Visual word recognition
Syntactic sentence processing
Interpreting sentences
Making connections
Architecture of lang. processing system
100

Which of the following is NOT a factor affecting visual word recognition?


(A) Word superiority effect

(B) Word length effect

(C) Frequency effect

(D) Regularity effect

(E) None of the above

(E) None of the above

100

TRUE or FALSE? A passive sentence is usually more difficult to process due to its semantics.

FALSE - due to SYNTAX

100

TRUE or FALSE? Semantics is processed first, then syntax.

FALSE. It is not clear if syntax is processed first, then semantics, or if both are processed at the same time, but no evidence suggests that semantics is first.

100

The conceptual notions of what a speaker/writer wants to convey or the abstract representation of what a listener/reader understands is known as: 

(A) mental model

 (B) mental mode 

(C) cerebral construction 

(D) cerebral conceptualization

(A) mental model

100

What is the name of the phenomenon that happens when a person is asked to name the color that the words for the names of colors are printed in and the person has difficulty? 

(A) Interference effect 

(B) Mixing effect 

(C) Stroop effect 

(D) Malle effect

(C) Stroop effect

200

What is the difference between dyslexia and dysgraphia?

Dyslexia affects reading processes, dysgraphia involves writing processes.

200

"The government plans to raise taxes were defeated" is an example of ____________.

A garden path sentence

200

What is the idea of "good-enough" processing?

People interpret a sentence based on partial or superficial information.

200

What is inference?

Understanding more than the surface meaning.

200

What problem do patients of anomia experience?

They have difficulty naming objects.

300

Explain Morton's Logogen model for visual word recognition using a real example.

Based on logogens, which are word recognition units that monitor various information sources and receive activation to the extent that incoming info matches the specification of the unit. (p. 144)

300

Explain how the presence or absence of explicit syntax markers and prosody and punctuation can affect syntax processing.

If markers are absent, processing is slower and more difficult. Prosody and punctuation can change interpretation.

300

What is the difference between the processing of the following two sentences?

(1) The woman called the man with a suit.

(2) The woman called the man with a phone.

(1) PP /with a suit/ can only modify the man. (2) PP /with a phone/ can modify how she called or the man. (ambiguous)

300

What is the difference between coherence and cohesion?

Coherence = how phrases go together in terms of meaning

Cohesion = textual linkage of elements (anaphor and antecedent)

300

What's the difference between patients with Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia?

Broca's = semantically sound, but not syntactically 

Wernicke's = syntactically well-formed sentences, void of meaning (semantics)

400

It has been shown through several studies that phonology is somehow involved in visual word recognition. Give some evidence of why this is the case.

Children learn spoken words before written words; common pronunciation of nonwords; regularity effect (deep vs. shallow orthography); pseudohomophones (nonwords like 'blud' take longer to reject than 'florp'), category monitoring ('meet' classified as 'type of food').

400

Explain how Late Closure and Minimal Attachment apply to the syntactic processing of this sentence. Do they pose a problem? Why or why not? 

"The professor told the students the study had interested that it was available in the library."

Both would attempt to attach "the study" as the direct object to the first clause, but it doesn't work.

400

How do punctuation vs. late closure come into play when interpreting this sentence? 

(1) When Sue was reading the book fell off her lap.

Late closure will want you to interpret 'the book' as the object of 'reading'. But adding a comma after reading breaks late closure and makes you process 'the book' as the subject of the following clause.

400

What is the relationship between anaphors and antecedents? Give an example

Anaphors refer back to antecedents. MICHAEL and JAMIE went on a date and HE showed HER the most beautiful parts of the city.

400

What is the difference between the two views (models) of the relationship between production and comprehension of spoken words?

Diagram on page 224. Input vs. output and relationship between the phonetic and semantic lexicon.

500

Name and give an example of the three different types of paralexias (substitutions) found in deep dyslexia.

Semantic: <key> being read as 'lock'

Derivational: <translation> being read as 'translator'

Visual: <bottle> read as 'battle'

500

Give an example of a sentence that is: (1) normal prose, (2) anomalous prose, and (3) scrambled prose. You must get ALL THREE right to get the points!

(1) The girl watched her mom leave for work. (2) No socks drink some in the foot of the plug. (3) Some the no plug in drink socks the of foot.

500

What is the difference between weak interactive and strong interactive accounts for the interpretation of sentences?

WEAK - interaction between syntax and other features only occurs when the syntactic analysis requires it. Syntax weighs more. 

STRONG - non-syntactic sources play a more prominent role and are not subservient to a central syntactic processor. Constraint-based approach. Many factors interacting at once to process the sentence.

500

Using the strategies of gap as first resort and gap as last resort, tell which processing strategy would apply to this sentence: 

(1) Who did Karen tell Kevin to give the gift to?

Last resort, as indirect object of "give".

500

Do you believe in a modular or non-modular representation of language in the brain? Defend your position with evidence seen in the book and in class.

Modular = language is independent of other cognitive processes. IQ tests. 

Non-modular = language is connected with other cognitive processes. Apple, towel, box experiment.

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