PSY 369: Psycholinguistics

Mental representations II

Oops! Homework #1: question 2d Should be “bank” not “word”

Name this picture

“dog”

“animal”

“Labrador”

“bird”

“wolf”

“plant”

Semantic Networks Semantic Networks

Words can be represented as an interconnected network of sense relations

Each word is a particular node Connections among nodes represent semantic

relationships

Collins and Quillian (1969)

Animal has skincan move around

breathes

Lexical entry

SemanticFeatures

Collins and Quillian Hierarchical Network model Lexical entries stored in a hierarchy

Semantic features attached to the lexical entries

Collins and Quillian (1969)

Animal has skincan move around

breathes

has finscan swim

has gills

has featherscan fly

has wingsBird Fish

Representation permits cognitive economy Reduce redundancy of semantic features

Collins and Quillian (1969)

Animal has skincan move around

breathes

Fishhas finscan swim

has gillsBird

has featherscan fly

has wings

Canary can sing

is yellow

Ostrichhas long legsis fast

can’t fly

Local level features may contradict higher level features

Collins and Quillian (1969) Testing the model

Semantic verification task An A is a B True/False

An apple is a fruit

Collins and Quillian (1969) Testing the model

Semantic verification task An A is a B True/False

An robin has wings

Collins and Quillian (1969) Testing the model

Semantic verification task An A is a B True/False

A robin is a bird

Collins and Quillian (1969) Testing the model

Semantic verification task An A is a B True/False

A robin is an animal

Collins and Quillian (1969) Testing the model

Semantic verification task An A is a B True/False

A dog has teeth

Collins and Quillian (1969) Testing the model

Semantic verification task An A is a B True/False

A fish has gills

Collins and Quillian (1969) Testing the model

Semantic verification task An A is a B True/False

Use time on verification tasks to map out the structure of the lexicon.

An apple has teeth

Collins and Quillian (1969) Testing the model

Sentence Verification timeRobins eat worms 1310 msecsRobins have feathers 1380 msecsRobins have skin 1470 msecs

A category size effect: The higher the location of B, the longer the

reaction time (“A is a B” or “A has a B”) Participants do an intersection search

Collins and Quillian (1969)

Animal has skincan move around

breathes

Bird

has featherscan fly

has wings

Robin eats worms

has a red breast

Robins eat worms

Collins and Quillian (1969)

Animal has skincan move around

breathes

Bird

has featherscan fly

has wings

Robin eats worms

has a red breast

Robins eat worms

Collins and Quillian (1969)

Animal has skincan move around

breathes

Bird

has featherscan fly

has wings

Robin eats worms

has a red breast

Robins have feathers

Collins and Quillian (1969)

Animal has skincan move around

breathes

Bird

has featherscan fly

has wings

Robin eats worms

has a red breast

Robins have feathers

Collins and Quillian (1969)

Animal has skincan move around

breathes

Bird

has featherscan fly

has wings

Robin eats worms

has a red breast

Robins have skin

Collins and Quillian (1969)

Animal has skincan move around

breathes

Bird

has featherscan fly

has wings

Robin eats worms

has a red breast

Robins have skin

Collins and Quillian (1969) Problems with the model

Effect may be due to frequency of association

“A robin breathes” is less frequent than “A robin eats worms”

Assumption that all lexical entries at the same level are equal

The Typicality Effect A whale is a fish vs. A horse is a fish Which is a more typical bird? Ostrich or Robin.

Collins and Quillian (1969)

Animal has skincan move around

breathes

Fishhas finscan swim

has gillsBird

has featherscan fly

has wings

Robin eats worms

has a red breast

Ostrichhas long legsis fast

can’t fly

Semantic Networks Prototypes:

Some members of a category are better instances of the category than others

Fruit: Apple vs. pomegranate What makes a prototype?

More central semantic features What type of dog is a prototypical dog What are the features of it?

We are faster at retrieving prototypes of a category than other members of the category

Spreading Activation Models Collins & Loftus (1975)

Words represented in lexicon as a network of relationships

Organization is a web of interconnected nodes in which connections can represent:

categorical relations degree of association typicality

Semantic Networks

street

carbus

vehicle

red

Fire engine

truck

roses

blue

orange

flowers

fire

house

applepear

tulipsfruit

Semantic Networks Retrieval of information

Spreading activation Limited amount of activation to spread Verification times depend on closeness of

two concepts in a network

Semantic Networks

Fire engine

truck bus

vehiclecar

red

house

fire

applepear

fruitroses

flowers

tulips

blue

orange

street

Semantic Networks

Fire engine

truck bus

vehiclecar

red

house

fire

applepear

fruitroses

flowers

tulips

blue

orange

street

Semantic Networks

Fire engine

truck bus

vehiclecar

red

house

fire

applepear

fruitroses

flowers

tulips

blue

orange

street

Semantic Networks

Fire engine

truck bus

vehiclecar

red

house

fire

applepear

fruitroses

flowers

tulips

blue

orange

street

Semantic Networks

Fire engine

truck bus

vehiclecar

red

house

fire

applepear

fruitroses

flowers

tulips

blue

orange

street

Semantic Networks Advantages of Collins and Loftus

model Recognizes diversity of information in a

semantic network Captures complexity of our semantic

representation Consistent with results from priming

studies

Bock and Levelt (1994)

SHEEP GOAT

Sheep Goat

/gout// ip/

€

∫

€

∫ i p g ou t

N

wool milk animalConcepts

• with semantic features

Lemmas

• grammtical features

Lexemes

• morphemes and sounds

Phonemesgrow

th

give

s gives Is a

n

Is an

categorycategory

Summary slide here