former case showing heavier processing demands as the parser delves deeper into the complex NP, regardless of the internal constituency of the target NP and its lexical content, and the latter yielding the opposite pattern. These results suggest that structural complexity by itself does not determine an increase in processing costs during sentence parsing, which is only apparent in cases involving deferred operations like subject-verb agreement (AU)

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Applicability of dual-route reading models to Spanish / Aplicabilidad de los modelos de lectura de doble ruta al español

Two opposing points of view have been presented with regard to the applicability of the dual-route reading models Spanish. Some authors maintain that, given the transparency of the reading system, non-lexical reading is the strategy followed predominantly by Spanish readers and for that reason these models are not appropriate to explain alexias (acquired dyslexias) in Spanish. Other authors, consider that since several cases of phonological, surface and deep alexia have been reported, dual-route reading models are applicable to Spanish in the same way that to the irregular writing systems. In order to contrast these two points of view, an analysis of the two main factors that influence the reading is made: characteristics of the Spanish orthography and characteristics of the Spanish readers. It is conclude that, (1) Due to its transparency, non-lexical reading represents -as in other transparent orthographies- the initial reading strategy in Spanish; (2) the «reading threshold» (i.e., time required to become literate) is lower in Spanish because there are no irregular words to learn; (3) as reading experience increases, speed increases and lexical reading becomes used more; (4) Given the characteristics of the Spanish reading system, it is understandable that frequency of deep dyslexia is so low

Se han propuesto dos puntos de vista diferentes con relación a la aplicabilidad de los modelos de lectura de doble ruta al español. Algunos autores sugieren que dada la transparencia del sistema de lectura, la lectura no-léxica es la estrategia predominante en los lectores españoles, y esos modelos no son apropiados para explicar las alexias (dislexias adquiridas) en español. Otros autores consideran que, puesto que se han reportado varios casos de alexia fonológica, superficial y profunda en hispanohablantes, los modelos de doble ruta son aplicables al español. Para contrastar estas dos perspectivas se realizó un análisis de los dos principales factores que influyen en la lectura: las características del sistema ortográfico y las características del lector hispanohablante. Se concluye: (1) Dada su transparencia, la lectura fonológica representa la estrategia inicial de lectura; (2) el «umbral de lectura» (tiempo requerido para aprender a leer) es más bajo en español ya que no hay palabras irregulares; (3) a medida que aumenta la experiencia lectora, aumenta la velocidad y la lectura léxica se hace progresivamente más frecuente; (4) dadas las características del sistema de lectura español, es comprensible que la frecuencia con la que aparecen casos de dislexia profunda sea tan baja

EHME: a new word database for research in basque language

This article presents EHME, the frequency dictionary of Basque structure, an online program that enables researchers in psycholinguistics to extract word and nonword stimuli, based on a broad range of statistics concerning the properties of Basque words. The database consists of 22.7 million tokens, and properties available include morphological structure frequency and word-similarity measures, apart from classical indexes: word frequency, orthographic structure, orthographic similarity, bigram and biphone frequency, and syllable-based measures. Measures are indexed at the lemma, morpheme and word level. We include reliability and validation analysis. The application is freely available, and enables the user to extract words based on concrete statistical criteria, as well as to obtain statistical characteristics from a list of words (AU)

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Description of an intensive residential aphasia treatment program: rationale, clinical processes, and outcomes.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to describe the rationale, clinical processes, and outcomes of an intensive comprehensive aphasia program (ICAP). METHOD: Seventy-three community-dwelling adults with aphasia completed a residentially based ICAP. Participants received 5 hr of daily 1:1 evidence-based cognitive-linguistically oriented aphasia therapy, supplemented with weekly socially oriented and therapeutic group activities over a 23-day treatment course. Standardized measures of aphasia severity and communicative functioning were obtained at baseline, program entry, program exit, and follow-up. Results were analyzed using a Bayesian latent growth curve model with 2 factors representing (a) the initial level and (b) change over time, respectively, for each outcome measure. RESULTS: Model parameter estimates showed reliable improvement on all outcome measures between the initial and final assessments. Improvement during the treatment interval was greater than change observed across the baseline interval, and gains were maintained at follow-up on all measures. CONCLUSIONS: The rationale, clinical processes, and outcomes of a residentially based ICAP have been described. ICAPs differ with respect to treatments delivered, dosing parameters, and outcomes measured. Specifying the defining components of complex interventions, establishing their feasibility, and describing their outcomes are necessary to guide the development of controlled clinical trials.

Foveal vs. parafoveal processing in anxiety: broadened spatial attention for threat words

El presente estudio investiga el procesamiento parafoveal de palabras de amenaza, de contenido emocional positivo, y neutras, en función de diferencias individuales en rasgo de ansiedad. En una tarea de decision léxica, palabras estímulo (prime) fueron presentadas durante 150 ms parafovealmente (alejadas 2.2° del punto de fijación; Experimento 1) o fovealmente (en el punto de fijación; Experimento 3), seguidas por una palabra de prueba (probe), o bien las palabras probe fueron presentadas solas (sin prime; Experimento 2). Los resultados mostraron que las prime parafoveales de amenzaza facilitaron las respuestas a las probe de amenaza en los participantes con ansiedad elevada, en comparación con las palabras positivas y las neutras, y con los participantes con ansiedad baja. En contraste, cuando las prime fueron presentadas fovealmente, no se produjeron diferencias en los niveles básicos de activación de las probe aisladas (línea base de accesibilidad), ni tampoco en los umbrales de activación por el prime, en función del contenido emocional de las palabras o de la ansiedad de los participantes. Esto revela un sesgo en la atención encubierta a estímulos amenazantes en las personas con ansiedad elevada(AU)

We investigated the processing of threat-related, positive, and neutral words in parafoveal and in foveal vision as a function of individual differences in trait anxiety. In a lexical-decision task, word primes were presented for 150 ms either parafoveally (2.2° away from fixation; Experiment 1) or foveally (at fixation; Experiment 3) followed by a probe word; or a foveal probe word was presented alone (with no prime; Experiment 2). Results showed that parafoveal prime threat words facilitated responses to probe threat words for high-anxiety individuals, in comparison with neutral and positive words, and relative to low-anxiety individuals. In contrast, when the words were presented foveally, there were no differences in resting activation level (i.e., accessibility to single word meanings) or firing thresholds (i.e., foveal priming) as a function of emotional content and anxiety. This reveals a covert attention bias towards threat stimuli in anxiety(AU)

Plus or minus 30 years in the language sciences.

The language sciences­Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, and Computational Linguistics­have not been broadly represented at the Cognitive Science Society meetings of the past 30 years, but they are an important part of the heart of cognitive science. This article discusses several major themes that have dominated the controversies and consensus in the study of language and suggests the most pressing issues of the future. These themes include differences among the language science disciplines in their view of numbers and symbols and of modular and distributed cognition, and the need for an increasing prominence of questions concerning language and the brain.

Una revisión de la investigación sobre lenguaje en el deterioro cognitivo leve / Research on language in mild cognitive impairment: a review

Aunque existen muchas investigaciones sobre el perfil neuropsicológico del deterioro cognitivo leve (DCL), los estudios centrados en analizar específicamente sus características psicolingüísticas no son concluyentes. El objetivo de este estudio es revisar las evidencias disponibles sobre la caracterización lingüística del DCL e identificar los mejores candidatos a predecir el DCL. Los estudios poblacionales han encontrado que medidas de fluidez verbal, denominación y memoria de palabras son buenas predictoras de la evolución del DCL hacia la demencia. Los estudios experimentales que comparan DCL con otros grupos proponen las tareas de fluidez verbal y de denominación, y en menor medida otras dimensiones, como la comprensión de oraciones y de textos, o la producción narrativa en cuanto a contenido semántico y estructuración sintáctica. Se informa de los hallazgos de algunos estudios que han buscado los correlatos neurológicos de los procesos implicados en el deterioro del lenguaje en el DCL. La presente revisión subraya la necesidad de estudiar nuevas dimensiones lingüísticas, sus relaciones con otros procesos cognitivos y sus fundamentos psicofisiológicos. Se menciona también la necesidad de realizar experiencias de intervención que permitan disminuir el deterioro y evitar en la medida de lo posible su evolución a la demencia (AU)

There are many studies on the neuropsychological profi le of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) but the results of investigations specifi cally addressing its psycholinguistic characteristics have been inconclusive. The present article aims to review the main population-based and experimental studies on language in MCI and to identify the features that help to predict deterioration. Population-based studies have found that the main predictors of MCI and its progression to dementia are measures of verbal fluency, naming and word memory. Experimental studies comparing patients with MCI and matched healthy controls have mainly analyzed performance in different fl uency and naming tasks and, to a lesser extent, other dimensions such as comprehension of sentences and texts and production of narrative speech, taking into account its semantic content and syntactic structures. The results of studies seeking neurological correlates of the processes involved in language deterioration in MCI are discussed. The present review highlights the need to explore new linguistic features of MCI, their relationships with other cognitive processes and their psychophysiological bases. The need for interventions to attenuate deterioration and avoid progression to dementia as far as possible is also discussed (AU)