Department of Linguistics

Understanding normal probability distributions is a crucial objective in mathematics and statistics education. Drawing upon cognitive psychology research, this study explores the use of drawings and visualizations as effective scaffolds to enhance students comprehension. Although much research has documented the helpfulness of drawing as a research tool to reveal students knowledge states, its direct utility in advancing higher-order cognitive processes remains understudied. In Study 1, qualitative methods were utilized to identify common misunderstandings among students regarding canonical depictions of the normal probability distribution. Building on these insights, Study 2 experimentally compared three instructional videos (static slides, dynamic drawing, and dynamic drawings done by a visible hand). The hand drawing video led to better learning than the other versions. Study 3 examined whether the benefits from observing a hand drawing could be reproduced by a dynamic cursor moving around otherwise static slides (without the presence of a hand). Results showed no significant learning difference between observing a hand drawing and a moving cursor, both outperforming a control. This research links the cognitive process of drawing with its educational role and provides insights into its potential to enhance memory, cognition, and inform instructional methods.

Abstract: This squib presents three new arguments that the matrix subject in English tough-constructions cannot reconstruct into the embedded gap. The first two arguments reexamine data in the literature purported to show such reconstruction. Upon closer scrutiny, we argue that these data in fact involve short reconstruction below a modal or generic operator in the matrix clause, and not genuine long reconstruction into the embedded gap. The third argument is that property positions, which independently require reconstruction, are unable to host tough-gaps. This ban on long reconstruction in English tough-constructions follows without further ado on a base-generation analysis.

The language network, comprised of brain regions in the left frontal and temporal cortex, responds robustly and reliably during language comprehension but shows little or no response during many nonlinguistic cognitive tasks (e.g., Fedorenko & Blank, 2020). However, one domain whose relationship with language remains debated is semantics-our conceptual knowledge of the world. Given that the language network responds strongly to meaningful linguistic stimuli, could some of this response be driven by the presence of rich conceptual representations encoded in linguistic inputs? In this study, we used a naturalistic cognition paradigm to test whether the cognitive and neural resources that are responsible for language processing are also recruited for processing semantically rich nonverbal stimuli. To do so, we measured BOLD responses to a set of ∼5-minute-long video and audio clips that consisted of meaningful event sequences but did not contain any linguistic content. We then used the intersubject correlation (ISC) approach (Hasson et al., 2004) to examine the extent to which the language network "tracks" these stimuli, that is, exhibits stimulus-related variation. Across all the regions of the language network, meaningful nonverbal stimuli elicited reliable ISCs. These ISCs were higher than the ISCs elicited by semantically impoverished nonverbal stimuli (e.g., a music clip), but substantially lower than the ISCs elicited by linguistic stimuli. Our results complement earlier findings from controlled experiments (e.g., Ivanova et al., 2021) in providing further evidence that the language network shows some sensitivity to semantic content in nonverbal stimuli.

The channel vocoder has become a useful tool to understand the impact of specific forms of auditory degradation-particularly the spectral and temporal degradation that reflect cochlear-implant processing. Vocoders have many parameters that allow researchers to answer questions about cochlear-implant processing in ways that overcome some logistical complications of controlling for factors in individual cochlear implant users. However, there is such a large variety in the implementation of vocoders that the term vocoder is not specific enough to describe the signal processing used in these experiments. Misunderstanding vocoder parameters can result in experimental confounds or unexpected stimulus distortions. This paper highlights the signal processing parameters that should be specified when describing vocoder construction. The paper also provides guidance on how to determine vocoder parameters within perception experiments, given the experimenters goals and research questions, to avoid common signal processing mistakes. Throughout, we will assume that experimenters are interested in vocoders with the specific goal of better understanding cochlear implants.

In six experiments we explored how biphone probability and lexical neighborhood density influence listeners' categorization of vowels embedded in nonword sequences. We found independent effects of each. Listeners shifted categorization of a phonetic continuum to create a higher probability sequence, even when neighborhood density was controlled. Similarly, listeners shifted categorization to create a nonword from a denser neighborhood, even when biphone probability was controlled. Next, using a visual world eye-tracking task, we determined that biphone probability information is used rapidly by listeners in perception. In contrast, task complexity and irrelevant variability in the stimuli interfere with neighborhood density effects. These results support a model in which both biphone probability and neighborhood density independently affect word recognition, but only biphone probability effects are observed early in processing.

How do polyglots-individuals who speak five or more languages-process their languages, and what can this population tell us about the language system? Using fMRI, we identified the language network in each of 34 polyglots (including 16 hyperpolyglots with knowledge of 10+ languages) and examined its response to the native language, non-native languages of varying proficiency, and unfamiliar languages. All language conditions engaged all areas of the language network relative to a control condition. Languages that participants rated as higher proficiency elicited stronger responses, except for the native language, which elicited a similar or lower response than a non-native language of similar proficiency. Furthermore, unfamiliar languages that were typologically related to the participants high-to-moderate-proficiency languages elicited a stronger response than unfamiliar unrelated languages. The results suggest that the language networks response magnitude scales with the degree of engagement of linguistic computations (e.g. related to lexical access and syntactic-structure building). We also replicated a prior finding of weaker responses to native language in polyglots than non-polyglot bilinguals. These results contribute to our understanding of how multiple languages coexist within a single brain and provide new evidence that the language network responds more strongly to stimuli that more fully engage linguistic computations.

Children who receive cochlear implants develop spoken language on a protracted timescale. The home environment facilitates speech-language development, yet it is relatively unknown how the environment differs between children with cochlear implants and typical hearing. We matched eighteen preschoolers with implants (31-65 months) to two groups of children with typical hearing: by chronological age and hearing age. Each child completed a long-form, naturalistic audio recording of their home environment (appx. 16 hours/child; >730 hours of observation) to measure adult speech input, child vocal productivity, and caregiver-child interaction. Results showed that children with cochlear implants and typical hearing were exposed to and engaged in similar amounts of spoken language with caregivers. However, the home environment did not reflect developmental stages as closely for children with implants, or predict their speech outcomes as strongly. Home-based speech-language interventions should focus on the unique input-outcome relationships for this group of children with hearing loss.

The problem of characterizing voice quality has long caused debate and frustration. The richness of the available descriptive vocabulary is overwhelming, but the density and complexity of the information voices convey lead some to conclude that language can never adequately specify what we hear. Others argue that terminology lacks an empirical basis, so that language-based scales are inadequate a priori. Efforts to provide meaningful instrumental characterizations have also had limited success. Such measures may capture sound patterns but cannot at present explain what characteristics, intentions, or identity listeners attribute to the speaker based on those patterns. However, some terms continually reappear across studies. These terms align with acoustic dimensions accounting for variance across speakers and languages and correlate with size and arousal across species. This suggests that labels for quality rest on a bedrock of biology: We have evolved to perceive voices in terms of size/arousal, and these factors structure both voice acoustics and descriptive language. Such linkages could help integrate studies of signals and their meaning, producing a truly interdisciplinary approach to the study of voice.

We have previously shown that bilingual Spanish and English-learning infants can segment English iambs, two-syllable words with final stress (e.g., guiTAR), earlier than their monolingual peers. This is consistent with accelerated development in bilinguals and was attributed to bilingual infants' increased exposure to iambs through Spanish; about 10% of English content words start with an unstressed syllable, compared to 40% in Spanish. Here, we evaluated whether increased exposure to a stress pattern alone is sufficient to account for acceleration in bilingual infants. In English, 90% of content words start with a stressed syllable (e.g., KINGdom), compared to 60% in Spanish. However, we found no evidence for accelerated segmentation of Spanish trochees by Spanish-English bilingual infants compared to their monolingual Spanish-learning peers. Based on this finding, we argue that merely increased exposure to a linguistic feature in one language does not result in accelerated development in the other. Instead, only the acquisition of infrequent patterns in one language may be accelerated due to the additive effects of the other language.