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

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Grounding Language Processing: The Added Value of Specifying Linguistic/Compositional Representations and Processes.

Pia Knoeferle¹

¹Institut für deutsche Sprache und Linguistik, Unter den Linden 6, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin.

Journal of Cognition

|April 8, 2021

Summary

This study explores how visual perception and motor actions ground language comprehension. It argues for explicit models detailing semantic representations, incremental processes, and their link to observable behavior in psycholinguistic research.

Keywords:

Embodied cognition Eye movements Semantics Sentence processing

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Last Updated: Nov 9, 2025

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Published on: September 5, 2019

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Computational Linguistics
Psycholinguistics

Background:

Empirical evidence links visual perception and motor responses to language comprehension (grounding).
Current word-by-word models often lack explicit linguistic representations and cognitive processes.
Modeling sentence comprehension grounding requires explicit formalisms.

Purpose of the Study:

Review representational formalisms and computational models for grounding sentence comprehension.
Accommodate incremental and compositional grounding effects in models.
Determine the suitability of different representation formats and the mechanisms/representations assumed by models.

Main Methods:

Review of representational formalisms and computational models.
Analysis of mechanisms and representations used to accommodate grounding effects.
Proposal for psycholinguistic modeling contrasting representational formats and processes.

Main Results:

Different representational formats have varying suitability for modeling grounding.
Models must explicitly define compositional semantic representations and incremental processes.
An explicit link between processes and measured behavior is crucial.

Conclusions:

Minimal specification of compositional semantics, incremental processes, and behavioral links is necessary for effective psycholinguistic modeling.
Psycholinguistic modeling can systematically contrast representational formats and cognitive mechanisms.
This approach can complement computational modeling across diverse experimental studies.