@article{BuerkiFoschiniElbuyMadecetal.2020,
author = {B{\"u}rki-Foschini, Audrey Damaris and Elbuy, Shereen and Madec, Sylvain and Vasishth, Shravan},
title = {What did we learn from forty years of research on semantic interference?},
series = {Journal of memory and language},
volume = {114},
journal = {Journal of memory and language},
publisher = {Elsevier},
address = {San Diego},
issn = {0749-596X},
doi = {10.1016/j.jml.2020.104125},
pages = {25},
year = {2020},
abstract = {When participants in an experiment have to name pictures while ignoring distractor words superimposed on the picture or presented auditorily (i.e., picture-word interference paradigm), they take more time when the word to be named (or target) and distractor words are from the same semantic category (e.g., cat-dog). This experimental effect is known as the semantic interference effect, and is probably one of the most studied in the language production literature. The functional origin of the effect and the exact conditions in which it occurs are however still debated. Since Lupker (1979) reported the effect in the first response time experiment about 40 years ago, more than 300 similar experiments have been conducted. The semantic interference effect was replicated in many experiments, but several studies also reported the absence of an effect in a subset of experimental conditions. The aim of the present study is to provide a comprehensive theoretical review of the existing evidence to date and several Bayesian meta-analyses and meta-regressions to determine the size of the effect and explore the experimental conditions in which the effect surfaces. The results are discussed in the light of current debates about the functional origin of the semantic interference effect and its implications for our understanding of the language production system.},
language = {en}
}
@article{Vasishth2020,
author = {Vasishth, Shravan},
title = {Using approximate Bayesian computation for estimating parameters in the cue-based retrieval model of sentence processing},
series = {MethodsX},
volume = {7},
journal = {MethodsX},
publisher = {Elsevier},
address = {Amsterdam},
issn = {2215-0161},
doi = {10.1016/j.mex.2020.100850},
pages = {6},
year = {2020},
abstract = {A commonly used approach to parameter estimation in computational models is the so-called grid search procedure: the entire parameter space is searched in small steps to determine the parameter value that provides the best fit to the observed data. This approach has several disadvantages: first, it can be computationally very expensive; second, one optimal point value of the parameter is reported as the best fit value; we cannot quantify our uncertainty about the parameter estimate. In the main journal article that this methods article accompanies (Jager et al., 2020, Interference patterns in subject-verb agreement and reflexives revisited: A large-sample study, Journal of Memory and Language), we carried out parameter estimation using Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC), which is a Bayesian approach that allows us to quantify our uncertainty about the parameter's values given data. This customization has the further advantage that it allows us to generate both prior and posterior predictive distributions of reading times from the cue-based retrieval model of Lewis and Vasishth, 2005.
Instead of the conventional method of using grid search, we use Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) for parameter estimation in the [4] model.
The ABC method of parameter estimation has the advantage that the uncertainty of the parameter can be quantified.},
language = {en}
}
@article{PaapeVasishthvonderMalsburg2020,
author = {Paape, Dario and Vasishth, Shravan and von der Malsburg, Titus Raban},
title = {Quadruplex negatio invertit?},
series = {Journal of semantics},
volume = {37},
journal = {Journal of semantics},
number = {4},
publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press},
address = {Oxford},
issn = {0167-5133},
doi = {10.1093/jos/ffaa009},
pages = {509 -- 555},
year = {2020},
abstract = {So-called "depth charge" sentences (No head injury is too trivial to be ignored) are interpreted by the vast majority of speakers to mean the opposite of what their compositional semantics would dictate. The semantic inversion that is observed for sentences of this type is the strongest and most persistent linguistic illusion known to the field (Wason \& Reich, 1979). However, it has recently been argued that the preferred interpretation arises not because of a prevailing failure of the processing system, but rather because the non-compositional meaning is grammaticalized in the form of a stored construction (Cook \& Stevenson, 2010; Fortuin, 2014). In a series of five experiments, we investigate whether the depth charge effect is better explained by processing failure due to memory overload (the overloading hypothesis) or by the existence of an underlying grammaticalized construction with two available meanings (the ambiguity hypothesis). To our knowledge, our experiments are the first to explore the on-line processing profile of depth charge sentences. Overall, the data are consistent with specific variants of the ambiguity and overloading hypotheses while providing evidence against other variants. As an extension of the overloading hypothesis, we suggest two heuristic processes that may ultimately yield the incorrect reading when compositional processing is suspended for strategic reasons.},
language = {en}
}
@article{EngbertRabeSchwetlicketal.2022,
author = {Engbert, Ralf and Rabe, Maximilian Michael and Schwetlick, Lisa and Seelig, Stefan A. and Reich, Sebastian and Vasishth, Shravan},
title = {Data assimilation in dynamical cognitive science},
series = {Trends in cognitive sciences},
volume = {26},
journal = {Trends in cognitive sciences},
number = {2},
publisher = {Elsevier},
address = {Amsterdam},
issn = {1364-6613},
doi = {10.1016/j.tics.2021.11.006},
pages = {99 -- 102},
year = {2022},
abstract = {Dynamical models make specific assumptions about cognitive processes that generate human behavior. In data assimilation, these models are tested against timeordered data. Recent progress on Bayesian data assimilation demonstrates that this approach combines the strengths of statistical modeling of individual differences with the those of dynamical cognitive models.},
language = {en}
}
@misc{StoneVasishthMalsburg2022,
author = {Stone, Kate and Vasishth, Shravan and Malsburg, Titus von der},
title = {Does entropy modulate the prediction of German long-distance verb particles?},
series = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
journal = {Zweitver{\"o}ffentlichungen der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
publisher = {Universit{\"a}tsverlag Potsdam},
address = {Potsdam},
issn = {1866-8364},
doi = {10.25932/publishup-56231},
url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-562312},
pages = {1 -- 25},
year = {2022},
abstract = {In this paper we examine the effect of uncertainty on readers' predictions about meaning. In particular, we were interested in how uncertainty might influence the likelihood of committing to a specific sentence meaning. We conducted two event-related potential (ERP) experiments using particle verbs such as turn down and manipulated uncertainty by constraining the context such that readers could be either highly certain about the identity of a distant verb particle, such as turn the bed […] down, or less certain due to competing particles, such as turn the music […] up/down. The study was conducted in German, where verb particles appear clause-finally and may be separated from the verb by a large amount of material. We hypothesised that this separation would encourage readers to predict the particle, and that high certainty would make prediction of a specific particle more likely than lower certainty. If a specific particle was predicted, this would reflect a strong commitment to sentence meaning that should incur a higher processing cost if the prediction is wrong. If a specific particle was less likely to be predicted, commitment should be weaker and the processing cost of a wrong prediction lower. If true, this could suggest that uncertainty discourages predictions via an unacceptable cost-benefit ratio. However, given the clear predictions made by the literature, it was surprisingly unclear whether the uncertainty manipulation affected the two ERP components studied, the N400 and the PNP. Bayes factor analyses showed that evidence for our a priori hypothesised effect sizes was inconclusive, although there was decisive evidence against a priori hypothesised effect sizes larger than 1μV for the N400 and larger than 3μV for the PNP. We attribute the inconclusive finding to the properties of verb-particle dependencies that differ from the verb-noun dependencies in which the N400 and PNP are often studied.},
language = {en}
}
@misc{JaegerEngelmannVasishth2017,
author = {Jaeger, Lena A. and Engelmann, Felix and Vasishth, Shravan},
title = {Similarity-based interference in sentence comprehension: Literature review and Bayesian meta-analysis},
series = {Journal of memory and language},
volume = {94},
journal = {Journal of memory and language},
publisher = {Elsevier},
address = {San Diego},
issn = {0749-596X},
doi = {10.1016/j.jml.2017.01.004},
pages = {316 -- 339},
year = {2017},
abstract = {We report a comprehensive review of the published reading studies on retrieval interference in reflexive-/reciprocal-antecedent and subject-verb dependencies. We also provide a quantitative random-effects meta-analysis of eyetracking and self-paced reading studies. We show that the empirical evidence is only partly consistent with cue-based retrieval as implemented in the ACT-R-based model of sentence processing by Lewis and Vasishth (2005) (LV05) and that there are important differences between the reviewed dependency types. In non-agreement subject-verb dependencies, there is evidence for inhibitory interference in configurations where the correct dependent fully matches the retrieval cues. This is consistent with the LV05 cue-based retrieval account. By contrast, in subject-verb agreement as well as in reflexive-/reciprocal-antecedent dependencies, no evidence for inhibitory interference is found in configurations with a fully cue-matching subject/antecedent. In configurations with only a partially cue-matching subject or antecedent, the meta-analysis reveals facilitatory interference in subject-verb agreement and inhibitory interference in reflexives/reciprocals. The former is consistent with the LV05 account, but the latter is not. Moreover, the meta-analysis reveals that (i) interference type (proactive versus retroactive) leads to different effects in the reviewed dependency types and (ii) the prominence of the distractor strongly influences the interference effect. In sum, the meta-analysis suggests that the LV05 needs important modifications to account for the unexplained interference patterns and the differences between the dependency types. More generally, the meta-analysis provides a quantitative empirical basis for comparing the predictions of competing accounts of retrieval processes in sentence comprehension. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.},
language = {en}
}
@article{FrankTrompenaarsVasishth2016,
author = {Frank, Stefan L. and Trompenaars, Thijs and Vasishth, Shravan},
title = {Cross-Linguistic Differences in Processing Double-Embedded Relative Clauses: Working-Memory Constraints or Language Statistics?},
series = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society},
volume = {40},
journal = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society},
publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell},
address = {Hoboken},
issn = {0364-0213},
doi = {10.1111/cogs.12247},
pages = {554 -- 578},
year = {2016},
abstract = {An English double-embedded relative clause from which the middle verb is omitted can often be processed more easily than its grammatical counterpart, a phenomenon known as the grammaticality illusion. This effect has been found to be reversed in German, suggesting that the illusion is language specific rather than a consequence of universal working memory constraints. We present results from three self-paced reading experiments which show that Dutch native speakers also do not show the grammaticality illusion in Dutch, whereas both German and Dutch native speakers do show the illusion when reading English sentences. These findings provide evidence against working memory constraints as an explanation for the observed effect in English. We propose an alternative account based on the statistical patterns of the languages involved. In support of this alternative, a single recurrent neural network model that is trained on both Dutch and English sentences is shown to predict the cross-linguistic difference in the grammaticality effect.},
language = {en}
}
@article{VasishthNicenboim2016,
author = {Vasishth, Shravan and Nicenboim, Bruno},
title = {Statistical Methods for Linguistic Research: Foundational Ideas - Part I},
series = {Language and linguistics compass},
volume = {10},
journal = {Language and linguistics compass},
publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell},
address = {Hoboken},
issn = {1749-818X},
doi = {10.1111/lnc3.12201},
pages = {349 -- 369},
year = {2016},
abstract = {We present the fundamental ideas underlying statistical hypothesis testing using the frequentist framework. We start with a simple example that builds up the one-sample t-test from the beginning, explaining important concepts such as the sampling distribution of the sample mean, and the iid assumption. Then, we examine the meaning of the p-value in detail and discuss several important misconceptions about what a p-value does and does not tell us. This leads to a discussion of Type I, II error and power, and Type S and M error. An important conclusion from this discussion is that one should aim to carry out appropriately powered studies. Next, we discuss two common issues that we have encountered in psycholinguistics and linguistics: running experiments until significance is reached and the 'garden-of-forking-paths' problem discussed by Gelman and others. The best way to use frequentist methods is to run appropriately powered studies, check model assumptions, clearly separate exploratory data analysis from planned comparisons decided upon before the study was run, and always attempt to replicate results.},
language = {en}
}
@article{VasishthLewis2006,
author = {Vasishth, Shravan and Lewis, Richard L.},
title = {Argument-head distance and processing complexity: Explaining both locality and antilocality effects},
series = {Language : journal of the Linguistic Society of America},
volume = {82},
journal = {Language : journal of the Linguistic Society of America},
number = {4},
publisher = {Linguistic Society of America},
address = {Washington},
issn = {0097-8507},
doi = {10.1353/lan.2006.0236},
pages = {767 -- 794},
year = {2006},
abstract = {Although proximity between arguments and verbs (locality) is a relatively robust determinant of sentence-processing difficulty (Hawkins 1998, 2001, Gibson 2000), increasing argument-verb distance can also facilitate processing (Konieczny 2000). We present two self-paced reading (SPR) experiments involving Hindi that provide further evidence of antilocality, and a third SPR experiment which suggests that similarity-based interference can attenuate this distance-based facilitation. A unified explanation of interference, locality, and antilocality effects is proposed via an independently motivated theory of activation decay and retrieval interference (Anderson et al. 2004).*},
language = {en}
}
@article{SorensenHohensteinVasishth2016,
author = {Sorensen, Tanner and Hohenstein, Sven and Vasishth, Shravan},
title = {Bayesian linear mixed models using Stan: A tutorial for psychologists, linguists, and cognitive scientists},
series = {Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology},
volume = {12},
journal = {Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology},
publisher = {University of Montreal, Department of Psychology},
address = {Montreal},
issn = {2292-1354},
doi = {10.20982/tqmp.12.3.p175},
pages = {175 -- 200},
year = {2016},
abstract = {With the arrival of the R packages nlme and lme4, linear mixed models (LMMs) have come to be widely used in experimentally-driven areas like psychology, linguistics, and cognitive science. This tutorial provides a practical introduction to fitting LMMs in a Bayesian framework using the probabilistic programming language Stan. We choose Stan (rather than WinBUGS or JAGS) because it provides an elegant and scalable framework for fitting models in most of the standard applications of LMMs. We ease the reader into fitting increasingly complex LMMs, using a two-condition repeated measures self-paced reading study.},
language = {en}
}
@misc{VasishthNicenboimEngelmannetal.2019,
author = {Vasishth, Shravan and Nicenboim, Bruno and Engelmann, Felix and Burchert, Frank},
title = {Computational Models of Retrieval Processes in Sentence Processing},
series = {Trends in Cognitive Sciences},
volume = {23},
journal = {Trends in Cognitive Sciences},
number = {11},
publisher = {Elsevier},
address = {London},
issn = {1364-6613},
doi = {10.1016/j.tics.2019.09.003},
pages = {968 -- 982},
year = {2019},
abstract = {Sentence comprehension requires that the comprehender work out who did what to whom. This process has been characterized as retrieval from memory. This review summarizes the quantitative predictions and empirical coverage of the two existing computational models of retrieval and shows how the predictive performance of these two competing models can be tested against a benchmark data-set. We also show how computational modeling can help us better understand sources of variability in both unimpaired and impaired sentence comprehension.},
language = {en}
}
@article{MetznervonderMalsburgVasishthetal.2017,
author = {Metzner, Paul and von der Malsburg, Titus Raban and Vasishth, Shravan and Roesler, Frank},
title = {The Importance of Reading Naturally: Evidence From Combined Recordings of Eye Movements and Electric Brain Potentials},
series = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society},
volume = {41},
journal = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society},
publisher = {Wiley},
address = {Hoboken},
issn = {0364-0213},
doi = {10.1111/cogs.12384},
pages = {1232 -- 1263},
year = {2017},
language = {en}
}
@article{VasishthNicenboimBeckmanetal.2018,
author = {Vasishth, Shravan and Nicenboim, Bruno and Beckman, Mary E. and Li, Fangfang and Kong, Eun Jong},
title = {Bayesian data analysis in the phonetic sciences},
series = {Journal of phonetics},
volume = {71},
journal = {Journal of phonetics},
publisher = {Elsevier},
address = {London},
issn = {0095-4470},
doi = {10.1016/j.wocn.2018.07.008},
pages = {147 -- 161},
year = {2018},
abstract = {This tutorial analyzes voice onset time (VOT) data from Dongbei (Northeastern) Mandarin Chinese and North American English to demonstrate how Bayesian linear mixed models can be fit using the programming language Stan via the R package brms. Through this case study, we demonstrate some of the advantages of the Bayesian framework: researchers can (i) flexibly define the underlying process that they believe to have generated the data; (ii) obtain direct information regarding the uncertainty about the parameter that relates the data to the theoretical question being studied; and (iii) incorporate prior knowledge into the analysis. Getting started with Bayesian modeling can be challenging, especially when one is trying to model one's own (often unique) data. It is difficult to see how one can apply general principles described in textbooks to one's own specific research problem. We address this barrier to using Bayesian methods by providing three detailed examples, with source code to allow easy reproducibility. The examples presented are intended to give the reader a flavor of the process of model-fitting; suggestions for further study are also provided. All data and code are available from: https://osf.io/g4zpv.},
language = {en}
}
@article{NicenboimRoettgerVasishth2018,
author = {Nicenboim, Bruno and Roettger, Timo B. and Vasishth, Shravan},
title = {Using meta-analysis for evidence synthesis},
series = {Journal of phonetics},
volume = {70},
journal = {Journal of phonetics},
publisher = {Elsevier},
address = {London},
issn = {0095-4470},
doi = {10.1016/j.wocn.2018.06.001},
pages = {39 -- 55},
year = {2018},
abstract = {Within quantitative phonetics, it is common practice to draw conclusions based on statistical significance alone Using incomplete neutralization of final devoicing in German as a case study, we illustrate the problems with this approach. If researchers find a significant acoustic difference between voiceless and devoiced obstruents, they conclude that neutralization is incomplete, and if they find no significant difference, they conclude that neutralization is complete. However, such strong claims regarding the existence or absence of an effect based on significant results alone can be misleading. Instead, the totality of available evidence should be brought to bear on the question. Towards this end, we synthesize the evidence from 14 studies on incomplete neutralization in German using a Bayesian random-effects meta-analysis. Our meta-analysis provides evidence in favor of incomplete neutralization. We conclude with some suggestions for improving the quality of future research on phonetic phenomena: ensure that sample sizes allow for high-precision estimates of the effect; avoid the temptation to deploy researcher degrees of freedom when analyzing data; focus on estimates of the parameter of interest and the uncertainty about that parameter; attempt to replicate effects found; and, whenever possible, make both the data and analysis available publicly. (c) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.},
language = {en}
}
@article{VasishthMertzenJaegeretal.2018,
author = {Vasishth, Shravan and Mertzen, Daniela and Jaeger, Lena A. and Gelman, Andrew},
title = {The statistical significance filter leads to overoptimistic expectations of replicability},
series = {Journal of memory and language},
volume = {103},
journal = {Journal of memory and language},
publisher = {Elsevier},
address = {San Diego},
issn = {0749-596X},
doi = {10.1016/j.jml.2018.07.004},
pages = {151 -- 175},
year = {2018},
abstract = {It is well-known in statistics (e.g., Gelman \& Carlin, 2014) that treating a result as publishable just because the p-value is less than 0.05 leads to overoptimistic expectations of replicability. These effects get published, leading to an overconfident belief in replicability. We demonstrate the adverse consequences of this statistical significance filter by conducting seven direct replication attempts (268 participants in total) of a recent paper (Levy \& Keller, 2013). We show that the published claims are so noisy that even non-significant results are fully compatible with them. We also demonstrate the contrast between such small-sample studies and a larger-sample study; the latter generally yields a less noisy estimate but also a smaller effect magnitude, which looks less compelling but is more realistic. We reiterate several suggestions from the methodology literature for improving current practices.},
language = {en}
}
@article{NicenboimVasishth2018,
author = {Nicenboim, Bruno and Vasishth, Shravan},
title = {Models of retrieval in sentence comprehension},
series = {Journal of memory and language},
volume = {99},
journal = {Journal of memory and language},
publisher = {Elsevier},
address = {San Diego},
issn = {0749-596X},
doi = {10.1016/j.jml.2017.08.004},
pages = {1 -- 34},
year = {2018},
abstract = {Research on similarity-based interference has provided extensive evidence that the formation of dependencies between non-adjacent words relies on a cue-based retrieval mechanism. There are two different models that can account for one of the main predictions of interference, i.e., a slowdown at a retrieval site, when several items share a feature associated with a retrieval cue: Lewis and Vasishth's (2005) activation-based model and McElree's (2000) direct-access model. Even though these two models have been used almost interchangeably, they are based on different assumptions and predict differences in the relationship between reading times and response accuracy. The activation-based model follows the assumptions of the ACT-R framework, and its retrieval process behaves as a lognormal race between accumulators of evidence with a single variance. Under this model, accuracy of the retrieval is determined by the winner of the race and retrieval time by its rate of accumulation. In contrast, the direct-access model assumes a model of memory where only the probability of retrieval can be affected, while the retrieval time is drawn from the same distribution; in this model, differences in latencies are a by-product of the possibility of backtracking and repairing incorrect retrievals. We implemented both models in a Bayesian hierarchical framework in order to evaluate them and compare them. The data show that correct retrievals take longer than incorrect ones, and this pattern is better fit under the direct-access model than under the activation-based model. This finding does not rule out the possibility that retrieval may be behaving as a race model with assumptions that follow less closely the ones from the ACT-R framework. By introducing a modification of the activation model, i.e., by assuming that the accumulation of evidence for retrieval of incorrect items is not only slower but noisier (i.e., different variances for the correct and incorrect items), the model can provide a fit as good as the one of the direct-access model. This first ever computational evaluation of alternative accounts of retrieval processes in sentence processing opens the way for a broader investigation of theories of dependency completion.},
language = {en}
}
@article{MaetzigVasishthEngelmannetal.2018,
author = {M{\"a}tzig, Paul and Vasishth, Shravan and Engelmann, Felix and Caplan, David and Burchert, Frank},
title = {A computational investigation of sources of variability in sentence comprehension difficulty in aphasia},
series = {Topics in cognitive science},
volume = {10},
journal = {Topics in cognitive science},
number = {1},
publisher = {Wiley},
address = {Hoboken},
issn = {1756-8757},
doi = {10.1111/tops.12323},
pages = {161 -- 174},
year = {2018},
abstract = {We present a computational evaluation of three hypotheses about sources of deficit in sentence comprehension in aphasia: slowed processing, intermittent deficiency, and resource reduction. The ACT-R based Lewis and Vasishth (2005) model is used to implement these three proposals. Slowed processing is implemented as slowed execution time of parse steps; intermittent deficiency as increased random noise in activation of elements in memory; and resource reduction as reduced spreading activation. As data, we considered subject vs. object relative sentences, presented in a self-paced listening modality to 56 individuals with aphasia (IWA) and 46 matched controls. The participants heard the sentences and carried out a picture verification task to decide on an interpretation of the sentence. These response accuracies are used to identify the best parameters (for each participant) that correspond to the three hypotheses mentioned above. We show that controls have more tightly clustered (less variable) parameter values than IWA; specifically, compared to controls, among IWA there are more individuals with slow parsing times, high noise, and low spreading activation. We find that (a) individual IWA show differential amounts of deficit along the three dimensions of slowed processing, intermittent deficiency, and resource reduction, (b) overall, there is evidence for all three sources of deficit playing a role, and (c) IWA have a more variable range of parameter values than controls. An important implication is that it may be meaningless to talk about sources of deficit with respect to an abstract verage IWA; the focus should be on the individual's differential degrees of deficit along different dimensions, and on understanding the causes of variability in deficit between participants.},
language = {en}
}
@article{NicenboimVasishthEngelmannetal.2018,
author = {Nicenboim, Bruno and Vasishth, Shravan and Engelmann, Felix and Suckow, Katja},
title = {Exploratory and confirmatory analyses in sentence processing},
series = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society},
volume = {42},
journal = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society},
publisher = {Wiley},
address = {Hoboken},
issn = {0364-0213},
doi = {10.1111/cogs.12589},
pages = {1075 -- 1100},
year = {2018},
abstract = {Given the replication crisis in cognitive science, it is important to consider what researchers need to do in order to report results that are reliable. We consider three changes in current practice that have the potential to deliver more realistic and robust claims. First, the planned experiment should be divided into two stages, an exploratory stage and a confirmatory stage. This clear separation allows the researcher to check whether any results found in the exploratory stage are robust. The second change is to carry out adequately powered studies. We show that this is imperative if we want to obtain realistic estimates of effects in psycholinguistics. The third change is to use Bayesian data-analytic methods rather than frequentist ones; the Bayesian framework allows us to focus on the best estimates we can obtain of the effect, rather than rejecting a strawman null. As a case study, we investigate number interference effects in German. Number feature interference is predicted by cue-based retrieval models of sentence processing (Van Dyke \& Lewis, 2003; Vasishth \& Lewis, 2006), but it has shown inconsistent results. We show that by implementing the three changes mentioned, suggestive evidence emerges that is consistent with the predicted number interference effects.},
language = {en}
}
@article{StoneVasishthMalsburg2022,
author = {Stone, Kate and Vasishth, Shravan and Malsburg, Titus von der},
title = {Does entropy modulate the prediction of German long-distance verb particles?},
series = {PLOS ONE},
journal = {PLOS ONE},
publisher = {PLOS ONE},
address = {San Francisco, California, US},
issn = {1932-6203},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0267813},
pages = {1 -- 25},
year = {2022},
abstract = {In this paper we examine the effect of uncertainty on readers' predictions about meaning. In particular, we were interested in how uncertainty might influence the likelihood of committing to a specific sentence meaning. We conducted two event-related potential (ERP) experiments using particle verbs such as turn down and manipulated uncertainty by constraining the context such that readers could be either highly certain about the identity of a distant verb particle, such as turn the bed […] down, or less certain due to competing particles, such as turn the music […] up/down. The study was conducted in German, where verb particles appear clause-finally and may be separated from the verb by a large amount of material. We hypothesised that this separation would encourage readers to predict the particle, and that high certainty would make prediction of a specific particle more likely than lower certainty. If a specific particle was predicted, this would reflect a strong commitment to sentence meaning that should incur a higher processing cost if the prediction is wrong. If a specific particle was less likely to be predicted, commitment should be weaker and the processing cost of a wrong prediction lower. If true, this could suggest that uncertainty discourages predictions via an unacceptable cost-benefit ratio. However, given the clear predictions made by the literature, it was surprisingly unclear whether the uncertainty manipulation affected the two ERP components studied, the N400 and the PNP. Bayes factor analyses showed that evidence for our a priori hypothesised effect sizes was inconclusive, although there was decisive evidence against a priori hypothesised effect sizes larger than 1μV for the N400 and larger than 3μV for the PNP. We attribute the inconclusive finding to the properties of verb-particle dependencies that differ from the verb-noun dependencies in which the N400 and PNP are often studied.},
language = {en}
}
@article{WuKaiserVasishth2017,
author = {Wu, Fuyun and Kaiser, Elsi and Vasishth, Shravan},
title = {Effects of early cues on the processing of chinese relative clauses},
series = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society},
volume = {42},
journal = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society},
publisher = {Wiley},
address = {Hoboken},
issn = {0364-0213},
doi = {10.1111/cogs.12551},
pages = {1101 -- 1133},
year = {2017},
abstract = {We used Chinese prenominal relative clauses (RCs) to test the predictions of two competing accounts of sentence comprehension difficulty: the experience-based account of Levy () and the Dependency Locality Theory (DLT; Gibson, ). Given that in Chinese RCs, a classifier and/or a passive marker BEI can be added to the sentence-initial position, we manipulated the presence/absence of classifiers and the presence/absence of BEI, such that BEI sentences were passivized subject-extracted RCs, and no-BEI sentences were standard object-extracted RCs. We conducted two self-paced reading experiments, using the same critical stimuli but somewhat different filler items. Reading time patterns from both experiments showed facilitative effects of BEI within and beyond RC regions, and delayed facilitative effects of classifiers, suggesting that cues that occur before a clear signal of an upcoming RC can help Chinese comprehenders to anticipate RC structures. The data patterns are not predicted by the DLT, but they are consistent with the predictions of experience-based theories.},
language = {en}
}