Colloquium: Matthew Traxler
Implicit Learning, Syntactic Priming, and the Nature of Syntactic Knowledge
| What | Colloquium |
|---|---|
| When |
2009-05-13 03:30 PM
2009-05-13 03:30 PM
May 13, 2009 from 03:30 pm to 03:30 pm |
| Where | 53A Olson Hall |
| Contact Name | Beatriz Wilgohs |
| Contact Email | bwillgohs@ucdavis.edu |
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Matthew Traxler (Professor of Psychology, UC Davis) primarily studies the processes underlying language comprehension, particularly the link between working memory capacity and the cognitive processes involved in syntactic parsing. Dr. Traxler joined the Graduate Group in Linguistics in 2008.
Abstract
Some standard views of syntactic representation and processing view syntactic knowledge as being essentially fixed early in development. By contrast, the lexical system is viewed as being easily modified throughout the lifespan. Recent advances in the study of syntactic knowledge suggest a closer relationship between lexical and syntactic knowledge (as traditionally defined) and indicate that syntactic knowledge may continue to evolve into adulthood. In particular, syntactic priming studies show that previous exposure to one syntactic structure can facilitate comprehension of another sentence with the same structure over short time scales (up to a few seconds); and repeated exposure to a target structure can facilitate comprehension of sentences with the same structure over longer time scales (up to a few days). These effects can be accommodated within a theoretical framework that highlights connections between lexical and syntactic representations, and that attributes priming to changes in this network over time as the result of implicit learning.
New Linguistics Club