Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

"Process and perish" or multiple buffers with push-down stacks?

Stephen C Levinson1

  • 1Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics,Nijmegen & Donders Institute for Brain,Cognition and Behaviour,Radboud University,6500 AH Nijmegen,The Netherlands.stephen.levinson@mpi.nl.

The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|August 27, 2016
PubMed
Summary

External factors like turn-taking speed up language processing. The theory also needs nested processing levels and multiple memory buffers to explain complex language structures and recall.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Charting New Paths in the Study of Kin Term Acquisition.

Topics in cognitive science·2026
Same author

EVApeCognition: An 18-Year Dataset of Great Ape Cognition.

Scientific data·2026
Same author

Eyebrow movements as signals of communicative problems in human face-to-face interaction.

Royal Society open science·2025
Same author

Visual bodily signals and conversational context benefit the anticipation of turn ends.

Cognition·2024
Same author

Ultrasound measurements of interactive turn-taking in question-answer sequences: Articulatory preparation is delayed but not tied to the response.

PloS one·2023
Same author

Grambank reveals the importance of genealogical constraints on linguistic diversity and highlights the impact of language loss.

Science advances·2023

Area of Science:

  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Science
  • Computational Linguistics

Background:

  • Current theories of language processing focus on internal mechanisms.
  • The role of external, interactive factors in language processing speed is under-explored.
  • Existing models may not fully account for the nested nature of linguistic structures and memory demands.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the influence of external turn-taking dynamics on language processing speed.
  • To evaluate the adequacy of current processing theories regarding nested linguistic levels.
  • To identify potential requirements for memory buffers in language processing models.

Main Methods:

  • This is a theoretical commentary, not an empirical study.
  • Analysis of existing psycholinguistic theories and models.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Conceptual exploration of processing requirements for linguistic structures.

    • Main Results:

    • Language processing is accelerated by both internal cognitive pressures and external conversational turn-taking.
    • Linguistic levels do not perfectly nest, challenging theories requiring strictly nested processing.
    • The theory may necessitate multiple memory buffers to handle discontinuous structures and verbatim recall.

    Conclusions:

    • Conversational turn-taking is a significant external factor influencing language processing speed.
    • Current theoretical frameworks may require revision to accommodate non-nested linguistic levels.
    • The need for multiple memory buffers is highlighted for explaining complex linguistic phenomena like discontinuous structures and verbatim recall.