Combinatorial net 2 Syntax 4 Nov 15, 2017 – DAY 33 Brain & Language LING 4110-4890-5110-7960 NSCI 4110-4891-6110 Harry Howard Tulane University

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Course organization http://www.tulane.edu/~h0Ward/BrLg/ TODAY: http://www.tulane.edu/~h0Ward/BrLg/aIFG.html Fun with https://www.facebook.com/BrLg17/

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Quiz stats P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 P11 tot MIN 4 5 6 AVG 7.7 8.2 8.4 9.1 9.0 8.8 MAX 10

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Final project Improve a Wikipedia article about any of the topics mentioned in class or any other topic broadly related to neurolinguistics. Write a short essay explaining what you did and why you did it. Print the article before you improve it, highlighting any subtractions. Print the article after you improve it, highlighting your additions.

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Combinatorial net 2

Procedural vs declarative memory in the combinatorial nets 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Procedural vs declarative memory in the combinatorial nets t11-HickokPoeppelHoward2

My favorite attachment or syntactic ambiguity 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University My favorite attachment or syntactic ambiguity One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What an elephant was doing in my pajamas, I'll never know. I [[shot an elephant] in my pajamas] I shot an [[elephant] in my pajamas] http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2727705/posts [note that this is the 2nd example on the recording]

A diagram of the difference 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University A diagram of the difference S NP I VP PP in my pajamas V shot an elephant S NP I VP V shot Det an N elephant PP in my pajamas

Minimal attachment principle 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Minimal attachment principle Avoid unnecessary embedding (i.e. attach an element as high in the tree as possible). Now let's look at a lot more examples.

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University syntax 4 Ingram I, §13 On-line processing, working memory and modularity Sentence comprehension and syntactic parsing

Another attachment ambiguity 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Another attachment ambiguity the house on the hill by the sea What is by the sea? the [[house on the hill] by the sea] <the house is on the hill and the house is by the sea> the house on the [[hill] by the sea] <the house is on the hill and the hill is by the sea> Which reading did you get first? Ingram's (21)

A diagram of the difference 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University A diagram of the difference PP by the sea NP Det the N house on the hill NP Det the N house P on PP by the sea hill

More examples of ambiguous sentences 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University More examples of ambiguous sentences Paraphrase how you understand this sentence (but do not say it out loud!): (25) John told the girl that Bill liked the story. (27) John told the story to the girl that Bill liked. = relative clause reading John told the girl [S that Bill liked] the story (26) John told the girl something – namely, that Bill liked the story. = sentential complement reading John told the girl [S that Bill liked the story]

A diagram of the difference 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University A diagram of the difference S NP John VP V told the girl that Bill liked the story S NP John VP V told the story Det the N girl that Bill liked

Testing minimal attachment 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Testing minimal attachment Paraphrase how you understand these sentences: (28) Joe carried the package for Susan. Joe carried [the package] [for Susan] Joe carried [the package for Susan] (29) Joe included the package for Susan. Joe included [the package] [for Susan] Joe included [the package for Susan] Which of these obey minimal attachment?

Attachment of for Susan 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Attachment of for Susan S NP Joe VP V carried / included the package PP for Susan S NP Joe VP V carried / included Det the N package PP for Susan

A different kind of problem 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University A different kind of problem The old man the boat. The man whistling tunes pianos. The cotton clothing is made of grows in Mississippi. The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families. The author wrote the novel was likely to be a best-seller. The tomcat curled up on the cushion seemed friendly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_path_sentence

What does it mean to lead someone down the garden path? 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University What does it mean to lead someone down the garden path? The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms says that the negative connotation of ‘leading someone down the garden path’ is “based on the idea that a path in a garden is very pleasant, so someone who is brought along it can be deceived without noticing it.” http://www.gardening-enjoyed.com/gardenpath.html

The second most famous sentence in linguistics 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University The second most famous sentence in linguistics The horse raced past the barn fell. Ingram pp. 261-4 has an extensive discussion of this sentence. Please read and mull over it. Unfortunately, he does not relate all the details that he discusses to the neuroscience of sentence processing. So let’s consider this chapter/section? finished and go on.

Models of sentence processing 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Models of sentence processing Traditional generative model A separate mental module parses sentences just like we just did. Lexical access happens first. Then one syntactic hypothesis is considered at a time. There is no influence of meaning. More recent interactive model There is no separate module for parsing Lexical access, syntactic structure assignment, and meaning assignment happen at the same time (in parallel). Several syntactic hypotheses can be considered at a time. How to decide? On-line processing

Two types of processing 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Two types of processing on-line off-line Happens in real time. Instructions for an experiment to test it: You will read a sentence, one word at a time. Push a key after each word. Happens after the fact. Instructions for an experiment to test it: You will read a sentence. Point to the picture that describes it best.

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Working memory How would you solve this arithmetic problem? 1 + 1 + 1 = ? (1 + 1) + 1 = ? 2 + 1 = 3 So you need to store the second half of the problem as you calculate the first half. The prototypical example is keeping a telephone number in mind as you dial it: 862-3417 This sort of storage is known as working memory, and has been variously characterized as: a scratch pad, a temporary work space, a buffer.

Working memory span or capacity 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Working memory span or capacity The amount of material that you can keep on your ‘scratch pad’ is known as your working memory span or capacity. How much is it? Miller’s number: 7 ± 2 It varies a little from person to person and even from domain to domain in the same person. That’s the meaning of the “± 2” Working memory span can be impaired in brain injury. It has recently been shown to be correlated with fluid intelligence.

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Short-term memory There is also something called short-term memory, which I can never understand how it is different from working memory.

Fluid vs. crystallized intelligence 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Fluid vs. crystallized intelligence Fluid (Gf) and crystallized (Gc) intelligence are factors of general (G) intelligence. Fluid intelligence is the capacity to think logically, recognize patterns, and solve problems in novel situations. Crystallized intelligence is the ability to use skills, knowledge, and experience. It improves somewhat with age, as experiences tend to expand one's knowledge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluid_and_crystallized_intelligence

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Back to syntax Parsing a sentence also exercises working memory. [S [NP a cat] [VP is [PP on [NP the couch]]]] S NP a cat VP V is PP on the couch

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Final project Improve a Wikipedia article about any of the topics mentioned in class or any other topic broadly related to neurolinguistics. Write a short essay explaining what you did and why you did it. Print the article before you improve it, highlighting any subtractions. Print the article after you improve it, highlighting your additions.

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University NEXT TIME More syntax

One or two working memories? 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University One or two working memories? There is some debate over whether the working memory needed for parsing is part of a general purpose working memory or constitutes its own specialized store of working memory. Evidence for the latter Some patients who share severe deficits of general purpose working memory as assessed by attention span tests are still able to understand complex spoken sentences. Individual differences in working memory are usually not implicated in on-line language understanding. HH: does this mean that language is more an aspect of crystalized intelligence than fluid intelligence? Evidence for the former Individual differences in working memory are implicated in strategies for understanding complex spoken sentences. Ingram says it’s a tie. I am going to try to test this in the next experiment.

Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15-Nov-17 Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University Some relevant tasks Sentence processing Self-paced reading: A sentence is presented as a series of words on a computer monitor, and the subject presses a key on the keyboard after each word. The horse raced past the barn fell. Working memory Attention span How many digits can the subject remember and recall in normal or reverse sequence? Verbal working memory ~ reading/listening span The subject reads/hears a series of sentences presented as a block. How many sentences can the subject recall the last word of? This span correlates highly with verbal SAT scores.