Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Frequency-dependent Selection

Frequency-dependent Selection

When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.Positive Frequency-Dependent SelectionIn positive...

Components of Language

Components of Language

Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs. “eh”). Phonemes combine to...

Language and Cognition

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.

Chunking and Rehearsal in Sensory Memory

Chunking and Rehearsal in Sensory Memory

Improving short-term memory can be achieved through techniques like chunking and rehearsal. Chunking involves organizing information into larger, more manageable units. This technique is particularly useful for information that exceeds the typical memory span of between five and nine items. For instance, logging into an online account with a password like "ta89vq0179gz" involves grouping letters and numbers into three chunks—ta89, vq01, and 79gz. It makes large amounts of information more...

Chunking

Chunking

Chunking is a powerful cognitive technique that improves short-term memory retention by organizing information into smaller, more manageable units. The brain, limited by working memory capacity, can more easily process and store information when it is divided into "chunks" rather than presented as discrete, unrelated elements. Chunking is especially useful when dealing with large amounts of information, such as numerical sequences, words, or complex ideas.
The principle behind chunking is...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Contextual F0 cues can outweigh talker F0 cues in fricative perception.

Attention, perception & psychophysics·2026

Same author

Is rate-dependent perception affected by linguistic information about the intended syllable rate?

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2025

Same author

Effect of auditory cues to lexical stress on the visual perception of gestural timing.

Attention, perception & psychophysics·2025

Same author

Evaluating the factor structure of the Dutch individual differences in language skills (IDLaS-NL) test battery.

Brain research·2025

Same author

The relationship between brain structure and function during novel grammar learning across development.

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)·2024

Same author

Why might there be lexical-prelexical feedback in speech recognition?

Cognition·2024

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Published on: September 5, 2019

The modulation of lexical competition by segment duration.

Keren B Shatzman¹, James M McQueen

¹Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. keren.shatzman@let.uu.nl

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|May 9, 2007

Summary

Phonetic detail, like segment duration, impacts spoken word recognition. Shorter [s] sounds activate stop-initial words, while longer [s] sounds activate cluster-initial words.

Area of Science:

Psycholinguistics
Phonetics
Cognitive Science

Background:

Spoken word recognition involves competition between similar-sounding words.
Fine-grained phonetic details can influence this lexical competition process.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how segment duration, a phonetic detail, affects lexical competition in Dutch spoken word recognition.
To determine if subtle differences in sound duration modulate the activation of competing lexical candidates.

Main Methods:

An eye-tracking experiment was conducted with Dutch listeners.
Participants viewed pictures of objects while listening to sentences.
Eye movements were monitored to assess word recognition, focusing on responses to stop-initial vs. cluster-initial words preceded by an [s] sound of varying durations.

More Related Videos

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

Published on: June 29, 2021

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Published on: September 27, 2024

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Published on: September 5, 2019

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

Published on: June 29, 2021

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Published on: September 27, 2024

Main Results:

Listeners showed increased fixations to cluster-initial words with a long [s] (103 msec).
Listeners showed increased fixations to stop-initial words with a short [s] (73 msec).
A 30 msec difference in [s] duration significantly modulated lexical competition.

Conclusions:

Segment duration is a critical phonetic cue in spoken word recognition.
Even minimal duration variations (30 msec) can shift lexical competition outcomes.
This finding highlights the sensitivity of the speech recognition system to fine phonetic details.