Foundation of Cognition > Lecture_11_Language Processing > Flashcards

Lecture_11_Language Processing Flashcards

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1
Q

Language Behavior

A

Using bits (symbols) and rules to communicate

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2
Q

Why interesting to cognitive psychologists?

A
  • Unique to human species
  • “Biological instinct”
  • Highly structured signal, with specific rules
  • Highly ambiguous
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3
Q

B.F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior

A

Dominance of behaviorism
- Learning
- Imitation
- Reinforcement

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4
Q

Noam Chomsky

A

Nativist view of language (Innate)
- “Language is too complex to be learned through behaviorist principles only.”
- “Language knowledge and abilities are innate.”

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5
Q

Psycholinguistics

A

Cognitive psychology + linguistics (+ cognitive neuroscience)
- Cognitive & neural mechanisms in understanding, expressing, and learning language
- Language comprehension, production, acquisition
- Representation (storage) and real-time processing

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6
Q

Units of Language

A

Generated -> Stored
1. Phonemes
2. Words
3. Sentences
4. Discourse

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7
Q

Phonemes

A
  1. Phonology
    - Combining speech sounds into words
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8
Q

Words

A
  1. Morphology
    - Combining units of meaning into words (Affix)
  2. Semantics: Assigning literal meaning
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9
Q

Sentences

A
  1. Semantics
    - Assigning literal meaning
  2. Syntax
    - Combining words into sentences
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10
Q

Discourse

A
  1. Pragmatics
    - Assigning situational meaning in context of discourse
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11
Q

Language Comprehension System

A
  1. Input
  2. Language perception: Sensory
  3. Word recognition: hear and retrieve
  4. Syntactic parsing: structure
  5. Semantic & pragmatic analysis
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12
Q

Ambiguities in Language

A
  1. Phonemes
  2. Words
  3. Sentences
  4. Discourse
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13
Q

Ambiguities in Language: Phonemes

A
  • Coarticulation
  • Variations in accents, talking speed, noise
  • E.g. “Got a long list of Starbucks lovers”
  • Phonemes do not appear as separate chunks
  • Yet we usually perceive speech correctly
  • The brain somehow extract the right word
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14
Q

Ambiguities in Language: Words

A
  • Continuous stream of phonemes in the speech signal
  • Segmentation problem
  • More than one meaning
    E.g. bat, bark
  • No clear space between words the brain has to determine the distinction
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15
Q

Ambiguities in Language: Sentences

A
  • More than one meaning
  • Due to ambiguous structure (syntax)
  • E.g. Government plans to raise taxes failed
  • Miners refuse to work after death
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16
Q

Ambiguities in Language: Discourse

A
  • Meaning changes, depending on context
  • Inferring meaning that wasn’t directly said or written
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17
Q

Speech Perception

A
  1. Categorical Perception
  2. Prior Knowledge & Contextual Cues
  3. Phoneme Restoration Effect
  4. Visual Cues: McGurk Effect
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18
Q

Categorical Perception

A
  • To deal with coarticulation and immense variations in the speech signal…
  • Categorical perception of phonemes helps us mentally perceive varied acoustic patterns as discrete, separate categories of phonemes
  • The brain perception is categorical that helps solve ambiguity
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19
Q

Prior Knowledge & Contextual Cues

A

Top-down
- Knowledge and meaning
- Especially when the speech input is ambiguous, degraded, or noisy

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20
Q

Phoneme Restoration Effect

A

The brain restores the missing phoneme
- Silence -> missing/no restoration
- White noise -> clear speech/restoration

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21
Q

Visual Cues: McGurk Effect

A

Rely on visual articulatory information in speech perception
- When there is an ambiguous signal

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22
Q

Word Processing

Study These Flashcards
A
  1. Mental Lexicon
  2. Semantic Network Theory
  3. Embodied Cognition
  4. Hubs-and-Spokes Model
23
Q

Mental Lexicon

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A

Stored representations of all the words a person knows, in their long-term memory
- Pronunciation, spelling, part of speech
- Meaning pointer (meanings are stored in a separate semantic network)
- TRACE model of auditory word
recognition
- Connectionist, interactive architecture
- Words and semantics are store in the different brain unit but at the end somehow cooperate

24
Q

Semantic Network Theory

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A

Concepts are represented in NODES, which are connected by LINKS (relationships)
- Meaning is based on physical features or similar things

25
Spreading activation
Activity at one node spreads to other nodes through links - Automatic and fast - Decreases in proportion to distance travelled - Apple -> Pear = Faster - Apple -> Red -> Roses = Slower
26
Criticism of Semantic Network Theory
Abstract view of meaning which embodied cognition approach suggest that meaning should use more of... - Perceptual experience and - Motor cortex or - Interaction of the concept - Not just abstract - But with experience through 5 senses
27
Embodied Cognition
Words (symbols) and stored and learned through the perceptual experience of interacting with that concept - E.g. APPLE - Round-ish shape - Usually red or green color - A specific, sweet and fruity smell - Sweet-sour taste
28
Hubs-and-Spokes Model
Storage and processing of word meanings in the brain - Abstract + embodied representations 1) Abstract, amodal ‘hub’ (anterior temporal lobes) 2) Embodied semantics (distributed brain areas) - E.g. Thunder sound activates other memory like what thunder sounds like
29
Sentence Processing
1. Syntactic parsing 2. Syntactic ambiguity
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Syntactic Parsing
Constructing a syntactic structure from the words of the sentence, while you are hearing/reading - Need to select a sentence interpretation - Who did what to whom? (Where, when, how, why?)
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Types of Syntactic Ambiguity
1. Global 2. Temporary
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Global Syntactic Ambiguity
Overall meaning of sentence is ambiguous, even after reading the entire sentence - Reason: at least 2 possible syntactic structures in your mind - E.g. “The professor said on Monday he would give an exam.”
33
Temporary Syntactic Ambiguity
Sentence is initially ambiguous, but at the end there’s only 1 grammatical meaning - Garden-path sentences
34
Garden-path Sentences
Temporarily ambiguous sentences that bias you towards a certain interpretation, which turns out to be wrong - E.g. "The horse raced past the barn fell"
35
Costs of Syntactic Ambiguity
1. Offline Processing: Subtle syntax - E.g. "The horse raced past the barn fell" 2. Online Processing: Visible syntax - E.g. "While Mary dressed, the baby played in the crib"
36
Ambiguous region: "While Mary dressed the baby played in the crib."
- “baby” = Object of current phrase - “baby” = Subject of new phrase
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Disambiguating region: "While Mary dressed the baby played in the crib."
- A verb, which needs a Subject! - Need to fix the phrase structure
38
Principles of Online Sentence Processing
1. Immediacy principle & incremental processing strategy 2. Cognitive system needs to fix the initially-wrong interpretation
39
Immediacy Principle & Incremental Processing Strategy
- Interpret as much as possible, as soon as possible - Use partial information to select 1 interpretation - Don’t wait until you have all info from entire sentence
40
Cognitive system needs to fix the initially-wrong interpretation
- Initial interpretation: “baby” as Object of the verb “dressing” - No place to attach the verb “play” ! - New interpretation: Move “baby” to be the Subject of the verb “play”
41
Discourse Processing
Construction-Integration Theory
42
Construction-Integration Theory
3 types of mental representations in processing cycles in working memory 1) Surface form 2) Text base 3) Situation model - Create propositions - Activate knowledge from LTM - Connect propositions together & to the preceding text
43
Surface Form
Syntactic parsing - Verbatim - Precise, but short-lived
44
Text Base
Create propositions - Abstract representation of event (with truth value) - Predicate [agent, recipient, theme] - Propositional approach to mental imagery
45
Situation Model
Building connections + Inferencing + Seeking coherence - Meaning of overall discourse
46
Higher Number of Propositions
Lower amount and accuracy of recall
47
Inferencing
Essential to comprehension - Use world knowledge to add information to situation model - Information that was NOT directly stated in text - E.g., missing link between 2 propositions
48
Common Types of Inferences
1. Causal 2. Bridging 3. Instrument 4. Elaborative 5. Goal
49
Causal Inferences
The delicate vase fell from the shelf. Inference: It broke.
50
Bridging Inferences
Timmy was riding his bike. He came home covered with bruises. Inference: Timmy fell off his bike.
51
Instrument Inferences
The woman stirred her coffee. Inference: She used a spoon.
52
Elaborative Inferences
Dan ate 20 plates of sushi. Inference: Dan likes sushi.
53
Goal Inferences
Jan left early for the birthday party. She stopped at the mall on the way. Inference: Jan wanted to buy a birthday gift.
54
Seeking Coherence
Incoherence makes texts difficult to comprehend - More reading time
Foundation of Cognition
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