Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T02:39:16.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Language processing is not a race against time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2016

Giosuè Baggio
Affiliation:
Language Acquisition and Language Processing Lab, Department of Language and Literature, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, [email protected]://www.ntnu.edu/employees/giosue.baggio
Carmelo M. Vicario
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57, 2AS, United Kingdom. [email protected]://www.bangor.ac.uk/psychology/people/profiles/carmelo_vicario.php.en

Abstract

We agree with Christiansen & Chater (C&C) that language processing and acquisition are tightly constrained by the limits of sensory and memory systems. However, the human brain supports a range of cognitive functions that mitigate the effects of information processing bottlenecks. The language system is partly organised around these moderating factors, not just around restrictions on storage and computation.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boemio, A., Fromm, S., Braun, A. & Poeppel, D. (2005) Hierarchical and asymmetric temporal sensitivity in human auditory cortices. Nature Neuroscience 8(3):389–95.Google Scholar
Brinton, B., Fujiki, M., Loeb, D. F. & Winkler, E. (1986) Development of conversational repair strategies in response to requests for clarification. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 29(1):7581.Google Scholar
Catani, M., Jones, D. K. & ffytche, D. H. (2005) Perisylvian language networks of the human brain. Annals of Neurology 57(1):816.Google Scholar
Clark, H. H. (1996) Using language. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dehaene, S. (2009) Reading in the brain: The new science of how we read. Viking.Google Scholar
Ding, N., Melloni, L., Zhang, H., Tian, X. & Poeppel, D. (2016) Cortical tracking of hierarchical linguistic structures in connected speech. Nature Neuroscience 19:159–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuster, J. M. (1995) Temporal processing. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 769:173–82.Google Scholar
Giraud, A. L., Kleinschmidt, A., Poeppel, D., Lund, T. E., Frackowiak, R. S. J. & Laufs, H. (2007) Endogenous cortical rhythms determine cerebral specialization for speech perception and production. Neuron 56(6):1127–34.Google Scholar
Giraud, A. L. & Poeppel, D. (2012) Cortical oscillations and speech processing: Emerging computational principles and operations. Nature Neuroscience 15(4):511–17.Google Scholar
Golinkoff, R. M. (1986) “I beg your pardon?”: The preverbal negotiation of failed messages. Journal of Child Language 13(3):455–76.Google Scholar
Goswami, U. (2015) Sensory theories of developmental dyslexia: Three challenges for research. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 16:4354.Google Scholar
Graesser, A. C., Singer, M. & Trabasso, T. (1994) Constructing inferences during narrative text comprehension. Psychological Review 101(3):371–95.Google Scholar
Mesulam, M. M. (1998) From sensation to cognition. Brain 121(6):1013–52.Google Scholar
Morillon, B., Lehongre, K., Frackowiak, R. S. J., Ducorps, A., Kleinschmidt, A., Poeppel, D. & Giraud, A. L. (2010) Neurophysiological origin of human brain asymmetry for speech and language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(43):18688–93.Google Scholar
Pallier, C., Devauchelle, A. D. & Dehaene, S. (2011) Cortical representation of the constituent structure of sentences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(6):2522–27.Google Scholar
Petkov, C. I., O'Connor, K. N. & Sutter, M. L. (2007) Encoding of illusory continuity in primary auditory cortex. Neuron 54(1):153–65.Google Scholar
Saxton, M., Houston-Price, C. & Dawson, N. (2005) The prompt hypothesis: Clarification requests as corrective input for grammatical errors. Applied Psycholinguistics 26(3):393–14.Google Scholar
Swinney, D. A. & Osterhout, L. (1990) Inference generation during auditory language comprehension. Psychology of Learning and Motivation 25:1733.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M., Conti-Ramsden, G. & Ewert, B. (1990) Young children's conversations with their mothers and fathers: Differences in breakdown and repair. Journal of Child Language 17(1):115–30.Google Scholar
Vicario, C. M., Martino, D. & Koch, G. (2013) Temporal accuracy and variability in the left and right posterior parietal cortex. Neuroscience 245:121–28.Google Scholar
Warren, R. M. (1970) Perceptual restoration of missing speech sounds. Science 167(3917):392–93.Google Scholar
Wiener, M., Turkeltaub, P. & Coslett, H. B. (2010) The image of time: A voxel-wise meta-analysis. NeuroImage 49(2):1728–40.Google Scholar
Yonata, L. (1999) Early metalinguistic competence: Speech monitoring and repair behavior. Developmental Psychology 35(3):822–34.Google Scholar