TY - JOUR A1 - von der Malsburg, Titus Raban A1 - Poppels, Till A1 - Levy, Roger P. T1 - Implicit gender bias in linguistic descriptions for expected events BT - the cases of the 2016 United States and 2017 United Kingdom elections JF - Psychological Science N2 - Gender stereotypes influence subjective beliefs about the world, and this is reflected in our use of language. But do gender biases in language transparently reflect subjective beliefs? Or is the process of translating thought to language itself biased? During the 2016 United States (N = 24,863) and 2017 United Kingdom (N = 2,609) electoral campaigns, we compared participants' beliefs about the gender of the next head of government with their use and interpretation of pronouns referring to the next head of government. In the United States, even when the female candidate was expected to win, she pronouns were rarely produced and induced substantial comprehension disruption. In the United Kingdom, where the incumbent female candidate was heavily favored, she pronouns were preferred in production but yielded no comprehension advantage. These and other findings suggest that the language system itself is a source of implicit biases above and beyond previously known biases, such as those measured by the Implicit Association Test. KW - language KW - psycholinguistics KW - event expectations KW - reference KW - implicit bias KW - open data KW - open materials Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619890619 SN - 0956-7976 SN - 1467-9280 VL - 31 IS - 2 SP - 115 EP - 128 PB - Sage CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Niehues, Maike A1 - Gerlach, Erin A1 - Wendeborn, Thomas A1 - Sallen, Jeffrey T1 - Successful in sports but worse in school? BT - adolescent student-athletes' development of scholastic performances JF - Frontiers in education N2 - Studies have evaluated the effectiveness of dual career (DC) support services among student-athletes by examining scholastic performances. These studies investigated self-reported grades student-athletes or focused on career choices student-athletes made after leaving school. Most of these studies examined scholastic performances cross-sectionally among lower secondary school student-athletes or student-athletes in higher education. The present longitudinal field study in a quasi-experimental design aims to evaluate the development of scholastic performances among upper secondary school students aged 16-19 by using standardized scholastic assessments and grade points in the subject English over a course of 3-4 years. A sample of 159 students (54.4% females) at three German Elite Sport Schools (ESS) and three comprehensive schools participated in the study. The sample was split into six groups according to three criteria: (1) students' athletic engagement, (2) school type attendance, and (3) usage of DC support services in secondary school. Repeated-measurement analyses of variance were conducted in order to evaluate the impact of the three previously mentioned criteria as well as their interaction on the development of scholastic performances. Findings indicated that the development of English performance levels differ among the six groups. KW - school performance KW - dual career KW - longitudinal analysis KW - language KW - competence KW - elite sport KW - upper secondary school Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.946284 SN - 2504-284X VL - 7 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Keser, Claudia A1 - Kliemt, Hartmut A1 - Späth, Maximilian T1 - Charitable giving BT - the role of framing and information JF - PLoS ONE N2 - We investigate how different levels of information influence the allocation decisions of donors who are entitled to freely distribute a fixed monetary endowment between themselves and a charitable organization in both giving and taking frames. Participants donate significantly higher amounts, when the decision is described as taking rather than giving. This framing effect becomes smaller if more information about the charity is provided. KW - experimental economics KW - dictator game KW - experimental design KW - labor economics KW - welfare economics KW - language KW - prosocial behavior KW - university laboratories Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288400 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 18 IS - 7 PB - Public Library of Science (PLoS) CY - San Francisco, California ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kunyu, David Khisoni A1 - Schachner, Maja A1 - Juang, Linda P. A1 - Schwarzenthal, Miriam A1 - Aral, Tuğçe ED - Eckstein, K. ED - Crocetti, E. T1 - Acculturation hassles and adjustment of adolescents of immigrant descent BT - testing mediation with a self-determination theory approach JF - New directions for child and adolescent development N2 - Despite evidence that acculturation hassles (such as discrimination and language hassles) relate to poorer adjustment for adolescents of immigrant descent, we know less about the psychological processes underlying these associations. In this study, we test whether reduced psychological needs satisfaction in terms of a lower sense of belonging, autonomy, and competence, mediates the associations of acculturation hassles with psychological distress and academic adjustment. Our sample included 439 seventh graders from 15 schools in Germany (51% female, M-age = 12.4 years, SD = .73). Results revealed that adolescents who experienced greater discrimination and language hassles showed a lower sense of belonging with classmates and subsequently, greater psychological distress. Those who experienced greater language hassles also exhibited a lower sense of perceived competence, and ultimately poorer academic adjustment. We conclude that self-determination theory (SDT) provides an important framework to explain key processes underlying the links between acculturation hassles with psychological distress and academic (mal-)adjustment. Strengthening belonging and competence among adolescents of immigrant descent may enhance their well-being in the face of acculturation hassles. KW - adjustment KW - adolescents of immigrant descent KW - discrimination KW - language KW - hassles KW - self-determination theory Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20408 SN - 1534-8687 SN - 1520-3247 VL - 177 SP - 101 EP - 121 PB - Hindawi Limited CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stegenwallner-Schütz, Maja A1 - Adani, Flavia T1 - Production of referring expressions by children with ASD BT - effects of referent accessibility and working memory capacity JF - Language acquisition : a journal of developmental linguistics N2 - This study examines the discourse basis for referent accessibility and its relation to the choice of referring expressions by children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typically developing children. The aim is to delineate how the linguistic and extra-linguistic context affects referent accessibility to the speaker. The study also examines the degree to which accessibility effects are modulated by cognitive factors such as working memory capacity. In the study, the contrast levels between the referent and a competitor (one contrast/two contrasts) and the syntactic prominence of the referent (subject/object position in the preceding question) were manipulated in an elicited production task. The results provide evidence that the referring expressions of children with ASD correlate with the discourse status of referents to a similar extent as in typically developing controls. All children were more likely to refer with lexical NPs to referents that contrasted on two levels with a highly prominent competitor, compared to referents that contrasted on one level. They were also more likely to produce pronouns for referents previously mentioned in the subject than the object position. The effect of both discourse factors was modulated by the age and working memory capacity of the children with and without ASD. Accordingly, the study suggests that children with ASD do not generally differ from children with typical development in their referential choices when the discourse status of a referent allows them to model the referent's accessibility from their own discourse perspective in a way that is modulated by working memory capacity. KW - attention KW - autism spektrum disorders KW - choice KW - communication KW - discourse KW - information KW - language KW - pronouns KW - sensitivity KW - speakers Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/10489223.2020.1769625 SN - 1048-9223 SN - 1532-7817 VL - 27 IS - 3 SP - 276 EP - 305 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kalinowski, Eva A1 - Egert, Franziska A1 - Gronostaj, Anna A1 - Vock, Miriam T1 - Professional development on fostering students’ academic language proficiency across the curriculum BT - a meta-analysis of its impact on teachers’ cognition and teaching practices JF - Teaching and teacher education N2 - This meta-analysis aggregates effects from 10 studies evaluating professional development interventions aimed at qualifying in-service teachers to support their students in mastering academic language skills while teaching their respective subject areas. The analysis of a subset of studies revealed a small non-significant weighted training effect on teachers' cognition (g' = 0.21, SE = 0.14). An effect aggregation including all studies (with 650 teachers) revealed a medium to large weighted overall effect on teachers' classroom practices (g' = 0.71, SE = 0.16). Methodological variables moderated the effect magnitude. Nevertheless, the results suggest professional development is beneficial for improving teachers' practice. KW - professional development KW - language KW - cross-curriculum KW - content areas KW - in-service teacher training Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102971 SN - 0742-051X VL - 88 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rabovsky, Milena A1 - McClelland, James L. T1 - Quasi-compositional mapping from form to meaning BT - a neural network-based approach to capturing neural responses during human language comprehension JF - Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London : B, Biological sciences N2 - We argue that natural language can be usefully described as quasi-compositional and we suggest that deep learning-based neural language models bear long-term promise to capture how language conveys meaning. We also note that a successful account of human language processing should explain both the outcome of the comprehension process and the continuous internal processes underlying this performance. These points motivate our discussion of a neural network model of sentence comprehension, the Sentence Gestalt model, which we have used to account for the N400 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP), which tracks meaning processing as it happens in real time. The model, which shares features with recent deep learning-based language models, simulates N400 amplitude as the automatic update of a probabilistic representation of the situation or event described by the sentence, corresponding to a temporal difference learning signal at the level of meaning. We suggest that this process happens relatively automatically, and that sometimes a more-controlled attention-dependent process is necessary for successful comprehension, which may be reflected in the subsequent P600 ERP component. We relate this account to current deep learning models as well as classic linguistic theory, and use it to illustrate a domain general perspective on some specific linguistic operations postulated based on compositional analyses of natural language. This article is part of the theme issue 'Towards mechanistic models of meaning composition'. KW - language KW - meaning KW - event-related brain potentials KW - neural networks KW - N400 KW - P600 Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0313 SN - 0962-8436 SN - 1471-2970 SN - 0080-4622 VL - 375 IS - 1791 PB - Royal Society CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yue, Jinxing A1 - Alter, Kai-Uwe A1 - Howard, David A1 - Bastiaanse, Roelien T1 - Early access to lexical-level phonological representations of Mandarin word-forms BT - evidence from auditory N1 habituation JF - Language, cognition and neuroscience N2 - An auditory habituation design was used to investigate whether lexical-level phonological representations in the brain can be rapidly accessed after the onset of a spoken word. We studied the N1 component of the auditory event-related electrical potential, and measured the amplitude decrements of N1 associated with the repetition of a monosyllabic tone word and an acoustically similar pseudo-word in Mandarin Chinese. Effects related to the contrastive onset consonants were controlled for by introducing two control words. We show that repeated pseudo-words consistently elicit greater amplitude decrements in N1 than real words. Furthermore, this lexicality effect is free from sensory fatigue or rapid learning of the pseudo-word. These results suggest that a lexical-level phonological representation of a spoken word can be accessed as early as 110ms after the onset of the word-form. KW - Auditory N1 KW - short-term habituation KW - spoken word KW - Mandarin Chinese KW - language KW - event-related potential KW - lexical access Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2017.1290261 SN - 2327-3798 SN - 2327-3801 VL - 32 IS - 9 SP - 1148 EP - 1163 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ronasi, Golnoush A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Zimmermann, Malte T1 - Language and Arithmetic BT - a failure to find cross cognitive domain semantic priming between exception phrases and subtraction or addition JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - We examined cross-domain semantic priming effects between arithmetic and language. We paired subtractions with their linguistic equivalent, exception phrases (EPs) with positive quantifiers (e.g., "everybody except John") while pairing additions with their own linguistic equivalent, EPs with negative quantifiers (e.g., "nobody except John"; Moltmann, 1995). We hypothesized that EPs with positive quantifiers prime subtractions and inhibit additions while EPs with negative quantifiers prime additions and inhibit subtractions. Furthermore, we expected similar priming and inhibition effects from arithmetic into semantics. Our design allowed for a bidirectional analysis by using one trial's target as the prime for the next trial. Two experiments failed to show significant priming effects in either direction. Implications and possible shortcomings are explored in the general discussion. KW - cross-domain priming KW - language KW - arithmetic KW - information integration KW - cognitive module Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01524 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Holtzman, Nicholas S. A1 - Tackman, Allison M. A1 - Carey, Angela L. A1 - Brucks, Melanie S. A1 - Kuefner, Albrecht C. P. A1 - Deters, Fenne Grosse A1 - Back, Mitja D. A1 - Donnellan, M. Brent A1 - Pennebaker, James W. A1 - Sherman, Ryne A. A1 - Mehl, Matthias R. T1 - Linguistic Markers of Grandiose Narcissism: A LIWC Analysis of 15 Samples JF - Journal of Language and Social Psychology N2 - Narcissism is unrelated to using first-person singular pronouns. Whether narcissism is linked to other language use remains unclear. We aimed to identify linguistic markers of narcissism. We applied the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to texts (k = 15; N = 4,941). The strongest positive correlates were using words related to sports, second-person pronouns, and swear words. The strongest negative correlates were using anxiety/fear words, tentative words, and words related to sensory/perceptual processes. Effects were small (each |r| < .10). KW - language KW - LIWC KW - narcissism KW - personality KW - text analysis Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19871084 SN - 0261-927X SN - 1552-6526 VL - 38 IS - 5-6 SP - 773 EP - 786 PB - Sage Publ. CY - Thousand Oaks ER - TY - THES A1 - Patzwald, Christiane T1 - Actions through the lens of communicative cues BT - the influence of verbal cues and emotional cues on action processing and action selection in the second year of life N2 - The PhD thesis entitled “Actions through the lens of communicative cues. The influence of verbal cues and emotional cues on action processing and action selection in the second year of life” is based on four studies, which examined the cognitive integration of another person’s communicative cues (i.e., verbal cues, emotional cues) with behavioral cues in 18- and 24-month-olds. In the context of social learning of instrumental actions, it was investigated how the intention-related coherence of either a verbally announced action intention or an emotionally signaled action evaluation with an action demonstration influenced infants’ neuro-cognitive processing (Study I) and selection (Studies II, III, IV) of a novel object-directed action. Developmental research has shown that infants benefit from another’s behavioral cues (e.g., action effect, persistency, selectivity) to infer the underlying goal or intention, respectively, of an observed action (e.g., Cannon & Woodward, 2012; Woodward, 1998). Particularly action effects support infants in distinguishing perceptual action features (e.g., target object identity, movement trajectory, final target object state) from conceptual action features such as goals and intentions. However, less is known about infants’ ability to cognitively integrate another’s behavioral cues with additional action-related communicative cues. There is some evidence showing that in the second year of life, infants selectively imitate a novel action that is verbally (“There!”) or emotionally (positive expression) marked as aligning with the model’s action intention over an action that is verbally (“Whoops!”) or emotionally (negative expression) marked as unintentional (Carpenter, Akhtar, & Tomasello, 1998; Olineck & Poulin-Dubois, 2005, 2009; Repacholi, 2009; Repacholi, Meltzoff, Toub, & Ruba, 2016). Yet, it is currently unclear which role the specific intention-related coherence of a communicative cue with a behavioral cue plays in infants’ action processing and action selection that is, whether the communicative cue confirms, contrasts, clarifies, or is unrelated to the behavioral cue. Notably, by using both verbal cues and emotional cues, we examined not only two domains of communicative cues but also two qualitatively distinct relations between behavioral cues on the one hand and communicative cues on the other hand. More specifically, a verbal cue has the potential to communicate an action intention in the absence of an action demonstration and thus a prior-intention (Searle, 1983), whereas an emotional cue evaluates an ongoing or past action demonstration and thus signals an intention-in-action (Searle, 1983). In a first research focus, this thesis examined infants’ capacity to cognitively integrate another’s intention-related communicative cues and behavioral cues, and also focused on the role of the social cues’ coherence in infants’ action processing and action selection. In a second research focus, and to gain more elaborate insights into how the sub-processes of social learning (attention, encoding, response; cf. Bandura, 1977) are involved in this coherence-sensitive integrative processing, we employed a multi-measures approach. More specifically, we used Electroencephalography (EEG) and looking times to examine how the cues’ coherence influenced the compound of attention and encoding, and imitation (including latencies to first-touch and first-action) to address the compound of encoding and response. Based on the action-reconstruction account (Csibra, 2007), we predicted that infants use extra-motor information (i.e., communicative cues) together with behavioral cues to reconstruct another’s action intention. Accordingly, we expected infants to possess a flexibly organized internal action hierarchy, which they adapt according to the cues’ coherence that is, according to what they inferred to be the overarching action goal. More specifically, in a social-learning situation that comprised an adult model, who demonstrated an action on a novel object that offered two actions, we expected the demonstrated action to lead infants’ action hierarchy when the communicative (i.e., verbal, emotional) cue conveyed similar (confirming coherence) or no additional (un-related coherence) intention-related information relative to the behavioral cue. In terms of action selection, this action hierarchy should become evident in a selective imitation of the demonstrated action. However, when the communicative cue questioned (contrasting coherence) the behaviorally implied action goal or was the only cue conveying meaningful intention-related information (clarifying coherence), the verbally/emotionally intended action should ascend infants’ action hierarchy. Consequently, infants’ action selection should align with the verbally/emotionally intended action (goal emulation). Notably, these predictions oppose the direct-matching perspective (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004), according to which the observation of another’s action directly resonates with the observer’s motor repertoire, with this motor resonance enabling the identification of the underlying action goal. Importantly, the direct-matching perspective predicts a rather inflexible action hierarchy inasmuch as the process of goal identification should solely rely on the behavioral cue, irrespective of the behavioral cue’s coherence with extra-motor intention-related information, as it may be conveyed via communicative cues. As to the role of verbal cues, Study I used EEG to examine the influence of a confirming (Congruent) versus contrasting (Incongruent) coherence of a verbal action intention with the same action demonstration on 18-month-olds’ conceptual action processing (as measured via mid-latency mean negative ERP amplitude) and motor activation (as measured via central mu-frequency band power). The action was demonstrated on a novel object that offered two action alternatives from a neutral position. We expected mid-latency ERP negativity to be enhanced in Incongruent compared to Congruent, because past EEG research has demonstrated enhanced conceptual processing for stimuli that mismatched rather than matched the semantic context (Friedrich & Friederici, 2010; Kaduk et al., 2016). Regarding motor activation, Csibra (2007) posited that the identification of a clear action goal constitutes a crucial basis for motor activation to occur. We therefore predicted reduced mu power (indicating enhanced motor activation) for Congruent than Incongruent, because in Congruent, the cues’ match provides unequivocal information about the model’s action goal, whereas in Incongruent, the conflict may render the model’s action goal more unclear. Unexpectedly, in the entire sample, 18-month-olds’ mid-latency ERP negativity during the observation of the same action demonstration did not differ significantly depending on whether this action was congruent or incongruent with the model’s verbal action intention. Yet, post hoc analyses revealed the presence of two subgroups of infants, each of which exhibited significantly different mid-latency ERP negativity for Congruent versus Incongruent, but in opposing directions. The subgroups differed in their productive action-related language skills, with the linguistically more advanced infants exhibiting the expected response pattern of enhanced ERP mean negativity in Incongruent than Congruent, indicating enhanced conceptual processing of an action demonstration that was contrasted rather than confirmed by the verbal action context. As expected, central mu power in the entire sample was reduced in Congruent relative to Incongruent, indicating enhanced motor activation when the action demonstration was preceded by a confirming relative to a contrasting verbal action intention. This finding may indicate the covert preparation for a preferential imitation of the congruent relative to the incongruent action (Filippi et al., 2016; Frey & Gerry, 2006). Overall, these findings are in line with the action-reconstruction account (Csibra, 2007), because they suggest a coherence-sensitive attention to and encoding of the same perceptual features of another’s behavior and thus a cognitive integration of intention-related verbal cues and behavioral cues. Yet, because the subgroup constellation in infants’ ERPs was only discovered post hoc, future research is clearly required to substantiate this finding. Also, future research should validate our interpretation that enhanced motor activation may reflect an electrophysiological marker of subsequent imitation by employing EEG and imitation in a within-subjects design. Study II built on Study I by investigating the impact of coherence of a verbal cue and a behavioral cue on 18- and 24-month-olds’ action selection in an imitation study. When infants of both age groups observed a confirming (Congruent) or unrelated (Pseudo-word: action demonstration was associated with novel verb-like cue) coherence, they selectively imitated the demonstrated action over the not demonstrated, alternative action, with no difference between these two conditions. These findings suggest that, as expected, infants’ action hierarchy was led by the demonstrated action when the verbal cue provided similar (Congruent) or no additional (Pseudo-word) intention-related information relative to a meaningful behavioral cue. These findings support the above-mentioned interpretation that enhanced motor activation during action observation may reflect a covert preparation for imitation (Study I). Interestingly, infants did not seem to benefit from the intention-highlighting effect of the verbal cue in Congruent, suggesting that the verbal cue had an unspecific (e.g., attention-guiding) effect on infants’ action selection. Contrary, when infants observed a contrasting (Incongruent) or clarifying (Failed-attempt: model failed to manipulate the object but verbally announced a certain action intention) coherence, their action selection varied with age and also varied across the course of the experiment (block 1 vs. block 2). More specifically, the 24-month-olds made stronger use of the verbal cue for their action selection in block 1 than did the 18-month-olds. However, while the 18-month-olds’ use of the verbal cue increased across blocks, particularly in Incongruent, the 24-month-olds’ use of the verbal cue decreased across blocks. Overall, these results suggest that, as expected, infants’ action hierarchy in Incongruent (both age groups) and Failed-attempt (only 24-month-olds) drew on the verbal action intention, because in both age groups, infants emulated the verbal intention about as often as they imitated the demonstrated action or even emulated the verbal action intention preferentially. Yet, these findings were confined to certain blocks. It may be argued that the younger age group had a harder time inferring and emulating the intended, yet never observed action, because this requirement is more demanding in cognitive and motor terms. These demands may explain why the 18-month-olds needed some time to take account of the verbal action intention. Contrary, it seems that the 24-month-olds, although demonstrating their principle capacity to take account of the verbal cue in block 1, lost trust in the model’s verbal cue, maybe because the verbal cue did not have predictive value for the model’s actual behavior. Supporting this interpretation, research on selective trust has demonstrated that already infants evaluate another’s reliability or competence, respectively, based on how that model handles familiar objects (behavioral reliability) or labels familiar objects (verbal reliability; for reviews, see Mills, 2013; Poulin-Dubois & Brosseau-Liard, 2016). Relatedly, imitation research has demonstrated that the interpersonal aspects of a social-learning situation gain increasing relevance for infants during the second year of life (Gellén & Buttelmann, 2019; Matheson, Moore, & Akhtar, 2013; Uzgiris, 1981). It may thus be argued that when the 24-month-olds were repeatedly faced with a verbally unreliable model, they de-evaluated the verbal cue as signaling the model’s action intention and instead relied more heavily on alternative cues such as the behavioral cue (Incongruent) or the action context (e.g., object affordances, salience; Failed-attempt). Infants’ first-action latencies were higher in Incongruent and Failed-attempt than in both Congruent and Pseudo-word, and were also higher in Failed-attempt than in Incongruent. These latency-findings thus indicate that situations involving a meaningful verbal cue that deviated from the behavioral cue are cognitively more demanding, resulting in a delayed initiation of a behavioral response. In sum, the findings of Study II suggest that both age groups were highly flexible in their integration of a verbal cue and behavioral cue. Moreover, our results do not indicate a general superiority of either cue. Instead, it seems to depend on the informational gain conveyed by the verbal cue whether it exerts a specific, intention-highlighting effect (Incongruent, Failed-attempt) or an unspecific (e.g., attention-guiding) effect (Congruent, Pseudo-word). Studies III and IV investigated the impact of another’s action-related emotional cues on 18-month-olds’ action selection. In Study III, infants observed a model, who demonstrated two actions on a novel object in direct succession, and who combined one of the two actions with a positive (happy) emotional expression and the other action with a negative (sad) emotional expression. As expected, infants imitated the positively emoted (PE) action more often than the negatively emoted (NE) action. This preference arose from an increase in infants’ readiness to perform the PE action from the baseline period (prior to the action demonstrations) to the test period (following the action demonstrations), rather than from a decrease in readiness to the perform the NE action. The positive cue thus had a stronger behavior-regulating effect than the negative cue. Notably, infants’ more general object-directed behavior in terms of first-touch latencies remained unaffected by the emotional cues’ valence, indicating that infants had linked the emotional cues specifically to the corresponding action and not the object as a whole (Repacholi, 2009). Also, infants’ looking times during the action demonstration did not differ significantly as a function of emotional valence and were characterized by a predominant attentional focus to the action/object rather than to the model’s face. Together with the findings on infants’ first-touch latencies, these results indicate a sensitivity for the notion that emotions can have very specific referents (referential specificity; Martin, Maza, McGrath, & Phelps, 2014). Together, Study III provided evidence for selective imitation based on another’s intention-related (particularly positive) emotional cues in an action-selection task, and thus indicates that infants’ action hierarchy flexibly responds to another’s emotional evaluation of observed actions. According to Repacholi (2009), we suggest that infants used the model’s emotional evaluation to re-appraise the corresponding action (effect), for instance in terms of desirability. Study IV followed up on Study III by investigating the role of the negative emotional cue for infants’ action selection in more detail. Specifically, we investigated whether a contrasting (negative) emotional cue alone would be sufficient to differentially rank the two actions along infants’ action hierarchy or whether instead infants require direct information about the model’s action intention (in the form of a confirming action-emotion pair) to align their action selection with the emotional cues. Also, we examined whether the absence of a direct behavior-regulating effect of the negative cue in Study III was due to the negative cue itself or to the concurrently available positive cue masking the negative cue’s potential effect. To this end, we split the demonstration of the two action-emotion pairs across two trials. In each trial, one action was thus demonstrated and emoted (PE, NE action), and one action was not demonstrated and un-emoted (UE action). For trial 1, we predicted that infants, who observed a PE action demonstration, would selectively imitate the PE action, whereas infants, who observed a NE action demonstration would selectively emulate the UE action. As to trial 2, we expected the complementary action-emotion pair to provide additional clarifying information as the model’s emotional evaluation of both actions, which should either lead to adaptive perseveration (if infants’ action selection in trial 1 had already drawn on the emotional cue) or adaptive change (if infants’ action selection in trial 1 signaled a disregard of the emotional cue). As to trial 1, our findings revealed that, as expected, infants imitated the PE action more often than they emulated the UE action. Like in Study III, this selectivity arose from an increase in infants’ propensity to perform the PE action from baseline to trial 1. Also like in Study III, infants performed the NE action about equally often in baseline and trial 1, which speaks against a direct behavior-regulating effect of the negative cue also when presented in isolation. However, after a NE action demonstration, infants emulated the UE action more often in trial 1 than in baseline, suggesting an indirect behavior-regulating effect of the negative cue. Yet, this indirect effect did not yield a selective emulation of the UE action, because infants performed both action alternatives about equally often in trial 1. Unexpectedly, infants’ action selection in trial 2 was unaffected by the emotional cue. Instead, infants perseverated their action selection of trial 1 in trial 2, irrespective of whether it was adaptive or non-adaptive with respect to the model’s emotional evaluation of the action. It seems that infants changed their strategy across trials, from an initial adherence to the emotional (particularly positive) cue, towards bringing about a salient action effect (Marcovich & Zelazo, 2009). In sum, Studies III and IV indicate a dynamic interplay of different action-selection strategies, depending on valence and presentation order. Apparently, at least in infancy, action reconstruction as one basis for selective action performance reaches its limits when infants can only draw on indirect intention-related information (i.e., which action should be avoided). Overall, our findings favor the action-reconstruction account (Csibra, 2007), according to which actions are flexibly organized along a hierarchy, depending on inferential processes based on extra-motor intention-related information. At the same time, the findings question the direct-matching hypothesis (Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004), according to which the identification (and pursuit) of action goals hinges on a direct simulation of another’s behavioral cues. Based on the studies’ findings, a preliminary working model is introduced, which seeks to integrate the two theoretical accounts by conceptualizing the routes that activation induced by social cues may take to eventually influence an infant’s action selection. Our findings indicate that it is useful to strive a differentiated conceptualization of communicative cues, because they seem to operate at different places within the process of cue integration, depending on their potential to convey direct intention-related information. Moreover, we suggest that there is bidirectional exchange within each compound of adjacent sub-processes (i.e., between attention and encoding, and encoding and response), and between the compounds. Hence, our findings highlight the benefits of a multi-measures approach when studying the development of infants’ social-cognitive abilities, because it provides a more comprehensive picture how the concerted use of social cues from different domains influences infants’ processing and selection of instrumental actions. Finally, this thesis points to potential future directions to substantiate our current interpretation of the findings.. Moreover, an extension to additional kinds of coherence is suggested to get closer to infants’ everyday-world of experience. KW - infancy KW - social cognition KW - action processing KW - emotions KW - language KW - imitation KW - EEG Y1 - 2020 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mayr, Robert A1 - Morris, Jonathan A1 - Mennen, Ineke A1 - Williams, Daniel T1 - Disentangling the effects of long-term language contact and individual bilingualism: The case of monophthongs in Welsh and English JF - International journal of bilingualism : cross-disciplinary, cross-linguistic studies of language behavior N2 - Aims and objectives: This study investigates the effects of individual bilingualism and long-term language contact on monophthongal vowel productions in English and Welsh. Design: To this end, we recorded the Welsh and English vowel productions of two sets of Welsh-English bilinguals differing in home language use, as well as the English vowel productions of English monolinguals. Data and analysis: The data were analysed acoustically, with a focus on spectral and temporal properties. Comparisons were then made within each language and cross-linguistically. Findings: The results of a cross-linguistic acoustic comparison revealed a high degree of convergence in the monophthong systems of Welsh and English, but also some language-specific categories. Interestingly, at the individual level we found no effect of linguistic experience on vowel production: the two sets of bilinguals and the English monolinguals did not differ in their realisation of English vowels, and the two sets of bilinguals did not differ in their realisation of Welsh vowels. Implications: The findings demonstrate pervasive phonetic convergence in a language contact situation with a historical substrate. They also indicate that a homogeneous peer group with shared values can override the effects of individual linguistic experience. KW - Acoustic analysis KW - experience KW - language KW - phonetic convergence KW - vowel productions KW - Welsh-English bilingualism Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006915614921 SN - 1367-0069 SN - 1756-6878 VL - 21 SP - 245 EP - 267 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Galetzka, Cedric T1 - The Story So Far: How Embodied Cognition Advances Our Understanding of Meaning-Making JF - Frontiers in psychology KW - embodied cognition KW - abstract concepts KW - language KW - mental simulation KW - action words Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01315 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 SP - 1518 EP - 1537 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - GEN A1 - Galetzka, Cedric T1 - The Story So Far: How Embodied Cognition Advances Our Understanding of Meaning-Making (vol 8, 1315, 2017) T2 - Frontiers in psychology KW - embodied cognition KW - abstract concepts KW - language KW - mental simulation KW - action words Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01813 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bijeljac-Babic, Ranka A1 - Höhle, Barbara A1 - Nazzi, Thierry T1 - Early Prosodic Acquisition in Bilingual Infants: The Case of the Perceptual Trochaic Bias JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Infants start learning the prosodic properties of their native language before 12 months, as shown by the emergence of a trochaic bias in English-learning infants between 6 and 9 months (Jusczyk et al., 1993), and in German-learning infants between 4 and 6 months (Huhle et al., 2009, 2014), while French-learning infants do not show a bias at 6 months (Hohle et al., 2009). This language-specific emergence of a trochaic bias is supported by the fact that English and German are languages with trochaic predominance in their lexicons, while French is a language with phrase-final lengthening but lacking lexical stress. We explored the emergence of a trochaic bias in bilingual French/German infants, to study whether the developmental trajectory would be similar to monolingual infants and whether amount of relative exposure to the two languages has an impact on the emergence of the bias. Accordingly, we replicated Hohle et al. (2009) with 24 bilingual 6-month-olds learning French and German simultaneously. All infants had been exposed to both languages for 30 to 70% of the time from birth. Using the Head Preference Procedure, infants were presented with two lists of stimuli, one made up of several occurrences of the pseudoword /GAba/ with word-initial stress (trochaic pattern), the second one made up of several occurrences of the pseudoword /gaBA/ with word-final stress (iambic pattern). The stimuli were recorded by a native German female speaker. Results revealed that these French/German bilingual 6-month olds have a trochaic bias (as evidenced by a preference to listen to the trochaic pattern). Hence, their listening preference is comparable to that of monolingual German-learning 6-month-olds, but differs from that of monolingual French-learning 6-month-olds who did not show any preference (Noble et al., 2009). Moreover, the size of the trochaic bias in the bilingual infants was not correlated with their amount of exposure to German. The present results thus establish that the development of a trochaic bias in simultaneous bilinguals is not delayed compared to monolingual German-learning infants (Hohle et al., 2009) and is rather independent of the amount of exposure to German relative to French. KW - bilinguals KW - infants KW - language KW - prosody KW - lexical stress KW - dominance effects Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00210 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 7 SP - 1753 EP - 1802 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Deffa, Oromiya-Jalata T1 - The impact of homogeneity on intra-group cohesion: a macro-level comparison of minority communities in a Western diaspora JF - Journal of multilingual and multicultural development N2 - Contrary to earlier studies dealing with the cultural identity development of diasporic minorities, this paper assesses the impact of homogeneity on intra-group cohesion and ethnic orientation. To this end, Oromo-Americans, an ethnic group originally located within the national borders of Ethiopia, will be compared to Armenian-Americans, British-Pakistanis and Somali-Americans. Despite different circumstances, all four groups share the experience of displacement owing to war and destitution. Additionally, all groups are confronted with the ramifications of a visible minority status. In the process of comparing these groups, their degrees of homogeneity in regard to language and religion - central aspects of culture and cultural identity - will be examined and juxtaposed at a macro level. Based on the correlative relationship of group homogeneity and social cohesion, I argue that the more homogeneous a group is in terms of language and religion, the more close-knit it will be. Consequently, exiled minorities who share the same language and religion are more likely to develop and retain a strong ethnic orientation than groups who are heterogeneous with regard to language and/or religion. KW - minority groups KW - Homogeneity KW - ethnic orientation KW - group cohesion KW - religion KW - language Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2015.1072203 SN - 0143-4632 SN - 1747-7557 VL - 37 SP - 343 EP - 356 PB - Elsevier CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kalinowski, Eva A1 - Gronostaj, Anna A1 - Vock, Miriam T1 - Effective Professional Development for Teachers to Foster Students’ Academic Language Proficiency Across the Curriculum BT - A Systematic Review JF - AERA Open N2 - This review summarizes features of professional development programs that aim to prepare in-service teachers to improve students’ academic language proficiency when teaching subject areas. The 38 studies reviewed suggest that all of the profiled interventions were effective to some extent. The programs share many characteristics considered important in successful teacher professional development across different subject areas. They also include some features that appear to be specific to teacher training in this particular domain. This review supports the idea that professional development helps change teachers’ thinking and practice and benefits students, if certain features are taken into consideration in its design and implementation. KW - professional development KW - language KW - cross-curriculum KW - content areas KW - in-service teacher training Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419828691 SN - 2332-8584 VL - 5 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 23 PB - Sage CY - Thousand Oaks ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ronasi, Golnoush A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Zimmermann, Malte T1 - Language and Arithmetic BT - A Failure to Find Cross Cognitive Domain Semantic Priming Between Exception Phrases and Subtraction or Addition JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - We examined cross-domain semantic priming effects between arithmetic and language. We paired subtractions with their linguistic equivalent, exception phrases (EPs) with positive quantifiers (e.g., “everybody except John”) while pairing additions with their own linguistic equivalent, EPs with negative quantifiers (e.g., “nobody except John”; Moltmann, 1995). We hypothesized that EPs with positive quantifiers prime subtractions and inhibit additions while EPs with negative quantifiers prime additions and inhibit subtractions. Furthermore, we expected similar priming and inhibition effects from arithmetic into semantics. Our design allowed for a bidirectional analysis by using one trial's target as the prime for the next trial. Two experiments failed to show significant priming effects in either direction. Implications and possible shortcomings are explored in the general discussion. KW - cross-domain priming KW - language KW - arithmetic KW - information integration KW - cognitive module Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01524 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 9 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Galetzka, Cedric T1 - The Story So Far: How Embodied Cognition Advances Our Understanding of Meaning-Making JF - Frontiers in psychology N2 - Meaning-making in the brain has become one of the most intensely discussed topics in cognitive science. Traditional theories on cognition that emphasize abstract symbol manipulations often face a dead end: The symbol grounding problem. The embodiment idea tries to overcome this barrier by assuming that the mind is grounded in sensorimotor experiences. A recent surge in behavioral and brain-imaging studies has therefore focused on the role of the motor cortex in language processing. Concrete, action-related words have received convincing evidence to rely on sensorimotor activation. Abstract concepts, however, still pose a distinct challenge for embodied theories on cognition. Fully embodied abstraction mechanisms were formulated but sensorimotor activation alone seems unlikely to close the explanatory gap. In this respect, the idea of integration areas, such as convergence zones or the ‘hub and spoke’ model, do not only appear like the most promising candidates to account for the discrepancies between concrete and abstract concepts but could also help to unite the field of cognitive science again. The current review identifies milestones in cognitive science research and recent achievements that highlight fundamental challenges, key questions and directions for future research. KW - embodied cognition KW - abstract concepts KW - language KW - mental simulation KW - action words Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01315 SN - 1664-1078 VL - 8 SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER -