1. Language I: Introduction to Language and Language Comprehension
Chapter 9
Language I: Introduction to Language and Language Comprehension

2. The Nature of Language
syntax grammar semantics pragmatics

3. The Nature of Language A Brief History of Psycholinguistics
Chomsky's Approach
Language abilities can be explained in terms of a complex system of rules and principles represented in the minds of language users.
Humans have an innate understanding of the abstract principles of language.
Language learning involves the more superficial characteristics of a particular language.

4. The Nature of Language A Brief History of Psycholinguistics
Chomsky's Approach (continued)
Language is modular (language is special, not processed the same as other cognitive tasks).
surface structure vs. deep structure of sentences
transformational rules
ambiguous sentences

5. The Nature of Language Factors Affecting Comprehension Negatives
Clark & Chase (1972)
Negative statements require more processing time than affirmative statements.
Affirmative statements produce fewer errors.
Multiple negatives decrease performance.

6. The Nature of Language Factors Affecting Comprehension
The Passive Voice
Ferreira and her coauthors (2002)
sentence plausibility
The active form of a sentence is easier to understand than the passive form.

7. The Nature of Language Factors Affecting Comprehension Complex Syntax
difficult to understand
can result in memory overload
nested structure
working memory

8. The Nature of Language Factors Affecting Comprehension Ambiguity
Ambiguous Words
People pause longer when they are processing an ambiguous word.
When people encounter a potential ambiguity, the activation builds up for all the well-known meanings of the ambiguous item.

9. The Nature of Language Factors Affecting Comprehension Ambiguity
Ambiguous Words
People are likely to choose one particular meaning:
if that meaning is more common than the alternate meaning
if the rest of the sentence is consistent with that meaning

10. The Nature of Language
The "Good-Enough" Approach to Language Comprehension
People typically manage to read quite rapidly.
The good-enough approach—Ferreira and colleagues
People frequently process only part of a sentence.
People usually do not work hard to create the most accurate, detailed interpretation of every sentence they read or hear.

11. The Nature of Language
The "Good-Enough" Approach to Language Comprehension
The good-enough approach—Ferreira and colleagues
People read quickly, and they try to grasp the general meaning of a sentence.
Knowledge of language typically leads to an accurate interpretation.
This strategy can sometimes lead to errors in language comprehension.

12. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
Individuals with Aphasia
aphasia
Figure 9.1: Broca's Area & Wernicke's Area
Broca's area/Broca's aphasia: expressive- language deficit
Wernicke's area/Wernicke's aphasia: receptive-language deficit

14. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
Individuals with Aphasia
People with Broca's aphasia may also have some trouble with language comprehension.
Many people with Wernicke's aphasia have problems with language production as well as language comprehension.

15. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
Hemispheric Specialization
lateralization
variations related to handedness

16. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
Hemispheric Specialization
Role in language
left hemisphere
speech perception/sound interpretation
meaning
imagery
right hemisphere
emotional tone
humor
more abstract language tasks

17. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
Neuroimaging Research in Adults Without Aphasia
Using the fMRI method to study language in the left hemisphere.
Kanwisher and colleagues
attempts to identify specific areas responsible for language comprehension tasks
individual differences

18. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
Neuroimaging Research in Adults Without Aphasia
Using the fMRI method to study language in the left hemisphere.
language-localizer task
compensates for individual differences
creates linguistic map for each person using complex language tasks
later, test each person on language and non- language tasks

19. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
Neuroimaging Research in Adults Without Aphasia
Using the fMRI method to study language in the left hemisphere.
language-localizer task (continued)
Specific regions of left frontal lobe responded only to language tasks, but not to other kinds of cognitive tasks.
Other research has located portions of the left hemisphere that process specific linguistic information (e.g., sentences vs. non-words).

20. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
Neuroimaging Research in Adults Without Aphasia
Using the fMRI method to study language in the right hemisphere.
Gernsbacher and Robertson (2005): "A"/"The" study
virtually identical patterns of activation in left hemisphere
right hemisphere responded differently to connected language ("The" sentences) than to disconnected language ("A" sentences)

21. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
How the Mirror System Can Facilitate Communication
mirror system—a network of neurons in the brain’s motor cortex that are activated when you watch someone perform an action

22. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
How the Mirror System Can Facilitate Communication
Rizzolatti and colleagues
measure responses of single neurons
monkeys watching a researcher break open a peanut
Monkeys' responses while watching were similar to when the monkeys themselves broke open a peanut.

23. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
How the Mirror System Can Facilitate Communication
Calvo-Merino and colleagues (2005)
fMRI data for experts in classical ballet or martial arts
videos of classical ballet vs. videos of martial arts

24. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
How the Mirror System Can Facilitate Communication
Calvo-Merino and colleagues (2005)
fMRIs for experts in classical ballet showed significantly greater activation in the motor- cortex areas relevant to ballet movements, and relatively little activation in the areas relevant to martial arts.

25. The Nature of Language In Depth: Neurolinguistics
How the Mirror System Can Facilitate Communication
Calvo-Merino and colleagues (2005)
Individuals who were experts in martial arts showed the reverse activation pattern.
In other words, experts can grasp meaning by watching another person, when they have fully developed the appropriate motor ‘‘vocabulary.’’

26. Basic Reading Processes
Reading Words: Theoretical Approaches
How do we look at a pattern of letters and actually recognize that word?
dual-route approach to reading—skilled readers employ both a direct-access route (recognize word directly through vision) and an indirect-access route (recognize word by first sounding out the word)

27. Basic Reading Processes
Reading Words: Theoretical Approaches
The Direct-Access Route
Bradshaw and Nettleton (1974)
pairs of words with similar spelling, but different sounds
first word read silently, second word pronounced out loud

28. Basic Reading Processes
Reading Words: Theoretical Approaches
The Direct-Access Route
Bradshaw and Nettleton (1974) (continued)
no interference indicated by no hesitation in pronouncing second word
Results suggest that people do not silently pronounce each word during normal reading.

29. Basic Reading Processes
Reading Words: Theoretical Approaches
The Indirect-Access Route
People often translate visual stimuli into sound during reading.
Sound coding may enhance working memory.

30. Basic Reading Processes
Reading Words: Theoretical Approaches
The Indirect-Access Route
Luo and coauthors (1998)
pairs of words judged as related or unrelated in meaning
Students made errors on pairs where the second word sounds like a word that is semantically related to the first word (e.g., LION-BARE).

31. Basic Reading Processes
Reading Words: Theoretical Approaches
The Indirect-Access Route
Luo and coauthors (1998) (continued)
suggests they were silently pronouncing the word pairs when they made the judgments
few errors on pairs where the second word looked like a related word (e.g., LION-BEAN)

32. Basic Reading Processes
Reading Words: Theoretical Approaches
The Indirect-Access Route
Word sounds may be especially important when children begin to read. Children with high phonological awareness have superior reading skills.

33. Basic Reading Processes
Reading Words: Theoretical Approaches
Dual-Route Approach
flexible
argues that the characteristics of the reading material determine whether access is indirect or direct
argues that characteristics of the reader also determine whether access is indirect or direct (e.g., beginning vs. advanced readers; poor vs. good readers)
consistent with brain-imaging research

34. Basic Reading Processes
Implications for Teaching Reading to Children
Whole-word approach (direct access)
argues readers can directly connect the written word—as an entire unit—with the meaning that this word represents
argues that children should not learn to emphasize the way a word sounds
emphasizes context within a sentences

35. Basic Reading Processes
Implications for Teaching Reading to Children
Whole-word approach (direct access)
problem—Even skilled adult readers achieve only about 25% accuracy when they look at an incomplete sentence and guess which word is missing.

36. Basic Reading Processes
Implications for Teaching Reading to Children
Phonics approach (indirect access)
Readers recognize words by trying to pronounce the individual letters in the word.
"sound it out"
argues that speech sound is a necessary intermediate step in reading

37. Basic Reading Processes
Implications for Teaching Reading to Children
Most educators and researchers support some sort of compromise.
Whole-language approach
Reading instruction should emphasize meaning.
Reading instruction should be enjoyable, to increase children's enthusiasm about learning to read.