TY - THES A1 - Boila, Chiara T1 - The processing of OVS and passive sentences in German monolingual and German-Italian simultaneous bilingual children T1 - Die Verarbeitung von OVS- und Passiv-Sätzen in deutschen monolingualen und deutsch-italienisch simultan-bilingualen Kindern N2 - It is a common finding that preschoolers have difficulties in identifying who is doing what to whom in non-canonical sentences, such as (object-verb-subject) OVS and passive sentences in German. This dissertation investigates how German monolingual and German-Italian simultaneous bilingual children process German OVS sentences in Study 1 and German passives in Study 2. Offline data (i.e., accuracy data) and online data (i.e., eye-gaze and pupillometry data) were analyzed to explore whether children can assign thematic roles during sentence comprehension and processing. Executive functions, language-internal and -external factors were investigated as potential predictors for children’s sentence comprehension and processing. Throughout the literature, there are contradicting findings on the relation between language and executive functions. While some results show a bilingual cognitive advantage over monolingual speakers, others suggest there is no relationship between bilingualism and executive functions. If bilingual children possess more advanced executive function abilities than monolingual children, then this might also be reflected in a better performance on linguistic tasks. In the current studies monolingual and bilingual children were tested by means of two executive function tasks: the Flanker task and the task-switching paradigm. However, these findings showed no bilingual cognitive advantages and no better performance by bilingual children in the linguistic tasks. The performance was rather comparable between bilingual and monolingual children, or even better for the monolingual group. This may be due to cross-linguistic influences and language experience (i.e., language input and output). Italian was used because it does not syntactically overlap with the structure of German OVS sentences, and it only overlapped with one of the two types of sentence condition used for the passive study - considering the subject-(finite)verb alignment. The findings showed a better performance of bilingual children in the passive sentence structure that syntactically overlapped in the two languages, providing evidence for cross-linguistic influences. Further factors for children’s sentence comprehension were considered. The parents’ education, the number of older siblings and language experience variables were derived from a language background questionnaire completed by parents. Scores of receptive vocabulary and grammar, visual and short-term memory and reasoning ability were measured by means of standardized tests. It was shown that higher German language experience by bilinguals correlates with better accuracy in German OVS sentences but not in passive sentences. Memory capacity had a positive effect on the comprehension of OVS and passive sentences in the bilingual group. Additionally, a role was played by executive function abilities in the comprehension of OVS sentences and not of passive sentences. It is suggested that executive function abilities might help children in the sentence comprehension task when the linguistic structures are not yet fully mastered. Altogether, these findings show that bilinguals’ poorer performance in the comprehension and processing of German OVS is mainly due to reduced language experience in German, and that the different performance of bilingual children with the two types of passives is mainly due to cross-linguistic influences. N2 - Es ist ein häufiger Befund, dass Vorschulkinder Schwierigkeiten haben zu erkennen ‚wer etwas mit jemandem tut‘ in nicht-kanonischen Sätzen, wie z.B. deutsche OVS- (Objekt-Verb-Subjekt) oder Passiv-Sätze. Diese Dissertation untersucht wie deutsche monolinguale und deutsch-italienische simultan-bilinguale Kinder deutsche OVS-Sätze (Studie 1) und deutsche Passiv-Sätze (Studie 2) verarbeiten. Offline-Daten (z.B. Datengenauigkeit) und Online-Daten (z.B. Blickbewegung-Daten und Pupillometrie-Daten) wurden analysiert, um herauszufinden, ob Kinder thematische Rollen während Satzverständnis und Satzverarbeitung zuteilen können. Exekutive Funktionen, interne und externe Sprachfaktoren wurden als mögliche Prädiktoren für Satzverständnis und Satzverarbeitung in Kindern untersucht. In der Literatur findet man unterschiedliche Ergebnisse über den Zusammenhang zwischen Sprache und exekutiven Funktionen. Während einige Ergebnisse kognitive Vorteile für bilinguale Sprecher zeigen, deuten andere darauf hin, dass es keinen Zusammenhang zwischen Bilingualismus und exekutiven Funktionen gibt. Wenn bilinguale Kinder fortgeschrittene exekutive Funktionen im Vergleich zu monolingualen Kindern haben, könnte sich dies auch in besseren Leistungen in linguistischen Aufgaben widerspiegeln. In diesem Forschungsprojekt wurden monolinguale und bilinguale Kinder mit zwei verschiedenen Aufgaben getestet, die die exekutiven Funktionen messen: der Flanker-Test und das Aufgabenwechsel-Paradigma. Die Ergebnisse konnten jedoch keinen bilingualen kognitiven Vorteil und keine besseren Leistungen von bilingualen Kindern in den linguistischen Aufgaben belegen. Die Leistung war vergleichbar zwischen monolingualen und bilingualen Kindern, oder sogar besser in der monolingualen Gruppe. Dies könnte an cross-linguistische Einflüssen und Spracherfahrung (z.B. Sprach-Input und -Output) liegen. Italienisch wurde gewählt, da es zum einen keine syntaktischen Überschneidungen mit der Struktur von deutschen OVS-Sätzen aufweist, und zum anderen sich nur in einer von zwei der in der Passiv-Studie genutzten Satz-Bedingungen überschneidet – im Hinblick auf die Subjekt-(finite) Verb Ausrichtung. Die Ergebnisse zeigen eine bessere Leistung von bilingualen Kindern in Passiv-Sätzen, die eine syntaktische Überschneidung in den zwei Sprachen aufweisen, und zeigen somit Hinweise für cross-linguistische Einflüsse. Weitere Einflussfaktoren auf das Satzverständnis der Kinder wurden berücksichtigt. Der Bildungsgrad der Eltern, die Anzahl von älteren Geschwistern und Spracherfahrungsvariablen wurden über den, von den Eltern beantworteten, Sprachhintergrund-Fragebogen abgeleitet. Werte zu rezeptivem Vokabular und Grammatik, Visuelles- und Kurzeitgedächtnis und Denkfähigkeit wurden durch standardisierte Tests erhoben. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass größere Spracherfahrung im Deutschen bei bilingualen Kindern mit einer größeren Genauigkeit bei deutschen OVS-Sätzen korreliert, aber nicht bei Passiv-Sätzen. Bessere Gedächtnisleistung hatte einen positiven Effekt auf das Sprachverständnis der bilingualen Gruppe bei OVS- und Passiv-Sätzen. Zusätzlich spielten exekutive Funktionen eine Rolle beim Verständnis von OVS-Sätzen, aber nicht bei Passiv-Sätzen. Es wird angenommen, dass exekutive Funktionen Kindern in Satzverständnisaufgaben helfen könnten, wenn die linguistischen Strukturen noch nicht vollständig beherrscht werden. Zusammengenommen zeigen die vorliegenden Ergebnisse, dass die geringere Leistung von bilingualen Kindern beim Satzverständnis und Satzverarbeitung von deutschen OVS Sätzen hauptsächlich an der geringeren Spracherfahrung im Deutschen liegt und, dass die unterschiedliche Leistung von bilingualen Kindern mit den zwei Strukturen des Passivs überwiegend auf cross-linguistische Einflüsse zurückzuführen ist. KW - sentence processing KW - bilingualism KW - executive functions KW - eye-tracking KW - Bilingualismus KW - exekutive Funktionen KW - Eye-Tracking-Verfahren KW - Satzverarbeitung Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-629723 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Timme, Sinika A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Raboldt, Michaela T1 - Exercise or not? BT - An empirical illustration of the role of behavioral alternatives in exercise motivation and resulting theoretical considerations T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Objective: Individuals’ decisions to engage in exercise are often the result of in-the-moment choices between exercise and a competing behavioral alternative. The purpose of this study was to investigate processes that occur in-the-moment (i.e., situated processes) when individuals are faced with the choice between exercise and a behavioral alternative during a computerized task. These were analyzed against the background of interindividual differences in individuals’ automatic valuation and controlled evaluation of exercise. Method: In a behavioral alternatives task 101 participants were asked whether they would rather choose an exercise option or a behavioral alternative in 25 trials. Participants’ gaze behavior (first gaze and fixations) was recorded using eye-tracking. An exercise-specific affect misattribution procedure (AMP) was used to assess participants’ automatic valuation of exercise before the task. After the task, self-reported feelings towards exercise (controlled evaluation) and usual weekly exercise volume were assessed. Mixed effects models with random effects for subjects and trials were used for data analysis. Results: Choosing exercise was positively correlated with individuals’ automatic valuation (r = 0.20, p = 0.05), controlled evaluation (r = 0.58, p < 0.001), and their weekly exercise volume (r = 0.43, p < 0.001). Participants showed no bias in their initial gaze or number of fixations towards the exercise or the non-exercise alternative. However, participants were 1.30 times more likely to fixate on the chosen alternative first and more frequently, but this gaze behavior was not related to individuals’ automatic valuation, controlled evaluation, or weekly exercise volume. Conclusion: The results suggest that situated processes arising from defined behavioral alternatives may be independent of individuals’ general preferences. Despite one’s best general intention to exercise more, the choice of a non-exercise alternative behavior may seem more appealing in-the-moment and eventually be chosen. New psychological theories of health behavior change should therefore better consider the role of potentially conflicting alternatives when it comes to initiating physical activity or exercise. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 834 KW - eye-tracking KW - dual-process models KW - situated processes KW - motivation KW - physical activity Y1 - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-588638 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 834 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Timme, Sinika A1 - Brand, Ralf A1 - Raboldt, Michaela T1 - Exercise or not? BT - An empirical illustration of the role of behavioral alternatives in exercise motivation and resulting theoretical considerations JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Objective: Individuals’ decisions to engage in exercise are often the result of in-the-moment choices between exercise and a competing behavioral alternative. The purpose of this study was to investigate processes that occur in-the-moment (i.e., situated processes) when individuals are faced with the choice between exercise and a behavioral alternative during a computerized task. These were analyzed against the background of interindividual differences in individuals’ automatic valuation and controlled evaluation of exercise. Method: In a behavioral alternatives task 101 participants were asked whether they would rather choose an exercise option or a behavioral alternative in 25 trials. Participants’ gaze behavior (first gaze and fixations) was recorded using eye-tracking. An exercise-specific affect misattribution procedure (AMP) was used to assess participants’ automatic valuation of exercise before the task. After the task, self-reported feelings towards exercise (controlled evaluation) and usual weekly exercise volume were assessed. Mixed effects models with random effects for subjects and trials were used for data analysis. Results: Choosing exercise was positively correlated with individuals’ automatic valuation (r = 0.20, p = 0.05), controlled evaluation (r = 0.58, p < 0.001), and their weekly exercise volume (r = 0.43, p < 0.001). Participants showed no bias in their initial gaze or number of fixations towards the exercise or the non-exercise alternative. However, participants were 1.30 times more likely to fixate on the chosen alternative first and more frequently, but this gaze behavior was not related to individuals’ automatic valuation, controlled evaluation, or weekly exercise volume. Conclusion: The results suggest that situated processes arising from defined behavioral alternatives may be independent of individuals’ general preferences. Despite one’s best general intention to exercise more, the choice of a non-exercise alternative behavior may seem more appealing in-the-moment and eventually be chosen. New psychological theories of health behavior change should therefore better consider the role of potentially conflicting alternatives when it comes to initiating physical activity or exercise. KW - eye-tracking KW - dual-process models KW - situated processes KW - motivation KW - physical activity Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1049356 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 14 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - THES A1 - Mertzen, Daniela T1 - A cross-linguistic investigation of similarity-based interference in sentence comprehension T1 - Eine cross-linguistische Untersuchung ähnlichkeitsbasierter Interferenz in der Satzverarbeitung N2 - The aim of this dissertation was to conduct a larger-scale cross-linguistic empirical investigation of similarity-based interference effects in sentence comprehension. Interference studies can offer valuable insights into the mechanisms that are involved in long-distance dependency completion. Many studies have investigated similarity-based interference effects, showing that syntactic and semantic information are employed during long-distance dependency formation (e.g., Arnett & Wagers, 2017; Cunnings & Sturt, 2018; Van Dyke, 2007, Van Dyke & Lewis, 2003; Van Dyke & McElree, 2011). Nevertheless, there are some important open questions in the interference literature that are critical to our understanding of the constraints involved in dependency resolution. The first research question concerns the relative timing of syntactic and semantic interference in online sentence comprehension. Only few interference studies have investigated this question, and, to date, there is not enough data to draw conclusions with regard to their time course (Van Dyke, 2007; Van Dyke & McElree, 2011). Our first cross-linguistic study explores the relative timing of syntactic and semantic interference in two eye-tracking reading experiments that implement the study design used in Van Dyke (2007). The first experiment tests English sentences. The second, larger-sample experiment investigates the two interference types in German. Overall, the data suggest that syntactic and semantic interference can arise simultaneously during retrieval. The second research question concerns a special case of semantic interference: We investigate whether cue-based retrieval interference can be caused by semantically similar items which are not embedded in a syntactic structure. This second interference study builds on a landmark study by Van Dyke & McElree (2006). The study design used in their study is unique in that it is able to pin down the source of interference as a consequence of cue overload during retrieval, when semantic retrieval cues do not uniquely match the retrieval target. Unlike most other interference studies, this design is able to rule out encoding interference as an alternative explanation. Encoding accounts postulate that it is not cue overload at the retrieval site but the erroneous encoding of similar linguistic items in memory that leads to interference (Lewandowsky et al., 2008; Oberauer & Kliegl, 2006). While Van Dyke & McElree (2006) reported cue-based retrieval interference from sentence-external distractors, the evidence for this effect was weak. A subsequent study did not show interference of this type (Van Dyke et al., 2014). Given these inconclusive findings, further research is necessary to investigate semantic cue-based retrieval interference. The second study in this dissertation provides a larger-scale cross-linguistic investigation of cue-based retrieval interference from sentence-external items. Three larger-sample eye-tracking studies in English, German, and Russian tested cue-based interference in the online processing of filler-gap dependencies. This study further extends the previous research by investigating interference in each language under varying task demands (Logačev & Vasishth, 2016; Swets et al., 2008). Overall, we see some very modest support for proactive cue-based retrieval interference in English. Unexpectedly, this was observed only under a low task demand. In German and Russian, there is some evidence against the interference effect. It is possible that interference is attenuated in languages with richer case marking. In sum, the cross-linguistic experiments on the time course of syntactic and semantic interference from sentence-internal distractors support existing evidence of syntactic and semantic interference during sentence comprehension. Our data further show that both types of interference effects can arise simultaneously. Our cross-linguistic experiments investigating semantic cue-based retrieval interference from sentence-external distractors suggest that this type of interference may arise only in specific linguistic contexts. N2 - Ziel dieser Dissertation war es, eine größer-angelegte, sprachübergreifende, empirische Untersuchung von Interferenzeffekten beim Satzverstehen durchzuführen. Interferenzstudien bieten wertvolle Einblicke in die Mechanismen, die während der Satzverarbeitung, insbesondere bei der Bildung von nicht-lokalen Dependenzen eine Rolle spielen. Studien zu ähnlichkeitsbasierten Interferenzeffekten haben gezeigt, dass syntaktische und semantische Informationen bei der Bildung von nicht-lokalen Dependenzen verwendet werden (z. B. Arnett & Wagers, 2017; Cunnings & Sturt, 2018; Van Dyke, 2007, Van Dyke & Lewis, 2003; Van Dyke & McElree, 2011). Dennoch bleiben in der Interferenzliteratur einige wichtige Fragen unbeantwortet, die für unser Verständnis der Satzverarbeitungsmechanismen von Bedeutung sind. Die erste Forschungsfrage betrifft den zeitlichen Ablauf syntaktischer und semantischer Interferenz während des Satzverstehens. Nur wenige Interferenzstudien haben diese Frage untersucht, jedoch sind aktuell nicht genügend Daten vorhanden, um Schlussfolgerungen bezüglich des zeitlichen Verlaufs zu ziehen (Van Dyke, 2007; Van Dyke & McElree, 2011). Die erste sprachübergreifende Studie in dieser Dissertation untersucht den zeitlichen Ablauf von syntaktischer und semantischer Interferenz mithilfe zweier Eyetracking-Leseexperimente. Diese nutzen das von Van Dyke (2007) implementierte Studiendesign. Das erste Experiment testet englische Sätze. Das zweite Experiment, welches eine größere Stichprobe untersucht, testet Interferenzeffekte im Deutschen. Insgesamt deuten die Daten darauf hin, dass syntaktische und semantische Interferenzeffekte zeitgleich auftreten können. Die zweite Forschungsfrage untersucht einen Spezialfall der semantischen Interferenz: Es wird untersucht, ob cue-abhängige Abrufinterferenz durch Items verursacht werden kann, die nicht in die syntaktische Struktur eingebettet sind. Diese zweite Interferenzstudie nutzt das Studiendesign von Van Dyke & McElree (2006), welches in der Lage ist, die Quelle der Interferenzeffekte als Folge von “cue overload” zu bestimmen, d.h., wenn semantische cues während des Abrufs aus dem Gedächtnis nicht eindeutig mit dem Zielwort übereinstimmen. Im Gegensatz zu anderen Interferenzstudien kann dieses Design Enkodierungsinterferenz als alternative Erklärung ausschließen. Enkodierungsansätze nehmen an, dass nicht ein “cue overload”, sondern eine fehlerhafte Kodierung ähnlicher Items im Gedächtnis Interferenz zur Folge hat (Lewandowsky et al., 2008; Oberauer & Kliegl, 2006). Obwohl die Van Dyke & McElree (2006) Studie angibt, cue-basierte Interferenz zu beobachten, ist die Evidenz für diesen Effekt schwach. Eine Folgestudie findet keine Evidenz für Interferenzeffekte dieser Art (Van Dyke et al., 2014). Die nicht eindeutigen Ergebnisse erfordern weitere Untersuchungen semantischer cue-basierter Interferenz. Die zweite Studie in dieser Dissertation untersucht cue-basierte Interferenzeffekte durch Items, die nicht in die syntaktische Struktur eingebettet sind. Drei Eyetracking-Studien, im Englischen, Deutschen und Russischen, untersuchen cue-basierte Interferenz während der Verarbeitung von “filler-gap” Dependenzen. Diese Studie ergänzt bisherige Studien, indem sie Interferenz in mehreren Sprachen sowie unter unterschiedlich komplexen Aufgabenanforderungen untersucht (Logačev & Vasishth, 2016; Swets et al., 2008). Insgesamt zeigen die Daten nur sehr schwache Evidenz für cue-basierte Interferenz im Englischen, und ausschließlich unter wenig komplexen Aufgabenanforderungen. Im Deutschen und Russischen sprechen die Daten gegen einen Interferenzeffekt, was darauf hinweisen könnte, dass Interferenzeffekte in Sprachen mit reicher Kasusmarkierung nur abgeschwächt vorzufinden sind. Insgesamt zeigen die sprachübergreifenden Experimente zum zeitlichen Verlauf syntaktischer und semantischer Interferenz durch satz-interne Items, dass beide Arten von Interferenzeffekten gleichzeitig auftreten können. Unsere sprachübergreifenden Experimente zur Untersuchung semantischer Interferenzen durch satz-externe Items deuten darauf hin, dass diese Art von Interferenz nur kontextspezifisch auftritt. KW - psycholinguistics KW - sentence processing KW - cue-based retrieval KW - similarity-based interference KW - eye-tracking KW - Psycholinguistik KW - Satzverarbeitung KW - Cue-abhängiger Abruf KW - ähnlichkeitsbasierte Gedächtnisinterferenz KW - Eye-tracking Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-556685 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Pauly, Dennis Nikolas A1 - Nottbusch, Guido T1 - The Influence of the German Capitalization Rules on Reading T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - German orthography systematically marks all nouns (even other nominalized word classes) by capitalizing their first letter. It is often claimed that readers benefit from the uppercase-letter syntactic and semantic information, which makes the processing of sentences easier (e.g., Bock et al., 1985, 1989). In order to test this hypothesis, we asked 54 German readers to read single sentences systematically manipulated by a target word (N). In the experimental condition (EXP), we used semantic priming (in the following example: sick → cold) in order to build up a strong expectation of a noun, which was actually an attribute for the following noun (N+1) (translated to English e.g., “The sick writer had a cold (N) nose (N+1) …”). The sentences in the control condition were built analogously, but word N was purposefully altered (keeping word length and frequency constant) to make its interpretation as a noun extremely unlikely (e.g., “The sick writer had a blue (N) nose (N+1) …”). In both conditions, the sentences were presented either following German standard orthography (Cap) or in lowercase spelling (NoCap). The capitalized nouns in the EXP/Cap condition should then prevent garden-path parsing, as capital letters can be recognized parafoveally. However, in the EXP/NoCap condition, we expected a garden-path effect on word N+1 affecting first-pass fixations and the number of regressions, as the reader realizes that word N is instead an adjective. As the control condition does not include a garden-path, we expected to find (small) effects of the violation of the orthographic rule in the CON/NoCap condition, but no garden-path effect. As a global result, it can be stated that reading sentences in which nouns are not marked by a majuscule slows a native German reader down significantly, but from an absolute point of view, the effect is small. Compared with other manipulations (e.g., transpositions or substitutions), a lowercase letter still represents the correct allograph in the correct position without affecting phonology. Furthermore, most German readers do have experience with other alphabetic writing systems that lack consistent noun capitalization, and in (private) digital communication lowercase nouns are quite common. Although our garden-path sentences did not show the desired effect, we found an indication of grammatical pre-processing enabled by the majuscule in the regularly spelled sentences: In the case of high noun frequency, we post hoc located parafovea-on-fovea effects, i.e., longer fixation durations, on the attributive adjective (word N). These benefits of capitalization could only be detected under specific circumstances. In other cases, we conclude that longer reading durations are mainly the result of disturbance in readers' habituation when the expected capitalization is missing. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 622 KW - orthography KW - eye-tracking KW - reading KW - noun KW - parafoveal and foveal processing Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-460857 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 622 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Krasotkina, Anna A1 - Götz, Antonia A1 - Höhle, Barbara A1 - Schwarzer, Gudrun T1 - Infants’ gaze patterns for same-race and other-race faces, and the other-race effect T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - The other-race effect (ORE) can be described as difficulties in discriminating between faces of ethnicities other than one’s own, and can already be observed at approximately 9 months of age. Recent studies also showed that infants visually explore same-and other-race faces differently. However, it is still unclear whether infants’ looking behavior for same- and other-race faces is related to their face discrimination abilities. To investigate this question we conducted a habituation–dishabituation experiment to examine Caucasian 9-month-old infants’ gaze behavior, and their discrimination of same- and other-race faces, using eye-tracking measurements. We found that infants looked longer at the eyes of same-race faces over the course of habituation, as compared to other-race faces. After habituation, infants demonstrated a clear other-race effect by successfully discriminating between same-race faces, but not other-race faces. Importantly, the infants’ ability to discriminate between same-race faces significantly correlated with their fixation time towards the eyes of same-race faces during habituation. Thus, our findings suggest that for infants old enough to begin exhibiting the ORE, gaze behavior during habituation is related to their ability to differentiate among same-race faces, compared to other-race faces. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 686 KW - eye-tracking KW - infancy KW - habituation KW - other-race effect KW - face discrimination Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-471615 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 686 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pauly, Dennis Nikolas A1 - Nottbusch, Guido T1 - The Influence of the German Capitalization Rules on Reading JF - Frontiers in Communication N2 - German orthography systematically marks all nouns (even other nominalized word classes) by capitalizing their first letter. It is often claimed that readers benefit from the uppercase-letter syntactic and semantic information, which makes the processing of sentences easier (e.g., Bock et al., 1985, 1989). In order to test this hypothesis, we asked 54 German readers to read single sentences systematically manipulated by a target word (N). In the experimental condition (EXP), we used semantic priming (in the following example: sick -> cold) in order to build up a strong expectation of a noun, which was actually an attribute for the following noun (N+1) (translated to English e.g., "The sick writer had a cold (N) nose (N+1) ..."). The sentences in the control condition were built analogously, but word N was purposefully altered (keeping word length and frequency constant) to make its interpretation as a noun extremely unlikely (e.g., "The sick writer had a blue (N) nose (N+1) ..."). In both conditions, the sentences were presented either following German standard orthography (Cap) or in lowercase spelling (NoCap). The capitalized nouns in the EXP/Cap condition should then prevent garden-path parsing, as capital letters can be recognized parafoveally. However, in the EXP/NoCap condition, we expected a garden-path effect on word N+1 affecting first-pass fixations and the number of regressions, as the reader realizes that word N is instead an adjective. As the control condition does not include a garden-path, we expected to find (small) effects of the violation of the orthographic rule in the CON/NoCap condition, but no garden-path effect. As a global result, it can be stated that reading sentences in which nouns are not marked by a majuscule slows a native German reader down significantly, but from an absolute point of view, the effect is small. Compared with other manipulations (e.g., transpositions or substitutions), a lowercase letter still represents the correct allograph in the correct position without affecting phonology. Furthermore, most German readers do have experience with other alphabetic writing systems that lack consistent noun capitalization, and in (private) digital communication lowercase nouns are quite common. Although our garden-path sentences did not show the desired effect, we found an indication of grammatical pre-processing enabled by the majuscule in the regularly spelled sentences: In the case of high noun frequency, we post hoc located parafovea-on-fovea effects, i.e., longer fixation durations, on the attributive adjective (word N). These benefits of capitalization could only be detected under specific circumstances. In other cases, we conclude that longer reading durations are mainly the result of disturbance in readers' habituation when the expected capitalization is missing. KW - orthography KW - eye-tracking KW - reading KW - noun KW - parafoveal and foveal KW - processing Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00015 SN - 2297-900X VL - 5 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krasotkina, Anna A1 - Götz, Antonia A1 - Höhle, Barbara A1 - Schwarzer, Gudrun T1 - Infants’ gaze patterns for same-race and other-race faces, and the other-race effect JF - Brain Sciences N2 - The other-race effect (ORE) can be described as difficulties in discriminating between faces of ethnicities other than one's own, and can already be observed at approximately 9 months of age. Recent studies also showed that infants visually explore same-and other-race faces differently. However, it is still unclear whether infants' looking behavior for same- and other-race faces is related to their face discrimination abilities. To investigate this question we conducted a habituation-dishabituation experiment to examine Caucasian 9-month-old infants' gaze behavior, and their discrimination of same- and other-race faces, using eye-tracking measurements. We found that infants looked longer at the eyes of same-race faces over the course of habituation, as compared to other-race faces. After habituation, infants demonstrated a clear other-race effect by successfully discriminating between same-race faces, but not other-race faces. Importantly, the infants' ability to discriminate between same-race faces significantly correlated with their fixation time towards the eyes of same-race faces during habituation. Thus, our findings suggest that for infants old enough to begin exhibiting the ORE, gaze behavior during habituation is related to their ability to differentiate among same-race faces, compared to other-race faces. KW - eye-tracking KW - infancy KW - habituation KW - other-race effect KW - face KW - discrimination Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10060331 SN - 2076-3425 VL - 10 IS - 6 PB - Brain Sciences CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pauly, Dennis Nikolas A1 - Nottbusch, Guido T1 - The Influence of the German Capitalization Rules on Reading JF - Frontiers in Communication N2 - German orthography systematically marks all nouns (even other nominalized word classes) by capitalizing their first letter. It is often claimed that readers benefit from the uppercase-letter syntactic and semantic information, which makes the processing of sentences easier (e.g., Bock et al., 1985, 1989). In order to test this hypothesis, we asked 54 German readers to read single sentences systematically manipulated by a target word (N). In the experimental condition (EXP), we used semantic priming (in the following example: sick → cold) in order to build up a strong expectation of a noun, which was actually an attribute for the following noun (N+1) (translated to English e.g., “The sick writer had a cold (N) nose (N+1) …”). The sentences in the control condition were built analogously, but word N was purposefully altered (keeping word length and frequency constant) to make its interpretation as a noun extremely unlikely (e.g., “The sick writer had a blue (N) nose (N+1) …”). In both conditions, the sentences were presented either following German standard orthography (Cap) or in lowercase spelling (NoCap). The capitalized nouns in the EXP/Cap condition should then prevent garden-path parsing, as capital letters can be recognized parafoveally. However, in the EXP/NoCap condition, we expected a garden-path effect on word N+1 affecting first-pass fixations and the number of regressions, as the reader realizes that word N is instead an adjective. As the control condition does not include a garden-path, we expected to find (small) effects of the violation of the orthographic rule in the CON/NoCap condition, but no garden-path effect. As a global result, it can be stated that reading sentences in which nouns are not marked by a majuscule slows a native German reader down significantly, but from an absolute point of view, the effect is small. Compared with other manipulations (e.g., transpositions or substitutions), a lowercase letter still represents the correct allograph in the correct position without affecting phonology. Furthermore, most German readers do have experience with other alphabetic writing systems that lack consistent noun capitalization, and in (private) digital communication lowercase nouns are quite common. Although our garden-path sentences did not show the desired effect, we found an indication of grammatical pre-processing enabled by the majuscule in the regularly spelled sentences: In the case of high noun frequency, we post hoc located parafovea-on-fovea effects, i.e., longer fixation durations, on the attributive adjective (word N). These benefits of capitalization could only be detected under specific circumstances. In other cases, we conclude that longer reading durations are mainly the result of disturbance in readers' habituation when the expected capitalization is missing. KW - orthography KW - eye-tracking KW - reading KW - noun KW - parafoveal and foveal processing Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00015 SN - 2297-900X VL - 5 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - GEN A1 - Söchting, Maximilian A1 - Trapp, Matthias T1 - Controlling image-stylization techniques using eye tracking T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Reihe der Digital Engineering Fakultät N2 - With the spread of smart phones capable of taking high-resolution photos and the development of high-speed mobile data infrastructure, digital visual media is becoming one of the most important forms of modern communication. With this development, however, also comes a devaluation of images as a media form with the focus becoming the frequency at which visual content is generated instead of the quality of the content. In this work, an interactive system using image-abstraction techniques and an eye tracking sensor is presented, which allows users to experience diverting and dynamic artworks that react to their eye movement. The underlying modular architecture enables a variety of different interaction techniques that share common design principles, making the interface as intuitive as possible. The resulting experience allows users to experience a game-like interaction in which they aim for a reward, the artwork, while being held under constraints, e.g., not blinking. The co nscious eye movements that are required by some interaction techniques hint an interesting, possible future extension for this work into the field of relaxation exercises and concentration training. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Reihe der Digital Engineering Fakultät - 7 KW - eye-tracking KW - image abstraction KW - image processing KW - artistic image stylization KW - interactive media Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-524717 IS - 7 ER -