@phdthesis{Tamasi2016,
  author    = {Tamasi, Katalin},
  title     = {Measuring children's sensitivity to phonological detail using eye tracking and pupillometry},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-395954},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xiv, 165},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Infants' lexical processing is modulated by featural manipulations made to words, suggesting that early lexical representations are sufficiently specified to establish a match with the corresponding label. However, the precise degree of detail in early words requires further investigation due to equivocal findings. We studied this question by assessing children's sensitivity to the degree of featural manipulation (Chapters 2 and 3), and sensitivity to the featural makeup of homorganic and heterorganic consonant clusters (Chapter 4). Gradient sensitivity on the one hand and sensitivity to homorganicity on the other hand would suggest that lexical processing makes use of sub-phonemic information, which in turn would indicate that early words contain sub-phonemic detail. The studies presented in this thesis assess children's sensitivity to sub-phonemic detail using minimally demanding online paradigms suitable for infants: single-picture pupillometry and intermodal preferential looking. Such paradigms have the potential to uncover lexical knowledge that may be masked otherwise due to cognitive limitations. The study reported in Chapter 2 obtained a differential response in pupil dilation to the degree of featural manipulation, a result consistent with gradient sensitivity. The study reported in Chapter 3 obtained a differential response in proportion of looking time and pupil dilation to the degree of featural manipulation, a result again consistent with gradient sensitivity. The study reported in Chapter 4 obtained a differential response to the manipulation of homorganic and heterorganic consonant clusters, a result consistent with sensitivity to homorganicity. These results suggest that infants' lexical representations are not only specific, but also detailed to the extent that they contain sub-phonemic information.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Knospe2018,
  author    = {Knospe, Gloria-Mona},
  title     = {Processing of pronouns and reflexives in Turkish-German bilinguals},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-43644},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-436442},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xxii, 410},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Previous studies on native language (L1) anaphor resolution have found that monolingual native speakers are sensitive to syntactic, pragmatic, and semantic constraints on pronouns and reflexive resolution. However, most studies have focused on English and other Germanic languages, and little is currently known about the online (i.e., real-time) processing of anaphors in languages with syntactically less restricted anaphors, such as Turkish. We also know relatively little about how 'non-standard' populations such as non-native (L2) speakers and heritage speakers (HSs) resolve anaphors. This thesis investigates the interpretation and real-time processing of anaphors in German and in a typologically different and as yet understudied language, Turkish. It compares hypotheses about differences between native speakers' (L1ers) and L2 speakers' (L2ers) sentence processing, looking into differences in processing mechanisms as well as the possibility of cross-linguistic influence. To help fill the current research gap regarding HS sentence comprehension, it compares findings for this group with those for L2ers. To investigate the representation and processing of anaphors in these three populations, I carried out a series of offline questionnaires and Visual-World eye-tracking experiments on the resolution of reflexives and pronouns in both German and Turkish. In the German experiments, native German speakers as well as L2ers of German were tested, while in the Turkish experiments, non-bilingual native Turkish speakers as well as HSs of Turkish with L2 German were tested. This allowed me to observe both cross-linguistic differences as well as population differences between monolinguals' and different types of bilinguals' resolution of anaphors. Regarding the comprehension of Turkish anaphors by L1ers, contrary to what has been previously assumed, I found that Turkish has no reflexive that follows Condition A of Binding theory (Chomsky, 1981). Furthermore, I propose more general cross-linguistic differences between Turkish and German, in the form of a stronger reliance on pragmatic information in anaphor resolution overall in Turkish compared to German. As for the processing differences between L1ers and L2ers of a language, I found evidence in support of hypotheses which propose that L2ers of German rely more strongly on non-syntactic information compared to L1ers (Clahsen \& Felser, 2006, 2017; Cunnings, 2016, 2017) independent of a potential influence of their L1. HSs, on the other hand, showed a tendency to overemphasize interpretational contrasts between different Turkish anaphors compared to monolingual native speakers. However, lower-proficiency HSs were likely to merge different forms for simplified representation and processing. Overall, L2ers and HSs showed differences from monolingual native speakers both in their final interpretation of anaphors and during online processing. However, these differences were not parallel between the two types of bilingual and thus do not support a unified model of L2 and HS processing (cf. Montrul, 2012). The findings of this thesis contribute to the field of anaphor resolution by providing data from a previously unexplored language, Turkish, as well as contributing to research on native and non-native processing differences. My results also illustrate the importance of considering individual differences in the acquisition process when studying bilingual language comprehension. Factors such as age of acquisition, language proficiency and the type of input a language learner receives may influence the processing mechanisms they develop and employ, both between and within different bilingual populations.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{Schuetze2020,
  type      = {Master Thesis},
  author    = {Sch{\"u}tze, Christin},
  title     = {Comprehension of gender-neutral forms and the pseudo-generic masculine in German: a visual world eye-tracking study},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-48415},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-484157},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {192},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {Geschlechtergerechte und -inklusive Sprache hat sich w{\"a}hrend der vergangenen Jahre zu einem umstritteten Thema entwickelt und wird interdisziplin{\"a}r von der theoretischen bis zur Psycho-Linguistik, Soziologie sowie Wirtschaft diskutiert - und von allen, die Sprache nutzen. Untersuchungen zum Deutschen, die haupts{\"a}chlich auf Frageb{\"o}gen beruhen (im {\"U}berblick von Braun et al. 2005), L{\"u}ckentexte verwenden (Klein 1988) und Kategorisierungen mit Bildzuordnung abfragen (Irmen \& K{\"o}hncke 1996) disqualifizieren generisch verwendete maskuline Formen als pseudo-generisch: sie verfehlen ihre grammatisch vorgeschriebene Funktion, Referent*innen jeden Geschlechtes einzubeziehen. Ausgewogenere, Geschlechter gleichermaßen benennede Ausdr{\"u}cke (Paarformen wie Lehrer und Lehrerinnen) stellen explizite Referenz her zu weiblicher Pr{\"a}senz und Teilhabe, wodurch sie folglich eine gleichberechtigtere Interpretation beg{\"u}nstigen. Echtzeit("online")-Methoden, um die Verarbeitung geschlechtersensibler Sprache zu untersuchen, sind innerhalb der Forschung zum Ph{\"a}nomenon {\"u}berraschend selten vertreten, abgesehen von den Reaktionszeitmessungen (Irmen \& K{\"o}hncke 1996, Irmen \& Kaczmarek 2000) und Blickbewegungsstudien beim Lesen (Irmen \& Schumann 2011). Zus{\"a}tzlich wurde geschlechterneutrale Sprache (GNS) in der Mehrheit der Experimente nicht fokussiert, und wenn GNS Teil der Stimulusmaterialien war, fielen die Ergebnisse uneindeutig aus (De Backer \& De Cuypere 2012), oder sie befanden solche Alternativen als uneffektiv ({\"a}hnlich der maskulinen Generika, s. Braun et al. 2005), obwohl Richtlinien zu nicht-diskriminierender Sprache diese gemeinhin/ empfehlen. Geschlechterneutrale (GN) Ausdr{\"u}cke f{\"u}r pers{\"o}nliche Referenz im Deutschen umfassen • nominalisierte Partizipien; Substantivierungen im Allgemeinen: Interessierte, Lehrende • Kollektiva im Singular: Publikum, Kollegium • Zusammensetzungen (u. a. mit einer Begrifflichkeit von "-person"): Ansprechpersonen, Lehrkr{\"a}fte • Paraphrasierungen, die ein (genderisiertes) Subjekt umschreiben und somit in den Hintergrund r{\"u}cken: z. B. Passiv- und Relativkonstruktionen In einer Blickbewegungsstudie im "visual world"-Design wurde das Verst{\"a}ndnis von Generika unter der Verwendung maskuliner Nomen und GN-Formen f{\"u}r Rollen- und Berufsbezeichnungen im Plural getestet. In komplexen Stimulusszenarien sollte Referenz zu den auf einem Bildschirm pr{\"a}sentierten Referent*innen hergestellt werden. Am Ende einer jeden Stimuluseinheit wurde eine Frage gestellt, sodass das Bild, das mit den Referent*innen am ehesten {\"u}bereinstimmt, (erneut) identifiziert werden musste. Die Grafiken bildeten 1) eine einzelne Person (Protagonist*in des Settings) ab, 2) eine ausschließlich weibliche Personengruppe, 3) eine ausschießlich m{\"a}nnliche Gruppe, 4) eine gemischtgeschlechtliche Gruppe bestehend aus weiblichen und m{\"a}nnlichen Mitgliedern. Diese Gruppenreferent*innen wurden auditiv vorgestellt mit entweder a) Maskulina (die Lehrer), b) spezifisch weiblichen Nomina, also Feminina (die Lehrerinnen), oder c) einer der oben genannten drei nominalen GN-Varianten (die Lehrkr{\"a}fte). Die Ergebnisse best{\"a}tigen den h{\"a}ufigen m{\"a}nnlichen Bias, eine Schlagseite grammatisch maskuliner Formen, die generisch verwendet werden, hin zu m{\"a}nnlichen Referenten, das heißt, deren spezifisch m{\"a}nnliche Interpretation. Weiterhin hatte der Grad an Stereotypizit{\"a}t von Nomen - wie stereotyp Rollen und Berufe be-/ gewertet werden - einen Einfluss auf die Antworten. Die GN-Alternativen, welche generell daf{\"u}r bekannt sind bzw. wurden indefinite Referenz zu erzielen (ergo "markiert" sind f{\"u}r geschlechterfaire Sprache), stellten sich als am qualifiziertesten heraus, gemischtgeschlechtliche Interpretationen hervorzurufen. War eine pers{\"o}nliche Referenz zuvor mit GN-Termini etabliert worden, wurde eine inklusive(re) Antwort durchg{\"a}ngig bewirkt. Darauf deuten sowohl Blickbewegungen als auch Antwortproportionen hin, doch unterschiedlichen Ausmaßes in Abh{\"a}ngigkeit vom GN Nominaltyp. Konzepte, die in ihrer linguistischen Form von Geschlecht abstrahieren (es "neutralisieren") treten als inklusiver in Erscheinung, und sind somit bessere Kandidatinnen f{\"u}r eine generische Referenz als jener im Maskulinum.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Seelig2021,
  author    = {Seelig, Stefan},
  title     = {Parafoveal processing of lexical information during reading},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-50874},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-508743},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xi, 113},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {During sentence reading the eyes quickly jump from word to word to sample visual information with the high acuity of the fovea. Lexical properties of the currently fixated word are known to affect the duration of the fixation, reflecting an interaction of word processing with oculomotor planning. While low level properties of words in the parafovea can likewise affect the current fixation duration, results concerning the influence of lexical properties have been ambiguous (Drieghe, Rayner, \& Pollatsek, 2008; Kliegl, Nuthmann, \& Engbert, 2006). Experimental investigations of such lexical parafoveal-on-foveal effects using the boundary paradigm have instead shown, that lexical properties of parafoveal previews affect fixation durations on the upcoming target words (Risse \& Kliegl, 2014). However, the results were potentially confounded with effects of preview validity. The notion of parafoveal processing of lexical information challenges extant models of eye movements during reading. Models containing serial word processing assumptions have trouble explaining such effects, as they usually couple successful word processing to saccade planning, resulting in skipping of the parafoveal word. Although models with parallel word processing are less restricted, in the SWIFT model (Engbert, Longtin, \& Kliegl, 2002) only processing of the foveal word can directly influence the saccade latency. Here we combine the results of a boundary experiment (Chapter 2) with a predictive modeling approach using the SWIFT model, where we explore mechanisms of parafoveal inhibition in a simulation study (Chapter 4). We construct a likelihood function for the SWIFT model (Chapter 3) and utilize the experimental data in a Bayesian approach to parameter estimation (Chapter 3 \& 4). The experimental results show a substantial effect of parafoveal preview frequency on fixation durations on the target word, which can be clearly distinguished from the effect of preview validity. Using the eye movement data from the participants, we demonstrate the feasibility of the Bayesian approach even for a small set of estimated parameters, by comparing summary statistics of experimental and simulated data. Finally, we can show that the SWIFT model can account for the lexical preview effects, when a mechanism for parafoveal inhibition is added. The effects of preview validity were modeled best, when processing dependent saccade cancellation was added for invalid trials. In the simulation study only the control condition of the experiment was used for parameter estimation, allowing for cross validation. Simultaneously the number of free parameters was increased. High correlations of summary statistics demonstrate the capabilities of the parameter estimation approach. Taken together, the results advocate for a better integration of experimental data into computational modeling via parameter estimation.},
  language  = {en}
}