PSY 369: Psycholinguistics Language Comprehension: Discourse

Homework 3 (Due in 1 week) Try to be vigilant for four or five days in noting speech errors made by yourself and others. Write each slip down (carry a small notebook and pencil with you). Then, when you have accumulated a reasonably size sample (aim for 20 to 30, but don't panic if you don't get that many), try to classify each slip in terms of the unit(s) involved the type of error Remember that each error may be interpreted in different ways. For some of them, see if you can come up with more than one possibility.

Read story aloud

Discourse Psycholinguistics How we resolve/understand sentences against the current discourse representation What is discourse? Units of analysis larger than a sentence Local Structure (microstructure): The relationship between individual sentences Coherence Cohesion Global Structure (macrostructure): The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world

Characteristics of Discourse Global Structure (macrostructure): Jill bought a new sweater. Sweater are sometimes made of wool. Wool production gives some farmers a good livelihood. Farming is a high-risk business. On the news last night, I saw a group of business executives discussing recent trends in the stock market. The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world

Characteristics of Discourse Global Structure (macrostructure): Jill bought a new sweater. Sweater are sometimes made of wool. Wool production gives some farmers a good livelihood. Farming is a high-risk business. On the news last night, I saw a group of business executives discussing recent trends in the stock market. Okay local structure, but each sentence isn’t relevant to an overall topic of discourse

Characteristics of Discourse Global Structure (macrostructure): Schemas & Scripts General knowledge structures for common social situations Genres Narrative structure Story grammars - extension of idea of grammatical rules, specify the organization of a story Expository structure Different structures

Effects of world knowledge Rocky slowly got up from the mat, planning his escape. He hesitated a moment and thought. Things were not going well. What bothered him most was being held, especially since the charges against him had been weak. He considered his present situation. The lock that held him was strong but he thought he could break it. He knew, however, that his timing would have to be perfect. Prison escape OR Wrestling match

Effects of world knowledge Bartlett (1932) Read native American folk tale Write down everything that you can remember from that story that I read earlier Bartlett had them recall after a longer periods of time (between 15 mins. Up to 10 years later)

Effects of world knowledge Bartlett (1932) Schema Mental structures of how the world works, acquired through experience A whole package of information used to facilitate comprehension of discourse, as well as to guide recall (and reconstruction) Participants’ memories changed to fit their existing beliefs (reconstructive memories) Added new details Changed details Deleted details

Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995) Read two European tales 2 audiences European North American children Ponam children (New Guinea)

Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995) Retelling of boy who cried wolf Ponam children (New Guinea) Once upon a time Kalai and his family they lived on an island. Kalai’s mother always carried him everywhere. One day Kalai’s mother and father went out fishing. Kalai’s mother said, “Kalai, you are too small to go out fishing in the sea. You should stay home with your grandfather.” Kalai was lonely on the beach. Kalai said, “How could I get my family home?” He sat down and decided to get his family home. He got his red laplap and ran down to the beach and waved his laplap to his family and said, “Fire, fire.” His brother saw his laplap and went home. When they arrived they saw nothing.

Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995) Retelling of boy who cried wolf European North American children Kalai was running up and down the beach yelling “Fire, fire.” Everybody came home. The next day the same thing happened. They came home. The next day came, but the house caught on fire. He ran up and down the beach, but nobody came. Kalai kept waving the flag. Nobody came. Suddenly they saw the flames and the smoke and they came, but it was too late. Everything had burnt down to the ground, and his brother told him if he kept telling lies that nobody will come when you call for help.

Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995) Impact of different schemata European North American children Setting, precipitating events, goal reaching aspects, story resolutions Ponam children (New Guinea) Recalled factual detail about settings, events, and outcomes, but leaving out things like consequence, resolution, moral (generally seemed to miss the point)

Effects of world knowledge Scripts Generic story of situations Go inside Go to table Sit down Scene 1: Enter Scene 2: Order Get menu Read menu Choose food Give order Scene 3: Eat Get food Eat food Scene 4: Pay Ask for check Received check Tip waiter Pay check Exit Restaurant Script

Effects of world knowledge What happened to semantic networks? One explanation Some representations get so strongly associated that they get activated as an entire unit

Effects of Genre Not all kinds of discourse follow the same structure Different effects, purposes, etc. Expository discourse Convey info about a subject (e.g., textbook, lecture) Narrative discourse Tell a story: Introduce characters & settings, establish a goal, etc. APA style Newspaper articles

Expository Structure Reading texts, listening to lectures, etc. Organized with different relationships (but can still draw a tree structure) Relationships Collection - ideas or events related on the basis of some commonality Causation - ideas are joined causally so that one idea is identified as the antecedent and another as the consequence Response - ideas are joined in a problem/solution or question/answer relationship Comparison - ideas are related by pointing out similarities and differences Description - general ideas are explained by giving attributes or other specific details

Narrative structure Once there was a woman. She saw a tiger’s cave. She wanted a tiger’s whisker. She put food in front of the cave. The tiger came out. She pulled out a whisker. The story has a structure, a story grammar

Narrative structure Story grammar - can depict with a tree structure Story SettingEpisode EventReaction GoalOvert ResponseActionConsequence Event Once there was a woman. She saw a tiger’s cave. She wanted a tiger’s whisker. She put food in front of the cave. The tiger came out.She pulled out a whisker.

Narrative structure Thorndyke (1977) Level effect Read more slowly but are better remembered. She wanted a tiger’s whisker. The tiger came out. High hierarchy statements Lower in the hierarchy. Comprehensibility and recall were tied to inherent plot structure, independent of passage content

Characteristics of Discourse Test to see if structure effects whether inferences are made Task: Think aloud task Read through the story aloud (one sentence at a time) and talk aloud about their understanding of that sentence Trabasso & Suh (1993)

Sequential version Once there was a girl named Betty. One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday was coming soon. Betty really wanted to give her mother a present. Betty went to the department store. Betty found a pretty purse. Betty bought the purse. Her mother was very happy. Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting. Betty was good at knitting. Betty decided to knit a sweater. Betty selected a pattern from a magazine. Betty followed the instructions in the article. Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater. Betty pressed the sweater. Betty folded the sweater carefully. Betty put it in the closet for the next time she was going out. Berry was very happy. Betty found that everything was too expensive. Betty could not buy anything. Betty felt sorry. Betty gave the sweater to her mother. Her mother was excited when she saw the present. Hierarchical version How does this sentence connect up with the rest of the story?

Trabasso & Suh (1993) Hierarchical version Betty was good at knitting. Betty decided to knit a sweater. Betty selected a pattern from a magazine. Betty followed the instructions in the article. Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater. Betty pressed the sweater. Betty folded the sweater carefully. Betty gave the sweater to her mother. Her mother was excited when she saw the present. S G A A O A A O R S E G A O O R E S = Setting E = Event R = Reaction G = Goal O = Overt Response A = Action Once there was a girl named Betty. One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday was coming soon. Betty really wanted to give her mother a present. Betty went to the department store. Betty found that everything was too expensive. Betty could not buy anything. Betty felt sorry. Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting.

Trabasso & Suh (1993) Once there was a girl named Betty. One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday was coming soon. Betty really wanted to give her mother a present. Betty went to the department store. Betty found that everything was too expensive. Betty could not buy anything. Betty felt sorry. Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting. Hierarchical version Betty was good at knitting. Betty decided to knit a sweater. Betty selected a pattern from a magazine. Betty followed the instructions in the article. Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater. Betty pressed the sweater. Betty folded the sweater carefully. Betty gave the sweater to her mother. Her mother was excited when she saw the present. SEGAOOR E S G A A O A A O R SGAAO AAOR S E G A O O R E Is a superordinate goal that motivates the subgoal of the next episode

Trabasso & Suh (1993) Once there was a girl named Betty. One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday was coming soon. Betty really wanted to give her mother a present. Betty went to the department store. Betty found a pretty purse. Betty bought the purse. Her mother was very happy. Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting. Sequential version Betty was good at knitting. Betty decided to knit a sweater. Betty selected a pattern from a magazine. Betty followed the instructions in the article. Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater. Betty pressed the sweater. Betty folded the sweater carefully. Betty put it in the closet for the next time she was going out. Berry was very happy. S G A A O A A O R S E G A O O R E SEGAOOR ESGAAOAAO The goal is already filled, so not related to the subgoal of the next episode

Trabasso & Suh (1993) Results In a think aloud task participants mentioned the superordinate goal in the hierarchical condition but not the sequential condition Story grammar structure matters Strongly support the hypothesis that readers do make global causal connections during reading.

Discourse in memory Evidence supports the psychological reality of a number of different representations Propositions Semantic (propositional) networks Inferences Schemata and scripts Situation models

Discourse in memory Kintsch’s model The Construction-Integration Model Discourse occurs in a series of cycles As each sentence comes in it gets integrated into the discourse In each cycle Construction phase - activate relevant concepts Integration phase - keep only the most relevant elaborations Multiple levels of representation formed Surface form, textbase (propositional), situation model

Discourse in memory Kintsch and colleagues (1990) Jack scanned the newspaper. Jack looked through the newspaper. Jack looked through the movie ads. Jack looked over some editorials. It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they went. Did this sentence occur in the paragraph? Read before

Discourse in memory Kintsch’s model Jack scanned the newspaper. Jackscannedthenewspaper S NVP NPV Surface form

Jackscannedthenewspaper S NVP NPV Surface form Discourse in memory Kintsch’s model Jack scanned the newspaper. Textbase Examine JackNewspaper

Jackscannedthenewspaper S NVP NPV Surface form Discourse in memory Kintsch’s model Jack scanned the newspaper. Textbase Examine JackNewspaper Situational Model

Discourse in memory Kintsch and colleagues (1990) Jack scanned the newspaper. Jack looked through the newspaper. Jack looked through the movie ads. Jack looked over some editorials. It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they went. Did this sentence occur in the paragraph? Read before Evidence for surface form Similar meaning If Better memory here

Discourse in memory Kintsch and colleagues (1990) Jack scanned the newspaper. Jack looked through the newspaper. Jack looked through the movie ads. Jack looked over some editorials. It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they went. Did this sentence occur in the paragraph? Read before Evidence for Strong textbase If Better memory here Adds inference Infers which section did he scan.

Discourse in memory Kintch and colleagues (1990) Jack scanned the newspaper. Jack looked through the newspaper. Jack looked through the movie ads. Jack looked over some editorials. It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they went. Did this sentence occur in the paragraph? Evidence for Strong situation model inconsistent If Better memory here consistent Consistent with situation model.

Discourse in memory Kintch and colleagues (1990)

Summary Discourse processing is both complex and flexible Multiple representations Processing depends on context