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Spatial cognition and spatial language are a core site for diversity, both within and across language communities. For instance, when describing motion events, speakers through speech and gesture may anchor information either (egocentrically) to their body or (allocentrically) to geographical landmarks in the environment. Here we investigate whether the use of such egocentric versus allocentric frames of reference in co-speech gesture indeed depends on both bodily and environmental axes. In a real-world experiment, members from the traditionally allocentric Balinese community were shown small-scale motion events and asked to retell them. To evaluate the potential influence of both types of axes on gestural frame of reference use, in a 2x2 between-participant design they were assigned to conditions that contrasted the body-anchored axis the motion events unfolded on with the underlying geographical environment-anchored axis. It was observed that the type of body-anchored axis significantly predicted frame of reference representation in participants' gestures, consistent with previous research. The type of environment-anchored axes, however, did not affect characteristics of participants' gestures. These findings advance our understanding of the intricate interplay between language, space, culture, and environment.

While the grammatical use of space for referential strategies is attested across many sign languages of Western Europe, Kata Kolok, a rural sign language used in Northern Bali, has not developed anaphoric pointing in space nor agreement verbs (Engberg-Pedersen, 1993; Liddell, 2003; de Vos, 2012). To find out whether such typological differences can be explained by differences in the respective co-speech gesture systems, this preregistered study is collecting data for a cross-cultural comparison. Building on Motamedi et al. (2021), we are conducting studies in Bali and the Netherlands using an iterated learning silent gesture paradigm in which hearing people communicate transitive events using only gestures. Preliminary data indeed suggest that our Balinese participants do not employ space the same way our Dutch participants do. We will present comparative analyses and evaluate the role of co-speech gesture systems in sign language emergence in the lab or when evolving from spontaneous interaction.

For human and automatic text annotation of emotions, it is as-sumed that affect can be traced in language on (combinationsof) individual words, text fragments, or other linguistic pat-terns, which can be identified and labelled correctly. For exam-ple, many sentiment analysis systems consider isolated wordsaffectively meaningful units, whose proportions in a given textreveal its overall affective meaning. However, whether thesewords and their combinations as identified either by humans oralgorithms also match the actual feelings of the authors remainsunclear. Potential discrepancies between affect expression andperception in text have received surprisingly little scholarly at-tention, although a number of studies has already identified dis-parities between self- and other-annotation in affect detectionfor speech and audio-visual data. Therefore, we ask whether asimilar difference shows in annotations of emotions in text.

The current study investigates how speakers are affected by thesize of the visual domain during reference production. Previousresearch found that speech onset times increase along with thenumber of distractors that are visible, at least when speakersrefer to non-salient target objects in simplified visual domains.This suggests that in the case of more distractors, speakers needmore time to perform an object-by-object scan of all distractorsthat are visible. We present the results of a reference productionexperiment, to study if this pattern for speech onset times holdsfor photo-realistic scenes, and to test if the suggested viewingstrategy is reflected directly in speakers’ eye movements. Ourresults show that this is indeed the case: we find (1) that speechonset times increase linearly as more distractors are present; (2)that speakers fixate the target relatively less often in larger do-mains; and (3) that larger domains elicit more fixation switchesback and forth between the target and its distractors.

This study investigates the degree to which children anthropomorphize a robot tutor and whether this anthropomorphism relates to their vocabulary learning in a second-language (L2) tutoring intervention. With this aim, an anthropomorphism questionnaire was administered to 5-year-old children (N = 104) twice: prior to and following a seven-session L2 vocabulary training with a humanoid robot. On average, children tended to anthropomorphize the robot prior to and after the lessons to a similar degree, but many children changed their attributed anthropomorphic features. Boys anthropomorphized the robot less after the lessons than girls. Moreover, there was a weak but significant positive correlation between anthropomorphism as measured before the lessons and scores on a word-knowledge post-test administered the day after the last lesson. There was also a weak but significant positive correlation between the change in anthropomorphism over time and scores on a word-knowledge post-test administered approximately 2 weeks after the last lesson. Our results underscore the need to manage children's expectations in robot-assisted education. Also, future research could explore adaptations to individual children's expectations in child-robot interactions.

Previous studies have shown that readers often overestimatethe similarity between their perspective and the perspective ofprotagonists in a story. This egocentric projection is argued tooriginate from readers’ tendency to use their own knowledgeas a frame of reference from which they (insufficiently) adjustaway to account for protagonists’ less informed perspective.This experimental study demonstrated that readers usefeedback about protagonists’ knowledge status to drawinferences that are more accurate on future perspective-takingtrials. Readers who were given the opportunity to learn throughfeedback not only adjusted their perspective-judgment morethan those who did not receive feedback, these readers alsoshowed less egocentric projection on future assessments.

Experiments on visually grounded, definite reference production often manipulate simple visual scenes in the form of grids filled with objects, for example, to test how speakers are affected by the number of objects that are visible. Regarding the latter, it was found that speech onset times increase along with domain size, at least when speakers refer to nonsalient target objects that do not pop out of the visual domain. This finding suggests that even in the case of many distractors, speakers perform object‐by‐object scans of the visual scene. The current study investigates whether this systematic processing strategy can be explained by the simplified nature of the scenes that were used, and if different strategies can be identified for photo‐realistic visual scenes. In doing so, we conducted a preregistered experiment that manipulated domain size and saturation; replicated the measures of speech onset times; and recorded eye movements to measure speakers' viewing strategies more directly. Using controlled photo‐realistic scenes, we find (1) that speech onset times increase linearly as more distractors are present; (2) that larger domains elicit relatively fewer fixation switches back and forth between the target and its distractors, mainly before speech onset; and (3) that speakers fixate the target relatively less often in larger domains, mainly after speech onset. We conclude that careful object‐by‐object scans remain the dominant strategy in our photo‐realistic scenes, to a limited extent combined with low‐level saliency mechanisms. A relevant direction for future research would be to employ less controlled photo‐realistic stimuli that do allow for interpretation based on context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceivers of other minds often overestimate the similarity between their own and other people's perspectives. This egocentric projection during perspective-taking is argued to originate from perceivers' tendency to use their own perspective as a referential anchor from which they insufficiently adjust away to account for an alternative interpretation. We investigated whether an explicit focus on another person's point of view allows perceivers to make sufficient perspective-adjustments, thereby attenuating their egocentric projection. Findings showed that we successfully replicated Keysar's (1994) illusory transparency of intention effect (Experiment 1) and Epley, Keysar, Van Boven, and Gilovich's (2004) findings that confirm perceivers' egocentric anchoring and (insufficient) adjustment during perspective-taking (Experiment 2). We further showed that enhancing perceivers' attention to another person's perspective both prior (Experiment 1) and during (Experiment 2) perspective-taking did not diminish egocentric projection. Findings are discussed in light of the role of feedback in making accurate perspective-adjustments.

Two experiments examined whether an explicit attention toanother’s perspective fosters perspective-taking. The firstexperiment attempted to replicate Todd et al.’s (2010) findingsthat a mind-set focusing on self-other differences incitesrespondents to adopt another person’s perspective in asubsequent task. Results showed that perceivers focusing onself-other differences were just as likely to describe an object’slocation from their egocentric perspective as perceiversfocusing on self-other similarities. The second experimentintensified perceivers’ awareness of self-other differences byallocating them to one of the perspective-settings (none, self-focus, other-focus). Participants in the perspective-settingsreceived explicit instructions to regard their own (self-focus)or another person’s (other-focus) viewpoint during theperspective-taking task. Findings revealed that other-focusedrespondents were more likely to adopt another person’sperspective than self-focused respondents. Compared to thebaseline, however, an explicit self- or other-focus did not fosterperspective-taking. Our findings indicate the robustness ofrespondents’ egocentric bias.

This study investigated whether an explicit and stimulatedattention to the mental states of an uninformed other fostersperspective-taking. The experimental aim of this study wastwofold. First, we aimed to replicate Keysar’s (1994) curse ofknowledge effect, indicating how privileged information biasescorrect perspective-judgments. The second aim was toinvestigate whether this curse of knowledge effect diminishesby explicit instructions to become aware of another person’sperspective. Findings showed that we replicated Keysar’s(1994) curse of knowledge effect. Perceivers were more likelyto impute their perception of speaker’s sarcasm onto anuninformed addressee when their privileged informationsuggested that the speaker was being sarcastic rather than beingsincere. Findings further revealed that perceivers were just aslikely to overestimate the extent to which their privateperspective was shared by an uninformed addressee, regardlessof their explicit and stimulated attention to this addressee’sperspective.

The influence of emotion on (the early stages of) speechproduction processes, notably content selection has receivedlittle scholarly attention. Goudbeek & Krahmer (2012) foundevidence for alignment at the conceptual level: speakers maystart using a dispreferred attribute over a preferred attribute intheir referring expressions when they are primed by a pre-recorded female voice in a preceding interaction. The currentstudy aimed to assess the role of emotion (using amusementand disgust) in alignment, while simultaneously replicatingthis finding in a more naturalistic setting involving twohuman participants in naturalistic dialogue. Our resultsreplicate the findings by Goudbeek & Krahmer (2012),generalizing their findings to a much more naturalistic setting.In addition, we found that amused, but not disgusted speakerstend to use the preferred attribute more to describe objects totheir conversational partner.

We investigated whether speakers’ referential communicationbenefits from an explicit focus on addressees’ perspective.Dyads took part in a referential communication game and wereallocated to one of three experimental settings. Each of thesesettings elicited a different perspective mindset (none, self-focus, other-focus). In the two perspective settings, speakerswere explicitly instructed to regard their addressee’s (other-focus) or their own (self-focus) perspective before construingtheir referential message. Results indicated that elicitingspeakers’ self- versus other-focus did not influence theirreference production. We did find that speakers with an elicitedegocentric perspective reported a higher perspective-takingtendency than speakers in the other two settings. This tendencycorrelated with actual referring behavior during the game,indicating that speakers who reported a high perspective-takingtendency were less likely to make egocentric errors such asleaking information privileged to speakers themselves. Thesefindings are explained using the objective self-awarenesstheory.

Self-tracking in general, and by women in particular is increasingly researched. In the literature, however, women's interactions with selftracking technologies in menopause—a change that (almost) every woman will go through—is largely taken for granted. This paper addresses this lacuna by asking whether and how menopausal women use self-tracking technologies, and how this (non-) usage mediates their self-experiences. In doing so, it elaborates on another understudied phenomenon: the constitutive significance of "un-tracking"—that is, of various shades and levels of not using self-tracking technologies—in menopause. Most of the 13 interviewed women in this study reported that they stopped, drastically reduced, or resisted self-tracking in menopause. By framing the discussion of these accounts of "un-tracking" within the tradition of post-phenomenology and a phenomenology of situated bodily self-awareness, we show that these women experience their bodies as (1) wise and eu-appearing, (2) unmoldable and dysappearing, and (3) longing for disappearance. Herein, their experientially mediating un-tracking practices are temporally and socio-culturally contextualized in complex ways and bear substantial existential significance. This study establishes the potential harmful ways in which self-tracking mediates self-experiences, as well as the fruitful ways in which un-tracking may do so. Against the background of this observation, this paper makes an appeal to take a step back from uncritically celebrating self-tracking in healthcare contexts, and critically evaluates whether (the promotion of) using (more) self-tracking technologies in these contexts is desirable to begin with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In two experiments, we investigated whether speakers' referential communication benefits from an explicit focus on addressees' perspective. Dyads took part in a referential communication game and were allocated to one of three experimental settings. Each of these settings elicited a different perspective mind-set (baseline, self-focus, other-focus). In the two perspective settings, speakers were explicitly instructed to regard their addressees' (other-focus) or their own (self-focus) perspective before construing their referential message. Results evidenced speakers' egocentricity bias. Even though speakers were explicitly aware of addressees' informational need, speakers still referred to information not known to their addressee. Speakers' self-reported perspective-taking behavior correlated with their actual reference behavior. Those who reported to have regarded addressees' perspective were also less likely to have leaked information about their own knowledge and attentional state. Findings are discussed in light of speakers' egocentricity bias and the role of speaker-addressee collaboration in language production.

This study examines the acquisition process of speech rhythm in Dutch learners of Spanish (DLS) and Spanish learners of Dutch (SLD) at different proficiency levels to determine whether learning direction affects the success of rhythm acquisition in a foreign language (L2). Analyses of lengthening effects showed that the two learner groups followed different developmental paths in their acquisition of accentual and final lengthening: Both groups showed transfer effects from the L1, but while the DLS systematically approached their target until attainment, the SLD showed more variability in their development. In addition, syllable structure complexity affected L2 rhythm acquisition, and to a substantially larger extent for the SLD compared to the DLS. The results support a model of L2 rhythm acquisition in which learning direction is included as a factor, and that allows for the interaction of various language-specific properties that contribute to speech rhythm, like syllable structure complexity.

Although communicative purposes are an important element in language production, few studies investigate the extent to which they might affect referential choices. In this study we contrast two tasks with different purposes: identification and route directions giving. In Experiment 1 speakers referred to a target building nearby or further away so their addressee would distinguish it from other buildings (identification) or give route directions and use the same building as a landmark (instructions). Our results showed that irrespective of the speaker's purposes, referring expressions consisted of the same types of attributes, yet the attribute frequency and formulation differed. In the identification task the referring expressions were longer and contained more locative and more postnominal modifiers. In addition, referential choices were influenced by the visual distance between the speaker and the target: When speakers observed the target from afar, their references were longer and contained more often locative modifiers. In Experiment 2 a different group of participants had to evaluate references produced in Experiment 1 while assessing descriptions of objects or descriptions of objects extracted from route directions. Neither task, distance, nor the length of the phrases influenced their choice, indicating that addressees consider references produced in both conditions equally adequate in both uses.

Speakers often produce definite referring expressions that areoverspecified: they tend to include more attributes than neces-sary to distinguish the target referent. The current paper inves-tigates how the occurrence of overspecification is affected byviewing time. We conducted an experiment in which speakerswere asked to refer to target objects in visual domains. Half ofthe speakers had unlimited time to inspect the domains, whileviewing time was limited (1000 ms) for the other half. The re-sults reveal that limited viewing time induces the occurrenceof overspecification. We conjecture that limited viewing timecaused speakers to rely heavily on quick heuristics during at-tribute selection, which urge them to select attributes that areperceptually salient. In the case of unlimited inspection time,speakers seem to rely on a combination of heuristic and moredeliberate selection strategies.

In this study we investigate the effect of modeling type andreflection on the acquisition of dart-throwing skills, self-efficacy beliefs and self-reaction scores by replicating a studyby Kitsantas, Zimmerman, and Cleary (2000). Participantsobserving a coping model were expected to surpassparticipants observing a mastery model who in turn wereexpected to outperform participants who learned without amodel. Reflection was hypothesized to have a positive effect.Ninety undergraduate students were tested three times ondart-throwing skills, self-efficacy beliefs, and self-reactionscores. Contrary to what was expected, we found no maineffects of modeling type and reflection. No interaction effectswere found either. There was an effect of trial, indicating thatparticipants improved dart-throwing skills, self-efficacybeliefs, and self-reaction scores over time. Furthermore, self-efficacy beliefs and dart-throwing skill were highlycorrelated. Our results suggest that learners do not benefitfrom observing a model and reflecting, but practice makesperfect.

This study introduces a neural network that models thesocial interactions from a video corpus. The corpusconsists of recordings of naturalistic observations ofsocial interactions among children and theirenvironment. The videos are annotated multimodallyincluding features like gestures. We explore how thisvideo corpus can be utilized for modelling by trainingour model on a portion of the annotated data extractedfrom the corpus, and then by using the model to predictnovel interaction sequences. We evaluate our model bycomparing its automatically generated sequences to anunseen portion of the corpus data. The initial resultsshow strong similarities between the generatedinteractions and those observed in the corpus.

Though communicative goals are an important element in lan-guage production, few studies investigate the extent to whichthese goals might affect the form and content of referring ex-pressions. In this study, we directly contrast two tasks withdifferent goals: identification and instruction giving. Speak-ers had to refer to a target building nearby or further away, sothat their addressee would distinguish it between other build-ings (identification) or give route directions and use the samebuilding as a landmark (instructions). Our results showed thatirrespective of goals, the referring expressions consisted of thesame types of attributes, yet the attribute frequency and for-mulation differed. In the identification task, references werelonger, contained more locative and more post-nominal mod-ifiers. In addition, referential choices were influenced by thevisual distance between the speaker and the target: when thespeaker observed the target from far, references were longerand contained more often locative modifiers.

The learnability of center-embedded recursive structures hasattracted much attention (Corballis, 2007; Friederici, 2004;Rey, Perruchet, & Fagot, 2012). However, most of theprevious studies adopted the artificial grammar learningparadigm (Reber, 1967) and did not apply natural languagestimuli. Rather, they applied synthetic meaningless trainingmaterials, which hardly represent the richness and complexityof natural language. Accordingly, in the current study, weattempt to tighten the link between artificial language learningand natural language acquisition in the auditory modality, byenriching our learning environment with phonological cuesthat occur in natural, spoken information; in particular,Chinese tones. In a grammaticality judgment task, weexamined the syntactical processing by participants fromdifferent language backgrounds. Through the cross-languagecomparison between Chinese and Dutch native speakers, weaim to test the influence of language-specific phonologicalcues on processing complex linguistic structures. The resultsshowed that tones had a more beneficial learning effect forChinese than for Dutch participants. In other words, whenparticipants learned a new language, they were likely to bringtheir own language routines implicitly from the familiarnative language into processing the unfamiliar one.