Publications

Abstract

The electrophysiology of language comprehension has long been dominated by research on syntactic and semantic integration. However, to understand expressions like "he did it" or "the little girl", combining word meanings in accordance with semantic and syntactic constraints is not enough--readers and listeners also need to work out what or who is being referred to. We review our event-related brain potential research on the processes involved in establishing reference, and present a new experiment in which we examine when and how the implicit causality associated with specific interpersonal verbs affects the interpretation of a referentially ambiguous pronoun. The evidence suggests that upon encountering a singular noun or pronoun, readers and listeners immediately inspect their situation model for a suitable discourse entity, such that they can discriminate between having too many, too few, or exactly the right number of referents within at most half a second. Furthermore, our implicit causality findings indicate that a fragment like "David praised Linda because..." can immediately foreground a particular referent, to the extent that a subsequent "he" is at least initially construed as a syntactic error. In all, our brain potential findings suggest that referential processing is highly incremental, and not necessarily contingent upon the syntax. In addition, they demonstrate that we can use ERPs to relatively selectively keep track of how readers and listeners establish reference.

Abstract

Progesterone, or rather its neuroactive metabolite allopregnanolone, modulates amygdala activity and thereby influences anxiety. Cognition and, in particular, memory are also altered by allopregnanolone. In the present study, we investigated whether allopregnanolone modulates memory for biologically salient stimuli by influencing amygdala activity, which in turn may affect neural processes in other brain regions. A single progesterone dose was administered orally to healthy young women in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design, and participants were asked to memorize and recognize faces while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Progesterone decreased recognition accuracy without affecting reaction times. The imaging results show that the amygdala, hippocampus, and fusiform gyrus supported memory formation. Importantly, progesterone decreased responses to faces in the amygdala and fusiform gyrus duringmemoryencoding, whereas it increased hippocampal responses. The progesterone-induced decrease in neural activity in the amygdala and fusiform gyrus predicted the decrease in memory performance across subjects. However, progesterone did not modulate the differential activation between subsequently remembered and subsequently forgotten faces in these areas. A similar pattern of results was observed in the fusiform gyrus and prefrontal cortex during memory retrieval. These results suggest that allopregnanolone impairs memory by reducing the recruitment of those brain regions that support memory formation and retrieval. Given the important role of the amygdala in the modulation of memory, these results suggest that allopregnanolone alters memory by influencing amygdala activity, which in turn may affect memory processes in other brain regions

Abstract

The use of computer simulations in education and training can have substantial advantages over other approaches. In comparison with alternatives such as textbooks, lectures, and tutorial courseware, a simulation-based approach offers the opportunity to learn in a relatively realistic problem-solving context, to practise task performance without stress, to systematically explore both realistic and hypothetical situations, to change the time-scale of events, and to interact with simplified versions of the process or system being simulated. However, learners are often unable to cope with the freedom offered by, and the complexity of, a simulation. As a result many of them resort to an unsystematic, unproductive mode of exploration. There is evidence that simulation-based learning can be improved if the learner is supported while working with the simulation. Constructing such an instructional environment around simulations seems to run counter to the freedom the learner is allowed to in ‘stand alone’ simulations. The present article explores instructional measures that allow for an optimal freedom for the learner. An extensive discussion of learning goals brings two main types of learning goals to the fore: conceptual knowledge and operational knowledge. A third type of learning goal refers to the knowledge acquisition (exploratory learning) process. Cognitive theory has implications for the design of instructional environments around simulations. Most of these implications are quite general, but they can also be related to the three types of learning goals. For conceptual knowledge the sequence and choice of models and problems is important, as is providing the learner with explanations and minimization of error. For operational knowledge cognitive theory recommends learning to take place in a problem solving context, the explicit tracing of the behaviour of the learner, providing immediate feedback and minimization of working memory load. For knowledge acquisition goals, it is recommended that the tutor takes the role of a model and coach, and that learning takes place together with a companion. A second source of inspiration for designing instructional environments can be found in Instructional Design Theories. Reviewing these shows that interacting with a simulation can be a part of a more comprehensive instructional strategy, in which for example also prerequisite knowledge is taught. Moreover, information present in a simulation can also be represented in a more structural or static way and these two forms of presentation provoked to perform specific learning processes and learner activities by tutor controlled variations in the simulation, and by tutor initiated prodding techniques. And finally, instructional design theories showed that complex models and procedures can be taught by starting with central and simple elements of these models and procedures and subsequently presenting more complex models and procedures. Most of the recent simulation-based intelligent tutoring systems involve troubleshooting of complex technical systems. Learners are supposed to acquire knowledge of particular system principles, of troubleshooting procedures, or of both. Commonly encountered instructional features include (a) the sequencing of increasingly complex problems to be solved, (b) the availability of a range of help information on request, (c) the presence of an expert troubleshooting module which can step in to provide criticism on learner performance, hints on the problem nature, or suggestions on how to proceed, (d) the option of having the expert module demonstrate optimal performance afterwards, and (e) the use of different ways of depicting the simulated system. A selection of findings is summarized by placing them under the four themes we think to be characteristic of learning with computer simulations (see de Jong, this volume).

Abstract

Pitch, intonation, and speech rate were analyzed in a collection of everyday speech heard by one Dutch infant between the ages of six and nine months. Components of each of these variables were measured in the speech of three adult speakers (mother, father, baby-sitter) when they addressed the infant, and when they addressed another adult. The results are in line with previously reported findings which are usually based on laboratory or prearranged settings: infant-directed speech in a natural setting exhibits more pitch variation, a larger number of simple intonation contours, and slower speech rate than does adult-directed speech.

Abstract

Dutch distinguishes at least four sentence types: statements and questions, the latter type being subdivided into wh-questions (beginning with a question word), yes/no-questions (with inversion of subject and finite), and declarative questions (lexico-syntactically identical to statement). Acoustically, each of these (sub)types was found to have clearly distinct global F0-patterns, as well as a characteristic distribution of final rises [1,2]. The present paper explores the separate contribution of parameters of global downtrend and size of accent-lending pitch movements versus aspects of the terminal rise to the human identification of the four sentence (sub)types, at various positions in the time-course of the utterance. The results show that interrogativity in Dutch can be identified at an early point in the utterance. However, wh-questions are not distinct from statements.

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of the different status that typology has in American linguistics as opposed to European linguistics. The historical roots of the difference lie in both structural and generative linguistics, in the contrasts between post-Bloomfieldian structuralism in the US vs. Praguean structuralism in Europe, and in the extent of the influence of generative grammar on the two continents.

Abstract

Jescheniak and Levelt (Jescheniak, J.-D., Levelt, W.J.M. 1994. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 20 (4), 824–843) have suggested that the speed with which native speakers of a gender-marking language retrieve the grammatical gender of a noun from their mental lexicon may depend on the recency of earlier access to that same noun's gender, as the result of a mechanism that is dedicated to facilitate gender-marked anaphoric reference to recently introduced discourse entities. This hypothesis was tested in two picture naming experiments. Recent gender access did not facilitate the production of gender-marked adjective noun phrases (Experiment 1), nor that of gender-marked definite article noun phrases (Experiment 2), even though naming times for the latter utterances were sensitive to the gender of a written distractor word superimposed on the picture to be named. This last result replicates and extends earlier gender-specific picture-word interference results (Schriefers, H. 1993. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 19 (4), 841–850), showing that one can selectively tap into the production of grammatical gender agreement during speaking. The findings are relevant to theories of speech production and the representation of grammatical gender for that process.

Abstract

Meermalen is getracht om syntactische formuleenuuirdigheid direct en objectief te meten aan de hand van gesproken of geschreven teksten. Uitgangspunt hierbij vormde in de regel de syntactische complexiteit van de geproduceerde taaluitingen. Dit heeft echter niet geleid tot een plausibele, duidelijk omschreven en praktisch bruikbare index. N.a.v. een kritische bespreking van de notie complexiteit wordt in dit artikel als nieuw criterium voorgesteld de connectiviteit van de taaluitingen; de expliciete aanduiding van logiscli-scmantische relaties tussen proposities. Connectiviteit is gemakkelijk scoorbaar aan de hand van functiewoorden die verschillende vormen van nevenschikkend en onderschikkend zinsverband markeren. Deze nieuwe index ondetrangt de kritiek die op complexiteit gegeven kon worden, blijkt duidelijk te discrimineren tussen groepen leerlingen die van elkaar verschillen naar leeftijd en opleidingsniveau, en sluit aan bij recente taalpsychologische en sociolinguïstische theorie. Tot besluit worden enige onderwijskundige implicaties aangegeven.

Abstract

Over the past ten years Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have evolved from a highly specialised niche technology to one that is used daily by a wide range of people. This article describes geographic browsing of language archives, which provides intuitive exploration of resources and permits integration and correlation of information from different archives, even across different research disciplines. In order to facilitate both exploration and management of resources, digital language archives are organised according to criteria such as language name, research topic, project information, researchers, countries, or genres. A set of such criteria can form a tree-like classification scheme, such as in the MPI-IMDI archive, which in turn forms the main method of searching and querying the archive resources. Searching for information can be difficult for occasional users because effective use of these search-fields typically requires specialised knowledge. We assume that many non-specialist users of language resources will search by language name, language family, or geographic area, so that geographic navigation would offer a very powerful search method. We also assume that such users are familiar with maps, and that geographic browsing is more intuitive than browsing classification trees, so these users would prefer to start with a large scale map and then zoom in to find the data that interests them. Therefore, classification trees and geographic maps provide complementary methods for accessing language resources to meet the needs of different user groups. We selected Google Earth (GE) as a geographic browsing system and overlaid it with linguistic information. GE was chosen because it is available via the web, it has good navigation controls, it is familiar to many web users, and because the overlaid linguistic information can be formulated in XML, making it comparatively easy to interchange with other geographic systems.

Abstract

We previously discovered that mutations of the human FOXP2 gene cause a monogenic communication disorder, primarily characterized by difficulties in learning to make coordinated sequences of articulatory gestures that underlie speech. Affected people have deficits in expressive and receptive linguistic processing and display structural and/or functional abnormalities in cortical and subcortical brain regions. FOXP2 provides a unique window into neural processes involved in speech and language. In particular, its role as a transcription factor gene offers powerful functional genomic routes for dissecting critical neurogenetic mechanisms. Here, we employ chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with promoter microarrays (ChIP-chip) to successfully identify genomic sites that are directly bound by FOXP2 protein in native chromatin of human neuron-like cells. We focus on a subset of downstream targets identified by this approach, showing that altered FOXP2 levels yield significant changes in expression in our cell-based models and that FOXP2 binds in a specific manner to consensus sites within the relevant promoters. Moreover, we demonstrate significant quantitative differences in target expression in embryonic brains of mutant mice, mediated by specific in vivo Foxp2-chromatin interactions. This work represents the first identification and in vivo verification of neural targets regulated by FOXP2. Our data indicate that FOXP2 has dual functionality, acting to either repress or activate gene expression at occupied promoters. The identified targets suggest roles in modulating synaptic plasticity, neurodevelopment, neurotransmission, and axon guidance and represent novel entry points into in vivo pathways that may be disturbed in speech and language disorders.

Abstract

An event-related brain potential experiment was carried out to investigate on-line thematic role assignment during sentence–picture matching in patients with Broca's aphasia. Subjects were presented with a picture that was followed by an auditory sentence. The sentence either matched the picture or mismatched the visual information depicted. Sentences differed in complexity, and ranged from simple active semantically irreversible sentences to passive semantically reversible sentences. ERPs were recorded while subjects were engaged in sentence–picture matching. In addition, reaction time and accuracy were measured. Three groups of subjects were tested: Broca patients (N = 10), non-aphasic patients with a right hemisphere (RH) lesion (N = 8), and healthy aged-matched controls (N = 15). The results of this study showed that, in neurologically unimpaired individuals, thematic role assignment in the context of visual information was an immediate process. This in contrast to patients with Broca's aphasia who demonstrated no signs of on-line sensitivity to the picture–sentence mismatches. The syntactic contribution to the thematic role assignment process seemed to be diminished given the reduction and even absence of P600 effects. Nevertheless, Broca patients showed some off-line behavioral sensitivity to the sentence–picture mismatches. The long response latencies of Broca's aphasics make it likely that off-line response strategies were used.

Abstract

In a visual-world study, we examined spoken-wordrecognition in Spanish. Spanish listeners followed spoken instructions to click on pictures while their eye movements were monitored. When instructed to click on the picture of a door (puerta), they experienced interference from the picture of a pig (p u e r c o ). The same interference from phonologically related items was observed when the displays contained printed names or a combination of pictures with their names printed underneath, although the effect was strongest for displays with printed names. Implications of the finding that the interference effect can be induced with standard pictorial displays as well as with orthographic displays are discussed.

Abstract

Pointing gestures are recognised to be a primary manifestation of human social cognition and communicative capacity. The goal of this task is to collect empirical descriptions of pointing practices in different cultural settings.

Abstract

Although generally studied in isolation, language and action often co-occur in everyday life. Here we investigated one particular form of simultaneous language and action, namely speech and gestures that speakers use in everyday communication. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we identified the neural networks involved in the integration of semantic information from speech and gestures. Verbal and/or gestural content could be integrated easily or less easily with the content of the preceding part of speech. Premotor areas involved in action observation (Brodmann area [BA] 6) were found to be specifically modulated by action information "mismatching" to a language context. Importantly, an increase in integration load of both verbal and gestural information into prior speech context activated Broca's area and adjacent cortex (BA 45/47). A classical language area, Broca's area, is not only recruited for language-internal processing but also when action observation is integrated with speech. These findings provide direct evidence that action and language processing share a high-level neural integration system.

Abstract

Co-speech gestures embody a form of manual action that is tightly coupled to the language system. As such, the co-occurrence of speech and co-speech gestures is an excellent example of the interplay between language and action. There are, however, other ways in which language and action can be thought of as closely related. In this paper we will give an overview of studies in cognitive neuroscience that examine the neural underpinnings of links between language and action. Topics include neurocognitive studies of motor representations of speech sounds, action-related language, sign language and co-speech gestures. It will be concluded that there is strong evidence on the interaction between speech and gestures in the brain. This interaction however shares general properties with other domains in which there is interplay between language and action.

Abstract

Brain processing depends on the interactions between neuronal groups. Those interactions are governed by the pattern of anatomical connections and by yet unknown mechanisms that modulate the effective strength of a given connection. We found that the mutual influence among neuronal groups depends on the phase relation between rhythmic activities within the groups. Phase relations supporting interactions between the groups preceded those interactions by a few milliseconds, consistent with a mechanistic role. These effects were specific in time, frequency, and space, and we therefore propose that the pattern of synchronization flexibly determines the pattern of neuronal interactions.

Abstract

L'A. étudie les corrélations entre structure syntaxique et fonction pragmatique dans les alternances de voix en akatek, une langue maya appartenant au sous-groupe Q'anjob'ala. Les alternances pragmatiques de voix sont les mécanismes par lesquels les langues encodent les différents degrés de topicalité des deux principaux participants d'un événement sémantiquement transitif, l'agent et le patient. A l'aide d'une analyse quantitative, l'A. évalue la topicalité de ces participants et identifie les structures syntaxiques permettant d'exprimer les quatre principales fonctions de voix en akatek : active-directe, inverse, passive et antipassive

Abstract

Genome-wide association studies using thousands to hundreds of thousands of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and region-wide association studies using a dense panel of SNPs are already in use to identify disease susceptibility genes and to predict disease risk in individuals. Because these tasks become increasingly important, three different data sets were provided for the Genetic Analysis Workshop 15, thus allowing examination of various novel and existing data mining methods for both classification and identification of disease susceptibility genes, gene by gene or gene by environment interaction. The approach most often applied in this presentation group was random forests because of its simplicity, elegance, and robustness. It was used for prediction and for screening for interesting SNPs in a first step. The logistic tree with unbiased selection approach appeared to be an interesting alternative to efficiently select interesting SNPs. Machine learning, specifically ensemble methods, might be useful as pre-screening tools for large-scale association studies because they can be less prone to overfitting, can be less computer processor time intensive, can easily include pair-wise and higher-order interactions compared with standard statistical approaches and can also have a high capability for classification. However, improved implementations that are able to deal with hundreds of thousands of SNPs at a time are required.