1. PSY 369: Psycholinguistics Language Comprehension: Discourse

2. Discourse Psycholinguistics Traditional Psycholinguistics Determining what happens when we understand sentences Broader View How we resolve/understand sentences against the current discourse representation Sentence comprehension is a process that anchors the interpretation of the sentence to the representation of the prior text

3. Processing Discourse What is discourse? The ways that we process (i.e., comprehend and remember) units of language larger than a sentence Lectures, personal narratives, expository discourse Units of analysis larger than a sentence Applies to both spoken and written forms Discourse processing is sort of like syntactic processing – a way of organizing/connecting the different pieces in to larger chunks. Here the chunks are larger than sentences.

4. Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him?” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there.”

5. To whom does “him” refer to? Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him?” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there.”

6. To whom does “him” refer?Bach Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him?” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there.”

7. To whom does this “him” refer? Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him?” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there.”

8. To whom does this “him” refer?Bach again Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him?” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there.”

9. To whom does this “him” refer?Bach again Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him?” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there.” Why not Abe?

10. Huh!? Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him?” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there.”

11. Huh!? Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him?” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there.” Oh yeah, they’re time travelers.

12. Characteristics of Discourse Local Structure (microstructure): The relationship between individual sentences Cohesion Coherence Global Structure (macrostructure): The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world

13. Characteristics of Discourse Local Structure (microstructure): The relationship between individual sentences Cohesion Coherence Global Structure (macrostructure): The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world

14. Local Structure (microstructure): The relationship between individual sentences Cohesion Does the discourse “stick together”? Interpretation of one sentence depends on other sentences? Coherence Does the passage make sense? Logical consistency and semantic continuity? Characteristics of Discourse

15. Cohesion: Interpretation of one sentence depends on other sentences Referential Cohesion “Dude, you should hear him play…” Substitution Cohesion “We’ve got to get these dudes back to …” And many more Ellipsis, conjunction, lexical cohesion (See pg 160 of textbook for examples) The relationship between the referring expression and the antecedent create referential cohesion of discourse

16. Types of Referential Cohesion Anaphoric Reference Using an expression to refer back to something previously mentioned in discourse “…Bach was in the music store …” “Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks.” Cataphoric Reference Using an expression to refer forward to something that is coming up in discourse Dude, did you find him?” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store...”

17. Comprehending Anaphoric References Daneman and Carpenter (1980) Sitting with Richie, Archie, Walter and the rest of my gang in the Grill yesterday, I began to feel uneasy. Robbie had put a dime in the juke box. It was blaring one of the latest “Rock and Roll” favorites. I was studying, in horror, the reactions of my friends to the music. I was especially perturbed by the expression on my best friend’s face. Wayne looked intense and was pounding the table furiously to the beat. Now, I like most of the things other teenage boys like. I like girls with soft blonde hair, girls with dark curly hair, in fact all girls. I like milkshakes, football games and beach parties. I like denim jeans, fancy T-shirts and sneakers. It is not that I dislike rock music but I think it is supposed to be fun and not taken too seriously. And here he was, “all shook up” and serious over the crazy music. Task: Reading a passage and answer questions about the referents of pronouns Question: Who was “all shook up” and serious over the music?

18. Comprehending Anaphoric References Daneman and Carpenter (1980) Sitting with Richie, Archie, Walter and the rest of my gang in the Grill yesterday, I began to feel uneasy. Robbie had put a dime in the juke box. It was blaring one of the latest “Rock and Roll” favorites. I was studying, in horror, the reactions of my friends to the music. I was especially perturbed by the expression on my best friend’s face. Wayne looked intense and was pounding the table furiously to the beat. Now, I like most of the things other teenage boys like. I like girls with soft blonde hair, girls with dark curly hair, in fact all girls. I like milkshakes, football games and beach parties. I like denim jeans, fancy T-shirts and sneakers. It is not that I dislike rock music but I think it is supposed to be fun and not taken too seriously. And here he was, “all shook up” and serious over the crazy music. Question: Who was “all shook up” and serious over the music? Task: Reading a passage and answer questions about the referents of pronouns

19. Reading Span Test Smaller reading spans = smaller working memory capacity Manipulated how many sentences intervened between the pronoun ‘he’ and the antecedent ‘Wayne’ Comprehending Anaphoric References Daneman and Carpenter (1980) Sitting with Richie, Archie, Walter and the rest of my gang in the Grill yesterday, I began to feel uneasy. Robbie had put a dime in the juke box. It was blaring one of the latest “Rock and Roll” favorites. I was studying, in horror, the reactions of my friends to the music. I was especially perturbed by the expression on my best friend’s face. Wayne looked intense and was pounding the table furiously to the beat. Now, I like most of the things other teenage boys like. I like girls with soft blonde hair, girls with dark curly hair, in fact all girls. I like milkshakes, football games and beach parties. I like denim jeans, fancy T-shirts and sneakers. It is not that I dislike rock music but I think it is supposed to be fun and not taken too seriously. And here he was, “all shook up” and serious over the crazy music. Question: Who was “all shook up” and serious over the music? Task: Reading a passage and answer questions about the referents of pronouns

20. Results Comprehending Anaphoric References Daneman and Carpenter (1980) Conclusions: The number of intervening sentences don’t matter for high span people, but does for low span

21. Characteristics of Discourse Coherence: Given/new distinction Readers expect speakers to provide cues as to what information is old (already known by the listener) and what is new (not known) Making Inferences Filling in missing pieces of information to maintain coherence Haviland and Clark (1974) Singer, Halldorson, Lear, & Andrusiak (1992)

22. Developing coherence Haviland and Clark (1974) Process of understanding a sentence in discourse context involves 3 stages: 1.Identify the given and new info in the current sentence 2.Find an antecedent in memory for the given information 3.Attach the new information to this spot in memory

23. Developing coherence Haviland and Clark (1974) We got some beer out of the trunk. The beer was warm. Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence.

24. Developing coherence Haviland and Clark (1974) We got some beer out of the trunk. The beer was warm. Definite article “The” signals that “The beer” is given information Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence.

25. Developing coherence Haviland and Clark (1974) We got some beer out of the trunk. The beer was warm. Definite article “The” signals that “The beer” is given information Connect the new information “was warm” to the appropriate discourse concept “some beer” This process is called Direct Matching Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence.

26. Developing coherence Haviland and Clark (1974) We checked the picnic supplies. The beer was warm. Definite article “The” signals that “The beer” is given information Connect the new information “was warm” to the appropriate discourse concept “??” World knowledge

27. Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence. Developing coherence Haviland and Clark (1974) We checked the picnic supplies. The beer was warm. Definite article “The” signals that “The beer” is given information Connect the new information “was warm” to the appropriate discourse concept “picnic supplies” Need a bridging inference to connect “the warm beer” to “picnic supplies” World knowledge

28. Direct Matching Bridging Inference Developing coherence Typical results Comprehended faster Takes more time We checked the picnic supplies. The beer was warm. We got some beer out of the trunk. The beer was warm. Haviland and Clark (1974) World knowledge Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence. Conclusion: If you don’t know the old information and need to make an inference, this may slow down comprehension.

29. “Murray poured water on the fire.” “The fire went out.” Singer, Halldorson, Lear, & Andrusiak (1992) “Murray drank a glass of water.” “The fire went out.” T/F “water extinguishes fire” T/F “Does water extinguish fire?” Causal condition Requires bridging inference Temporal condition No required inference Developing coherence Results Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence, if given a question, answer Yes or No. Conclusions: Suggests that the bridging inference was made More time consuming to make coherence of temporal than causal relations Faster reading time Faster “T”

30. Brief summary Local Structure (microstructure): Discourse is coherent if its elements are easily related. Coherence is achieved with cohesive ties between sentences. Comprehension is impeded when There are no antecedents, forcing a bridging inference The antecedent was not recent, forcing a reinstatement of the antecedent.

31. Characteristics of Discourse Local Structure (microstructure): The relationship between individual sentences Coherence Cohesion Global Structure (macrostructure): The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world

32. Characteristics of Discourse Global Structure (macrostructure): Jill bought a new sweater. Sweaters 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 Okay local structure, but each sentence isn’t relevant to an overall topic of discourse

33. Characteristics of Discourse Read story to class (from Bartlett, 1932)

34. 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

35. 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

36. Effects of world knowledge If the balloons pooped, the sound would not be able to carry since everything would be too far away from the correct floor. A closed window would also prevent the sound from carrying since most buildings tend to be well insulated. Since the whole operation depends on a steady flow of electricity, a break in the middle of the wire would also cause problems. Of course the fellow could shout, but the human voice is not loud enough to carry that far. An additional problem is that a string could break on the instrument. Then there could be no accompaniment to the message. It is clear that the best situation would involve less distance. Then there would be fewer potential problems. With face to face contact, the least number of things could go wrong. Bransford & Johnson (1972)

37. 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 Anderson et al (1977)

38. Effects of world knowledge Schemas (Scripts) Mental structures of how the world works, acquired through experience A whole package of information about what we know about the world and events Generic story of situations A framework with causal information Used to facilitate comprehension of discourse, as well as to guide recall (and reconstruction)

39. Effects of world knowledge Schemas (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

40. Effects of world knowledge Bartlett (1932) Task: 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)

41. Effects of world knowledge Bartlett (1932) Conclusions: We use our Schema to facilitate comprehension of discourse, as well as to guide recall (and reconstruction) Results: Participants’ memories changed to fit their existing beliefs (reconstructive memories) Added new details Changed details Deleted details

42. Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi & Abouzeid (1995) Read two European tales (cry wolf & stone soup) 2 audiences European North American children Ponam children (New Guinea)

43. 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.

44. 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.

45. 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) Conclusions: We use our cultural schemas to facilitate comprehension of discourse, as well as to guide recall

46. Effects of world knowledge Smith and Swinney (1992) Task: presented stories (like the “balloons” one) Collected sentence by sentence reading times Had them recall the sentences Some people were given a title for the story, others not When do we use the schema? During comprehension or recall? Results: Overall, reading times were faster with a title that without Stories with titles: More words were recalled and more “intrusions” (details consistent with the schema but not in the story) Conclusions: Schemas are used in both on-line comprehension and recall

47. Effects of world knowledge Summary We use schemas to Facilitate the comprehension of discourse To guide recall (and reconstruction)

48. 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

49. 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

50. 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

51. 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.

52. 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

53. 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)

54. 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?

55. 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.

56. 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

57. 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

58. 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.

59. Discourse in memory Daily Summary: Schemas are used to structure comprehension and memory Discourses have internal structures that impact comprehension and memory Weekly summary: Evidence supports the psychological reality of a number of different representations Propositions & propositional networks Embodied representations Inferences Schemata and scripts Situation models

60. 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

61. 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

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

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

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

65. 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

66. 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.

67. 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.

68. Discourse in memory Kintch and colleagues (1990)

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