Publications

Questions under Discussion (QUDs) have been suggested to influence the integration of individual utterances into a discourse-level representation. Previous work has shown that processing ungrammatical ellipses is facilitated when the elided material addresses an implicit QUD raised through a nonactuality implicature (NAIs). It is not clear, however, if QUDs influence discourse coherence during comprehension of fully acceptable discourse. We present two ERP studies examining the effects of QUDs introduced by NAIs using two-sentence discourses. Experiment 1 showed that processing definite NPs with inaccessible antecedents is facilitated when their content is relevant to the QUD. Using acceptable discourses, Experiment 2 showed that definite NPs failing to address a QUD elicit increased processing cost. Overall, our results indicate that QUDs raise the expectation that the following discourse will address them, providing unambiguous evidence that their influence is not limited to the processing of ungrammatical input.

• https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2019.1575140
• https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2019.1575140

@article{Delogu2019b,
title = {Discourse Expectations Are Sensitive to the Question Under Discussion: Evidence From ERPs},
author = {Francesca Delogu and Torsten Jachmann and Maria Staudte and Francesco Vespignani and Nicola Molinaro},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2019.1575140},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2019.1575140},
year = {2019},
date = {2019},
journal = {Discourse Processes},
pages = {1-19},
abstract = {Questions under Discussion (QUDs) have been suggested to influence the integration of individual utterances into a discourse-level representation. Previous work has shown that processing ungrammatical ellipses is facilitated when the elided material addresses an implicit QUD raised through a nonactuality implicature (NAIs). It is not clear, however, if QUDs influence discourse coherence during comprehension of fully acceptable discourse. We present two ERP studies examining the effects of QUDs introduced by NAIs using two-sentence discourses. Experiment 1 showed that processing definite NPs with inaccessible antecedents is facilitated when their content is relevant to the QUD. Using acceptable discourses, Experiment 2 showed that definite NPs failing to address a QUD elicit increased processing cost. Overall, our results indicate that QUDs raise the expectation that the following discourse will address them, providing unambiguous evidence that their influence is not limited to the processing of ungrammatical input.},
pubstate = {published},
type = {article}
}

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A large body of contemporary psycholinguistic research utilizes the information-theoretic notions related to the transmission of information in an attempt to better understand and formalize the regularities of language production and comprehension. The overarching hypothesis is that prediction is a core mechanism underlying language comprehension. Anticipating what is likely to be mentioned next based on the previous context is what is assumed to allow for smooth and effortless communication. The anticipation of linguistic units that fit the current context reduces the uncertainty about the upcoming material, which consequently facilitates the processing of that material, in a typically noisy channel. Situated language processing allows for the integration of not only linguistic but also non-linguistic visual information that contribute to establishing the context, and facilitate the creation of anticipations regarding the upcoming linguistic material. Moreover, noticing that our interlocutor is directing her attention to a certain object, inspires a shift in our visual attention towards the same entity. Since what is relevant for our interlocutor is highly likely to be relevant for us, too, whether simply conversationally, or more importantly, even existentially (Emery, 2000). Hence, following the speaker’s referential gaze cue towards an object relevant for the current conversation has been shown to benefit listeners’ language processing, measured by shorter reaction times on subsequent tasks (e.g., Staudte & Crocker, 2011; Staudte, Crocker, Heloir, & Kipp, 2014; Knoeferle & Kreysa, 2012; Macdonald & Tatler, 2013, 2014). The present thesis aimed to provide an insight into the mechanisms behind this facilitation. We examined the dynamics of combining visual and linguistic information in creating anticipation for a specific object to be mentioned, and the effect this has on language processing. To this end we used a pupillary measure of cognitive load that is robust enough to allow for free eye movements (the Index of Cognitive Activity; Marshall, 2000). This enabled us to measure not only the visual attention during language comprehension, but also the immediately induced cognitive load at various relevant points during the auditory presentation of the linguistic stimulus. Eight experiments were conducted towards addressing our research questions. The initial three experiments established the ICA measurement in the context of our linguistic manipulation. This series of experiments included reading, cognitive load during listening, and the examination of visual attention together with cognitive load in the visual world paradigm (VWP). Subsequently, we conducted five eye tracking experiments in the VWP where the linguistic context was further enriched by a referential gaze cue. All five experiments simultaneously assessed both visual attention and the immediate cognitive load induced at different stages of sentence processing. We manipulated the existence of the referential gaze cue (Exp. 4), the probability of mention of the cued object (Exp. 4, 5), the congruency of the gaze cue and the subsequent referring expression (Exp. 6), as well as the number of cued objects with equal probability of mention (Exp. 7, 8). Finally, we examined whether the gaze cue can take the role of fully disambiguating the target referent (Exp. 8). We quantified the importance of the visual context in language processing, and showed that if a certain object from the visual context has a higher likelihood of mention given the linguistic context, its processing is facilitated, in comparison to the processing of the same sentence without the visual context. Furthermore, our results support the previous findings that the referential gaze cue leads to a shift in visual attention towards the cued object, thereby facilitating language processing. We expanded these findings by showing that it is the processing of the linguistic reference, that is the referent noun, that is facilitated by gaze-following. Importantly, perceiving and following the gaze cue did not prove costly in terms of cognitive effort, unless the cued object did not fit the verb selectional preferences. This is true regardless of the number of objects cued, or the lower likelihood of mention of the cued object. We conclude that listeners strategically use visual information to reduce the referential uncertainty for upcoming nouns but that the visual cues, such as the referential gaze cue, do not underly the same kinds of expectations (and resulting cognitive costs) as linguistic references. We did not find evidence that the gaze cue is processed in a manner comparable to noun processing, rather, it is likely perceived as a relevant piece of information introduced in addition to the linguistic material, in order to aid language processing, but, importantly, not there to substitute it.

• http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:291--ds-285651
• https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.22028/D291-28565

@phdthesis{Sekicki_diss_0919,
title = {Exploiting referential gaze for uncertainty reduction in situated language processing: an information-theoretic approach},
author = {Mirjana Sekicki},
url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:291--ds-285651},
doi = {https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.22028/D291-28565},
year = {2019},
date = {2019},
school = {Saarland University},
address = {Saarbr{\"u}cken},
abstract = {A large body of contemporary psycholinguistic research utilizes the information-theoretic notions related to the transmission of information in an attempt to better understand and formalize the regularities of language production and comprehension. The overarching hypothesis is that prediction is a core mechanism underlying language comprehension. Anticipating what is likely to be mentioned next based on the previous context is what is assumed to allow for smooth and effortless communication. The anticipation of linguistic units that fit the current context reduces the uncertainty about the upcoming material, which consequently facilitates the processing of that material, in a typically noisy channel. Situated language processing allows for the integration of not only linguistic but also non-linguistic visual information that contribute to establishing the context, and facilitate the creation of anticipations regarding the upcoming linguistic material. Moreover, noticing that our interlocutor is directing her attention to a certain object, inspires a shift in our visual attention towards the same entity. Since what is relevant for our interlocutor is highly likely to be relevant for us, too, whether simply conversationally, or more importantly, even existentially (Emery, 2000). Hence, following the speaker’s referential gaze cue towards an object relevant for the current conversation has been shown to benefit listeners’ language processing, measured by shorter reaction times on subsequent tasks (e.g., Staudte & Crocker, 2011; Staudte, Crocker, Heloir, & Kipp, 2014; Knoeferle & Kreysa, 2012; Macdonald & Tatler, 2013, 2014). The present thesis aimed to provide an insight into the mechanisms behind this facilitation. We examined the dynamics of combining visual and linguistic information in creating anticipation for a specific object to be mentioned, and the effect this has on language processing. To this end we used a pupillary measure of cognitive load that is robust enough to allow for free eye movements (the Index of Cognitive Activity; Marshall, 2000). This enabled us to measure not only the visual attention during language comprehension, but also the immediately induced cognitive load at various relevant points during the auditory presentation of the linguistic stimulus. Eight experiments were conducted towards addressing our research questions. The initial three experiments established the ICA measurement in the context of our linguistic manipulation. This series of experiments included reading, cognitive load during listening, and the examination of visual attention together with cognitive load in the visual world paradigm (VWP). Subsequently, we conducted five eye tracking experiments in the VWP where the linguistic context was further enriched by a referential gaze cue. All five experiments simultaneously assessed both visual attention and the immediate cognitive load induced at different stages of sentence processing. We manipulated the existence of the referential gaze cue (Exp. 4), the probability of mention of the cued object (Exp. 4, 5), the congruency of the gaze cue and the subsequent referring expression (Exp. 6), as well as the number of cued objects with equal probability of mention (Exp. 7, 8). Finally, we examined whether the gaze cue can take the role of fully disambiguating the target referent (Exp. 8). We quantified the importance of the visual context in language processing, and showed that if a certain object from the visual context has a higher likelihood of mention given the linguistic context, its processing is facilitated, in comparison to the processing of the same sentence without the visual context. Furthermore, our results support the previous findings that the referential gaze cue leads to a shift in visual attention towards the cued object, thereby facilitating language processing. We expanded these findings by showing that it is the processing of the linguistic reference, that is the referent noun, that is facilitated by gaze-following. Importantly, perceiving and following the gaze cue did not prove costly in terms of cognitive effort, unless the cued object did not fit the verb selectional preferences. This is true regardless of the number of objects cued, or the lower likelihood of mention of the cued object. We conclude that listeners strategically use visual information to reduce the referential uncertainty for upcoming nouns but that the visual cues, such as the referential gaze cue, do not underly the same kinds of expectations (and resulting cognitive costs) as linguistic references. We did not find evidence that the gaze cue is processed in a manner comparable to noun processing, rather, it is likely perceived as a relevant piece of information introduced in addition to the linguistic material, in order to aid language processing, but, importantly, not there to substitute it.},
pubstate = {published},
type = {phdthesis}
}

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Referential gaze has been shown to benefit language processing in situated communication in terms of shifting visual attention and leading to shorter reaction times on subsequent tasks. The present study simultaneously assessed both visual attention and, importantly, the immediate cogni-tive load induced at different stages of sentence processing. We aimed to examine the dynamics of combining visual and linguistic information in creating anticipation for a specific object and the effect this has on language processing. We report evidence from three visual-world eye-tracking experiments, showing that referential gaze leads to a shift in visual attention toward the cued object, which consequently lowers the effort required for processing the linguistic reference. Importantly, perceiving and following the gaze cue did not prove costly in terms of cognitive effort, unless the cued object did not fit the verb selectional preferences.

• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cogs.12682
• https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12682

@article{ Sekicki2018,
title = {Eye'll help you out! How the gaze cue reduces the cognitive load required for reference processing},
author = {Mirjana Sekicki and Maria Staudte},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cogs.12682},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12682},
year = {2018},
date = {2018},
journal = {Cognitive Science},
pages = {1-40},
volume = {42},
abstract = {Referential gaze has been shown to benefit language processing in situated communication in terms of shifting visual attention and leading to shorter reaction times on subsequent tasks. The present study simultaneously assessed both visual attention and, importantly, the immediate cogni-tive load induced at different stages of sentence processing. We aimed to examine the dynamics of combining visual and linguistic information in creating anticipation for a specific object and the effect this has on language processing. We report evidence from three visual-world eye-tracking experiments, showing that referential gaze leads to a shift in visual attention toward the cued object, which consequently lowers the effort required for processing the linguistic reference. Importantly, perceiving and following the gaze cue did not prove costly in terms of cognitive effort, unless the cued object did not fit the verb selectional preferences.},
pubstate = {published},
type = {article}
}

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@miscellaneous{Ankener2018b,
title = {Visually informed prediction: How combining lexical and visual information affects surprisal},
author = {Maria Staudte and Christine Ankener},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-10-17},
booktitle = {31st Annual Conference on Sentence Processing (CUNY)},
address = {UC Davis, USA},
pubstate = {published},
type = {miscellaneous}
}

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@inproceedings{Sekicki2018c,
title = {Reference resolution and the integration of referential visual cues},
author = {Maria Staudte andMirjana Sekicki},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-10-17},
booktitle = {SSLP (pre-AMLaP) workshop 2018},
address = {Berlin, Germany},
pubstate = {published},
type = {inproceedings}
}

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Gaze Cues in face-to-face interactions

• Speakers‘ direct their gaze toward an object approximately 800ms before mentioning. (Griffin & Bock, 2000)
• Previous studies showed that listeners utilize speakers‘ gaze to form predictions about the unfolding sentence. (Jachmann et al., 2017)
• Do listeners utilize this external cue to validate expectations about the unfolding sentence? And, if so, how does this effect the comprehension of the noun?

• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327623334_DISCONFIRMATION_OF_LINGUISTIC_PREDICTION_BY_NON-LINGUISTIC_CUES

@miscellaneous{Jachmann2018,
title = {(Dis-)confirmation of linguistic prediction by non-linguistic cues},
author = {Torsten Jachmann and Heiner Drenhaus and Maria Staudte and Matthew W. Crocker},
url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327623334_DISCONFIRMATION_OF_LINGUISTIC_PREDICTION_BY_NON-LINGUISTIC_CUES},
year = {2018},
date = {2018},
booktitle = {24th Annual Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP)},
address = {Berlin},
abstract = {Gaze Cues in face-to-face interactions

• Speakers‘ direct their gaze toward an object approximately 800ms before mentioning. (Griffin & Bock, 2000)
• Previous studies showed that listeners utilize speakers‘ gaze to form predictions about the unfolding sentence. (Jachmann et al., 2017)
• Do listeners utilize this external cue to validate expectations about the unfolding sentence? And, if so, how does this effect the comprehension of the noun?

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@inproceedings{Sekicki2018,
title = {Visual cues and the graded reduction of referential uncertainty},
author = {Maria Staudte andMirjana Sekicki},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-10-17},
booktitle = {24th Annual Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP)},
address = {Berlin},
pubstate = {published},
type = {inproceedings}
}

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Referential gaze has been shown to benefit language processing in situated communication in terms of shifting visual attention and leading to shorter reaction times on subsequent tasks. The present study simultaneously assessed both visual attention and, importantly, the immediate cognitive load induced at different stages of sentence processing.

We aimed to examine the dynamics of combining visual and linguistic information in creating anticipation for a specific object and the effect this has on language processing. We report evidence from three visual‐world eye‐tracking experiments, showing that referential gaze leads to a shift in visual attention toward the cued object, which consequently lowers the effort required for processing the linguistic reference.

Importantly, perceiving and following the gaze cue did not prove costly in terms of cognitive effort, unless the cued object did not fit the verb selectional preferences.

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6585668/
• https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12682

@article{Sekicki2018c,
title = {Eye’ll help you out! How the gaze cue reduces the cognitive load required for reference processing},
author = {Maria Staudte andMirjana Sekicki},
url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6585668/},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12682},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-10-17},
journal = {Cognitive science},
pages = {2418-2458},
volume = {42},
number = {8},
abstract = {Referential gaze has been shown to benefit language processing in situated communication in terms of shifting visual attention and leading to shorter reaction times on subsequent tasks. The present study simultaneously assessed both visual attention and, importantly, the immediate cognitive load induced at different stages of sentence processing. We aimed to examine the dynamics of combining visual and linguistic information in creating anticipation for a specific object and the effect this has on language processing. We report evidence from three visual‐world eye‐tracking experiments, showing that referential gaze leads to a shift in visual attention toward the cued object, which consequently lowers the effort required for processing the linguistic reference. Importantly, perceiving and following the gaze cue did not prove costly in terms of cognitive effort, unless the cued object did not fit the verb selectional preferences.},
pubstate = {published},
type = {article}
}

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Speakers tend to fixate objects they are about to mention, while listeners inspect those objects that they believe to be intended referents of the speaker. These production- and comprehension-contingent gaze behaviors may form an integral part of the signal itself, making it inherently reciprocal.

Here, we present work that has investigated the interplay of gaze and language and assessed the role of speaker gaze for language comprehension as well as the utility of listener gaze for an instruction giver. Both lines of research make use of artificial interaction partners which increases experimental control while maintaining a dynamic interactive setting. Thus, the reciprocal nature of situated dialogue becomes a tractable aspect in the enterprise of dealing with human (gaze) behavior.

• https://benjamins.com/catalog/ais.10.05sta
• https://doi.org/10.1075/ais.10.05sta

@incollection{Staudte2018,
title = {On the role of gaze for successful and efficient communication},
author = {Maria Staudte and Matthew W. Crocker},
url = {https://benjamins.com/catalog/ais.10.05sta},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1075/ais.10.05sta},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-10-17},
booktitle = {Eye-tracking in Interaction: Studies on the role of eye gaze in dialogue},
publisher = {John Benjamins Publishing Company},
abstract = {Speakers tend to fixate objects they are about to mention, while listeners inspect those objects that they believe to be intended referents of the speaker. These production- and comprehension-contingent gaze behaviors may form an integral part of the signal itself, making it inherently reciprocal. Here, we present work that has investigated the interplay of gaze and language and assessed the role of speaker gaze for language comprehension as well as the utility of listener gaze for an instruction giver. Both lines of research make use of artificial interaction partners which increases experimental control while maintaining a dynamic interactive setting. Thus, the reciprocal nature of situated dialogue becomes a tractable aspect in the enterprise of dealing with human (gaze) behavior.},
pubstate = {published},
type = {incollection}
}

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A word’s predictability or surprisal, as determined by cloze probabilities or language models (Frank, 2013) is related to processing effort, in that less expected words take more effort to process (Hale, 2001; Lau et al., 2013).

A word’s surprisal, however, may also be influenced by the non-linguistic context, such as visual cues: In the visual world paradigm (VWP), anticipatory eye movements suggest that listeners exploit the scene to predict what will be mentioned next (Altmann and Kamide, 1999). How visual context affects surprisal and processing effort, however, remains unclear.

Here, we present a series of four studies providing evidence on how visually-determined probabilistic expectations for a spoken target word, as indicated by anticipatory eye movements, predict graded processing effort for that word, as assessed by a pupillometric measure (the Index of Cognitive Activity, ICA). These findings are a clear and robust demonstration that the non-linguistic context can immediately influence both lexical expectations, and surprisal-based processing effort.

• https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02387/full
• https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02387

@article{Ankener2018b,
title = {The Influence of Visual Uncertainty on Word Surprisal and Processing Effort},
author = {Maria Staudte andMirjana Sekicki and Christine Ankener},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02387/full},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02387},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-10-17},
journal = {Frontiers in Psychology},
pages = {2387},
volume = {9},
abstract = {A word’s predictability or surprisal, as determined by cloze probabilities or language models (Frank, 2013) is related to processing effort, in that less expected words take more effort to process (Hale, 2001; Lau et al., 2013). A word’s surprisal, however, may also be influenced by the non-linguistic context, such as visual cues: In the visual world paradigm (VWP), anticipatory eye movements suggest that listeners exploit the scene to predict what will be mentioned next (Altmann and Kamide, 1999). How visual context affects surprisal and processing effort, however, remains unclear. Here, we present a series of four studies providing evidence on how visually-determined probabilistic expectations for a spoken target word, as indicated by anticipatory eye movements, predict graded processing effort for that word, as assessed by a pupillometric measure (the Index of Cognitive Activity, ICA). These findings are a clear and robust demonstration that the non-linguistic context can immediately influence both lexical expectations, and surprisal-based processing effort.},
pubstate = {published},
type = {article}
}

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A word’s predictability or surprisal, as determined by cloze probabilities or language models (e.g. Frank, Otten, Galli, & Vigliocco, 2015) is related to processing effort, in that less expected words take more effort to process (e.g. Hale, 2001). A words surprisal, however, may also be influenced by the non-linguistic context, such as visual cues: In the visual world paradigm (VWP), for example, anticipatory eye movements suggest that comprehenders exploit the scene to predict what will be mentioned next (Altmann & Kamide, 1999).

How visual context affects word surprisal and processing effort, however, remains unclear. Here, we present evidence that visually-determined probabilistic expectations for a spoken target word predict graded processing effort for that word, in both pupillometric (ICA) and ERP (N400) measures. These findings demonstrate that the non-linguistic context can immediately influence both lexical expectations, and surprisal-based processing effort.

• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325644935_Multimodal_Surprisal_in_the_N400_and_the_Index_of_Cognitive_Activity

@inproceedings{Ankener2018,
title = {Multimodal Surprisal in the N400 and the Index of Cognitive Activity},
author = {Christine Ankener and Heiner Drenhaus and Matthew W. Crocker and Maria Staudte},
url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325644935_Multimodal_Surprisal_in_the_N400_and_the_Index_of_Cognitive_Activity},
year = {2018},
date = {2018},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 40th Annual Cognitive Science Society Meeting},
pages = {94-100},
publisher = {The Cognitive Science Society},
address = {Madison, Wisconsin},
abstract = {A word’s predictability or surprisal, as determined by cloze probabilities or language models (e.g. Frank, Otten, Galli, & Vigliocco, 2015) is related to processing effort, in that less expected words take more effort to process (e.g. Hale, 2001). A words surprisal, however, may also be influenced by the non-linguistic context, such as visual cues: In the visual world paradigm (VWP), for example, anticipatory eye movements suggest that comprehenders exploit the scene to predict what will be mentioned next (Altmann & Kamide, 1999). How visual context affects word surprisal and processing effort, however, remains unclear. Here, we present evidence that visually-determined probabilistic expectations for a spoken target word predict graded processing effort for that word, in both pupillometric (ICA) and ERP (N400) measures. These findings demonstrate that the non-linguistic context can immediately influence both lexical expectations, and surprisal-based processing effort.},
pubstate = {published},
type = {inproceedings}
}

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1. Does following a gaze cue influence the cognitive load required for processing the corresponding linguistic referent?
2. Is considering the gaze cue costly? Is there a distribution of cognitive load between the cue and the referent?
3. Can a gaze cue have a disruptive effect on processing the linguistic referent?

• Sekicki_Staudte_CUNY2017 (1)     (2.54MB)

@miscellaneous{Sekicki2017,
title = {Cognitive load in the visual world: The facilitatory effect of gaze},
author = {Mirjana Sekicki and Maria Staudte},
year = {2017},
date = {2017},
publisher = {39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society},
address = {London, UK},
abstract = {

1. Does following a gaze cue influence the cognitive load required for processing the corresponding linguistic referent?
2. Is considering the gaze cue costly? Is there a distribution of cognitive load between the cue and the referent?
3. Can a gaze cue have a disruptive effect on processing the linguistic referent?

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• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6302025/

@inproceedings{Ankener2016,
title = {The influence of visual context on predictions in sentence processing: Evidence from ICA},
author = {Maria Staudte},
url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6302025/},
year = {2016},
date = {2016},
booktitle = {Proceedings at the Language and Perception International Conference},
address = {Trondheim, Norwegen},
abstract = {

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• ESLP2016_book_of_abstracts_2     (10.01MB)

@inproceedings{sekicki2016b,
title = {Cost and Gains of Using Visual Context for Referent Prediction},
author = {Maria Staudte},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-10-18},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 9th Embodied and Situated Language Processing Conference (ESLP)},
address = {Pucón},
pubstate = {published},
type = {inproceedings}
}

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We investigated the effect of visual context on cognitive load (CL) that is induced by prediction forming during sentence processing, using a novel measure of CL: the Index of Cognitive Activity. We conducted two experiments, one including only linguistic stimuli (LING) and one with the additional visual context of four potential target objects (VIS). Noun predictability was modulated by verb constraint (ironable vs. describable objects) and thematic fit; and further by visual competitors (two ironable vs. four describable objects).
“The woman (1) irons / (2) describes soon the (a) t-shirt / (b) sock.“
We found lower CL on the noun in (1a) compared to (1b) in both studies, suggesting that after “iron“, “t-shirt“ was more predictable, and hence easier to process, than “sock“. More importantly, VIS findings show higher CL on “iron“ compared to “describe“, suggesting that visual context allowed for active exclusion of two non-ironable targets. Conversely, CL on nouns was lower when following “iron“ than “describe“, due to only one ironable competitor compared to three describable competitors. These findings suggest that the presence of visual context alters the distribution of CL during sentence processing. Future work includes gaze cues as additional information, potentially further affecting CL distribution.

@inproceedings{sekicki2016,
title = {Language Processing: Cognitive Load with(out) Visual Context},
author = {Mirjana Sekicki and Christine Ankener and Maria Staudte},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-10-18},
booktitle = {Proceedings at the 22nd Annual Conference on Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing (AMLaP)},
address = {Bilbao, Spain},
abstract = {We investigated the effect of visual context on cognitive load (CL) that is induced by prediction forming during sentence processing, using a novel measure of CL: the Index of Cognitive Activity. We conducted two experiments, one including only linguistic stimuli (LING) and one with the additional visual context of four potential target objects (VIS). Noun predictability was modulated by verb constraint (ironable vs. describable objects) and thematic fit; and further by visual competitors (two ironable vs. four describable objects). ''The woman (1) irons / (2) describes soon the (a) t-shirt / (b) sock.'' We found lower CL on the noun in (1a) compared to (1b) in both studies, suggesting that after ''iron'', ''t-shirt'' was more predictable, and hence easier to process, than ''sock''. More importantly, VIS findings show higher CL on ''iron'' compared to ''describe'', suggesting that visual context allowed for active exclusion of two non-ironable targets. Conversely, CL on nouns was lower when following ''iron'' than ''describe'', due to only one ironable competitor compared to three describable competitors. These findings suggest that the presence of visual context alters the distribution of CL during sentence processing. Future work includes gaze cues as additional information, potentially further affecting CL distribution.},
pubstate = {published},
type = {inproceedings}
}

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Contexts that constrain upcoming words to some higher or lower extent can be composed differently but are typically all evaluated using cloze-probability (Rayner & Well, 1996). Less predicted words were found to correlate with more negative N400 (e.g., Frank et al., 2015; Kutas & Hillyard, 1984) and longer reading times (Rayner & Well, 1996; Smith & Levy, 2013). Recently, however, it has been suggested that predictability, as in cloze-probability, is only one influence on processing cost (e.g., DeLong et al., 2014). As DeLong et al. show, differences in plausibility of words with similar cloze-probability also affect processing of such words, reflected in different ERP components. This hints at a difference between frequency-based and deeper semantic processing. Moreover, a relatively novel measure, the Index of Cognitive Activity (ICA) capturing pupil jitter, has been linked to cognitive load and predictability (Demberg et al., 2013).

• CUNY2016     (0.06MB)
• https://www.coli.uni-saarland.de/~mirjana/papers/CUNY2016.pdf

@inproceedings{CUNY2016_A5,
title = {Low Predictability: An Empirical Comparison of Paradigms Used for Sentence Comprehension},
author = {Maria Staudte},
url = {https://www.coli.uni-saarland.de/~mirjana/papers/CUNY2016.pdf},
year = {2016},
date = {2016},
booktitle = {29th Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing (CUNY)},
address = {Gainesville, FL},
abstract = {Contexts that constrain upcoming words to some higher or lower extent can be composed differently but are typically all evaluated using cloze-probability (Rayner & Well, 1996). Less predicted words were found to correlate with more negative N400 (e.g., Frank et al., 2015; Kutas & Hillyard, 1984) and longer reading times (Rayner & Well, 1996; Smith & Levy, 2013). Recently, however, it has been suggested that predictability, as in cloze-probability, is only one influence on processing cost (e.g., DeLong et al., 2014). As DeLong et al. show, differences in plausibility of words with similar cloze-probability also affect processing of such words, reflected in different ERP components. This hints at a difference between frequency-based and deeper semantic processing. Moreover, a relatively novel measure, the Index of Cognitive Activity (ICA) capturing pupil jitter, has been linked to cognitive load and predictability (Demberg et al., 2013).},
pubstate = {published},
type = {inproceedings}
}

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