Psychological Mechanisms And Language Processing

Psychological Mechanisms And Language Processing

Psycholinguistics focuses on how people process language –how we comprehend and produce spoken and written language- and how these skills are acquired. In order to understand these language processes,we need to understand the major properties of language as well as the processing characteristics of the individuals who use it.

For this lecture, basic notions about the structure of language as well as basic grammatical concepts will be assumed already known.

The following concepts will be taken for granted.

1.      Linguistic productivity: this notion refers to the fact that there is no limit to the number of sentences in a language.

2.      Duality of patterning: words are composed of phonemes which, in turn, are composed of distinctive features. In each instance, the smaller units are combined in a rule-governed manner to produce the larger units.

3.      Morphology: words consist of one or more units of meaning (morphemes). The system of grammatical morphemes in a language provides speakers with a way of signaling subtle differences in meaning.

4.      Phrase structure: phrase structure rules codify our intuitions about the groupings of words in a sentence. Some sentences are ambiguous.

A.     The information processing system

According to this model of mental functioning, environmental information entering into the cognitive system is successively encoded, stored and retrieved by a set of distinct mental structures. The emphasis is on the flow of information through the system. Let’s first briefly give an overview of this model, before examining its relevance regarding language processing.

Sensory stores

The sensory stores take in the variety of sensory events to which we are constantly exposed (colors, tones, tastes, smells, etc.), and retain them for a brief period of time in a raw, unanalyzed form Sperling’s princeps studies.

Working memory

The second type of memory has been traditionally referred to as short-term memory (STM), and more recently as working memory (WM). Although the meaning of the words are similar, there is a subtle difference between them.

Working memory differs from short-term memory in that the term WM conveys a more dynamic view of memory processes. STM was usually viewed as a passive repository of information; WM has both storage and processing functions.

+ The storage function is similar to the storage credited to short term memory: we hold on a limited amount of information for a limited amount of time.

+ The processing function is related to the concept of processing capacity. Processing capacity refers to the total amount of cognitive resources we may devote to a task (and this amount is assumed to be limited).

Permanent memory.

Permanent memory, which is also known as long-term memory (LTM), is a repository of our knowledge of the world. This includes general knowledge (including the rules of grammar or of arithmetic, along wih personal experiences such as memories of our childhood and adolescence).

Tulving has distinguished between two types of permanent memory: semantic memory and episodic memory.

+ Semantic memory:

Refers to our organized knowledge of words, concepts, symbols and objects

+ Episodic memory:

Holds traces of events that are specific to a particular time and space.

+ Procedural memory:

Is sometimes distinguished from the other two memory structures. It specifically includes information about motor skills (typing, swimming, bicycling, etc.)

B. Central issues in language processing

In this section, we examine several alternative ways in which linguistic information can be handled by the information processing system that we have just sketched above. Different types of process will first be presented and discussed individually, before being applied to an extended example of language processing.

·         Serial and parallel processing

Serial processing refers to processes that take place one at a time. Parallel processing refers to processes two or more of which take place simultaneously.

·         Top-Down and Bottom-Up processing

A Top-down processing model, in contrast, states that some information at the higher levels may influence processing at the lower levels. Bottom-up processing is a processing which proceeds from the lowest level to the highest level of processing in such a way that all of the lower levels of processing operate without influence from the higher levels.

·         Automatic and Controlled processes

Tasks that draw substantially from this limited pool of resources are called controlled tasks, and the processes involved in these tasks are referred to as “controlled processes”. Tasks that do not require substantial resources are called automatic tasks, and processes that do not require extensive capacity are referred to as “automatic processes”

·         Modularity of the language processing system

The modularity position is that the language processing system is a unique set of cognitive abilities that cannot be reduced to general principles of cognition. The alternative position stresses the interconnections between language and cognitive processes by emphasizing the role of concepts such as working memory, automatic processing, and parallel processing in language comprehension, production and acquisition.

C. Development of the processing system

In order to understand language acquisition, it would be helpful to understand the cognitive abilities children bring to the task of acquiring their native language. To this aim, let us ask to what extent the information processing system that we have outlined above is operating during the first few years of life.

Recent research, however, has suggested that there are some important cognitive similarities between children and adults.

Perceptual processing.

Short-term STM and Working memory WM