This project will examine basic phenomena concerning word and sentence processing using a set of theoretical principles derived from the connectionist/parallel distributed processing framework. The proposed research is a continuation of the previous project """"""""Normal and Disordered Word Identification and Naming,"""""""" which resulted in the development of a general theory of word recognition in reading based on these principles, the implementation of computational models that instantiate parts of the theory, the assessment of such models against behavioral data, and the acquisition of new data testing predictions derived from this an competing theories.
The specific aims of the project are: 1. To develop current computational modeling architechtures that will address a) division of labor between components of the word recognition system in determining the meanings of words b) phonological representation and the reading of multisyllabic words, the assignment of syllabic stress; and c) morphological structure and the reading go of multimorphemic words; focusing on variations in the degree of morphological transparency. 2. To extend the framework to questions concerning the processing of words in sentences. Specific foci will include a)the representation of verbs and their argument structures; b) the use of multiple, interacting, probabilistic constraints in resolving local syntactic ambiguities; and c)the effect on sentence processing of structural constraints owing to the architecture of the language comprehension system and the sequential nature of language comprehension. 3. To develop a next-generation architecture that will be used to address issues related to the temporal nature of language, focusing on a) how underlying representations for temporally structured knowledge develop under the constraints imposed by the serial nature of comprehension and production; and b) how the degree of shared structure among constituents (e.g.; phonemes, morphemes, words) within the representations provides insight into graded similarity effects in human language performance. 4. In addition to this theoretical and computational work, we will also acquire critical behavioral data in each area, focusing on individual differences in division of labor; peoples~ performance in assigning syllabic stress to novel words; and effects of degree of morphological transparency in cross-modal priming.
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