Transcript PSY 369: Psycholinguistics - the Department of Psychology at

PSY 369: Psycholinguistics
Language Comprehension:
Discourse
Homework 3 (Due in 1 week)
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Try to be vigilant for four or five days in noting speech
errors made by yourself and others. Write each slip
down (carry a small notebook and pencil with you).
Then, when you have accumulated a reasonably size
sample (aim for 20 to 30, but don't panic if you don't
get that many), try to classify each slip in terms of
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the unit(s) involved
the type of error
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Remember that each error may be interpreted in different ways.
For some of them, see if you can come up with more than one
possibility.
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Read story aloud
Discourse Psycholinguistics
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How we resolve/understand sentences against the
current discourse representation
What is discourse?
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Units of analysis larger than a sentence
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Local Structure (microstructure):
 The relationship between individual sentences
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Coherence
Cohesion
Global Structure (macrostructure):
 The relationship between the sentences and our
knowledge of the world
Characteristics of Discourse
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Global Structure (macrostructure):
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The relationship between the sentences and our
knowledge of the world
Jill bought a new sweater. Sweater are sometimes made of
wool. Wool production gives some farmers a good livelihood.
Farming is a high-risk business. On the news last night, I
saw a group of business executives discussing recent trends
in the stock market.
Characteristics of Discourse
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Global Structure (macrostructure):
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Okay local structure, but each sentence isn’t
relevant to an overall topic of discourse
Jill bought a new sweater. Sweater are sometimes made of
wool. Wool production gives some farmers a good livelihood.
Farming is a high-risk business. On the news last night, I
saw a group of business executives discussing recent trends
in the stock market.
Characteristics of Discourse
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Global Structure (macrostructure):
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Schemas & Scripts
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General knowledge structures for common social
situations
Genres
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Narrative structure
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Story grammars - extension of idea of grammatical
rules, specify the organization of a story
Expository structure
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Different structures
Effects of world knowledge
Rocky slowly got up from the mat, planning his escape. He
hesitated a moment and thought. Things were not going well.
What bothered him most was being held, especially since the
charges against him had been weak. He considered his
present situation. The lock that held him was strong but he
thought he could break it. He knew, however, that his timing
would have to be perfect.
Prison escape
OR
Wrestling match
Effects of world knowledge
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Bartlett (1932)
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Read native American folk tale
Write down everything that you can
remember from that story that I read earlier
Bartlett had them recall after a longer
periods of time (between 15 mins. Up to 10
years later)
Effects of world knowledge
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Bartlett (1932)
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Participants’ memories changed to fit their
existing beliefs (reconstructive memories)
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Added new details
Changed details
Deleted details
Schema
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Mental structures of how the world works,
acquired through experience
A whole package of information used to facilitate
comprehension of discourse, as well as to guide
recall (and reconstruction)
Effects of world knowledge
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Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995)
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Read two European tales
2 audiences
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European North American children
Ponam children (New Guinea)
Effects of world knowledge
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Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995)
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Retelling of boy who cried wolf
Ponam children (New Guinea)
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Once upon a time Kalai and his family they lived on an island.
Kalai’s mother always carried him everywhere. One day Kalai’s
mother and father went out fishing. Kalai’s mother said, “Kalai,
you are too small to go out fishing in the sea. You should stay
home with your grandfather.” Kalai was lonely on the beach.
Kalai said, “How could I get my family home?” He sat down and
decided to get his family home. He got his red laplap and ran
down to the beach and waved his laplap to his family and said,
“Fire, fire.” His brother saw his laplap and went home. When
they arrived they saw nothing.
Effects of world knowledge
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Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995)
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Retelling of boy who cried wolf
European North American children
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Kalai was running up and down the beach yelling “Fire, fire.”
Everybody came home. The next day the same thing
happened. They came home. The next day came, but the
house caught on fire. He ran up and down the beach, but
nobody came. Kalai kept waving the flag. Nobody came.
Suddenly they saw the flames and the smoke and they came,
but it was too late. Everything had burnt down to the ground,
and his brother told him if he kept telling lies that nobody will
come when you call for help.
Effects of world knowledge
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Invernizzi& Abouzeid (1995)
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Impact of different schemata
European North American children
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Setting, precipitating events, goal reaching
aspects, story resolutions
Ponam children (New Guinea)
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Recalled factual detail about settings, events, and
outcomes, but leaving out things like consequence,
resolution, moral (generally seemed to miss the
point)
Effects of world knowledge
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Scripts
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Generic story of situations
Restaurant Script
Scene 1: Enter
Scene 2: Order
Scene 3: Eat
Scene 4: Pay
Go inside
Go to table
Sit down
Get menu
Read menu
Choose food
Give order
Get food
Eat food
Ask for check
Received check
Tip waiter
Pay check
Exit
Effects of world knowledge
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What happened to semantic networks?
 One explanation
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Some representations get so strongly
associated that they get activated as an
entire unit
Effects of Genre
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Not all kinds of discourse follow the same
structure
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Different effects, purposes, etc.
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Expository discourse
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Narrative discourse
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Convey info about a subject (e.g., textbook, lecture)
Tell a story: Introduce characters & settings, establish
a goal, etc.
APA style
Newspaper articles
Expository Structure
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Reading texts, listening to lectures, etc.
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Organized with different relationships (but can still draw a tree
structure)
Relationships
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Collection - ideas or events related on the basis of some commonality
Causation - ideas are joined causally so that one idea is identified as
the antecedent and another as the consequence
Response - ideas are joined in a problem/solution or question/answer
relationship
Comparison - ideas are related by pointing out similarities and
differences
Description - general ideas are explained by giving attributes or other
specific details
Narrative structure
Once there was a woman. She saw a tiger’s
cave. She wanted a tiger’s whisker. She put
food in front of the cave. The tiger came out.
She pulled out a whisker.
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The story has a structure, a story grammar
Narrative structure
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Story grammar - can depict with a tree structure
Story
Setting Episode
Once there was a woman.
Event
Reaction
She saw a tiger’s cave.
Goal
She wanted a tiger’s whisker.
Overt Response
Action Consequence
She put food in front of the cave.
Event
The tiger came out.
Event
She pulled out a whisker.
Narrative structure
Thorndyke (1977)
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Level effect
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High hierarchy statements
Lower in the hierarchy.
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Read more
slowly but
are better
remembered.
Comprehensibility and recall were tied to inherent plot
structure, independent of passage content
She wanted a tiger’s whisker.
The tiger came out.
Characteristics of Discourse
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
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Test to see if structure effects whether inferences are
made
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Task: Think aloud task
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Read through the story aloud (one sentence at a time) and
talk aloud about their understanding of that sentence
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Sequential version
Hierarchical version
Once there was a girl named Betty.
One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday was coming soon.
Betty really wanted to give her mother a present.
Betty went to the department store.
Betty found a pretty purse.
Betty found that everything was too expensive.
Betty bought the purse.
Betty could not buy anything.
Her mother was very happy.
Betty felt sorry.
Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting.
Betty was good at knitting.
Betty decided to knit a sweater.
How does
this sentence connect up
Betty selected a pattern from a magazine.
withBetty
thefollowed
rest ofthe
the
story? in the article.
instructions
Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater.
Betty pressed the sweater.
Betty folded the sweater carefully.
Betty put it in the closet for the
Betty gave the sweater to her mother.
next time she was going out.
Her mother was excited when she
Berry was very happy.
saw the present.
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Hierarchical version
S Once there was a girl named Betty.
E One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday
G
A
O
O
R
E
was coming soon.
Betty really wanted to give her mother a present.
Betty went to the department store.
Betty found that everything was too expensive.
Betty could not buy anything.
Betty felt sorry.
Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting.
S = Setting
E = Event
R = Reaction
G = Goal
O = Overt Response
A = Action
S
G
A
A
O
A
A
O
R
Betty was good at knitting.
Betty decided to knit a sweater.
Betty selected a pattern from a magazine.
Betty followed the instructions in the article.
Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater.
Betty pressed the sweater.
Betty folded the sweater carefully.
Betty gave the sweater to her mother.
Her mother was excited when she saw the
present.
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Hierarchical version
S Once there was a girl named Betty.
E One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday
G
A
O
O
R
E
was coming soon.
Betty really wanted to give her mother a present.
Betty went to the department store.
Betty found that everything was too expensive.
Betty could not buy anything.
Betty felt sorry.
Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting.
S
G
A
A
O
A
A
O
R
Betty was good at knitting.
Betty decided to knit a sweater.
Betty selected a pattern from a magazine.
Betty followed the instructions in the article.
Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater.
Betty pressed the sweater.
Betty folded the sweater carefully.
Betty gave the sweater to her mother.
Her mother was excited when she saw the
present.
Is a superordinate goal that motivates the subgoal of the next episode
S
E
G
A
E
O
S
O
G
R
A
A
A
O
A
O
R
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Sequential version
S Once there was a girl named Betty.
E One day, Betty found that her mother’s birthday
G
A
O
O
R
E
Betty was good at knitting.
Betty decided to knit a sweater.
Betty selected a pattern from a magazine.
Betty followed the instructions in the article.
Finally, Betty finished a beautiful sweater.
Betty pressed the sweater.
Betty folded the sweater carefully.
Betty put it in the closet for the next time she
was going out.
R Berry was very happy.
S
G
A
A
O
A
A
O
was coming soon.
Betty really wanted to give her mother a present.
Betty went to the department store.
Betty found a pretty purse.
Betty bought the purse.
Her mother was very happy.
Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting.
The goal is already filled, so not related to the subgoal of the next episode
S
E
G
A
O
E
O
S
R
G
A
A
O
A
A
O
Trabasso & Suh (1993)
Results
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In a think aloud task
 participants mentioned the superordinate
goal in the hierarchical condition
 but not the sequential condition
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Story grammar structure matters
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Strongly support the hypothesis that readers do make
global causal connections during reading.
Discourse in memory
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Evidence supports the psychological reality
of a number of different representations
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Propositions
Semantic (propositional) networks
Inferences
Schemata and scripts
Situation models
Discourse in memory
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Kintsch’s model
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The Construction-Integration Model
Discourse occurs in a series of cycles
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In each cycle
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As each sentence comes in it gets integrated into the
discourse
Construction phase - activate relevant concepts
Integration phase - keep only the most relevant
elaborations
Multiple levels of representation formed
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Surface form, textbase (propositional), situation model
Discourse in memory
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Kintsch and colleagues (1990)
It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so
they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the
newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine
o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they
went.
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Read before
Did this sentence occur in the paragraph?
Jack scanned the newspaper.
Jack looked through the newspaper.
Jack looked through the movie ads.
Jack looked over some editorials.
Discourse in memory
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Kintsch’s model
Jack scanned the newspaper.
Surface form
S
N
VP
V
Jack scanned
NP
the
newspaper
Discourse in memory
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Kintsch’s model
Jack scanned the newspaper.
Surface
form
Textbase
S
N
VP
Examine
V
Jack
Jack scanned
NP Newspaper
the
newspaper
Discourse in memory
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Kintsch’s model
Jack scanned the newspaper.
Surface
formSituational Model
Textbase
S
N
VP
Examine
V
Jack
Jack scanned
NP Newspaper
the
newspaper
Discourse in memory
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Kintsch and colleagues (1990)
It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so
they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the
newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine
o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they
went.
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Read before
Similar meaning
Did this sentence occur in the paragraph?
Jack scanned the newspaper.
Jack looked through the newspaper.
Jack looked through the movie ads.
Jack looked over some editorials.
If Better
memory here
Evidence for
surface form
Discourse in memory
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Kintsch and colleagues (1990)
It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so
they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the
newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine
o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they
went.
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Read before
Adds inference
Did this sentence occur in the paragraph?
Jack scanned the newspaper.
Jack looked through the newspaper.
Jack looked through the movie ads.
Jack looked over some editorials.
Infers which section did he scan.
If Better
memory
here
Evidence for
Strong textbase
Discourse in memory
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Kintch and colleagues (1990)
It was Friday night and Jack and Melissa were bored, so
they decided to catch a movie. Jack scanned the
newspaper. He saw that they could just make the nine
o’clock showing of the hot new romantic comedy. Off they
went.
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consistent
inconsistent
Did this sentence occur in the paragraph?
Jack scanned the newspaper.
Jack looked through the newspaper.
Jack looked through the movie ads.
Jack looked over some editorials.
Consistent with situation model.
Evidence for
Strong situation model
If Better
memory
here
Discourse in memory
Kintch and colleagues (1990)
1.2
1
Trace strength
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0.8
Situational
model
Textbase
0.6
0.4
Surface form
0.2
0
-0.2
0 min
40 min 2 days 4 days
Delay
Summary
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Discourse processing is both complex and
flexible
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Multiple representations
Processing depends on context