A review on the cognitive function of information structure during language comprehension

During communication, information structure can be used to highlight the most relevant piece of information, so that sufficient amount of attention can be allocated to the most important information. This paper aims to review the cognitive function of information structure during language comprehension from a neurocognitve perspective. First, we gave a brief introduction to the concept of information structure that has been studied mostly in linguistic field. Then we introduced recent studies on information structure using electrophysiological and neuroimaging techniques. After that, we discussed the relationship between attention and language processing more generally. Finally, we discussed potential directions for future studies.

[1]  Sieb G. Nooteboom,et al.  Opposite effects of accentuation and deaccentuation on verification latencies for given and new information , 1987 .

[2]  Anthony J. Sanford,et al.  Shallow Processing and Attention Capture in Written and Spoken Discourse , 2006 .

[3]  M. Swerts,et al.  The Effects of Visual Beats on Prosodic Prominence: Acoustic Analyses, Auditory Perception and Visual Perception. , 2007 .

[4]  Yufang Yang,et al.  Distinguish between focus and newness: An ERP study , 2014, Journal of Neurolinguistics.

[5]  Herbert Schriefers,et al.  Pitch accents in context: How listeners process accentuation in referential communication , 2011, Neuropsychologia.

[6]  R. VanRullen,et al.  An oscillatory mechanism for prioritizing salient unattended stimuli , 2012, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[7]  Nomi Erteschik-Shir,et al.  Information Structure: The Syntax-Discourse Interface , 2007 .

[8]  C. Clifton,et al.  Focus, Accent, and Argument Structure: Effects on Language Comprehension , 1995, Language and speech.

[9]  Susan M. Garnsey,et al.  Brain Responses to Focus-Related Prosodic Mismatch in Japanese , 2004 .

[10]  Z. Harris,et al.  Foundations of language , 1941 .

[11]  M. Just,et al.  Individual differences in syntactic processing: The role of working memory , 1991 .

[12]  M. Halliday.  NOTES ON TRANSITIVITY AND THEME IN ENGLISH. PART 2 , 1967 .

[13]  Kai Alter,et al.  Prosody in Dialogues and Single Sentences: How Prosody can influence Speech Perception , 2004 .

[14]  S. Shipp.  The brain circuitry of attention , 2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[15]  Lin Wang,et al.  The role of beat gesture and pitch accent in semantic processing: An ERP study , 2013, Neuropsychologia.

[16]  Fred Cummins,et al.  The temporal relation between beat gestures and speech , 2011 .

[17]  M. Corbetta,et al.  Neural Systems for Visual Orienting and Their Relationships to Spatial Working Memory , 2002, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[18]  Ulrike Toepel,et al.  Catching the news: Processing strategies in listening to dialogs as measured by ERPs , 2007, Behavioral and Brain Functions.

[19]  Antoine J. Shahin,et al.  Brain oscillations during semantic evaluation of speech , 2009, Brain and Cognition.

[20]  Janet D. Fodor,et al.  The sausage machine: A new two-stage parsing model , 1978, Cognition.

[21]  R. Sandt,et al.  Focus: Linguistic, Cognitive, and Computational Perspectives , 1999 .

[22]  Cinzia Avesani,et al.  Prosodic marking of information status in Dutch and Italian: a comparative analysis , 2002, J. Phonetics.

[23]  Line Burholt Kristensen,et al.  The interface between language and attention: prosodic focus marking recruits a general attention network in spoken language comprehension. , 2013, Cerebral cortex.

[24]  Petra Himmel.  Hand And Mind What Gestures Reveal About Thought , 2016 .

[25]  Anita Steube,et al.  Information structure : theoretical and empirical aspects , 2004 .

[26]  Yufang Yang,et al.  Focus, Newness and Their Combination: Processing of Information Structure in Discourse , 2012, PloS one.

[27]  Anne Lacheret,et al.  On-line Processing of Pop-Out Words in Spoken French Dialogues , 2005, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[28]  Eugene J. Dawydiak,et al.  Linguistic focus and good-enough representations: An application of the change-detection paradigm , 2004, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

[29]  Peter Hagoort,et al.  Semantic illusion depends on information structure: ERP evidence , 2009, Brain Research.

[30]  M. Tanenhaus,et al.  Accent and reference resolution in spoken-language comprehension , 2002 .

[31]  Samer Al Moubayed,et al.  Effects of visual prominence cues on speech intelligibility , 2009, AVSP.

[32]  Ton Dijkstra,et al.  Theta Responses Are Involved in LexicalSemantic Retrieval during Language Processing , 2005, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[33]  Marcel Bastiaansen,et al.  Information Structure Influences Depth of Syntactic Processing: Event-Related Potential Evidence for the Chomsky Illusion , 2012, PloS one.

[34]  Yufang Yang,et al.  Immediate integration of different types of prosodic information during on-line spoken language comprehension: An ERP study , 2011, Brain Research.

[35]  S. Brédart,et al.  Moses strikes again: Focalization effect on a semantic illusion , 1988 .

[36]  Maria Polinsky,et al.  Violations of information structure: An electrophysiological study of answers to wh-questions , 2007, Brain and Language.

[37]  M. Mattson,et al.  From words to meaning: A semantic illusion , 1981 .

[38]  M. Posner,et al.  The attention system of the human brain: 20 years after. , 2012, Annual review of neuroscience.

[39]  Yufang Yang,et al.  How long-term memory and accentuation interact during spoken language comprehension , 2013, Neuropsychologia.

[40]  Stefan Heim,et al.  Prosodic pitch accents in language comprehension and production: ERP data and acoustic analyses. , 2006, Acta neurobiologiae experimentalis.

[41]  M. Alibali,et al.  Effects of Visibility between Speaker and Listener on Gesture Production: Some Gestures Are Meant to Be Seen , 2001 .

[42]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. , 1966 .

[43]  Isabell Wartenburger,et al.  How pitch accents and focus particles affect the recognition of contextual alternatives , 2013, CogSci.

[44]  Gisela Redeker,et al.  Less Is Not More: Neural Responses to Missing and Superfluous Accents in Context , 2012, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[45]  Patrick Sturt,et al.  Linguistic focus and memory: An eye movement study , 2007, Memory & cognition.

[46]  A. Meyer,et al.  Using the visual world paradigm to study language processing: a review and critical evaluation. , 2011, Acta psychologica.

[47]  A. Friederici,et al.  Electrophysiological Evidence for Two Steps in Syntactic Analysis: Early Automatic and Late Controlled Processes , 1999, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[48]  M. Posner,et al.  The attention system of the human brain. , 1990, Annual review of neuroscience.

[49]  Stefan Heim,et al.  Focus on focus: The brain’s electrophysiological response to focus particles and accents in German , 2007 .

[50]  J. Fodor,et al.  Semantic focus and sentence comprehension , 1979, Cognition.

[51]  Noam Chomsky,et al.  वाक्यविन्यास का सैद्धान्तिक पक्ष = Aspects of the theory of syntax , 1965 .

[52]  Björn Granström,et al.  Auditory visual prominence , 2009, Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces.

[53]  R. Jackendoff.  Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution , 2002 .

[54]  G. Ren,et al.  How and when accentuation influences temporally selective attention and subsequent semantic processing during on-line spoken language comprehension: An ERP study , 2012, Neuropsychologia.

[55]  Carlos Gussenhoven,et al.  Notions and subnotions in information structure , 2008 .

[56]  A. Friederici,et al.  The brain basis of syntactic processes: functional imaging and lesion studies , 2003, NeuroImage.

[57]  Ellen Bialystok,et al.  Components of executive control with advantages for bilingual children in two cultures , 2009, Cognition.

[58]  Kara D. Federmeier,et al.  Thirty years and counting: finding meaning in the N400 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP). , 2011, Annual review of psychology.

[59]  Emiel Krahmer,et al.  The Effects of Visual Beats on Prosodic Prominence: Acoustic Analyses, Auditory Perception and Visual Perception. , 2007 .

[60]  E. Bialystok.  Cognitive Complexity and Attentional Control in the Bilingual Mind , 1999 .

[61]  P. Hagoort,et al.  ERP evidence on the interaction between information structure and emotional salience of words , 2013, Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience.

[62]  Mark Steedman.  Structure and Intonation , 1991 .

[63]  Keith Rayner,et al.  Focus Identification during Sentence Comprehension: Evidence from Eye Movements , 2007, Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[64]  Peter Hagoort,et al.  Event-related Potential Evidence on the Influence of Accentuation in Spoken Discourse Comprehension in Chinese , 2008, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[65]  Marcel Bastiaansen,et al.  The influence of information structure on the depth of semantic processing: How focus and pitch accent determine the size of the N400 effect , 2011, Neuropsychologia.

[66]  R. Oostenveld,et al.  I see what you mean: Theta power increases are involved in the retrieval of lexical semantic information , 2008, Brain and Language.

[67]  M. MacDonald.  The interaction of lexical and syntactic ambiguity , 1993 .

[68]  Alison J. S. Sanford,et al.  Enhancement and suppression effects resulting from information structuring in sentences , 2009, Memory & cognition.

[69]  Knud Lambrecht,et al.  Information structure and sentence form , 1994 .

[70]  S. Brédart,et al.  The Moses illusion: A follow-up on the focalization effect , 1989 .

[71]  J. K. Bock,et al.  Intonational marking of given and new information: Some consequences for comprehension , 1983, Memory & cognition.

[72]  J. Fodor.  The Modularity of mind. An essay on faculty psychology , 1986 .