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Influence of speakers' gaze on situated language comprehension: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials
Torsten Kai Jachmann1, Heiner Drenhaus1, Maria Staudte1
1Language Science and Technology, Campus C7, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany; Cluster of Excellence Multimodal Computing and Interaction (MMCI), Campus E1.7, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany.
Brain and Cognition
|June 16, 2019
Summary
Speaker gaze influences sentence comprehension by guiding lexical expectations. Gaze integration into mental representations occurs before words are spoken, impacting language processing.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psycholinguistics
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Speaker gaze influences listener's sentence comprehension.
- Understanding the cognitive mechanisms of gaze processing and integration is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how speaker gaze influences lexical expectation formation and sentence comprehension.
- To explore the temporal dynamics of gaze integration into mental representations.
Main Methods:
- Two event-related potential (ERP) experiments were conducted with 30 participants each.
- Participants viewed a face with gaze cues aligned to spoken sentences about objects.
- Gaze cues were manipulated as Congruent, Incongruent, Averted, or Mutual.
Main Results:
- Attenuated N200 and N400 amplitudes observed when gaze cues confirmed lexical expectations (Congruent).
- A P600 effect indicated a need for representational revision when gaze-cued expectations were violated (Incongruent).
Conclusions:
- Speaker gaze is integrated into mental representations before referent mention.
- Gaze processing goes beyond simply highlighting objects; it actively shapes situation models.