PSY 369 Psycholinguistics Language Comprehension D iscourse Discourse

PSY 369: Psycholinguistics Language Comprehension: �D iscourse

Discourse Psycholinguistics n Traditional Psycholinguistics n n Determining what happens when we understand sentences Broader View n How we resolve/understand sentences against the current discourse representation n Sentence comprehension is a process that anchors the interpretation of the sentence to the representation of the prior text

Processing Discourse n What is discourse? n The ways that we process (i. e. , comprehend and remember) units of language larger than a sentence n n Lectures, personal narratives, expository discourse Units of analysis larger than a sentence n Applies to both spoken and written forms Discourse processing is sort of like syntactic processing – a way of organizing/connecting the different pieces in to larger chunks. Here the chunks are larger than sentences.

Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him? ” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there. ”

Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him? ” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there. ” n To whom does “him” refer to?

Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him? ” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there. ” n To whom does “him” refer? Bach

Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him? ” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there. ” n To whom does this “him” refer?

Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him? ” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there. ” n To whom does this “him” refer? Bach again

Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him? ” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there. ” n To whom does this “him” refer? Bach again Why not Abe?

Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him? ” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there. ” n Huh!?

Bill and Ted traveled through time and space. Bill asked, “Dude, did you find him? ” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store, but I haven’t found Abe yet. Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks!” “Excellent! Man, we’ve got to get these dudes back to school before we get there. ” n Huh!? Oh yeah, they’re time travelers.

Characteristics of Discourse n Local Structure (microstructure): n The relationship between individual sentences n n n Cohesion Coherence Global Structure (macrostructure): n The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world

Characteristics of Discourse n Local Structure (microstructure): n The relationship between individual sentences n n n Cohesion Coherence Global Structure (macrostructure): n The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world

Characteristics of Discourse n Local Structure (microstructure): n The relationship between individual sentences n n Cohesion • Does the discourse “stick together”? • Interpretation of one sentence depends on other sentences? Coherence • Does the passage make sense? • Logical consistency and semantic continuity?

Characteristics of Discourse n Cohesion: Interpretation of one sentence depends on other sentences n Referential Cohesion n n Substitution Cohesion n n “We’ve got to get these dudes back to …” And many more n n “Dude, you should hear him play…” Ellipsis, conjunction, lexical cohesion (See pg 160 of textbook for examples) The relationship between the referring expression and the antecedent create referential cohesion of discourse

Types of Referential Cohesion n Anaphoric Reference n Using an expression to refer back to something previously mentioned in discourse “…Bach was in the music store …” “Dude, you should hear him play, he rocks. ” n Cataphoric Reference n Using an expression to refer forward to something that is coming up in discourse Dude, did you find him? ” “Yeah, Bach was in the music store. . . ”

Comprehending Anaphoric References Daneman and Carpenter (1980) n Task: Reading a passage and answer questions about the referents of pronouns Sitting with Richie, Archie, Walter and the rest of my gang in the Grill yesterday, I began to feel uneasy. Robbie had put a dime in the juke box. It was blaring one of the latest “Rock and Roll” favorites. I was studying, in horror, the reactions of my friends to the music. I was especially perturbed by the expression on my best friend’s face. Wayne looked intense and was pounding the table furiously to the beat. Now, I like most of the things other teenage boys like. I like girls with soft blonde hair, girls with dark curly hair, in fact all girls. I like milkshakes, football games and beach parties. I like denim jeans, fancy T-shirts and sneakers. It is not that I dislike rock music but I think it is supposed to be fun and not taken too seriously. And here he was, “all shook up” and serious over the crazy music. Question: Who was “all shook up” and serious over the music?

Comprehending Anaphoric References Daneman and Carpenter (1980) n Task: Reading a passage and answer questions about the referents of pronouns Sitting with Richie, Archie, Walter and the rest of my gang in the Grill yesterday, I began to feel uneasy. Robbie had put a dime in the juke box. It was blaring one of the latest “Rock and Roll” favorites. I was studying, in horror, the reactions of my friends to the music. I was especially perturbed by the expression on my best friend’s face. Wayne looked intense and was pounding the table furiously to the beat. Now, I like most of the things other teenage boys like. I like girls with soft blonde hair, girls with dark curly hair, in fact all girls. I like milkshakes, football games and beach parties. I like denim jeans, fancy T-shirts and sneakers. It is not that I dislike rock music but I think it is supposed to be fun and not taken too seriously. And here he was, “all shook up” and serious over the crazy music. Question: Who was “all shook up” and serious over the music?

Comprehending Anaphoric References Daneman and Carpenter (1980) n Task: Reading a passage and answer questions about the referents of pronouns Sitting with Richie, Archie, Walter and the rest of my gang in the Grill yesterday, I began to feel uneasy. Robbie had put a dime in the juke box. It was blaring one of the latest “Rock and Roll” favorites. I was studying, in horror, the reactions of my friends to the music. I was especially perturbed by the expression on my best friend’s face. Wayne looked intense and was pounding the table furiously to the beat. Now, I like most of the things other teenage boys like. I like girls with soft blonde hair, girls with dark curly hair, in fact all girls. I like milkshakes, football games and beach parties. I like denim jeans, fancy T-shirts and sneakers. It is not that I dislike rock music but I think it is supposed to be fun and not taken too seriously. And here he was, “all shook up” and serious over the crazy music. Question: Who was “all shook up” and serious over the music? n Reading Span Test n n Smaller reading spans = smaller working memory capacity Manipulated how many sentences intervened between the pronoun ‘he’ and the antecedent ‘Wayne’

Comprehending Anaphoric References Daneman and Carpenter (1980) n n Conclusions: The number of intervening sentences don’t matter for high span people, but does for low span Results

Characteristics of Discourse n Coherence: n Given/new distinction n n • • Readers expect speakers to provide cues as to what information is old (already known by the listener) and what is new (not known) Making Inferences n Filling in missing pieces of information to maintain coherence Haviland Clark (1974) Singer, Halldorson, Lear, & Andrusiak (1992)

Developing coherence Haviland Clark (1974) n Process of understanding a sentence in discourse context involves 3 stages: 1. Identify the given and new info in the current sentence 2. Find an antecedent in memory for the given information 3. Attach the new information to this spot in memory

Developing coherence Haviland Clark (1974) n Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence. We got some beer out of the trunk. The beer was warm.

Developing coherence Haviland Clark (1974) n Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence. We got some beer out of the trunk. The beer was warm. Definite article “The” signals that “The beer” is given information

Developing coherence Haviland Clark (1974) n Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence. We got some beer out of the trunk. The beer was warm. Definite article “The” signals that “The beer” is given information Connect the new information “was warm” to the appropriate discourse concept “some beer” This process is called Direct Matching

Developing coherence Haviland Clark (1974) n World knowledge Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence. We checked the picnic supplies. The beer was warm. Definite article “The” signals that “The beer” is given information Connect the new information “was warm” to the appropriate discourse concept “? ? ”

Developing coherence Haviland Clark (1974) n World knowledge Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence. We checked the picnic supplies. The beer was warm. Definite article “The” signals that “The beer” is given information Connect the new information “was warm” to the appropriate discourse concept “picnic supplies” Need a bridging inference to connect “the warm beer” to “picnic supplies”

Developing coherence Haviland Clark (1974) n n n Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence. Conclusion: If you don’t know the old information and need to make an inference, this may slow down comprehension. Direct Matching Typical results We got some beer out of the trunk. The beer was warm. Comprehended faster n Bridging Inference We checked the picnic supplies. The beer was warm. Takes more time World knowledge

Developing coherence Singer, Halldorson, Lear, & Andrusiak (1992) n n Task: Press a button when you understand the sentence, if given a question, answer Yes or No. Conclusions: n n Suggests that the bridging inference was made More time consuming to make coherence of temporal than causal relations Causal condition Requires bridging inference “Murray poured water on the fire. ” “The fire went out. ” Results Faster reading time T/F “water extinguishes fire” Temporal condition “Murray drank a glass of water. ” No required “The fire went out. ” inference T/F “Does water extinguish fire? ” Faster “T”

Brief summary n Local Structure (microstructure): n n n Discourse is coherent if its elements are easily related. Coherence is achieved with cohesive ties between sentences. Comprehension is impeded when n There are no antecedents, forcing a bridging inference n The antecedent was not recent, forcing a reinstatement of the antecedent.

Characteristics of Discourse n Local Structure (microstructure): n The relationship between individual sentences n n n Coherence Cohesion Global Structure (macrostructure): n The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world

Characteristics of Discourse n Global Structure (macrostructure): n The relationship between the sentences and our knowledge of the world Jill bought a new sweater. Sweaters 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. n Okay local structure, but each sentence isn’t relevant to an overall topic of discourse

Characteristics of Discourse n Read story to class (from Bartlett, 1932)

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

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

Effects of world knowledge If the balloons pooped, the sound would not be able to carry since everything would be too far away from the correct floor. A closed window would also prevent the sound from carrying since most buildings tend to be well insulated. Since the whole operation depends on a steady flow of electricity, a break in the middle of the wire would also cause problems. Of course the fellow could shout, but the human voice is not loud enough to carry that far. An additional problem is that a string could break on the instrument. Then there could be no accompaniment to the message. It is clear that the best situation would involve less distance. Then there would be fewer potential problems. With face to face contact, the least number of things could go wrong. n Bransford & Johnson (1972)

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 n Anderson et al (1977)

Effects of world knowledge n Schemas (Scripts) n Mental structures of how the world works, acquired through experience n A whole package of information about what we know about the world and events n n n Generic story of situations A framework with causal information Used to facilitate comprehension of discourse, as well as to guide recall (and reconstruction)

Effects of world knowledge n Schemas (Scripts) n 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 Bartlett (1932) n Task: n n n 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 Bartlett (1932) n Results: n Participants’ memories changed to fit their existing beliefs (reconstructive memories) Added new details n Changed details n Deleted details Conclusions: We use our Schema to facilitate comprehension of discourse, as well as to guide recall (and reconstruction) n n

Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi & Abouzeid (1995) n n Read two European tales (cry wolf & stone soup) 2 audiences n n European North American children Ponam children (New Guinea)

Effects of world knowledge Invernizzi & Abouzeid (1995) n n Retelling of boy who cried wolf Ponam children (New Guinea) n 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 Invernizzi & Abouzeid (1995) n n Retelling of boy who cried wolf European North American children n 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 Invernizzi & Abouzeid (1995) n n Impact of different schemata European North American children n n Ponam children (New Guinea) Recalled factual detail about settings, events, and outcomes, but leaving out things like consequence, resolution, moral (generally seemed to miss the point) Conclusions: We use our cultural schemas to facilitate comprehension of discourse, as well as to guide recall n n Setting, precipitating events, goal reaching aspects, story resolutions

Effects of world knowledge When do we use the schema? During comprehension or recall? Smith and Swinney (1992) n n Task: presented stories (like the “balloons” one) n n Results: n n n Collected sentence by sentence reading times Had them recall the sentences Some people were given a title for the story, others not Overall, reading times were faster with a title that without Stories with titles: More words were recalled and more “intrusions” (details consistent with the schema but not in the story) Conclusions: n Schemas are used in both on-line comprehension and recall

Effects of world knowledge n Summary n We use schemas to n Facilitate the comprehension of discourse n To guide recall (and reconstruction)

Effects of Genre n Not all kinds of discourse follow the same structure n Different effects, purposes, etc. n Expository discourse n n Narrative discourse n n n 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 n Reading texts, listening to lectures, etc. n n Organized with different relationships (but can still draw a tree structure) Relationships n n n 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. n The story has a structure, a story grammar

Narrative structure n Story grammar - can depict with a tree structure Story Setting Episode Once there was a woman. Event She saw a tiger’s cave. Reaction 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) n n n Level effect High hierarchy statements Lower in the hierarchy. n 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) n n Test to see if structure effects whether inferences are made Task: Think aloud task n 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. with. Betty thefollowed rest ofthe 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 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 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 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 S G A A O 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. 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

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

Discourse in memory n Daily Summary: n n n Schemas are used to structure comprehension and memory Discourses have internal structures that impact comprehension and memory Weekly summary: n Evidence supports the psychological reality of a number of different representations n Propositions & propositional networks n Embodied representations n Inferences n Schemata and scripts n Situation models

Discourse in memory n Kintsch’s model n n The Construction-Integration Model Discourse occurs in a series of cycles n n In each cycle n n n 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 n Surface form, textbase (propositional), situation model

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

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

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

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

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

Discourse in memory n 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. n Read before Adds inference Did this sentence occur in the paragraph? Jack scanned 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 n 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. n consistent inconsistent Did this sentence occur in the paragraph? Jack scanned 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 n Kintch and colleagues (1990)

Summary n Discourse processing is both complex and flexible n n Multiple representations Processing depends on context