S1 (FriAM 1-65) - The Psychonomic Society

Posters 2015–2021 Friday Noon
Smith and Wheeldon (1999), sentence onset latencies were longer for
sentences beginning with complex rather than simple phrases, consistent
with a phrasal scope of planning. However, data from the name
agreement and frequency manipulations indicated that planning beyond
the initial phrase occurred when the nouns in the first phrase had
high name agreement and high frequency. Thus, although the results
are consistent with the phrase as a minimal scope, they indicate that
scope may be extended when initial phrase words are easy to retrieve.
(2015)
Word Frequency Affects Subject–Verb Number Agreement.
ERICA L. MIDDLETON & KATHRYN BOCK, University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign—The traditional account of subject–verb number
agreement (e.g., “The flag is/The flags are”) is that the grammatical
number of the subject noun (e.g., singular “flag” or plural “flags”) dictates
verb number. However, other factors have been found to influence
agreement, including the number meanings of subject phrases
and the plurality of nonsubject (local) nouns in the verb’s vicinity
(e.g., “The flag near the ambassadors were colorful”), creating attraction.
We investigated a third nongrammatical influence on agreement:
the relative frequencies, or contrastiveness, of the singular and
plural forms of local nouns. Participants heard and repeated preambles
(e.g., “The flag near the ambassadors”), completing them as full
sentences that included verbs. Verb number was sensitive to variations
in contrastiveness, with plural attraction increasing as contrastiveness
increased. This suggests that the implementation of agreement during
language production is sensitive to competition among form or meaning
related entries in the lexicon.
(2016)
Acoustic Analyses of the Sarcastic Tone of Voice. GINA M. CAUCCI,
ROGER J. KREUZ, & EUGENE H. BUDER, University of Memphis—
Sarcastic intent can be signaled by speakers in a variety of ways, such
as by rolling one’s eyes. Other paralinguistic cues, such as tone of
voice, can also cue listeners to a speaker’s sarcastic intentions (Cutler,
1974; Roberts & Kreuz, 1994). However, the exact parameters that
define this tone of voice have been the subject of some dispute (e.g.,
Bryant & Fox Tree, 2005). This project investigated the acoustic properties
of the sarcastic tone of voice. Participants were recorded in a
conversational setting while engaged in tasks designed to naturally
elicit sarcasm. The amount of common ground shared by conversational
dyads was manipulated (friends vs. strangers). The pitch, duration,
and amplitude for words intended sarcastically was measured,
and compared with the same words when used literally. Preliminary
data suggest that sarcastic statements differ from nonsarcastic statements
on these acoustic parameters, and that shared common ground
influences speakers’ use of sarcasm.
(2017)
Wernicke’s Aphasia: Exploring the Interface Between Language and
Thought. PAUL D. MCGEOCH, DAVID BRANG, & VILAYANUR S.
RAMACHANDRAN, University of California, San Diego—We studied
patients with Wernicke’s aphasia to explore whether covert language
is required for thinking. We found that: (1) Speech had most aspects
of syntactic structure but no recursiveness. Contrary to popular belief,
Broca’s area is not sufficient for this ability; it clearly also requires
the Wernicke’s area (semantics) and, indeed, may be an aspect of
many brain functions, such as self-awareness. (2) They could lie nonverbally—implying
a theory of other minds. (3) Additional evidence
for Wernicke’s patients possessing a theory of other minds was given
when one patient was shown a small cookie being placed in box A and
a big one in box B. A and B were then hidden by a partition and a
stooge was seen to go pick one of the cookies. The patient didn’t know
which. The patient then chose box A, having inferred that the stooge
must have (obviously) picked the large cookie.
(2018)
Online Writing Processes of Subject–Verb Agreement in Dutch–
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English Bilinguals. JANET G. VAN HELL & MARIJKE MENSIES,
Radboud University Nijmegen (sponsored by Janet G. van Hell)—We
studied online processes of subject–verb agreement construction in
written language production in bilinguals’ first and second language.
Past research, studying errors in language production, shows that
Dutch and English monolingual speakers differ in their sensitivity to
the conceptual number of the sentential subject. We studied subject–verb
agreement in Dutch–English bilinguals using a sentence fragment
completion paradigm and contrasted conceptually multiple token
fragments with single token fragments. The bilinguals wrote in their
first (Dutch) or second (English) language. In addition to studying errors
in language production (the dependent measure used in previous
production studies), we examined online processes of writing using a
digitizer tablet. Analyses of pause time patterns show longer pause durations
after the head noun and before the verb in writing multiple
token fragments in both languages. This suggests that conceptual information
influences subject–verb agreement construction at an early
stage, in first and second language writing.
(2019)
Orthographic Priming and Homophone Substitution Errors: Producing
Similarly-Spelled Words Might Influence What You Right.
KATHERINE K. WHITE, SAMANTHA M. GIBSON, & SARAH M.
ZOLLER, College of Charleston, & LISE ABRAMS, University of
Florida—Despite considerable research on language production errors
involving speech, little research exists in the complementary domain
of writing. Two experiments investigated the production of written
homophone substitution errors, which occur when a contextually
appropriate word (e.g., beech) is replaced with its homophone (e.g.,
beach tree). Participants wrote auditorily presented sentences that included
a contextually appropriate dominant or subordinate homophone
(e.g., The teacher was most proud of the beech tree in his garden).
Each homophone was preceded by a prime or unrelated word.
Primes overlapped in phonology and orthography (teacher) or in orthography
only (headmaster) with the contextually inappropriate homophone
(beach). More errors occurred when the context elicited a
subordinate homophone relative to a dominant homophone. Furthermore,
both types of primes increased errors relative to unrelated
words. These results are discussed within dual route theories and suggest
that recent exposure to shared graphemes, with or without shared
phonology, increases homophone substitution errors.
(2020)
Lexical Influences on Nonword Spelling. TAMI J. PATTERSON &
JOCELYN R. FOLK, Kent State University—Previous work has
demonstrated that the processes dedicated to spelling familiar words
(lexical process) and unfamiliar words (sublexical process) interact
during spelling. We investigated two possible mechanisms underlying
lexical influence on the sublexical system during nonword spelling: a
dynamic and temporary reweighting of phoneme–grapheme probabilities
in the sublexical system after exposure to a related word and
residual activation of a previously heard word’s letters at the grapheme
level. Participants listened to lists of intermixed words and nonwords
and were required to spell only the nonwords. On a small percentage
of trials the word preceding a target nonword rhymed with the nonword.
We varied the interval between prime words and target nonwords
(0 or 2 intervening items) and the neighborhood characteristics
of the nonwords. We found evidence that both possible mechanisms
contribute to lexical–sublexical interaction and that lexical neighbors
influence nonword spelling. We discuss implications for models of the
spelling system.
• DIVIDED ATTENTION •
(2021)
Dividing Attention Between Two Different Categories and Locations.
JUN I. KAWAHARA, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science
and Technology, & YUKI YAMADA, Kyushu University—When two