Frame-shifting recommended his wife. Semantic/Pragmatic reanalysis - PDF document

When I asked the bartender for The Right Stuff: something cold and full of rum, he Hemispheric Asymmetry & recommended his ... Joke Comprehension Ask(Speaker, Bartender, Q) Q Seana Coulson Recommend(Drink) Cold(Drink) Cognitive Science, UCSD Rum(Drink) July 25, 2003 Request coulson@cogsci.ucsd.edu When I asked the bartender for something cold and full of rum, he Frame-shifting recommended his wife. • Semantic/Pragmatic reanalysis that reorganizes existing hic elements in the message-level representation into a new frame Ask(Speaker, Bartender, Q) Wife-of(w, Bartender) Q: Recommend(Drink) Frigid(w) Cold(Drink) Alcoholic(w) Rum(Drink) Request Insult Implications Left brain/Right brain • Highlights importance of background knowledge for comprehension & development of expectations Speech Discourse • Reveals flexibility in interpretation Word-finding Metaphors – ability to integrate information from initial erroneous Grammar Jokes interpretation with new information • “Surprise” aspect of jokes is not just that a word doesn’t mean what we thought (e.g. “cold”), but that the scenario differs from what we had assumed 1

Joke Comprehension Test RHD & Frame-Shifting • A teenager is being • RHD also impairs frame- interviewed for a summer shifting in non-joke job. “You’ll get $50 a materials (Brownell, et al. week to start off,” says his 1986) boss. “Then after a month Barbara became too bored to you’ll get a raise to $75 a finish the history book. week.” She had already spent five – A “I’d like to take the job. years writing it. When can I start?” Johnny missed the wild – B “That’s great! I’ll come pitch. The windshield back in a month.” was shattered. – C “Hey boss, your nose is too big for your face!” Questions Event-Related Brain Potentials • What cognitive and neural processes subserve frame- • Sensitive to language shifting? comprehension • What is the nature of RH processes involvement in frame- shifting? • Sensitive to lateralized – On-line evidence for brain activity asymmetric brain response to jokes – Do group differences in cerebral asymmetry have physiological implications for joke processing? – Do differences in LH & RH semantic activation affect joke comprehension? Language ERP Effects • N400 – Negative-going wave – 200-700 ms post-word – Peak approx. 400 ms • Modulated by – Word Class – Contextual Congruity – Cloze Probability • Index of difficulty of lexical integration 2

Goals of Study 1 Design High Constraint: 40%-100% • Identify ERP indices of frame-shifting I asked the woman at the party if she remembered me from last year and she said she never forgets a needed for joke (face 81%) comprehension Straight: name. Joke: dress. • Look for lateralized Low Constraint: 10%-40% ERP effects My husband took the money we were saving to buy a new car and blew it all at the (casino 18%) Straight: tables. Joke: movies. ERPs to Jokes Individual Differences Findings Handedness & Asymmetry • ERP indices of joke processing Left-Handers Right-Handers • Larger Corpora Callosa • Smaller Corpora Callosa – High Constraint: Enhanced N400 & LPC • Symmetric Plana Temporale • Asymmetric Plana Temporale – Low Constraint: Late fronto-central positivity • Less Hemispheric • More Hemispheric • ERP index of frame-shifting Specialization Specialization – Sustained negativity • Lateralized ERP effects – N400: R>L – LPC: R>L – Sustained negativity: evident only over a few left anterior sites 3

Handedness & Issues in Study 2 Joke Comprehension � If left-handed folks • Do ERPs elicited by have more bilateral jokes differ in the two language groups? representation, what • Evidence of less are the consequences lateral asymmetry in for the processing of lefties’ brainwaves? figurative language phenomena for which the RH is assumed to play a critical role? Participants Materials Left Handers Right Handers • Laterality Quotient: • Laterality Quotient: Sentences ending either as jokes or with equally -51 +71 unexpected straight endings consistent with the • Token Test: 37.4/40 • Token Test: 37.2/40 contextually evoked frame • Semantic Relations: • Semantic Relations: Straight ending : A replacement player hit a homerun with 16.1/18 15.8/18 my BALL. • Peabody Picture • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test: Vocabulary Test: Joke ending : A replacement player hit a homerun with my 164.3/175 (raw score) 162.0/175 (raw score) GIRL. • 8 men and 8 women • 8 men and 8 women Findings • Slow sustained joke effects – Righties: left anterior negativity – Lefties: fronto-central positivity – Highly lateralized brain response in righties not evident in lefties’ ERPs 4

Visual System Hemifield Priming RVF/LH LVF/RH • Strongly Associated • Strongly Associated Category Members (yes) Category Members (yes) Sofa – Chair Sofa – Chair • Nonassociated Category • Nonassociated Category Members (no) Members (yes) Lamp – Table Lamp – Table • Typicality Effects (yes) • Typicality Effects (no) Robin – Crow > Robin – Crow = Duck – Crow Duck – Crow Coarse Coding Hypothesis Summation Priming Difference in effects of LHD and RHD reflect broader semantic activations in the RH that are crucial for the Beeman et al. (1994) Summation Unrelated interpretation of figurative language. foot, cry, glass 70 – CUT 60 50 – SNOW 40 Naming Accuracy glass 30 foot glass 20 10 cut foot 0 John cut rvf/LH lvf/RH Coarse Coding Hypothesis Alternative Formulation Difference in effects of LHD and RHD reflect broader semantic activations in the RH that are crucial for the • Beyond “broad” activation metaphor interpretation of figurative language. • Semantic activation in the RH might involve alternative frames (schemas, scripts, ICMs) that represent causal and relational glass information important for joke foot glass comprehension cut foot John cut 5

Testable Implications Materials • If RH involvement in joke High Cloze (Expected) comprehension involves semantic activation, the Our new green car blocked the narrow DRIVEWAY. RH should show advantage for lexical Low Cloze (Unexpected) integration of “punch- word” for jokes. Straight ending : A replacement player hit a homerun with – Reduced joke effects on the my BALL. N400 with LVF/RH presentation than RVF/LH Joke ending : A replacement player hit a homerun with my presentation GIRL. + A . . replacement player . . 6

hit a . . home run . . with my . . 7

+ girl. ? . . His girlfriend cheated on him. Yes/No 8

Findings Next Question: • Consistent w/Coarse • Do semantic representations in the two Coding Hypothesis hemispheres differ in a way relevant to joke • LVF/rh presentation: comprehension? Straight N400=Joke N400 – Is the RH activating joke-relevant information? • RVF/lh presentation: Joke N400 >Straight N400 – Is the RH just equally confused by joke and • Semantic Activation in straight endings? RH facilitates lexical integration of critical word in jokes DVF Priming Study My church welcomes all denominations, but prefers… funds (related) + Joke: twenties grass (unrelated) . tolerance (related) Straight: Mormons grass (unrelated) (Coulson & Wu, in prep) My church . . 9

welcomes all . . denominations, but . . prefers twenties. . . 10

Predictions + funds . Results Conclusions of Reaction Time Study • RH advantage for joke-related information – Consistent with the coarse coding hypothesis • LH advantage for straight-related information – RH not advantaged for all kinds of contextually related information (Coulson & Wu, in prep) (Coulson & Wu, in prep) DVF ERP Priming Study Joke: My church welcomes all denominations, but prefers twenties. funds Straight: My church welcomes all denominations, but prefers Mormons. funds (Coulson & Wu, in prep) 11

Collaborators • Marta Kutas • Christopher Lovett • Robert Williams • Ying Wu 12