Speech register influences listeners’ word expectations

Martijn Bentum; Louis ten Bosch; Antal van den Bosch; Mirjam Ernestus

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105197

Speech register influences listeners’ word expectations

Martijn Bentum^*
, Louis ten Bosch
, Antal van den Bosch
, Mirjam Ernestus

^*Corresponding author for this work

ILS - Language and Communication

Radboud University Nijmegen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

We utilized the N400 effect to investigate the influence of speech register on predictive language processing. Participants listened to long stretches (4 – 15 min) of naturalistic speech from different registers (dialogues, news broadcasts, and read-aloud books), totalling approximately 50,000 words, while the EEG signal was recorded. We estimated the surprisal of words in the speech materials with the aid of a statistical language model in such a manner that it reflected different predictive processing strategies; generic, register-specific, or recency-based. The N400 amplitude was best predicted with register-specific word surprisal, indicating that the statistics of the wider context (i.e., register) influences predictive language processing. Furthermore, adaptation to speech register cannot merely be explained by recency effects; instead, listeners adapt their word anticipations to the presented speech register.

Original language	English
Article number	105197
Pages (from-to)	1-11
Journal	Brain and Language
Volume	235
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105197
Publication status	Published - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by Radboud’s Centre for Language Studies, a Consolidator grant from the European Research Council [grant number 284108] and a Vici grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Both grants were awarded to Prof. dr. M.T.C. Ernestus.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)

Keywords

Electroencephalography
N400
Predictive language processing
Speech register
Statistical language models

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1-s2.0-S0093934X22001274-mainFinal published version, 789 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Speech register influences listeners{\textquoteright} word expectations",

abstract = "We utilized the N400 effect to investigate the influence of speech register on predictive language processing. Participants listened to long stretches (4 – 15 min) of naturalistic speech from different registers (dialogues, news broadcasts, and read-aloud books), totalling approximately 50,000 words, while the EEG signal was recorded. We estimated the surprisal of words in the speech materials with the aid of a statistical language model in such a manner that it reflected different predictive processing strategies; generic, register-specific, or recency-based. The N400 amplitude was best predicted with register-specific word surprisal, indicating that the statistics of the wider context (i.e., register) influences predictive language processing. Furthermore, adaptation to speech register cannot merely be explained by recency effects; instead, listeners adapt their word anticipations to the presented speech register.",

keywords = "Electroencephalography, N400, Predictive language processing, Speech register, Statistical language models",

author = "Martijn Bentum and \{ten Bosch\}, Louis and \{van den Bosch\}, Antal and Mirjam Ernestus",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by Radboud{\textquoteright}s Centre for Language Studies, a Consolidator grant from the European Research Council [grant number 284108] and a Vici grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Both grants were awarded to Prof. dr. M.T.C. Ernestus. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s)",

year = "2022",

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doi = "10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105197",

language = "English",

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AU - Bentum, Martijn

AU - ten Bosch, Louis

AU - van den Bosch, Antal

AU - Ernestus, Mirjam

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by Radboud’s Centre for Language Studies, a Consolidator grant from the European Research Council [grant number 284108] and a Vici grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Both grants were awarded to Prof. dr. M.T.C. Ernestus. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)

PY - 2022/12

Y1 - 2022/12

N2 - We utilized the N400 effect to investigate the influence of speech register on predictive language processing. Participants listened to long stretches (4 – 15 min) of naturalistic speech from different registers (dialogues, news broadcasts, and read-aloud books), totalling approximately 50,000 words, while the EEG signal was recorded. We estimated the surprisal of words in the speech materials with the aid of a statistical language model in such a manner that it reflected different predictive processing strategies; generic, register-specific, or recency-based. The N400 amplitude was best predicted with register-specific word surprisal, indicating that the statistics of the wider context (i.e., register) influences predictive language processing. Furthermore, adaptation to speech register cannot merely be explained by recency effects; instead, listeners adapt their word anticipations to the presented speech register.

AB - We utilized the N400 effect to investigate the influence of speech register on predictive language processing. Participants listened to long stretches (4 – 15 min) of naturalistic speech from different registers (dialogues, news broadcasts, and read-aloud books), totalling approximately 50,000 words, while the EEG signal was recorded. We estimated the surprisal of words in the speech materials with the aid of a statistical language model in such a manner that it reflected different predictive processing strategies; generic, register-specific, or recency-based. The N400 amplitude was best predicted with register-specific word surprisal, indicating that the statistics of the wider context (i.e., register) influences predictive language processing. Furthermore, adaptation to speech register cannot merely be explained by recency effects; instead, listeners adapt their word anticipations to the presented speech register.

KW - Electroencephalography

KW - N400

KW - Predictive language processing

KW - Speech register

KW - Statistical language models

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85141337330

U2 - 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105197

DO - 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105197

M3 - Article

SN - 0093-934X

VL - 235

SP - 1

EP - 11

JO - Brain and Language

JF - Brain and Language

M1 - 105197

ER -

Speech register influences listeners’ word expectations

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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