LEXICAL INTERFACE 4 OCT 30, 2015 – DAY 27 Brain & Language LING NSCI Fall 2015

Course organization Schedule: topics topics Today's chapter: Fun with 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 2

Grades Q1Q2Q3Q4Q5Q6 MIN AVG MAX 10 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 3

THE LEXICAL INTERFACE 2 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 4

The lexical interface 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 5

Areas ~ hubs ~ effects = sensorimotor semantics 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 6

Hypotheses 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 7 STS phonological net p(MTG+ITS) lexical interface a(MTG+ITS) combinatorial net 1 aIFG combinatorial net 2 STS phonological net action words, tools motor + somato cortex a(MTG+ITS) combinatorial net 1 ??? aIFG combinatorial net 2 ??? imageable words medial temporal gyrus imageable words medial temporal gyrus Hickok & Poeppel, symbolic? Pulvermüller, sensorimotor or embodied

‘To prime the pump’ ‘The facilitatory effect that presentation of an item can have on the response to a subsequent item’ usually measured in terms of reaction time 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 8

Features as a network 2 excitation, inhibition 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 9 human female mature man woma n boy girl mare colt Activation of ‘man’ will still wind up activating ‘female’, but inhibition will now turn it off.

Features as a network 3 excitation, inhibition 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 10 human female mature man woma n boy girl mare colt In cortex, long-distance connections are excitatory, while short-distance connections are inhibitory. Activation of ‘man’ will wind up activating ‘female’, but inhibition of ‘woman’ will turn it off.

Feature network for animates excitation, mutually reinforcing activation (excitation) 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 11 head camel crocodile duck penguin zebra torso legs hump eyes bill stripes

Inanimate vs. animate, side by side Inanimate few overlapping and inter- correlated features, relatively more distinctive features, and they tend to be more strongly correlated with one another. ∴ inanimate concepts are less easy to confuse with one another. Animate many overlapping and inter-correlated features (legs, eyes, teeth), few distinctive features (mane, hump, pouch), and they are only weakly correlated with one another. ∴ animate concepts are easy to confuse with one another. 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 12

Problem Correlated feature theory cannot account for other patterns of impairment, such as cases in which artifacts are more poorly identified than living things. 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 13

Sensory/functional theory Knowledge of objects organized into: networks of sensory features: form, motion, color, taste, etc., and networks of functional features: how, when, and where the object is typically used. A CSSD arises when one of these networks is disrupted animates are mostly comprised of sensory features; inanimates are mostly comprised of functional features. (??) 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 14

LEXICAL SEMANTICS 4 Prototype theory 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15

Which is best example of a bird? 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 16

Results 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 17

Levels of categorization On a scale of 1 to 7, rate the following items as a good example of the category furniture. 1 chair 1 sofa 3 couch 3 table 5 easy chair 6 dresser 6 rocking chair 8 coffee table 9 rocker 10 love seat 11 chest of drawers 12 desk 13 bed 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 18

Hierarchy of categories domain level | basic or prototype | subordinate 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 19

Basic is special 1. Response Times: in which queries involving a prototypical member (e.g. is a robin a bird?) elicited faster response times than for non-prototypical members (e.g. is a penguin a bird?). 2. Priming: When primed with the higher-level (superordinate) category, subjects were faster in identifying if two words are the same. Thus, after flashing furniture, the equivalence of chair-chair is detected more rapidly than stove-stove. 3. Exemplars: When asked to name a few exemplars, the more prototypical items came up more frequently. 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 20

Basic is really special 1) It is the highest level at which a single mental image can represent the entire category (you can’t get a mental image of vehicle or furniture). 2) It is the highest level at which category members have a similarly perceived overall shape. 3) It is the highest level at which a person uses similar motor actions for interacting with category members. 4) It is the level at which most of our knowledge is organized. 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 21

Dual pathways in vision 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 22

10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 23 The what / ventral pathway (Palmeri & Gauthier 2004)

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. 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 24

NEXT TIME P7 Lateralization of word semantics 10/30/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 25