Exploring the scope and limits of incremental learning in word production - Evidence from picture-word interference and blocked-cyclic naming experiments

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jörg D. Jescheniak
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2014 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 263727075

In the past years, the experimental investigation and computational modelling of lexical processing was in the focus of speech production research. Although there is there is compelling evidence that the context, in which an utterance is produced, has a strong influence on lexical selection, i.e. the selection of words actually used by a speaker, little is known about whether the context also affects the preceding lexical activation processes. The present research programme will focus on this question. Based on findings from referential communication studies, it will focus on effects from linguistic contexts which precede a target utterance and which are produced by either the speaker herself/himself or a dialogue partner. In particular we will explore, whether constraints imposed by these linguistic contexts can prevent the processing of lexical alternatives which would result in locally inappropriate utterances. The research program will make use of paradigms developed in the context of referential communication studies and will thus bridge the cleft between two - for most parts - independent research traditions in psycholinguistics: the exploration of principles guiding referential communication on the one hand and the chronometric analysis of conceptual-lexical processes on the other. Our finding shall contribute to a deeper understanding and more comprehensive modelling of the cognitive processes underlying speaking in context and their flexibility.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Netherlands
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Herbert J. Schriefers