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PSY 369: Psycholinguistics

PSY 369: Psycholinguistics. Language Comprehension: Discourse. Characteristics of Discourse. Global Structure (macrostructure):. The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world.

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PSY 369: Psycholinguistics

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  1. PSY 369: Psycholinguistics Language Comprehension: Discourse

  2. Characteristics of Discourse • Global Structure (macrostructure): • 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.

  3. Characteristics of Discourse • Global Structure (macrostructure): • 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.

  4. Characteristics of Discourse • Global Structure (macrostructure): • Schemas & Scripts • General knowledge structures for common social situations • Genres • Narrative structure • Story grammars - extension of idea of grammatical rules, specify the organization of a story • Expository structure • Different structures

  5. 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

  6. Effects of world knowledge • Bartlett (1932) • Read native American folk tale • Participants’ memories changed to fit their existing beliefs • Added new details • Changed details • Deleted details • Schema • a whole package of information used to facilitate comprehension of discourse

  7. Restaurant Script Scene 4: Pay Scene 1: Enter Scene 2: Order Scene 3: Eat 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 • Scripts • Generic story of situations

  8. Effects of world knowledge • What happened to semantic networks? • One explanation • Some representations get so strongly associated that they get activated as an entire unit

  9. 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. • The story has a structure, a story grammar

  10. Setting Episode Event Reaction Goal Overt Response Action Consequence Event Event Narrative structure • Story grammar - can depict with a tree structure Story 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.

  11. Read more slowly but are better remembered. • High hierarchy statements • Lower in the hierarchy. Narrative structure Thorndyke (1977) • Level effect She wanted a tiger’s whisker. The tiger came out.

  12. 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. Trabasso & Suh (1993) Betty found a pretty purse. Betty bought the purse. Her mother was very happy. Betty found that everything was too expensive. Betty could not buy anything. Betty felt sorry. Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting. 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. Berry was very happy. Betty gave the sweater to her mother. Her mother was excited when she saw the present.

  13. Characteristics of Discourse Trabasso & Suh (1993) • Test to see if structure effects whether inferences are made • How does “Betty really wanted to give her mother a present” connect up with other statements in the story?

  14. Hierarchical version S 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 that everything was too expensive. Betty could not buy anything. Betty felt sorry. Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting. S 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. E G A Trabasso & Suh (1993) G A A O O A O A R O E R S = Setting E = Event R = Reaction G = Goal O = Overt Response A = Action

  15. Hierarchical version S 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 that everything was too expensive. Betty could not buy anything. Betty felt sorry. Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting. S 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. E G A Trabasso & Suh (1993) G A A O O A O A R O E R • Is a superordinate goal that motivates the subgoal of the next episode S E G A O O R A A O R E S G A A O

  16. Sequential version S 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 bought the purse. Her mother was very happy. Several days later, Betty saw her friend knitting. S 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. Berry was very happy. E G A Trabasso & Suh (1993) G A A O O A O A R O E R • The goal is already filled, so not related to the subgoal of the next episode S E G A O O R E S G A A O A A O

  17. Results • In a think aloud task, participants mentioned the superordinate goal in the hierarchical condition but not the sequential condition • Story grammar structure matters • Strongly support the hypothesis that readers do make global causal connections during reading. Trabasso & Suh (1993)

  18. Expository Structure • Reading texts, listening to lectures, etc. • Organized with different relationships (but can still draw a tree structure) • Relationships • 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

  19. Discourse in memory • Kintsch’s model • The Construction-Integration Model • Discourse occurs in a series of cycles • As each sentence comes in it gets integrated into the discourse • In each cycle • Construction phase - activate relevant concepts • Integration phase - keep only the most relevant elaborations • Multiple levels of representation formed • Surface form, textbase, situation model

  20. Discourse in memory • 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. • Did this sentence occur in the paragraph? Read before Jack scanned the newspaper. Jack looked through the newspaper. Jack looked through the movie ads. Jack looked over some editorials.

  21. Surface form S N VP V NP Jack scanned the newspaper Discourse in memory • Kintsch’s model Jack scanned the newspaper.

  22. Surface form Textbase S Examine N VP Newspaper V NP Jack Jack scanned the newspaper Discourse in memory • Kintsch’s model Jack scanned the newspaper.

  23. Situational Model Surface form Textbase S Examine N VP Newspaper V NP Jack Jack scanned the newspaper Discourse in memory • Kintsch’s model Jack scanned the newspaper.

  24. If Better memory here Discourse in memory • 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. • Did this sentence occur in the paragraph? Read before Jack scanned the newspaper. Jack looked through the newspaper. Jack looked through the movie ads. Jack looked over some editorials. Similar meaning Evidence for surface form

  25. If Better memory here Adds inference Infers which section did he scan. Discourse in memory • 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. • Did this sentence occur in the paragraph? Read before Jack scanned the newspaper. Jack looked through the newspaper. Jack looked through the movie ads. Jack looked over some editorials. Evidence for Strong textbase

  26. If Better memory here consistent Consistent with situation model. Discourse in memory • 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. • 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. inconsistent Evidence for Strong situation model

  27. Discourse in memory • Kintch and colleagues (1990)

  28. Summary • Discourse processing is both complex and flexible • Multiple representations • Processing depends on context

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