PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Sex of speaker affects listener language processing

2013-11-20
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Karen Salisbury Henry
kahenry@ku.edu
785-864-0756
University of Kansas
Sex of speaker affects listener language processing LAWRENCE — Whether we process language we hear without regard to anything about the speaker is a longstanding scientific debate. But it wasn't until University of Kansas scientists set up an experiment showing that the sex of a speaker affected how quickly listeners identified words grammatically that there was evidence that even higher-level processes are affected by the speaker.

Based on the fact that Spanish words have a grammatical gender — words ending in "o" are typically masculine and in "a" are typically feminine — the researchers showed that the sex of a speaker affected how fast and accurately listeners could identify a list of Spanish words as masculine or feminine. When there was a mismatch between the sex of the speaker and the gender of the word, listeners slowed down in identifying the word grammatically and were less accurate. Both the speakers and listeners were native Spanish speakers.

Grammar and syntax have been thought for decades to be automatic and untouchable by other brain processes, said Michael Vitevitch, KU professor of psychology. Everything else — the sex of the speaker, their dialect, etc. — is stripped away as our brains process the sound signal of a word and store it as an abstract form. This is the abstractionist model of how we store words in memory championed by well-known cognitive scientist, linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky and his followers.

An alternate school of thought conceives of our brains processing words using exemplars containing and indexing information about both the word and the speaker.

"Our study shows that all that other information does influence not just word recognition processing, but higher-level processes associated with grammar," said Vitevitch.

Vitevitch said that while linguists and psychologists have debated whether memory is abstract or exemplar, he believes that there is evidence for both. "We didn't evolve to be efficient. We evolved to get the job done," he said. "We need both systems."

The study was published in in the journal PLOS ONE on Nov. 13.

### Allard Jongman, professor and chair of the Department of Linguistics, Joan Sereno, professor of linguistics, and Rutherford Goldstein, psychology graduate student, were study collaborators and co-authors.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

HIV virus spread and evolution studied through computer modeling

2013-11-20
HIV virus spread and evolution studied through computer modeling LOS ALAMOS, N.M., November 19, 2013—Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory are investigating the complex relationships between the spread of the HIV virus in a population (epidemiology) ...

Blacks have less access to cancer specialists, treatment

2013-11-20
Blacks have less access to cancer specialists, treatment UC San Diego study suggests racial inequality leads to higher mortality Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say metastatic colorectal cancer patients of African-American ...

What water looks like to DNA

2013-11-20
What water looks like to DNA New computational method described in the Journal of Chemical Physics allows researchers to predict how biological molecules interact with water WASHINGTON D.C. Nov. 19, 2013 -- A team of biochemists and mathematicians have ...

Stanford study could lead to paradigm shift in organic solar cell research

2013-11-20
Stanford study could lead to paradigm shift in organic solar cell research Organic solar cells have long been touted as lightweight, low-cost alternatives to rigid solar panels made of silicon. Dramatic improvements in the efficiency of organic photovoltaics have ...

New study finds no benefit to selecting dose of blood thinner based on patients' genetic makeup

2013-11-20
New study finds no benefit to selecting dose of blood thinner based on patients' genetic makeup Largest randomized, multi-center controlled trial of gene-based strategy for warfarin dosing also found better outcome for African ...

Edoxaban effective in preventing stroke, reducing bleeding and cardiovascular death in patients with atrial fibrillation

2013-11-20
Edoxaban effective in preventing stroke, reducing bleeding and cardiovascular death in patients with atrial fibrillation Boston, MA – According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 800,000 ...

Bedroom access to screen-based media may contribute to sleep problems in boys with autism, MU researchers find

2013-11-20
Bedroom access to screen-based media may contribute to sleep problems in boys with autism, MU researchers find Having bedroom access to television, computers or video games is linked to less sleep in boys with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a team of University ...

Higher emotional intelligence leads to better decision-making

2013-11-20
Higher emotional intelligence leads to better decision-making Toronto – The anxiety people feel making investment decisions may have more to do with the traffic they dealt with earlier than the potential consequences they face with the ...

Enhancing battery performance

2013-11-20
Enhancing battery performance In APL Materials paper, researchers show how to keep cathode material 'in line' to enhance performance WASHINGTON D.C. Nov. 19, 2013 -- The ever-increasing market for portable electronic devices such as laptops, cell phones ...

The human health costs of losing natural systems: Quantifying Earth's worth to public health

2013-11-20
The human health costs of losing natural systems: Quantifying Earth's worth to public health Scientists urge focus on new branch of environmental health A new paper from members of the HEAL (Health & Ecosystems: Analysis of Linkages) consortium delineates a new ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Cognitive decline comes sooner for people with heart failure

SMEs’ ability to innovate is strongly tied to the learning and decision-making skills of managers

Researchers recycle wind turbine blade materials to make improved plastics

Low neighborhood walkability is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease

Common phrases, not fancy words, make you sound more fluent in a foreign language

Printed skin to replace animal testing

Precision medicine could be possible in the fight against antibiotic resistance

Researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University identify new targeted approach to protect neurons against degeneration

Western diet causes inflammation, traditional African food protects

Electrochemical method supports nitrogen circular economy

How researchers are shining a light on kidney disease

Some gut bacteria could make certain drugs less effective

PEPITEM sequence shows effects in psoriasis, comparable to steroid cream

Older teens who start vaping post-high school risk rapid progress to frequent use

Corpse flowers are threatened by spotty recordkeeping

Riding the AI wave toward rapid, precise ocean simulations

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

[Press-News.org] Sex of speaker affects listener language processing