1. SYNTAX 6 NOV 20, 2015 – DAY 36 Brain & Language LING 4110-4890-5110-7960 NSCI 4110-4891-6110 Fall 2015

2. Course organization Schedule: http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/BrLg/t1-Intro.html#schedule-of- topics http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/BrLg/t1-Intro.html#schedule-of- topics Today's chapter: http://www.tulane.edu/~howard/BrLg/t19-aIFG.html Fun with https://www.facebook.com/BrLg15/https://www.facebook.com/BrLg15/ Quiz on Monday will be in class & on Blackboard. 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 2

3. Grades Q1Q2Q3Q4Q5Q6Q7 MIN 6554734 AVG 9.08.8 8.49.27.58.7 MAX 10 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 3

4. COMBINATORIAL NET 2 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 4

5. The lexical interface 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 5

6. Models of sentence processing Traditional generative model A separate mental module parses sentences just like we just did. Lexical access happens first. Then one syntactic hypothesis is considered at a time. There is no influence of meaning. More recent interactive model There is no separate module for parsing Lexical access, syntactic structure assignment, and meaning assignment happen at the same time (in parallel). Several syntactic hypotheses can be considered at a time. 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 6 How to decide? On-line processing

7. Two types of processing on-line Happens in real time. Instructions for an experiment to test it: You will read a sentence, one word at a time. Push a key after each word. off-line Happens after the fact. Instructions for an experiment to test it: You will read a sentence. Point to the picture that describes it best. 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 7

8. The working memory needed for parsing … … is part of a general purpose working memory Individual differences in working memory are implicated in strategies for understanding complex spoken sentences. … constitutes its own specialized store of working memory. Some patients who share severe deficits of general purpose working memory are still able to understand complex spoken sentences. Individual differences in working memory are usually not implicated in on-line language understanding. 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 8

9. Why? ‘Cognitive capacity’ Low span readers only have enough capacity to process syntactic cues; nothing is left over to process pragmatics => modular processing (syntax first). High span readers have enough capacity to process syntactic cues and pragmatics => interactive processing (all cues considered simultaneously). 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 9

10. Center embedding 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 10 9) The rat the cat hunted nibbled the cheese. The rat which the cat hunted nibbled the cheese. 10) The rat the cat the dog chased hunted nibbled the cheese. The rat which the cat which the dog chased hunted nibbled the cheese.

11. How might this be processed? 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 11 thematic role for ‘the rat’ thematic role for ‘the cat’ thematic role for ‘the dog’ The parser encounters … the rat > look for a predicate to supply a thematic role … the cat > wait, put the previous search on hold & look for another predicate to supply a thematic role … the dog > wait, put the previous search on hold & look for yet another predicate to supply a thematic role … Ok, now I am lost. push-down stack

12. ‘Edge’ embedding does not create this problem 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 12 i) The dog chased the cat that hunted the rat that nibbled the cheese. ii) The dog that chased the cat that hunted the rat that nibbled the cheese was a dachshund.

13. Interim conclusion The limit on center embedded is 2. Given that Miller’s number is much larger, it would appear that there is a working memory specialized for parsing. 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 13

14. Ockham’s razor, simplicity, economy lex parsimoniae Ockham’s razor is a principle that generally recommends selecting from among competing hypotheses the one that makes the fewest new assumptions. Einstein-ish: “Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.” 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 14

15. Filler-gap constructions though the gap is also called a trace How to get rid of the leprechauns a. Mary bought a book for John. b. Which book i did Mary buy ____ i for John? c. John asked Mary about a student. d. Which student i did John ask Mary about ____ i ? 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 15

16. SYNTAX 4 Sentence comprehension and syntactic parsing 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 16

17. Cross-modal priming & trace reactivation sentence presented auditorily; prime & probe visually 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 17 16) Which book i did the harassed parent almost purchase t i for her child? prime probe: library/ vehicle faster for relatedsame for bothfaster for related

18. Gaps/traces in relative clauses The dog chased the cat. Subject relative clause The dog that chased the cat … = The dog i that t i chased the cat … Object relative clause The cat that the dog chased … = The cat i that the dog chased t i … Which one should be harder to process? The object relative clause, because the relationship between the real filler (the cat) and the gap has to ignore the potential filler (the dog). 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 18

19. Self-paced reading & subject-object The data: reading time for us 20a) My brother wanted to know if Ruth will bring us home to Mom at Xmas. 20b) My brother wanted to know who will bring us home to Mom at Xmas. = 20b) My brother wanted to know who i t i will bring us home to Mom at Xmas. 20c) My brother wanted to know who Ruth will bring us home to at Xmas. = 20c) My brother wanted to know who i Ruth will bring us home to t i at Xmas. Which one should be slowest? (20c) because us is a possible site for the gap/trace of who. 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 19

20. NEURAL IMAGING & ON-LINE SENTENCE PROCESSING 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 20

21. Dipoles, 3 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 21

22. Result of electrical currents: EEG 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 22

23. Scalp EEG Scalp EEG is collected from tens to hundreds of electrodes positioned on different locations at the surface of the head. EEG signals (in the range of millivolts) are amplified and digitalized for later processing. 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 23

24. The 10-20 system The "10" and "20" refer to the fact that the actual distances between adjacent electrodes are either 10% or 20% of the total front-back or right-left distance of the skull. Each site has a letter to identify the lobe and a number to identify the hemisphere location. The letters F, T, C, P and O stand for Frontal, Temporal, Central, Parietal, and Occipital, respectively. Note that there exists no central lobe, the "C" letter is only used for identification purposes only. A "z" (zero) refers to an electrode placed on the midline. Even numbers (2,4,6,8) refer to electrode positions on the right hemisphere, whereas odd numbers (1,3,5,7) refer to those on the left hemisphere. Two anatomical landmarks are used for the essential positioning of the EEG electrodes: first, the nasion which is the point between the forehead and the nose; second, the inion which is the lowest point of the skull from the back of the head and is normally indicated by a prominent bump. 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 24

25. Semantic vs. syntactic ERPs The data a. The boat sailed down the river and sank. b. The boat sailed down the river and ate. c. The boat sailed down the river sank. How would you characterize these sentences? a. well-formed b. semantically anomalous c. syntactically anomalous 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 25

26. ERPs to last verb in sentence 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 26 What does the scale mean? Where does the dashed line diverge most from the solid line? Where does the dotted line diverge most from the solid line?

27. What do they do? N400 A temporarily localized increase in processing load caused by a discrepancy between the meaning of a word and its sentential context. P600 A sustained effort to reinterpret or re-parse a garden path sentence. However, these two may be too slow to reflect modular lexical or syntactic processing. So lets look at a faster ERP. 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 27

28. The early left anterior negativity N150 or ELAN 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 28 Basic flaws in phrase structure: The shirt was on the hanger. The shirt was ironed. *The shirt was on ironed.

29. Modular vs. interactive processing English example (orig. German) Phrase structure obeyed Argument structure obeyed N150N400P600 The old cat slept in the garden and … ✔✔ -- The cat old slept in the garden and … ✖✔✔✖✔ The old cat slept the garden and … ✔✖✖✔✔ The cat old slept the garden and … ✖✖✔✖✔ 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 29 Modular: an error found early could turn off additional processing. Interactive: errors should add up.

30. Final project Improve a Wikipedia article about any of the topics mentioned in class or any other topic broadly related to neurolinguistics. Write a short essay explaining what you did and why you did it. Print the article before you improve it, highlighting any subtractions. Print the article after you improve it, highlighting your additions. 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 30

31. NEXT TIME P10 on Blackboard & in class More syntax 11/20/15Brain & Language - Harry Howard - Tulane University 31