New Research on Language From Psychological Science

Read about new research on language published in Psychological Science and Current Directions in Psychological Science.

Semantic Priming From Crowded Words
Su-Ling Yeh, Sheng He, and Patrick Cavanagh

Research has shown that visual crowding impairs word recognition. Because semantic processing occurs after word recognition, it follows that crowding should also eliminate semantic priming effects (i.e., when exposure to a word influences later responses to semantically similar target words). In this study, participants saw Chinese prime words presented with four nonwords flanking them (crowded condition) or by themselves (isolated condition). Participants were then shown a different Chinese character and had to indicate whether the character represented a word or a nonword. Even though participants’ recognition of crowded prime words was impaired, both the isolated and the crowded words resulted in similar semantic priming. This indicates that semantic priming is possible in crowded conditions and suggests that semantic activation and word identification may rely on different encoding processes.

Published in the June 2012 issue of Psychological Science

Thought Beyond Language: Neural Dissociation of Algebra and Natural Language

Martin M. Monti, Lawrence M. Parsons, and Daniel N. Osherson

One view of cognition indicates that language is at the base of many different domains of thought. In this study, fMRI was recorded while participants were shown two linguistic (e.g., Z was paid X by Y) or two algebraic (e.g., X minus Y is greater than Z) statements. The statements either said the same thing in different ways (equivalent) or said different things (nonequivalent). Participants were asked to indicate whether the two statements were equivalent and whether they were both grammatically well formed. When participants were assessing the statements’ grammar, linguistic stimuli elicited greater activation in language regions of the brain, but arithmetic stimuli elicited greater activation in number cognition- and calculation-related areas of the brain. These results provide evidence against the view that language underpins diverse thought domains.

Published online July 3, 2012 in Psychological Science

Coming to Terms: Quantifying the Benefits of Linguistic Coordination

Riccardo Fusaroli, Bahador Bahrami, Karsten Olsen, Andreas Roepstorff, Geraint Rees, Chris Frith, and Kristian Tylén

Although researchers know that two people in conversation adapt to each other’s linguistic style, the effect of this verbal coordination on social cooperation is not well known. Pairs of participants completed a task in which they were shown two displays of 6 circles. One of the displays included an “oddball” circle. Each member of the pair was asked to indicate which display contained the oddball. If there was any disagreement between the pair, they were allowed to discuss it until they reached an agreement. The researchers found that while not all types of linguistic alignment between partners benefited performance, alignment specifically associated with expressions of confidence — such as “I took a wild guess” — did. This study sheds light on some of the nuances associated with language interplay and social interaction.

Published online July 17, 2012 in Psychological Science

How Do Infants Become Experts at Native-Speech Perception?

Janet F. Werker, H. Henny Yeung, and Katherine A. Yoshida

At birth, babies are ready to learn any language, but as they age, they quickly specialize in their native tongue. Werker, Yeung, and Yoshida present Distributional Learning (DL) as a possible mechanism for language acquisition in which infants use phonetic distributions in language to learn phonetic categories. The authors discuss the limitations of DL, suggesting that acquired distinctiveness — whereby different contexts in which sounds frequently occur help infants distinguish sounds’ relative values — supplements DL processes.

Published in the August 2012 issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science