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UID:16824-48bd6e61acf620ed8db3514cd86459fc@events.la.psu.edu
DTSTAMP:20261013T052257Z
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20190125T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20190125T103000
SUMMARY:Hossein Karimi (Penn State) - The Effect of Phonological Similarity on M
	emory Retrieval During Referential Processing
DESCRIPTION:The Effect of Phonological Similarity on&nbsp\;Memory Retrie
	val During Referential Processing\n\nProcessing referring expressions su
	ch as pronouns (e.g.\, he) requires retrieval of the memory representati
	on associated with the entity that the&nbsp\;pronoun refers to (namely\,
	 the referent\; e.g.\, king). The efficiency of this retrieval operation
	 has been shown to be influenced by the amount of&nbsp\;interference cau
	sed by other competing items in memory during the retrieval of the targe
	t representation. Although semantic similarity of the&nbsp\;potential re
	ferential candidates has been shown to complicate referential processing
	 (Patil et al.\, 2016\; also see Gordon et al.\, 2006)\, with pronouns&n
	bsp\;following semantically more similar referential candidates (e.g.\, 
	king and prince) being more difficult to process compared to those follo
	wing&nbsp\;semantically less similar items (king and pilot)\, the potent
	ial effect of phonological similarity of referential candidates on the p
	rocessing of referring&nbsp\;expressions has been left unexplored. In th
	e present study\, we manipulated the phonological similarity between ref
	erential candidates (Similar:&nbsp\;Alice and Alison vs. Dissimilar: Ali
	ce and Barbara) and measured brain activity on following pronouns (she).
	 Also\, since older adults have been&nbsp\;shown to experience more diff
	iculty during phonological processing\, we conducted the study on both o
	lder (age range: 60-80) and younger adults&nbsp\;(age range: 18-25). Pas
	t research has shown that the ease of processing a pronoun is reflected 
	by a sustained\, frontal negativity commonly known&nbsp\;as the Nref (ne
	gativity for referential processing)\, such that the more difficult refe
	rring expression results in an Nref effect relative to the easier-to-pro
	cess expression (Van Berkum et al.\, 1999). Our results revealed an Nref
	 effect for pronouns following dissimilar referential candidates (Alice&
	nbsp\;and Barbara) relative to similar candidates (Alice and Alison) sug
	gesting that\, unlike semantic similarity\, phonological similarity of p
	otential&nbsp\;referents facilitates referential processing. This effect
	 did not reliably interact with Age\, although we observed a trend towar
	ds a main effect of&nbsp\;Age\, with larger Nref effects for older than 
	for younger adults. At least two explanations can be conceived of for th
	e phonological similarity effect:&nbsp\;1. Unlike semantic similarity\, 
	phonological similarity does not cause interference during retrieval\, 2
	. Phonologically similar items are more difficult&nbsp\;to maintain in m
	emory\, which in turn might lead to under-specification of the pronoun (
	the referential dependency is essentially left unresolved).&nbsp\;We wil
	l discuss how our results might inform the current memory-based theories
	 of language processing as well as theories of how cognitive aging&nbsp\
	;might affect language processing.\n\nFor more details: https://events.l
	a.psu.edu/event/hossein-karimi-penn-state-the-effect-of-phonological-sim
	ilarity-on-memory-retrieval-during-referential-processing/
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:<html><head></head><body><h2 class=" " styl
	e="text-align: center; ">The Effect of Phonological Similarity on&nbsp;M
	emory Retrieval During Referential Processing</h2><p><span><br></span></
	p><p><span>Processing referring expressions such as pronouns (e.g., he) 
	requires retrieval of the memory representation associated with the enti
	ty that the&nbsp;</span><span>pronoun refers to (namely, the referent; e
	.g., king). The efficiency of this retrieval operation has been shown to
	 be influenced by the amount of&nbsp;</span><span>interference caused by
	 other competing items in memory during the retrieval of the target repr
	esentation. Although semantic similarity of the&nbsp;</span><span>potent
	ial referential candidates has been shown to complicate referential proc
	essing (Patil et al., 2016; also see Gordon et al., 2006), with pronouns
	&nbsp;</span><span>following semantically more similar referential candi
	dates (e.g., king and prince) being more difficult to process compared t
	o those following&nbsp;</span><span>semantically less similar items (kin
	g and pilot), the potential effect of phonological similarity of referen
	tial candidates on the processing of referring&nbsp;</span><span>express
	ions has been left unexplored. In the present study, we manipulated the 
	phonological similarity between referential candidates (Similar:&nbsp;</
	span><span>Alice and Alison vs. Dissimilar: Alice and Barbara) and measu
	red brain activity on following pronouns (she). Also, since older adults
	 have been&nbsp;</span><span>shown to experience more difficulty during 
	phonological processing, we conducted the study on both older (age range
	: 60-80) and younger adults&nbsp;</span><span>(age range: 18-25). Past r
	esearch has shown that the ease of processing a pronoun is reflected by 
	a sustained, frontal negativity commonly known&nbsp;</span><span>as the 
	Nref (negativity for referential processing), such that the more difficu
	lt referring expression results in an Nref effect relative to the easier
	-to-</span><span>process expression (Van Berkum et al., 1999). Our resul
	ts revealed an Nref effect for pronouns following dissimilar referential
	 candidates (Alice&nbsp;</span><span>and Barbara) relative to similar ca
	ndidates (Alice and Alison) suggesting that, unlike semantic similarity,
	 phonological similarity of potential&nbsp;</span><span>referents facili
	tates referential processing. This effect did not reliably interact with
	 Age, although we observed a trend towards a main effect of&nbsp;</span>
	<span>Age, with larger Nref effects for older than for younger adults. A
	t least two explanations can be conceived of for the phonological simila
	rity effect:&nbsp;</span><span>1. Unlike semantic similarity, phonologic
	al similarity does not cause interference during retrieval, 2. Phonologi
	cally similar items are more difficult&nbsp;</span><span>to maintain in 
	memory, which in turn might lead to under-specification of the pronoun (
	the referential dependency is essentially left unresolved).&nbsp;</span>
	<span>We will discuss how our results might inform the current memory-ba
	sed theories of language processing as well as theories of how cognitive
	 aging&nbsp;</span><span>might affect language processing.</span></p><p>
	For more details: <a href='https://events.la.psu.edu/event/hossein-karim
	i-penn-state-the-effect-of-phonological-similarity-on-memory-retrieval-d
	uring-referential-processing/'>https://events.la.psu.edu/event/hossein-k
	arimi-penn-state-the-effect-of-phonological-similarity-on-memory-retriev
	al-during-referential-processing/</a></p></body></html>
LOCATION:127 Moore Building
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