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A speech envelope landmark for syllable encoding in human superior temporal gyrus.
The most salient acoustic features in speech are the modulations in its intensity, captured by the amplitude envelope. Perceptually, the envelope is necessary for speech comprehension. Yet, the neural computations that represent the envelope and their linguistic implications are heavily debated. We used high-density intracranial recordings, while participants listened to speech, to determine how the envelope is represented in human speech cortical areas on the superior temporal gyrus (STG). We found that a well-defined zone in middle STG detects acoustic onset edges (local maxima in the envelope rate of change). Acoustic analyses demonstrated that timing of acoustic onset edges cues syllabic nucleus onsets, while their slope cues syllabic stress. Synthesized amplitude-modulated tone stimuli showed that steeper slopes elicited greater responses, confirming cortical encoding of amplitude change, not absolute amplitude. Overall, STG encoding of the timing and magnitude of acoustic onset edges underlies the perception of speech temporal structure
Low foreign language proficiency reduces optimism about the personal future
Optimistic estimates about the personal future constitute one of the best-described and most-debated decision biases related to emotion. Nevertheless, it has been difficult to isolate manipulations that reduce optimistic estimates. Eliciting estimates in a foreign language is a promising candidate manipulation because foreign language use alters decision biases in scenarios with emotional components. Consequently, we tested whether foreign language use reduces optimistic estimates. In a laboratory experiment, participants (n = 45) estimated their probability of experiencing life events either in their native language or a foreign language, in which they were highly proficient. We found no differences in these estimates or in the updating of these estimates after receiving feedback about the population baseline probability. Importantly, three online experiments with large sample sizes (ns = 706, 530, and 473) showed that using a foreign language with low proficiency reduced comparative optimism. Participants in the online experiments had diverse proficiency levels and were matched on a variety of control metrics. Fine-grained analyses indicated that low proficiency weakens the coupling between probability estimates and rated arousal. Overall, our findings suggest that an important decision bias can be reduced when using a foreign language with low proficiency
The framing effect in a monetary gambling task is robust in minimally verbal language switching contexts
Decision-making biases, in particular the framing effect, can be altered in foreign language settings (foreign language effect) and following switching between languages (the language switching effect on framing). Recently, it has been suggested that the framing effect is only affected by foreign language use if the task is presented in a rich textual form. Here, we assess whether an elaborate verbal task is also a prerequisite for the language switching effect on framing. We employed a financial gambling task that induces a robust framing effect but is less verbal than the classical framing paradigms (e.g., the Asian disease problem). We conducted an online experiment (n = 485), where we orthogonally manipulated language use and language switching between trials. The results showed no effects of foreign language use or language switching throughout the experiment. This online result was confirmed in a laboratory experiment (n = 27). Overall, we find that language switching does not reduce the framing effect in a paradigm with little verbal content and thus that language switching effects seem contingent on the amount of verbal processing required
Second Language Use Facilitates Implicit Emotion Regulation via Content Labeling
Previous studies reported that negative stimuli induced less affect in
bilinguals when stimuli were presented in bilinguals’ second, weaker language
(L2) than when they were presented in their native language (L1). This effect
of L2 use was attributed to increased emotional distance as well as to
increased levels of cognitive control during L2 use. Here we investigated how
explicit (cognitive reappraisal, i.e., reinterpreting the meaning of the
emotional stimulus to alter its emotional impact) and implicit (content
labeling, i.e., categorizing the content of the image; and emotion labeling,
i.e., naming the emotion induced by the emotional stimulus) emotion regulation
strategies are altered in an L2 (English) context in German native speakers
with medium to high proficiency in their L2. While previous studies used
linguistic stimuli, such as words, to induce affect, here we used images to
test whether reduced affect could also be observed for non-linguistic stimuli
when presented in an L2 context. We hypothesized that the previously
implicated increase in emotional distance and cognitive control in an L2 would
result in an L2 advantage in emotion regulation (i.e., leading to less
negative emotions compared to an L1 context), by strengthening the effect of
linguistic re-evaluation on the evoked emotions. Using a classic emotion
regulation paradigm, we examined changes in subjective emotional state ratings
during reappraisal, emotion labeling and content labeling in a L1 and L2
context. We found that the strength of evoked affective responses did not
depend on the language context in which an image was presented. Crucially,
content labeling in L2 was more effective than in L1, whereas emotion labeling
did not differ between languages. Overall, evoked responses were regulated
most effectively through explicit emotion regulation (reappraisal) in L1 and
L2 context. These results demonstrate an L2 advantage effect for emotion
regulation through content labeling and suggest that L2 context alters sub-
processes implicated in content labeling but not emotion labeling
A Diffusion Model Analysis
Effects of stimulus length on reaction times (RTs) in the lexical decision
task are the topic of extensive research. While slower RTs are consistently
found for longer pseudo-words, a finding coined the word length effect (WLE),
some studies found no effects for words, and yet others reported faster RTs
for longer words. Moreover, the WLE depends on the orthographic transparency
of a language, with larger effects in more transparent orthographies. Here we
investigate processes underlying the WLE in lexical decision in German-English
bilinguals using a diffusion model (DM) analysis, which we compared to a
linear regression approach. In the DM analysis, RT-accuracy distributions are
characterized using parameters that reflect latent sub-processes, in
particular evidence accumulation and decision-independent perceptual encoding,
instead of typical parameters such as mean RT and accuracy. The regression
approach showed a decrease in RTs with length for pseudo-words, but no length
effect for words. However, DM analysis revealed that the null effect for words
resulted from opposing effects of length on perceptual encoding and rate of
evidence accumulation. Perceptual encoding times increased with length for
words and pseudo-words, whereas the rate of evidence accumulation increased
with length for real words but decreased for pseudo-words. A comparison
between DM parameters in German and English suggested that orthographic
transparency affects perceptual encoding, whereas effects of length on
evidence accumulation are likely to reflect contextual information and the
increase in available perceptual evidence with length. These opposing effects
may account for the inconsistent findings on WLEs
Kognitive und neuronale Mechanismen bilingualer Entscheidungsprozesse: Von visueller Wortverarbeitung zu Entscheidungen unter Risiko
Bilingual individuals read in their second language (L2) and frequently make
decisions based on information perceived in their L2. Compared to
monolinguals, visual word recognition in bilinguals bears additional aspects
that may also affect later stages of processing. Their integration into
neurocognitive models of single word reading and decision making still leaves
many open questions. In particular, bilingual word recognition entails the
ability to recognize the language membership of a word, and to map letter
strings to lexical representations and phonology of the appropriate language,
whereby the underlying mapping rules can be different and even contradictory
across languages. Furthermore, following these perceptual aspects of word
recognition, the perceived information is often used as a basis for higher
level, non-perceptual processes, such as decision making under risk. A
prominent example for the effects of linguistic framing on decision making is
the stronger preference for risky choices when negative outcomes are
emphasized than when positive consequences are explicitly stated (the framing
effect). The effects of foreign language use on processes influencing the
framing effect, most prominently affective processing and cognitive control,
has been postulated, but direct evidence for these effects is scarce. This
dissertation's research investigates cognitive and neuronal aspects of
bilingual visual word recognition and decision making, using the case of
bilingual individuals with native language German (L1) and second language
English (L2). Study 1 isolated the effects of word and pseudoword length (i.e.
number of letters) on the dynamics of sublexical encoding and lexical access
in German and English, using a diffusion model of reaction times (RTs) in
lexical decisions. Study 2 investigated whether language membership decisions
and naming in a language-ambiguous context are influenced by continuous
sublexical (bigram frequencies) and lexical (orthographic neighborhood size)
similarity of a letter string to German and English words. This was extended
to an investigation of the neuronal correlates of language similarity
statistics and language membership representations in Study 3, using
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Study 4 investigated whether a
reduced framing effect during foreign language use is due to reduced affect or
increased cognitive control. Study 1 showed that sublexical encoding of words
and pseudowords during lexical decision takes longer for longer stimuli,
whereas lexical access is accelerated for words but slowed for pseudowords.
Sublexical length effects in English were larger than previously found in
native speakers of English, whereas the effects of length on lexical access in
English were similar to those previously reported for English. These findings
suggest that sublexical but not lexical processing remains tuned to the
orthographic structure of the L1. In Studies 2 and 3, graded sublexical and
lexical language similarities to each of the two languages biased language
membership decisions. Moreover, sublexical processing and phonological
encoding were faster for letter strings with an L1-typical sublexical
structure. fMRI data of Study 3 revealed that brain activity in left ventral
occipito-temporal cortex, previously associated with processing of letter
strings, was positively correlated with sublexical similarity L1. The level of
ambiguity in lexical similarity to L1 and L2 determined activation in
bilateral angular gyri, providing direct evidence for language-unselective
lexical access in a region previously associated with lexical access in the
L1. Brain activations in the left supramarginal gyrus and temporo-parietal
junction, previously associated with phonological encoding, were positively
correlated with lexical similarity to L1. This finding suggests that
phonological representations of the L1 but not L2 are automatically activated
during language decisions on visual input. Finally, multivariate fMRI analyses
revealed that language membership information is contained in distributed
activation patterns throughout the visual word processing network, as well as
in additional right parietal areas. Study 4 showed that in a consistent
language setting framing effects are comparable in native and foreign
languages and at all foreign language proficiency levels. However, it also
revealed that the framing effect is reduced following a language switch, not
only into a foreign language but also into the L1. This finding is best
interpreted in terms of increased cognitive control following language
switching, rather than as altered affective processing during foreign language
use, as was claimed in previous studies. Based on these findings I propose to
extend neurocognitive models of bilingual visual word recognition in several
aspects. First, sublexical mapping of orthography should prioritize the
orthographic structure of the L1. Second, the summed activation propagated
from sublexical representations to the lexicon should increase with stimulus
length, which would lead to faster lexical access for longer words. Third,
lexical representations should be clustered by language, to constitute a basis
for language membership information within the core visual word processing
network. Fourth, input to language membership representations should stem from
all sublexical and lexical representations, weighted by their typicality for
each language. Finally, our findings imply that the input language affects
non-linguistic decision processes through a modulation of cognitive control
levels and not affective processing. This link needs to be included in
integrated models of perceptual linguistic and higher-level processing.Zweisprachige Individuen können sowohl in ihrer Zweitsprache (L2) lesen, als
auch Entscheidungen treffen, die auf in der L2 gelesenen Informationen
beruhen. Im Vergleich zur monolingualen visuellen Wortverarbeitung erfordert
das Lesen in einer zweiten Sprache zusätzliche Verarbeitungsschritte, die auch
nicht-linguistische Kognition beeinflussen können. Die Integration dieser in
Modelle der monolingualen Wortverarbeitung und Entscheidungsfindung birgt
einige offene Fragen. So erfordert die bilinguale Wortverarbeitung, dass die
Sprachzugehörigkeit eines Wortes erkannt wird. Außerdem müssen
Buchstabenfolgen lexikalisch und phonologisch in beiden Sprachen verarbeitet
werden. Dabei können sich die zugrundeliegenden Abbildungsregeln zwischen den
Sprachen unterscheiden und sich sogar gegenseitig widersprechen. Diese
perzeptuellen Aspekte der Wortverarbeitung dienen oftmals als Basis fĂĽr
weitere ĂĽbergeordnete Entscheidungsprozesse, wie z.B. Risikoentscheidungen.
Ein wichtiges Beispiel fĂĽr sprachliche Effekte auf Risikoentscheidungen ist
der Framingeffekt. Dieser beschreibt, dass die Bereitschaft ein Risiko
einzugehen höher ist, wenn die negativen Konsequenzen von
Entscheidungsalternativen explizit beschrieben werden, als wenn positive
Konsequenzen betont werden. Der Einfluss des Fremdsprachengebrauchs auf
tragende Prozesse des Framingeffekts, insbesondere auf die affektive
Verarbeitung und kognitive Kontrolle, wurde zwar desöfteren postuliert, jedoch
bis dato nur unzureichend empirisch bestätigt. Die vorliegende Dissertation
untersuchte kognitive und neuronale Aspekte bilingualer visueller
Wortverarbeitung und Entscheidungsfindung am Beispiel von Zweisprachigkeit mit
Deutsch als Muttersprache (L1) und Englisch als Zweitsprache (L2). In der
ersten Studie verglich ich die Effekte von Wort -und Pseudowortlänge auf die
sublexikalische Enkodierung und den lexikalischen Zugriff im Deutschen und
Englischen. Dazu wurden Reaktionszeiten in einer lexikalischen
Entscheidungsaufgabe mit Hilfe eines Diffusionsmodells modelliert. In der
zweiten Studie untersuchte ich inwiefern kontinuierliche sublexikalische und
lexikalische Ă„hnlichkeit von Buchstabenfolgen zu deutschen und englischen
Wörtern die Sprachzuordnung und Wortbenennung in einem sprachlich ambigen
Kontext beeinflusst. In der dritten Studie wurden die neuronalen Korrelate von
Sprachähnlichkeit und -zugehörigkeit mithilfe funktioneller
Magnetresonanztomographie (fMRT) betrachtet. SchlieĂźlich untersuchte ich in
der vierten Studie, ob ein verminderter Framingeffekt in einer Fremdsprache
auf reduzierten Affekt oder aber erhöhte kognitive Kontrolle zurückgeführt
werden kann. Studie 1 zeigte, dass die sublexikalische Enkodierung von Wörtern
und Pseudowörtern mit zunehmender Länge länger andauert. Hingegen war der
lexikalische Zugriff für längere Wortstimuli schneller, für längere
Pseudoworte jedoch langsamer. Desweiteren waren sublexikalische Längeneffekte
im Englischen größer als im Deutschen. Dieser Befund steht im Gegensatz zu in
der Vergangenheit berichteten größeren muttersprachlichen Längeneffekten im
Deutschen als in Englischen. Er legt daher nahe, dass die bilinguale
sublexikalische Verarbeitung auf die orthographische Struktur der
Muttersprache ausgerichtet ist. In Studien 2 und 3 wurde beobachtet, dass die
Sprachzuordnung von Pseudoworten durch ihre sublexikalische und lexikalische
Ă„hnlichkeit zu jeder der Sprachen beeinflusst wird. Zudem wurde
sublexikalische und phonologische Enkodierung durch sublexikalische
Ă„hnlichkeit zur L1 beschleunigt. fMRT-Daten aus Studie 3 zeigten eine positive
Korrelation zwischen Hirnaktivierungen im linken okzipito-temporalen Kortex,
der mit der Verarbeitung von Buchstabenfolgen assoziiert wird, und der
sublexikalischen Ă„hnlichkeit der Stimuli zur L1. DarĂĽber hinaus waren die
bilateralen Angulargyri umso aktiver, je ambiger die lexikalische Ă„hnlichkeit
der Stimuli zu beiden Sprachen war. Dieser Befund bietet eine direkte Evidenz
für sprachunabhängigen lexikalischen Zugriff in einer Region, die bisher mit
lexikalischen Zugriff in monolingualen Studien assoziiert wurde. Aktivierungen
im linken supramarginalen Gyrus und im temporo-parietalen Bereich, zwei
Regionen denen in phonologischer Enkodierung eine wichtige Rolle zukommt,
waren mit der lexikalischen Ă„hnlichkeit zur L1 positiv korreliert. Dieser
Befund legt nahe, dass visuell basierte Sprachentscheidungen eine automatische
Aktivierung der L1-Phonologie nach sich ziehen. Aus multivariaten fMRT-
Analysen wurde ersichtlich, dass Sprachzugehörigkeit sowohl in verteilten
Aktivierungsmustern im gesamten Sprachnetzwerk, als auch in weiteren
rechtsparietalen Regionen enkodiert wird. Studie 4 zeigte, dass der
Framingeffekt von der Sprache, in der eine Risikoentscheidung präsentiert
wurde, nicht beeinflusst wird, solange die Risikoentscheidung in einen
einheitlichen Sprachkontext eingebettet ist. Desweiteren war der Framingeffekt
in einer Fremdsprache vom Niveau der Sprachkenntnisse unabhängig. Allerdings
reduzierte ein unmittelbarer Sprachwechsel den Framingeffekt, und zwar
unabhängig davon, ob von der Muttersprache in eine Fremdsprache oder
andersherum gewechselt wurde. Wir interpretieren diesen Befund als das
Ergebnis von erhöhter kognitiver Kontrolle beim Sprachwechsel, und nicht – wie
in früheren Studien vorgeschlagen – als modifizierte affektive Verarbeitung
beim Gebrauch einer Fremdsprache. Basierend auf diesen Ergebnissen diskutiere
ich eine Erweiterung neurokognitiver Modelle zweisprachiger visueller
Wortbearbeitung. In diesem sollte die sublexikalische orthographische
Enkodierung die Struktur der L1 priorisieren. Desweiteren sollte die
Gesamtaktivierung, die von sublexikalischen Repräsentationen an das Lexikon
propagiert wird, mit Wortlänge ansteigen und daher zu einem schnelleren
lexikalischen Zugriff führen. Zudem könnten sich lexikalische Repräsentationen
nach Sprache gruppieren, um eine Basis für Sprachrepräsentationen innerhalb
des Wortverarbeitungsnetzwerkes zu ermöglichen. Außerdem sollten
modelltheoretisch alle sublexikalischen und lexikalischen Repräsentationen mit
denen der Sprachzugehörigkeit verbunden sein, wobei die Verbindungsstärke mit
Sprachähnlichkeit gewichtet werden sollte. Schließlich sollte der Effekt von
sprachbedingt erhöhter kognitiver Kontrolle und Entscheidungen unter Risiko in
Modellen zur Integration visueller Wortverarbeitung und nicht-linguistischer
Entscheidungsprozesse hergestellt werden