Psychology Colloquia

Abstract:: People talk to be understood, and so it makes sense that they would produce utterances that are easy for their listeners to comprehend. In this talk, I review research from my lab that addresses this issue. I begin by describing evidence showing that speakers barely avoid sentences that are ambiguous, even though ambiguity is a factor that is well known to cause difficulty for listeners. Instead, speakers seem to choose utterances that are especially easy for them to say, specifically by producing more accessible, easy-to-think-of material sooner, and less accessible, harder-to-think-of material later. If speakers produce utterances that are easy to say but not utterances that are easy to comprehend, how is it that we understand each other? A third line of evidence shows that even when sentences are structurally ambiguous, they're still very likely to include enough information for comprehenders to figure out what they mean. This suggests the reason that speakers produce ambiguous utterances is simply because they can -- because the grammar of their language will only let them produce utterances that are unambiguous enough to be understood in the first place most of the time. And so, we understand each other because speakers produce utterances efficiently even if they're not optimally understandable; addressees do what they need to to understand their speakers; and the grammar makes sure everything works out correctly.
About the Speaker:: The primary research focus of our laboratory is human language production behavior. We look at how language users form sentences and produce words, and how that behavior leads to successful communication. Research in the lab also involves simulation or connectionist modeling, directly or indirectly related to the lab's empirical work.

For More Information About This Speaker:

http://lpl.ucsd.edu/LabPage/LPL.html
The homepage of Dr. Victor Ferreira and the Language Production Laboratory.

University of California, San Diego
Homepage Calendar Directions Past Events Psych Homepage UCSD Homepage	The Department of Psychology is Honored to Present a Talk by Victor Ferreira University of California, San Diego "Ambiguity, Accessibility, and the Ingredients of Communicative Success" Presented on September 21, 2006 Location: The Crick Conference Room Mandler Hall, room 3545 Abstract: People talk to be understood, and so it makes sense that they would produce utterances that are easy for their listeners to comprehend. In this talk, I review research from my lab that addresses this issue. I begin by describing evidence showing that speakers barely avoid sentences that are ambiguous, even though ambiguity is a factor that is well known to cause difficulty for listeners. Instead, speakers seem to choose utterances that are especially easy for them to say, specifically by producing more accessible, easy-to-think-of material sooner, and less accessible, harder-to-think-of material later. If speakers produce utterances that are easy to say but not utterances that are easy to comprehend, how is it that we understand each other? A third line of evidence shows that even when sentences are structurally ambiguous, they're still very likely to include enough information for comprehenders to figure out what they mean. This suggests the reason that speakers produce ambiguous utterances is simply because they can -- because the grammar of their language will only let them produce utterances that are unambiguous enough to be understood in the first place most of the time. And so, we understand each other because speakers produce utterances efficiently even if they're not optimally understandable; addressees do what they need to to understand their speakers; and the grammar makes sure everything works out correctly. About the Speaker: The primary research focus of our laboratory is human language production behavior. We look at how language users form sentences and produce words, and how that behavior leads to successful communication. Research in the lab also involves simulation or connectionist modeling, directly or indirectly related to the lab's empirical work. For More Information About This Speaker: http://lpl.ucsd.edu/LabPage/LPL.html The homepage of Dr. Victor Ferreira and the Language Production Laboratory.
Researchers and the general public are both welcome to attend the Psychology department's colloquia. Reservations are not required, and admission is free. If you have any questions regarding the department's colloquium series, then please write to colloquia@psy.ucsd.edu