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Updated: Jul 28, 2026
09:27
Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language
Published on: October 13, 2018
High level processing scope in spoken sentence production
1School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK. smithm@psycho1.bham.ac.uk
Cognition
|December 10, 1999
Summary
Spoken sentence production involves planning. Researchers found that the initial phrase of a sentence receives more processing time before speech begins, especially for complex phrases, indicating lemma access is prioritized.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Understanding spoken sentence production is key to cognitive science.
- The timing and scope of linguistic processing before speech onset are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the conceptual and grammatical encoding during spoken sentence production.
- To determine how sentence complexity and clause structure affect speech onset latencies.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an online picture description task with moving objects.
- Compared speech onset latencies for single-clause vs. double-clause sentences.
- Manipulated phrase complexity and allowed picture previewing.
Main Results:
- Longer onset latencies were observed for sentences starting with complex phrases.
- Speech onset latencies were reduced when participants could preview pictures, suggesting lemma access.
- Processing time was allocated to the initial phrase, with some processing initiated for subsequent clauses.
Conclusions:
- Lemma access is completed for the first phrase of an utterance before speech onset.
- High-level processing begins for the remainder of the sentence but is not fully completed prior to speech.
- Findings illuminate the sequential nature of sentence planning and production.
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