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Words in natural languages are organized into grammatical categories. Mintz (2002) suggested that frames, -frequently occurring word-pairs that span an intermediate target-word-, facilitate categorization of this word. Artificial-language studies demonstrated that dense overlap of distributional cues (frames and adjacent dependencies) across target-words enhances category-learning (Reeder et al., 2013). However, category-learning was tested using only trained intermediate target-words, whereas in natural languages category-learning requires abstraction away from individual items. We use the entropy model (Radulescu et al., 2020) to investigate generalization in frame-based categorization. This model provides a quantitative measure of input-complexity (entropy) and argues that abstract generalizations are gradually attained as entropy exceeds learner’s processing capacity. We suggest that abstract category-learning (generalization) requires high-entropy input. Adults are exposed to an artificial language in a low-entropy vs a high-entropy condition (sparse vs dense frame/target-word overlap) and tested with grammaticality-judgments. Familiar/trained intervening target-words in novel category-conforming vs non-conforming combinations with frames, test item-specific category-learning. New/untrained intervening items in category-conforming vs non-conforming combinations with frames test abstract category-learning. In line with our predictions, preliminary results suggest that both item-specific and abstract category-learning are higher in high-entropy. Furthermore, item-specific category-learning is higher than abstract category-learning in both conditions. This difference is greater in low-entropy.

Past research on the role of prosody in reference is primarily concerned with how adults and children use prosodic cues to signal accessibility change from givenness to newness of the same noun phrase. This study explores the role of prosody in the referential dependencies between one antecedent noun-phrase and one reflexive anaphor ‘zi-ji’ (oneself) in Mandarin-speaking adults and children. In sentences like “Boris dreamed that Miffy painted ‘zi-ji’”, ‘zi-ji’ can establish two types of anaphor-antecedent dependencies: (1) a local dependency where ‘zi-ji’ refers to Miffy, (2) a non-local dependency where ‘zi-ji’ refers to Boris. Such sentences were elicited in both interpretations from Mandarin-speaking adults and 6 to 10-year-olds in a picture-matching game. Duration analysis on ‘zi-ji’ shows that adults produced ‘zi-ji’ with a longer duration in the non-local dependency condition than in the local dependency condition. This result can be explained by the economy hierarchy model, whereby the local antecedent made more accessible by the locality constraint is preferred, thus necessitating the use of more prosodic prominence to mark the less accessible non-local antecedent. This pattern was not found in children’s production, suggesting prolonged acquisition of using prosody to build anaphor-antecedent dependencies for ‘zi-ji’.

Acquiring language entails inferring rules from limited input. The Entropy Model (EM) states that abstract generalizations are gradually attained as entropy (input-complexity) exceeds channel capacity (CC; brain’s encoding power). Radulescu et al. (2019) confirmed this prediction using an AAB rule. We tested EM’s predictions on nonadjacent-dependencies (NADs), which frequently reflect morphosyntactic rules. Adults were exposed online to a NAD-artificial-language (aXb: a predicts b; X varies), in two entropy conditions: Low/High. Presence/absence of pauses segmenting the stream into aXb-items was manipulated. Pauses reduce entropy but also guide attention to individual aXb-items, decreasing attentional resources and thus available CC for encoding distributional/structural information. A grammaticality-judgment task including grammatical/ungrammatical test-items with familiar or unfamiliar X-elements, tested NAD-detection or NAD-generalization over novel X-elements, respectively. Higher entropy and lower CC were predicted to promote NAD-generalization, whereas lower entropy NAD-detection. NAD-detection and NAD-generalization (preference-rate for grammatical-over-ungrammatical test-items) were higher in pause vs no-pause conditions, as predicted. NAD-detection was higher than NAD-generalization, showing the graduality of generalization. Entropy however did not affect generalization. This may be due to the lack of cues enhancing generalization used in studies that found an entropy-effect. Furthermore, online testing allowed limited control over participants. Results are discussed in relation to the EM.

The language abilities of young and adult learners range from memorizing specific items to finding statistical regularities between them (item-bound generalization) and generalizing rules to novel instances (category-based generalization). Both external factors, such as input variability, and internal factors, such as cognitive limitations, have been shown to drive these abilities. However, the exact dynamics between these factors and circumstances under which rule induction emerges remain largely underspecified. Here, we extend our information-theoretic model (Radulescu et al., 2019), based on Shannon’s noisy-channel coding theory, which adds into the “formula” for rule induction the crucial dimension of time: the rate of encoding information by a time-sensitive mechanism. The goal of this study is to test the channel capacity-based hypothesis of our model: if the input entropy per second is higher than the maximum rate of information transmission (bits/second), which is determined by the channel capacity, the encoding method moves gradually from item-bound generalization to a more efficient category-based generalization, so as to avoid exceeding the channel capacity. We ran two artificial grammar experiments with adults, in which we sped up the bit rate of information transmission, crucially not by an arbitrary amount but by a factor calculated using the channel capacity formula on previous data. We found that increased bit rate of information transmission in a repetition-based XXY grammar drove the tendency of learners toward category-based generalization, as predicted by our model. Conversely, we found that increased bit rate of information transmission in complex non-adjacent dependency aXb grammar impeded the item-bound generalization of the specific a_b frames, and led to poorer learning, at least judging by our accuracy assessment method. This finding could show that, since increasing the bit rate of information precipitates a change from item-bound to ca

Over the last decades there is an increasing interest in the comparative research between language and music. A significant amount of studies has focused on the shared underlying processes in both domains (e.g. Patel et al., 1998; Patel, 2003; Slevc et al., 2009; Fedorenko et al., 2009, Jiang et al., 2010). While evidence is contradictory (e.g. Peretz, 1993; 2008; Peretz et al., 1994; Peretz & Coltheart 2003; Chen et al., 2018), no prior research denies the apparent similarities of language and music with respect to the structural rules and principles required for the linguistic and musical adequacy. Following previous claims that intonation shapes the word boundaries eliminating sentence ambiguities (Papangeli & Marinis, 2010), the present research thesis proposes a self-paced reading-listening experiment to investigate whether musical pitch can substitute the use of intonation in ambiguous contexts. As a result, it would indicate that non-linguistic acoustic cues, such as music pitch, may contribute to language comprehension, specifically to disambiguation. This is expected to become evident through the comparison of reading times across ambiguous and non ambiguous (control) conditions, under high, neutral and low musical pitch exposure. The results show that although there are indications that high musical pitch exposure facilitates processing of the ambiguous sentences, it did not reach significance, rejecting the experimental hypothesis. However, the present thesis concludes that language and music might share a common pitch mechanism. Such findings could further contribute to our understanding of the brain organization and the underlying shared general cognitive mechanisms. Lastly, it could also be departure for treatment approaches from unimpaired domains to impaired ones in clinical cases such as, aphasia and amusia.