cognitive science - syntax and human factors

what is syntax?

descriptive study of grammar, or set of systematic rules, underlying a language

what is syntax concerned with?

order and grouping of words

what two conceptions of languages did Noam Chomsky distinguish between?

I-language and E-language

what is I-language?

internal system underlying our linguistic knowledge

what is the object of study for linguists?

I-language

what is E-language?

external manifestation of our linguistic knowledge

what are prescriptive rules?

normative statements about how one ought to use language

what are descriptive rules?

statements about what speakers of a language know and do naturally

what are rules of language revealed by?

intuition speakers have about their language, the sentences they use

what parts of a language do speakers intuitively know?

word order, constituency, structural ambiguities, and parasitic gaps

what is grammaticality?

the degree to which a sentence conforms to the syntax of a language

is intuition about word order about meaning?

no

is knowledge of word order all-or-nothing with grammaticality?

not necessarily, a sentence can be not strictly ungrammatical but feel odd

are grammatical word orders the same in all languages?

no

how does the human parser build syntactic structure while reading a structure?

syntax involves hierarchical structure, so parser should build a tree structure as it reads

what are the key findings of Frazier & Rayner’s experiment?

reading times spike dramatically at “fell”, readers often regress to earlier parts of the sentence, indicating structural reanalysis

what is the significance of Frazier & Rayner (1982)?

human parser actively constructs trees in real time, difficulties arise when they must be revised, so phrase structure is not just theoretical, it shapes real-time comprehension

what is the minimal attachment principle?

parser prefers the simplest (frequent) tree first, avoids building extra nodes unless forced to

replacing a string of words with the phrase “did so” is restricted to what?

constituents

what are constituents?

a group of words that acts as a unit

what was the significance of Bock (1986)?

showed abstract syntactic structure is stored in memory, can be primed independently of lexical items, and are mentally represented and reusable

what are parasitic gaps?

gaps that require another gap earlier in the sentence

what do parasitic gaps rely on?

filler gaps

what are filler gaps?

when a verb that requires an object has a gap instead because it’s ungrammatical for the object to be there

what were the key findings of Stowe (1986)?

readers expect a gap, and when an overt noun appears instead, reading times increase

what is the significance of Stowe (1986)?

shows parser actively predicts structural dependencies and we compute filler-gap structure in real time

what is phrase structure grammar (PSG)?

an early approach to formalizing what a model of syntax looks like

what is the core idea of PSG?

when learning a language, you don’t memorize a list of sentences, you learn the finite set of words and grammatical rules and from there can make an infinite number of grammatical sentences

why do PSGs fail?

undergeneration or overgeneration

what is undergeneration?

when the PSG grammar and lexicon fail to account for the range of sentence types in a language

what is overgeneration?

when the PSG grammar does not cover all grammatical rules in a language, allowing for the generation of sentences speakers would judge as ungrammatical

who proposed PSGs?

Noam Chomsky

which models superseded PSGs?

government and binding in the 80s and minimalism from the 90s to now

what levels of grammar proposal adequacy did Chomsky propose?

observational, descriptive, and explanatory

what is observational adequacy?

the model can capture each discrete data point

what is descriptive adequacy?

the model produces all and only the attested/attestable data

what is explanatory adequacy?

the model provides a compelling way of explaining why it is the way it is and provides a principled way of deciding between it and a competing model

what are the key findings of Just & Carpenter (1993)?

sentences with more complex structures triggered greater dilation than simpler sentences, mind was working harder when processing complex syntax

what is usability?

a measure of the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which specified users can achieve goals

what is a user interface?

the part of the device that people can interact with

what are the advantages of digital presentation?

compact, takes up little screen space, precise values can be communicated

what are the advantages of analog presentation?

easier to get an “at a glance” impression of a value, possible to show relative values, easier to see exceptional data values

what makes a good representation?

captures essential elements of the event/world and mutes the irrelevant

what are design principles for software?

user familiarity, consistency, and minimal surprise

what is the principle of user familiarity?

the interface should be based on user-oriented terms and concepts rather than computer concepts

what is the principle of consistency?

information, commands, and menus should have the same format

what is the principle of minimal surprise?

if an action operates in a known way, the user should be able to predict the operation of comparable commands

why is a stringent separation of the UI from underlying processes a bad strategy for achieving ease of use?

users don’t only interpret the visible parts of the system but also make guesses as to what goes on behind the scenes

how can we solve the problem of representing underlying processes in UI?

with metaphors

what does a good conceptual model allow us to do?

predict the effects of our actions

what happens without a good model?

we simply follow rules without understanding why, have no understanding of cause or effect, and have no recourse when something breaks or an unintended effect occurs

when did Raskin say a human-machine interface is modal?

when the current state of the interface is not the user’s locus of attention and the interface will execute one of many responses depending on the system’s current state

what’s wrong with modes?

people can’t be prevented from forming habits about routine tasks and modes often make demands on our memory

what are affordances?

the perceived and actual fundamental properties of the object that suggest how it could be used

what are perceived affordances?

all available options have obvious correspondences to known functions

what are hidden affordances?

options where the correspondences to functions are not visible

what can augment or constrain affordances?

visible constraints and cultural associations

what is feedback?

sending information back to the user about what action has actually been done

what can feedback tell you?

what mode you’re in, what you’ve selected, and how the system is interpreting your actions

how do users typically perceive a response time of <0.1 seconds?

as instantaneous

what is the appropriate feedback for a response time of <0.1 seconds?

nothing

how do users typically perceive a response time of 1 second?

user’s flow of thought stays uninterrupted but delay noticed

what is the appropriate feedback for a response time of 1 second?

buffering symbol

what is the limit for keeping a user’s attention focused on the dialogue?

10 seconds

what is the appropriate feedback for a response time of 10 seconds?

wait time bar

at what point will a user want to perform other tasks while waiting?

>10 seconds

what is a dark pattern in web interfaces?

an interface intentionally designed to deceive users into performing actions they did not mean to do

how did the Norman reading say people generally respond to making mechanical errors that seem simple or trivial?

they feel guilty and either try to hide the error or blame themselves for stupidity or blame, even if the design itself is faulty

what does the anecdote about the secretaries in the Norman reading show about how people interact with mechanical devices?

when a system stops working or does something strange, people report it, but when people make mistakes due to a faulty design, they blame themselves and don’t report it

what is the writer’s credo about errors in the Norman reading?

they should be easy to detect, have minimal consequences, and if possible, their effects should be reversible

what is the Gulf of Execution as described in the Norman reading?

the difference between a person’s intentions and the allowable actions of a system

what is the Gulf of Evaluation as described in the Norman reading?

the amount of effort a person must exert to interpret the physical state of the system and how well the expectations and intentions have been met