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How social opinion influences syntactic processing-An investigation using virtual reality
Evelien Heyselaar1, Peter Hagoort1,2, Katrien Segaert3
1Neurobiology of Language Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Plos One
|April 7, 2017
Summary
Social perception influences grammatical adaptation, known as structural priming. This study found an inverted U-shaped relationship, with intermediate avatar strangeness yielding the greatest priming effects.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Social Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Structural priming, the adaptation of grammatical choices to an interlocutor, is influenced by social perceptions.
- Previous research on this social influence has yielded inconsistent findings regarding its direction and reliability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the non-linear relationship between social perception and structural priming magnitude.
- To operationalize social perception using avatar strangeness in a controlled virtual reality environment.
Main Methods:
- A virtual reality study was conducted using avatars to manipulate social perceptions.
- Participants' grammatical choices were analyzed for structural priming effects in relation to avatar strangeness ratings.
Main Results:
- An inverted U-shaped curve was observed for passive structural priming magnitude as a function of avatar strangeness.
- The largest priming effects occurred with intermediately strange avatars, decreasing with least or most strange avatars.
Conclusions:
- The relationship between social perception and priming magnitude is non-linear, with an optimal level of 'strangeness' maximizing priming.
- No significant interaction was found between priming magnitude and specific social perception ratings.