Ambiguous Sentence Processing in Translation

Preparation of this manuscript was supported by a grant awarded to Pedro Macizo by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-111359GB-I00/SRA State Research Agency/10.13039/501100011033) . The study was undertaken in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and followed the ethical standards delineated by this journal and by the Ethical Committee of the University of Granada (number issued by the Ethical Committee:957/CEIH/2019) and each participant provided written informed consent before taking part in the experiment.The goal of our research was to explore the possible online co-activation of both the target language (TL) syntactic structure representation and TL attachment strategies in translation, and to look over a possible interaction between both syntactic properties. To this purpose, Spanish (L1) – English (L2) bilinguals were instructed to read complex noun phrases with an ambiguous relative clause in Spanish to either repeat them in Spanish or translate them into English. The final word of the sentences and the syntactic congruency between the source language (SL) and TL syntactic structure were manipulated. The results revealed co-activation of both TL syntactic properties: participants interpreted sentences more accordingly to the TL preferred strategy (low attachment) in the reading for translation task, read congruent sentences faster, and used the TL preferred interpretation strategy in the congruent condition of the sentences more. These results indicated TL activation at different syntactic levels during comprehension of the SL in translation.Spanish Government PID2019-111359GB-I00/SR

Processing gender agreement errors in pleasant and unpleasant words: An ERP study at the sentence level

In this study we examine the extent to which aspects such as the emotionality coded in words may interfere with the processing of gender agreement errors in a sentence grammaticality judgement task. We follow the methodological pattern of our previous experiments, using consistently the same kind of structure and task (gender agreement) and only emotional (pleasant vs unpleasant) words, in an attempt to clarify whether neural correlates and performance show similar patterns in positive and negative words. We found an emotional effect in the N400 time window for unpleasant adjectives as well as the classic grammaticality effects in the left anterior negativity (LAN) and the P600 components. Overall, our results confirm those of our previous studies in that the LAN and the P600 grammaticality effects are not influenced by the emotional valence of moderately arousing pleasant and unpleasant words, showing that during sentence reading morphosyntactic error detection seems to be encapsulatedThe present study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (MINECO/FEDER; Grant Nos. PSI2015-65116-P) and a research grant from the Autonomous Government of Galicia (Consellería de Educación, Xunta de Galicia, grant code GRC 2015/006)S

On Pseudorelatives and Human Sentence Parsing

The debate over whether universal parsing mechanisms are necessary to explain sentence comprehension is clearly a fundamental one for cognitive science. This dissertation focuses on the relation between syntactic ambiguity and principles of economy in the parsing of ambiguous Pseudo Relative (PR)/ Relative Clause (RC) strings. While the principles of locality would predict local attachment in (exclusive) RC contexts, PR-first Hypothesis (Grillo & Costa, 2014) predicts high attachment (corresponding to a PR parse) in ambiguous PR/RC contexts. We test the offline and online effects of PR availability in Spanish using a variety of research methods (eye-tracking while reading, sentence completion task, forced-choice questionnaire, acceptability judgement), while also looking at the interaction with other factors such as aspectual properties of the embedded predicate. The results reported here are robust across studies and show an influence of PRs on the parsing of RCs: when PRs are not a confound, and relevant factors are controlled (e.g. length of the clauses), locality principles apply to RC attachment; when PRs are available, attachment preferences shift toward the non-local option. These results support the universality of parsing principles and suggest that crosslinguistic variation in RC attachment is epiphenomenal and largely attributable to the asymmetric availability of PRs across languages. This dissertation also provides a detailed description on PR-licensing contexts that might be useful for future research on RC attachment preferences to avoid the PR confound.O debate sobre se os mecanismos de análise universal são necessários para explicar a compreensão de frases é claramente fundamental para a Ciência Cognitiva. Esta dissertação centra-se na relação entre ambiguidade sintática e princípios de economia na análise de estruturaspseudorelativas (PR)/ orações relativas (OR) ambíguas. Enquanto os princípios de localidade prediriam a ligação local em contextos (exclusivos) das OR, a PR-first Hypothesis (Grillo & Costa, 2014) prevê uma alta ligação (correspondente a uma análise da PR) em contextos PR/OR ambíguos. Nesta tese testamos os efeitos offline e online da disponibilidade das PRs em Espanhol, utilizando uma variedade de métodos de investigação (técnica de registo dos comportamentos oculares (eye-tracking) durante a leitura, tarefa de preenchimento de frases, questionários, julgamento da aceitabilidade), ao mesmo tempo que também analisamos a interação com as propriedades aspetuais do predicado encaixado. Os resultados obtidos nesta dissertação mostram uma influência das PRs na análise das ORs: quando as PRs estão disponíveis e os fatores relevantes são controlados (por exemplo, o comprimento das orações), os princípios da localidade aplicam-se à adjunção das ORs; quando as PRs estão disponíveis, as preferências de adjunção mudam para a opção não-local. Estes resultados apoiam a universalidade dos princípios de análise e sugerem que a variação linguística na adjunção da OR é epifenomenal e amplamente atribuível à disponibilidade assimétrica das PRs entre línguas. Esta dissertação também fornece uma descrição detalhada dos contextos de licenciamento da PR, que podem ser úteis para evitar a ambiguidade PR/OR em futuras pesquisas sobre as preferências da ligação da OR

The Syntax-Semantics Interface in the Production of Number Agreement: A Crosslinguistic Perspective

Agreement is a recurrent device in language which helps to add coherence in it. More in particular, number agreement (which constitutes the main focus of this thesis) is one of the most useful tools in language, and some form of it is present in the majority of the languages of the world. The present thesis’ aim is that of analyzing which are the inner (mental) mechanisms that lead to the resolution of number agreement in language. To this purpose, some potential forces have been analyzed, syntax and semantics being the most important ones. The literature on this topic has never reached a solid conclusion as regards the power exerted by each of the previously mentioned forces on the final resolution of agreement. Syntactocentric theories, as those exposed by Fodor (1983) and Chomsky (1995, 1999, 2001) among others, considered agreement as an encapsulated “phase” inserted within a purely morphosyntactic process in which semantics is completely absent. On the contrary, for cognitive grammar, agreement is deeply based on semantics and therefore this source of information cannot be disregarded (Pollard & Sag, 1988; Barlow, 1999; Vigliocco et al., 1996; Thornton & MacDonald, 2003; Haskell & MacDonald, 2003). Therefore, this thesis tries to shed some light on this debate by presenting some experimental research (based on language errors) in which (a priori) semantic variables such as emotionality or concreteness have been manipulated in a series of experimental tests in order to ascertain to what extent were they responsible for the final resolution of agreement marks. In addition, these tests were carried out in two structurally different languages (Spanish and English). The ultimate aim of this comparison was that of observing how two different morphological systems lead to two opposing agreement systems in which different forces are responsible for the final resolution of agreement marks

De-centering the Monolingual: A Psychophysiological Study of Heritage Speaker Language Processing

Models of grammar, processing and acquisition are primarily built on evidence from monolinguals and adult learners of a second language. Heritage speakers, who are bilinguals of a societal minority language, acquire and use their heritage language in informal settings; but who live, work, and are educated in the societal majority language. The differences between heritage speakers and both monolinguals and adult second language learners are extensive: heritage speakers are not educated in the heritage language, their input is typically not from a prestige variety of the heritage language, and they are dominant in the majority language, using it more frequently (Valdés, 1989). Previous research of heritage speaker characterized their grammars as simple, decayed/attrited, and incomplete (Benmamoun, Montrul, & Polinsky, 2010; Scontras, Fuchs, & Polinsky, 2015), and are compared to intermediate second language learner grammars (Montrul, 2005). The present study: 1) explores the language use and exposure of heritage speakers, 2) examines their performance on metalinguistic tasks, and 3) measures language processing using implicit measures (event-related potentials and pupillometry). Heritage speakers are compared to adult late second language learners living and working in a second language dominant society from the same community. The study focuses on fluent Spanish and English Latinx bilinguals living in the anglophone US. Spanish heritage speakers are appropriately compared to their time-apparent parents (English speaking Latinx immigrants who moved to the anglophone US in adulthood). Online language processing of subject- and object-relative clauses are examined as the subject-object relative clause processing asymmetry has been well-established in both Spanish and English, is early acquired, and is not confounded by prescriptive rules or literacy

Presented discourse analysis in popular science narratives of discovery

This thesis reports a study of presented discourse in popular science narratives of discovery in English. It focuses on the fictionalizing role of presented discourse. The thesis proposes minor adjustments to the existing models of presented discourse analysis, dividing discourse presentation into Public Discourse (speech/writing) and Private Discourse (thought). After exploring the forms and functions of discourse presentation in the narratives, the thesis concludes that Private Discourse prefers the forms commonly associated with non-fiction while assigning to them the functions most often observed in fiction. All the forms of discourse presentation in the narratives contain dramatizing properties, yet Public Discourse possesses the highest degree of dramatization. Private Discourse in the narratives possesses communicative properties generally assigned to speech/writing presentation exclusively. Private Discourse is more likely to communicate scientific hypotheses than reveal the inner worlds of actants. The thesis concludes with an examination of presented discourse outside the narratives of discovery. This analysis confirms the phenomena observed in the narratives and reveals a unique feature of presented discourse outside the narratives-the fictionalized reader-a fictional actant created using discourse presentation. The findings of the thesis present a strong argument in favour of fictionality in popular science

The Proteus Effect and Gaming: The Impact of Digital Actors and Race in a Virtual Environment

Race and racial identity is a frequently discussed topic in the media today. This topic is driven by what oftentimes amounts to culture clashes, and a system that claims impartiality yet is rampant with implicit bias demonstrating favorable treatment of one race over another. An example of this favoritism resides within video game design, where over 50% of player-controlled game characters are White, and less than 40% are Black (Leonard, 2007). Leonard also wrote that Black game characters are more likely to conform to Black stereotypes (e.g. play sports, or involved in gangs) than Whites (e.g. middle class citizen or unhygienic). Minimal research exists on understanding what information a video game character, or avatar, conveys to a game player, and whether this information is platform dependent or not. Furthermore, limited information exists on what the personification of agency really means within a digital environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship that race may exert within video game play and, by extension, video game design in regards to the control of in-game avatars. Moreover, the goal is to determine if the Proteus effect, the central psychological theory under analysis, exists for console video game players in regards to race and skin color. Originating from the world of virtual reality, the Proteus effect emphasizes conformity to an avatar’s identity cues (Yee & Bailenson, 2007). Specifically, this study examines how the similarity or mismatch between in game avatars and the individual controlling them affects game-world behaviors. Ninety male university students comprised of 3 different races (Middle Eastern, African American, and Caucasian American) played Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV) on PlayStation 3 with an assignment of either White (Michael) or Black (Franklin) game character condition. Data were collected on a behavioral metric with two primary categories: Crime against people and crimes against property. They also completed a personality inventory (HEXACO), and performed an implicit association task to further scientific exploration of the Proteus effect. The results indicated that behavioral outcomes between the Middle-Eastern and Caucasian Americans contained significant differences, and this was regardless of their digital actor (DA) assignment. However, African American gamers had significant performance differences between the two DA conditions (White, Black); there were more crimes committed against in-game people and in-game property when playing as a White DA than when playing as a Black DA when compared against the other two groups. For the game play itself, no significant performance differences were observed between the White and Black DA conditions when collapsed across race conditions indicating that the platform selected offered equal opportunity for all gamers, and that one DA did not facilitate extra crimes above and beyond the other DA. Personality factors were controlled for through the use of the HEXACO model and demonstrated that the three faces did not significantly differ in terms of personality. However, when considering game play and crime specifically, individuals scoring high in the Honesty-Humility dimension of the personality inventory committed fewer crimes against property during their gameplay as indicated by a significant regression analysis. The Proteus effect exists for console video games, and was observed within this study because a change in self representation via the DA caused an observable change in behavior. The African American participants experimentally depicted this in that they committed significantly less crimes while playing as a Black DA than the crimes they committed while playing as a White DA that did not occur for the other two races. The significance of this finding lies in the fact that this discovery bolsters understanding of DA-man relationships, and the nature of agency within digital environments. This study also demonstrates that DAs can alter gameplay, and the gaming community needs richer designs incorporating racial inclusivity within video games

Executive Dysfunction or State Regulation: A Dimensional Comparison of Two Neuropsychological Theories of Attention Disorder Symptoms Using RDoC Paradigms

Two leading theories regarding the neurocognitive basis of attentional disorders are the executive dysfunction theory and the state regulation theory. The executive dysfunction theory takes a top-down approach, explaining the symptoms of ADHD as a byproduct of general deficits in executive functioning—particularly disinhibition. The state regulation theory takes a bottom-up approach, explaining the symptoms of ADHD as a failure to be sufficiently aroused by, and subsequently engage with, less stimulating or rewarding tasks. These two theories predict different patterns of performance on tasks of executive functioning and attention, and research has demonstrated mixed support for both theories. The present study used a continuous performance task to manipulate RDoC paradigms of inhibition and arousal predicted to be affected disparately according to each theory. The data failed to support either the executive dysfunction theory or the state regulation theory as hypothesized; however, there was a significant interaction between the paradigms used for each theory. Factor analysis may be useful in establishing predictions which may guide follow-up investigation

From BookStart to BookSmart: about the importance of an early start with parent-child reading

BookStart has been developed to enhance parent-child verbal interactions in early childhood by promoting book sharing. Parents receive a voucher for a baby book and free access to baby books in the library. In a large-scale research, we found that if parents complied with the BookStart suggestion to start in the first year with book sharing, their children’s language scores in the second year were higher than those of a similar group of children not exposed to BookStart. In addition we found that book reading was a better predictor of language skills at 22 months than at 15 months, which may indicate a snowball effect. A reactive temperament proved a risk factor for language development, due to low verbal stimulation from parents in the first years, but an asset when parents increased verbal parent–child interaction under influence of BookStart. Lastly, we found that parents from children with a difficult temperament participated more frequently in BookStart, possibly because they felt that the quality of verbal interaction in their family needed improvement. Parents with a low educational background appeared to be less attracted to BookStart, probably because they do not realize the importance of early book sharing for child language development.Stichting Lezen, Ministerie van OC&WDevelopment Psychopathology in context: clinical setting