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Related Concept Videos

Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

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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.
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Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language01:10

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Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
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Language Development01:22

Language Development

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Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
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Components of Language01:24

Components of Language

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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.
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Language01:16

Language

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Language is a unique communication system that uses words and systematic rules to organize and transmit information. Unlike other forms of communication, which may involve postures, movements, odors, or vocalizations, language relies on symbols and grammar. This makes human communication distinct from that of other species, who also communicate but do not use language in the same way humans do.
Corballis and Suddendorf (2007) and Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003) highlight the role of language in...
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Prediction Intervals01:03

Prediction Intervals

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The interval estimate of any variable is known as the prediction interval. It helps decide if a point estimate is dependable.
However, the point estimate is most likely not the exact value of the population parameter, but close to it. After calculating point estimates, we construct interval estimates, called confidence intervals or prediction intervals. This prediction interval comprises a range of values unlike the point estimate and is a better predictor of the observed sample value, y. 
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What do we mean by prediction in language comprehension?

Gina R Kuperberg1, T Florian Jaeger2

  • 1Department of Psychology and Center for Cognitive Science, Tufts University; Department of Psychiatry and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

Language, Cognition and Neuroscience
|May 3, 2016
PubMed
Summary

Language comprehension involves probabilistic prediction across multiple representational levels. This predictive processing, influenced by goals and input reliability, is explained by hierarchical generative models.

Keywords:
generative modellanguage comprehensionprediction errorprobabilisticsurprisal

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Computational Linguistics
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Language comprehension relies on predictive mechanisms.
  • The computational nature and representational levels of prediction are key research questions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the computational nature of prediction in language comprehension.
  • To determine the representational levels and mechanisms involved in predictive processing.
  • To explore the role of higher-level inferences in pre-activating lower-level representations.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of behavioral and neural evidence.
  • Theoretical modeling of predictive language processing.
  • Examination of probabilistic prediction and multi-level representations.

Main Results:

  • Evidence supports probabilistic prediction at multiple representational levels.
  • Higher-level inferences can pre-activate lower-level representations.
  • Predictive pre-activation is modulated by prediction utility, goals, and input reliability.

Conclusions:

  • Language understanding is best explained by a hierarchical, actively generative architecture.
  • Predictions are crucial for explaining bottom-up input in language processing.
  • This framework supports productive exploration of predictive language comprehension.