Vol 28 No 1 (2009): .
Language
How to Cite
Gopee Krishnan, & Shivani Tiwari. (1). The Organization and Processing of Verbs and Nouns in the Mental Lexicon. Journal of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, 28(1), 81-88. Retrieved from http://203.129.241.91/jaiish/index.php/aiish/article/view/382
Abstract
The organizational as well as the processing differences between grammatical classes of words (e.g., verbs & nouns) have recently become a topic of interest among psycholinguists, researchers into language acquisition, and aphasiologists. Previous studies have shown that verbs, as a class, are more complex compared to nouns. Although this is the case, whether the difference between nouns and verbs lies at an organizational or processing level has not been thoroughly investigated. In this context, the objective of the current study was to probe into this issue by employing a semantic association judgment paradigm in a group of 25 normal subjects. The dependent variable (reaction time - RT) of nouns and verbs showed faster RT for the semantically associated pairs compared to the unassociated pairs, replicating previous similar results using nouns. Although, the verb pairs too showed such a tendency, the overall RT required for verbs was more than that for nouns. In addition, the analysis of the error data further revealed the complex interaction of the semantic attribute in nouns and verbs. Based on these findings, we argue that both nouns and verbs have similar organizational principle within the mental lexicon, yet with definite processing differences between the two, as indicated by the RT differences and error analysis.
References
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Collina, S., & Tabossi, P. (2003). Semantic interference effects in the production of verbs: The role of the response set. The Mental Lexicon, 2, 65-78.
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Kauschke, C., & Stenneken, P. (2008). Differences in noun and verb processing in lexical decision cannot be attributed to word form and morphological complexity alone. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 37(6), 443-452.
Kounios, J., & Holcomb, P. J. (1994). Concreteness effects in semantic processing: ERP evidence supporting dual-coding theory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20, 804-823.
Krishnan, G., & Tiwari, S. (2008). The Semantic Association in the Mental Lexicon. Journal of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, 27, 44-48.
Laiacona, M., & Caramazza, A. (2004). The noun/verbdissociation in language production: Varieties of causes. Journal of Cognitive Neuropsychology, 21(2-4), 103-123.
McNamara, J. (1972). Cognitive basis of language learning in infants. Psychological Review, 79.
Nelson, K. (1973). Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 38.
Paivio, A. U. (1971). Imagery and verbal processes. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Paivio, A. U. (1986). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
Roelofs, A. (1992). A spreading-activation theory of lemma retrieval in speaking. Cognition, 42, 107 – 142.
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Schnur, T., Costa, A., & Caramazza, A. On the usefulness of semantic interference effect for studying verb production. (Submitted).
Schriefers, H., Teruel, E., & Meinshausen, R. M. (1998). "Producing simple sentences: Results from picture-word interference experiments". Journal of Memory and Language, 39, 609-632.
Schwanenflugel, P. J., Harnishfeger, K. K., & Stowe, R. W. (1988). Context availability and lexical decision for abstract and concrete words. Journal of Memory and Language, 27, 499-520.
Shapiro, K., Shelton, J. R., & Caramazza, A. (2000). Grammatical class in lexical production and morphological processing: evidence from a case of fluent aphasia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 17, 665-682.
Tabossi, P., & Collina, S. (2002). The picture word interference paradigm: conceptual effects in the production of verbs. Rivista di Linguistica, 14.1, 27-41.
Vigliocco, G., Lauer, M., Damian, M. & Levelt, W. (2002). Semantic and syntactic forces in noun phrase production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 28, 46-58.
Vigliocco, G., Vinson, D. P., Damian, M. F., & Levelt, W. J. M. (2002). Semantic distance effects on object and action naming. Cognition, 85, B61-B69.
Bird, H., Howard, D., & Franklin, S. (2000). Why is a verb like an inanimate object? Grammatical category and semantic category deficits. Brain and Language, 72, 246–309.
Bleasdale, F. A. (1987). Concreteness-dependent associative priming: Separate lexical organization for concrete and abstract words. Journal ofExperimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13(4), 582-594.
Cappa, S. F., & Perani, D. (2003). The neural correlatesof noun and verb processing. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 16, 183-189.
Caramazza, A. (2000). Minding the facts: A comment on Thompson-Schill et al.'s "A neural basis for category and modality specificity of semantic knowledge". Neuropsychologia, 38, 944-949.
Caramazza, A., & Hillis, A. E. (1991). Lexical organization of nouns and verbs in the brain. Nature, 349, 788-790.
Chiarello, C., Shears, C., & Lund, K. (1999). Imageability and distributional typicality measures of nouns and verbs in contemporary English. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 31, 603-637.
Collina, S., & Tabossi, P. (2003). Semantic interference effects in the production of verbs: The role of the response set. The Mental Lexicon, 2, 65-78.
Collins, A. M., & Loftus, E. F. (1975). A spreadingactivation theory of semantic processing. Psychological Review, 82(6), 407-428.
de Groot, A. M. B., Dannenburg, L., & van Hell, J. G. (1994). Forward and backward word translation by bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 600-629.
Dell, G. S. (1986). A spreading activation theory of retrieval in sentence production. Psychological Review, 93, 283 – 321.
Fillenbaum, S., Jones, L., & Wepman, J. (1961). Some linguistic features of speech from aphasic patients. Language and Speech, 4, 91–108.
Forster, K. I., & Forster, J. C. (2003). DMDX: A Windows display program with millisecond accuracy. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 35, 116–124.
Gentner, (1982). Why nouns are learned before verbs: Linguistic relativity versus natural partitioning. In S. A. Kuczaj (Ed.), Language development: Vol. 2. Language, thought, and culture (pp. 301-334).Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gentner, D. (1981). Some interesting differences between verbs and nouns. Cognition and Brain Theory, 4, 161-178.
Gentner, D. (1982). Why nouns are learned before verbs: Linguistic relativity versus natural partitioning. In S. Kuczaj (Ed.), Language Development (Vol. 2, pp. 301-303). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gentner, D., & Borodinsky, L. (2001). Individuation, relativity, and early word learning. In M. Bowerman & S. Levinson (Eds.), Language acquisition and conceptual development. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Juhasz, B. J., & Rayner, K. (2003). Investigating the effects of a set of intercorrelated variables on eye fixation durations in reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory,and Cognition, 29, 1312-1318.
Kauschke, C., & Stenneken, P. (2008). Differences in noun and verb processing in lexical decision cannot be attributed to word form and morphological complexity alone. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 37(6), 443-452.
Kounios, J., & Holcomb, P. J. (1994). Concreteness effects in semantic processing: ERP evidence supporting dual-coding theory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20, 804-823.
Krishnan, G., & Tiwari, S. (2008). The Semantic Association in the Mental Lexicon. Journal of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, 27, 44-48.
Laiacona, M., & Caramazza, A. (2004). The noun/verbdissociation in language production: Varieties of causes. Journal of Cognitive Neuropsychology, 21(2-4), 103-123.
McNamara, J. (1972). Cognitive basis of language learning in infants. Psychological Review, 79.
Nelson, K. (1973). Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 38.
Paivio, A. U. (1971). Imagery and verbal processes. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Paivio, A. U. (1986). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
Roelofs, A. (1992). A spreading-activation theory of lemma retrieval in speaking. Cognition, 42, 107 – 142.
Roelofs, A. (1993). Testing a non-decompositional theory of lemma retrieval in speaking: Retrieval of verbs. Cognition, 47, 59-87.
Schnur, T., Costa, A., & Caramazza, A. On the usefulness of semantic interference effect for studying verb production. (Submitted).
Schriefers, H., Teruel, E., & Meinshausen, R. M. (1998). "Producing simple sentences: Results from picture-word interference experiments". Journal of Memory and Language, 39, 609-632.
Schwanenflugel, P. J., Harnishfeger, K. K., & Stowe, R. W. (1988). Context availability and lexical decision for abstract and concrete words. Journal of Memory and Language, 27, 499-520.
Shapiro, K., Shelton, J. R., & Caramazza, A. (2000). Grammatical class in lexical production and morphological processing: evidence from a case of fluent aphasia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 17, 665-682.
Tabossi, P., & Collina, S. (2002). The picture word interference paradigm: conceptual effects in the production of verbs. Rivista di Linguistica, 14.1, 27-41.
Vigliocco, G., Lauer, M., Damian, M. & Levelt, W. (2002). Semantic and syntactic forces in noun phrase production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 28, 46-58.
Vigliocco, G., Vinson, D. P., Damian, M. F., & Levelt, W. J. M. (2002). Semantic distance effects on object and action naming. Cognition, 85, B61-B69.