Putting morphology back in the mental lexicon. An fMRI study of derivational processes in English
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Birmingham
Department Name: School of Psychology
Abstract
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Organisations
Publications
Pliatsikas C
(2014)
Processing of zero-derived words in English: an fMRI investigation.
in Neuropsychologia
| Description | [1] Our project yielded novel experimental findings (both neurological and behavioural) that have theoretical implications for neuropsychological, psycholinguistic and linguistic theory. Our fMRI data demonstrate differences in the BOLD response during word reading due to covert morphological complexity unrelated to changes to the surface form of words. These data confirm the role of the LIFG in such morphological processes but show no difference in more posterior areas related to early visual word processing. This pattern of results is supported by our behavioural studies, which demonstrate processing differences between one and two-step words in delayed but not masked priming. [2] Our findings provide strong constraints for models of visual word recognition. They challenge accounts that model morphological structure as an epiphenomenon of the mapping from surface form to semantics. Our data provide strong support for an explicit role for morphology during visual word recognition and provide new evidence concerning the representations and processes involved. They are consistent with an early affix-stripping process which is blind to morphological relationships and a later derivational process which is sensitive to covert morphological complexity. [3] In linguistic theory, there are controversies about how to handle noun-to-verb changes that occur without overt affixation. One proposal is that these are independent lexical entries with semantic associations but no derivational link. Another hypothesis appeals to a morphological derivation via the addition of a null morpheme or by an act conversion, thereby assuming an increase in complexity. Our results provide the first experimental evidence that structural complexity is involved. |
| Exploitation Route | Our finding have theoretical impact within the fields of reading and language comprehension. |
| Sectors | Other |
| Description | A behavioural and fMRI investigation of the processing of zero derivation in English. EPS Hull |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | paper presentation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The talk was well received Interst in research and its publiation |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | An fMRI investigation of the processing of zero derivation in English. Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | poster presentation |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Postdoc presented poster Increased interest in research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Planning spoken sentences: the role of prosodic units. Seminar on Prosodic Interfaces. JNU New Delhi |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The talk was given to a largely linguistic audience and was well recieved. A great deal of interest was shown in our findings and in using the experimental method we developed as a diagnostic linguisitic tool. Increased interest in experimental research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Pronoun attachment in English prosodic word production. Invited seminar, Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar given to Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin. Audience showed interest in the novel method. interest in publication |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Why bridging is harder than running : processing zero-derivations in English visual word recognition. Beckman Institute University of Illinois, U.S.A |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Invited seminar, Beckman Institute University of Illinois, U.S.A. Nijmegen, Netherlands. Academics requested further information about this research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Why bridging is harder than running: processing zero-derivations in English visual word. Max Plank Institute, Nijmegen |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Presented research at the Max Plank Insitute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, NL. The talk was well received and people showed a great interest in this research Requests for further information about the research and its publication |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |