Northwestern Events Calendar

May
2
2016

Dissertation Defense: Angela Fink - "The role of domain-general executive functions, articulation, and conceptualization during spoken word production"

When: Monday, May 2, 2016
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM CT

Where: Cresap Laboratory, 101, 2021 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Contact: Narene B Weston   (847) 467-3384

Group: Linguistics Department

Category: Academic

Description:

Abstract

In this dissertation, we present three empirical studies exploring the relationship between the central planning processes of spoken word production—lexical selection, phonological encoding, and phonetic encoding—and three other cognitive processes traditionally considered separate or peripheral to this core system. Study 1 examines the role of domain-general executive functions, which facilitate thoughts and actions by directing attention and/or cognitive resources toward the task at hand, in resolving conflict during lexical selection. A growing body of behavioral and neurological evidence suggests that inhibitory executive functions, known to suppress non-target representations, can help manage conflict among co-active lexical representations. Across 4 experiments, we attempt to support this hypothesis by demonstrating that engagement of inhibition can modulate the difficulty of lexical selection, indexed by response time data. Study 2 investigates interactions between lexical selection and subsequent articulatory processing. Specifically, we examine word duration data from study 1 and a collaborator’s experiments, testing whether the difficulty of lexical selection and the timing of response initiation influence speakers’ articulatory outcomes. Finally, study 3 probes the relationship between spoken production and its lead-in process, conceptualization. A series of post hoc analyses on the response time data from study 1 explores the underlying structure of the semantic representations that send activation to the production system. Based on these three lines of research, we argue for more cognitively integrated theories of spoken word production.

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