Space Trumps Time When Talking About Objects

The nature of the relationship between the concepts of space and time in the human mind is much debated. Some claim that space is primary and that it structures time (cf. Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) while others (cf. Walsh, 2003) maintain no difference in status between them. Using fully immersive virtual reality (VR), we examined the influence of object distance and time of appearance on choice of demonstratives (this and that) to refer to objects. Critically, demonstratives can be used spatially (this/that red triangle) and temporally (this/that month). Experiment 1 showed a pattern of demonstrative usage in VR that is consistent with results found in real‐world studies. Experiments 2, 3, and 4 manipulated both when and where objects appeared, providing scenarios where participants were free to use demonstratives in either a temporal or spatial sense. Although we find evidence for time of presentation affecting object mention, the experiments found that demonstrative choice was affected only by distance. These results support the view that spatial uses of demonstratives are privileged over temporal uses

The influence of language on spatial memory and visual attention

This thesis examines the relationship between language and non-linguistic processes. The experimental work presented, focusses on the influence of language on two non-linguistic processes: spatial memory and visual attention. In the first series of experiments, the influence of spatial demonstratives (this/that) and possessives (my/your) on memory for object location was examined in four experiments, using an adapted version of the memory game procedure (Coventry et al., 2008, 2014). The experiments were designed to test between different models regarding how language affects memory: the Expectation model, the Congruence model, and the Attention-allocation model. Over a series of experiments, our data supports the Expectation model, which suggests, consistent with models of predictive coding (cf., Lupyan & Clark, 2015), that memory for object location is a concatenation of the actual location and the expected location. The expectation of a location can be elicited by language use (e.g., demonstrative or possessive pronouns). The second series of experiments examined demonstratives and memory in English and Japanese. We chose Japanese, because it purportedly employs a three-demonstrative system, compared to a binary system as in English (this, that). Three-way systems can be used to explicitly encode parameters that are not encoded in English, for example the position of a conspecific. In four experiments, we wanted to test whether a system as different as the Japanese demonstrative system is from English, has a similar influence on non-linguistic cognition. To this aim, we had to first experimentally establish which parameters are encoded in the Japanese demonstrative system. Second, we tested how this three-term demonstrative system acted in light of the Expectation model. The idea that Japanese demonstratives encode the position of a conspecific, which we confirmed in this study, poses an interesting problem for the Expectation model. The Expectation model works via the idea of an expected location; but the expected location calculated from a speaker gives a contradicting expectation value to the expected location from a hearer. Our memory data did not completely support any of the current models. However, interestingly, the position effect found in Japanese was also apparent in English. This might suggest that demonstrative pronoun systems, despite the fact that they seem different, could be based on universal mechanisms. However, the effects we found were stronger in Japanese, suggesting the weight of a parameter (such as position) might be influenced by whether or not a language explicitly codes the parameter. In the last experiment, we considered the influence of language on visual attention. Specifically, we examined if language expressing different spatial frames of reference affect how people look at visual scenes. The results showed different eye-movement patterns for different frames of reference (i.e., intrinsic vs. relative). These eye-movement signatures were consistent with participants’ verbal descriptions and persisted throughout the trials. We show for the first time that different reference frames, expressed in language, elicit distinguishable eye-movement patterns. The work presented in this thesis shows effects of language on memory for object location and visual attention. Effects of language on memory for object location were consistent with models of predictive coding. Furthermore, despite the fact that English and Japanese employ different demonstrative systems, results for both languages were remarkably similar. These results could indicate universal parameters underlying demonstrative systems, but perhaps parameters differentially weighted, as a function of whether or not they are explicitly encoded in a language. Finally, we showed that spatial language (prepositions) guide visual attention. To our knowledge this is the first time frames of reference are associated with identifyable eye-movement patterns. The results are discussed and situated in current literature, with theoretical implications and directions for future research highlighted

Multimodal and Multisensory Characteristics of Deictic Communication

When people communicate, they use a combination of modalities - speech, gesture and eye gaze - to engage and transmit information to an addressee. Deictic communication is a paradigmatic case, with spatial demonstratives (this/that) frequently co-occurring with eye gaze and pointing gestures to draw the attention of an addressee to an object location (e.g., this cup; that chair). The use of deictic expressions can be influenced by range of spatial, perceptual, cognitive and social parameters. This PhD Thesis has two foci: the multimodal characteristics of deictic communication, and the implications of multisensory perception on demonstrative choices. In relation to the first focus, four online experiments are presented which investigated the relative importance of spatial demonstratives, pointing and eye gaze as deictic expressions. The results from these experiments overall suggest a dominant effect of pointing gesture in cueing object position, with demonstratives as a relatively weaker means of deictic reference. The nuanced effects and interactions between different modalities are discussed. In relation to the second focus, the notion that spatial perception is a determinant of demonstratives (peripersonal versus extrapersoanl space) is considered in the context of the multisensory nature of peripersonal space. Using a haptic adaptation for a previously validated methodology eliciting spatial demonstrative use (Coventry et al., 2004), in two experiments, we look at the implications of sensory domain(s) used for spatial perception on demonstrative use, testing use of demonstratives when participants can see, feel, or see and feel objects prior to referring to them. Results, including some testing of visually impaired individuals, shows that the effect of referent distance on demonstrative use remains stable irrespective of the modality used to experience space. In the final chapter, general implications of the findings and ideas for future research are discussed

A Corpus-based Variationist Description of Demonstratives in Haitian Creole

This dissertation sets out to mitigate the crucial problem posed by misconceptions on Haitian Creole (HC) that stem from lack of readily available and verifiable linguistic evidence. The study appeals to Corpus Linguistics (CL) as a modern tool that offers researchers opportunities to look at the use of any language and draw conclusions from attestations rather than (mis)perceptions. This study investigated radio broadcasts from two Haiti’s iconic radio stations, Radio Kiskeya and Radio Signal FM, by transcribing and converting six days of combined radio broadcasts into searchable data treated by the CL platform AntConc, in quest of some specific linguistic facts. The study uses HC demonstratives as an object of investigation within the variationist framework as postulated by Gadet (2007). In this framework, the data generated by the broadcasts are explored to investigate synchronic, diachronic, diatopic, diastratic, diaphasic and diamesic variations of this linguistic category. The study is envisioned as a prototypical one, to frame the way for other categories of HC then extend to other Creoles. The constituted corpus of 137,850 words allows the description and verification of the system of demonstrative determiners in HC, their functioning in the language, and the types of variations -if any- they contain. The main forms of HC demonstratives singular sa a, the plural sa yo and their alternative counterparts sila a and sila yo are analyzed via a transformative quantitative and qualitative mixed method. Besides the identification and the exemplification of HC demonstratives extracted from the corpus, the five identified uses of demonstratives theorized by Grylling (2019) are identified in the corpus: spatial deictic, background deitic, affective, spatio-temporal, and anaphoric/cataphoric uses of demonstratives. The transformative method based on Cresswell (2017) ends with an action agenda necessary given the inevitable defensive nature of Creole advocates in general and HC in particular. This action agenda aims at pursuing avenues that would lead to maintaining and increasing the generated HC corpus for continuous and viable research in creolistics

The Influence of Language on Memory for Object Location

In this study, the influence of two types of language on memory for object location was investigated: demonstratives (this, that) and possessives (my, your). Participants read instructions (containing this/that/my/your/the) to place objects at different locations. They then had to recall those object locations. Experiments 1 and 2 tested the contrasting predictions of two possible accounts of language on memory: the expectation model (Coventry, Griffiths, & Hamilton, 2014) and the congruence account (Bonfiglioli, Finocchiaro, Gesierich, Rositani, & Vescovi, 2009). In Experiment 3, the role of attention as a possible mechanism was investigated. The results across all three experiments show striking effects of language on object location memory; objects in the “that” and “your” condition were misremembered to be further away than objects in the “this” and “my” condition. The data favored the expectation model: expected location cued by language and actual location are concatenated leading to (mis)memory for object location