Your Brain Modules at Work
In a new study published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (June 27-July 1), Michael Spivey, a psycholinguist and associate professor of psychology at Cornell, tracked the mouse movements of undergraduate students while working at a computer. The findings provide compelling evidence that language comprehension is a continuous process.
In his study, 42 students listened to instructions to click on pictures of different objects on a computer screen … when the students heard "candle" and were presented with two pictures with similarly sounding names, such as candle and candy, they were slower to click on the correct object, and their mouse trajectories were much more curved. Spivey said that the listeners started processing what they heard even before the entire word was spoken.
"The degree of curvature of the trajectory shows how much the other object is competing for their interpretation; the curve shows continuous competition. They sort of partially heard the word both ways, and their resolution of the ambiguity was gradual rather than discrete; it's a dynamical system."
…even partial linguistic input can start "the dynamic competition between simultaneously active representations."
---
Another illustration of modules and the pandemonium model. The report does not make clear whether the pictures or the sounds were presented first. Assume the pictures, since that seems more likely in this paradigm. A picture of familiar object will activate the relevant concept modules. Assume the set: “Listen for the name and point to the object.” That set would activate the auditory and name recognizing systems. When the images are presented, the relevant concept modules (probably more than one for each image) will activate whatever name modules they have connections to.
As shown with many studies of set, the prior activation of name modules reduces the time it takes them to respond. In the present case, speaking the name will activate all names that start with the same sequence of phonemes. When the phoneme sequence resolves the ambiguity, one module takes control (closure). It suppresses the activity of the other modules (reciprocal inhibition) and gains access the perceptual-motor system to determine the overt response.
The researcher makes much of the continuous nature of the response. The use of a mouse is an ingenious way to collect data on a continuous response. It benefits from the extensive experience most college students have with this computer interface. I don’t think this demonstration is new, but data collection method offers new possibilities for analyzing the continuous response.
In his study, 42 students listened to instructions to click on pictures of different objects on a computer screen … when the students heard "candle" and were presented with two pictures with similarly sounding names, such as candle and candy, they were slower to click on the correct object, and their mouse trajectories were much more curved. Spivey said that the listeners started processing what they heard even before the entire word was spoken.
"The degree of curvature of the trajectory shows how much the other object is competing for their interpretation; the curve shows continuous competition. They sort of partially heard the word both ways, and their resolution of the ambiguity was gradual rather than discrete; it's a dynamical system."
…even partial linguistic input can start "the dynamic competition between simultaneously active representations."
---
Another illustration of modules and the pandemonium model. The report does not make clear whether the pictures or the sounds were presented first. Assume the pictures, since that seems more likely in this paradigm. A picture of familiar object will activate the relevant concept modules. Assume the set: “Listen for the name and point to the object.” That set would activate the auditory and name recognizing systems. When the images are presented, the relevant concept modules (probably more than one for each image) will activate whatever name modules they have connections to.
As shown with many studies of set, the prior activation of name modules reduces the time it takes them to respond. In the present case, speaking the name will activate all names that start with the same sequence of phonemes. When the phoneme sequence resolves the ambiguity, one module takes control (closure). It suppresses the activity of the other modules (reciprocal inhibition) and gains access the perceptual-motor system to determine the overt response.
The researcher makes much of the continuous nature of the response. The use of a mouse is an ingenious way to collect data on a continuous response. It benefits from the extensive experience most college students have with this computer interface. I don’t think this demonstration is new, but data collection method offers new possibilities for analyzing the continuous response.
posted by Selby Evans at 9:01 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home