Browsing by Author "Özyürek, A."

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Open Access
Late sign language exposure does not modulate the relation between spatial language and spatial memory in deaf children and adults
(Springer, 2023-04) Karadöller, D. Z.; Sümer, B.; Ünal, Ercenur; Özyürek, A.; Psychology; ÜNAL, Ercenur
Prior work with hearing children acquiring a spoken language as their first language shows that spatial language and cognition are related systems and spatial language use predicts spatial memory. Here, we further investigate the extent of this relationship in signing deaf children and adults and ask if late sign language exposure, as well as the frequency and the type of spatial language use that might be affected by late exposure, modulate subsequent memory for spatial relations. To do so, we compared spatial language and memory of 8-year-old late-signing children (after 2 years of exposure to a sign language at the school for the deaf) and late-signing adults to their native-signing counterparts. We elicited picture descriptions of Left-Right relations in Turkish Sign Language (Türk İşaret Dili) and measured the subsequent recognition memory accuracy of the described pictures. Results showed that late-signing adults and children were similar to their native-signing counterparts in how often they encoded the spatial relation. However, late-signing adults but not children differed from their native-signing counterparts in the type of spatial language they used. However, neither late sign language exposure nor the frequency and type of spatial language use modulated spatial memory accuracy. Therefore, even though late language exposure seems to influence the type of spatial language use, this does not predict subsequent memory for spatial relations. We discuss the implications of these findings based on the theories concerning the correspondence between spatial language and cognition as related or rather independent systems.
Open Access
Multimodal encoding of motion events in speech, gesture and cognition
(Cambridge University Press, 2023-12) Ünal, Ercenur; Mamus, E.; Özyürek, A.; Psychology; ÜNAL, Ercenur
How people communicate about motion events and how this is shaped by language typology are mostly studied with a focus on linguistic encoding in speech. Yet, human communication typically involves an interactional exchange of multimodal signals, such as hand gestures that have different affordances for representing event components. Here, we review recent empirical evidence on multimodal encoding of motion in speech and gesture to gain a deeper understanding of whether and how language typology shapes linguistic expressions in different modalities, and how this changes across different sensory modalities of input and interacts with other aspects of cognition. Empirical evidence strongly suggests that Talmy's typology of event integration predicts multimodal event descriptions in speech and gesture and visual attention to event components prior to producing these descriptions. Furthermore, variability within the event itself, such as type and modality of stimuli, may override the influence of language typology, especially for expression of manner.
Open Access
Spatial language use predicts spatial memory of children: evidence from sign, speech, and speech-plus-gesture
(The Cognitive Science Society, 2021) Karadöller, D. Z.; Sümer, B.; Ünal, Ercenur; Özyürek, A.; Psychology; ÜNAL, Ercenur
There is a strong relation between children’s exposure to spatial terms and their later memory accuracy. In the current study, we tested whether the production of spatial terms by children themselves predicts memory accuracy and whether and how language modality of these encodings modulates memory accuracy differently. Hearing child speakers of Turkish and deaf child signers of Turkish Sign Language described pictures of objects in various spatial relations to each other and later tested for their memory accuracy of these pictures in a surprise memory task. We found that having described the spatial relation between the objects predicted better memory accuracy. However, the modality of these descriptions in sign, speech, or speech-plus-gesture did not reveal differences in memory accuracy. We discuss the implications of these findings for the relation between spatial language, memory, and the modality of encoding.
Open Access
Speaking and gesturing guide event perception during message conceptualization: Evidence from eye movements
(Elsevier, 2022-08) Ünal, Ercenur; Manhardt, F.; Özyürek, A.; Psychology; ÜNAL, Ercenur
Speakers' visual attention to events is guided by linguistic conceptualization of information in spoken language production and in language-specific ways. Does production of language-specific co-speech gestures further guide speakers' visual attention during message preparation? Here, we examine the link between visual attention and multimodal event descriptions in Turkish. Turkish is a verb-framed language where speakers' speech and gesture show language specificity with path of motion mostly expressed within the main verb accompanied by path gestures. Turkish-speaking adults viewed motion events while their eye movements were recorded during non-linguistic (viewing-only) and linguistic (viewing-before-describing) tasks. The relative attention allocated to path over manner was higher in the linguistic task compared to the non-linguistic task. Furthermore, the relative attention allocated to path over manner within the linguistic task was higher when speakers (a) encoded path in the main verb versus outside the verb and (b) used additional path gestures accompanying speech versus not. Results strongly suggest that speakers' visual attention is guided by language-specific event encoding not only in speech but also in gesture. This provides evidence consistent with models that propose integration of speech and gesture at the conceptualization level of language production and suggests that the links between the eye and the mouth may be extended to the eye and the hand.
Open Access
Speaking but not gesturing predicts event memory: a cross-linguistic comparison
(Cambridge University Press, 2022-09) Ter Bekke, M.; Özyürek, A.; Ünal, Ercenur; Psychology; ÜNAL, Ercenur
Every day people see, describe, and remember motion events. However, the relation between multimodal encoding of motion events in speech and gesture, and memory is not yet fully understood. Moreover, whether language typology modulates this relation remains to be tested. This study investigates whether the type of motion event information (path or manner) mentioned in speech and gesture predicts which information is remembered and whether this varies across speakers of typologically different languages. Dutch- and Turkish-speakers watched and described motion events and completed a surprise recognition memory task. For both Dutch- and Turkish-speakers, manner memory was at chance level. Participants who mentioned path in speech during encoding were more accurate at detecting changes to the path in the memory task. The relation between mentioning path in speech and path memory did not vary cross-linguistically. Finally, the co-speech gesture did not predict memory above mentioning path in speech. These findings suggest that how speakers describe a motion event in speech is more important than the typology of the speakers' native language in predicting motion event memory. The motion event videos are available for download for future research at https://osf.io/p8cas/.
Metadata only
Speaking but not gesturing predicts motion event memory within and across languages
(The Cognitive Science Society, 2019) Bekke, M. t.; Özyürek, A.; Ünal, Ercenur; Psychology; ÜNAL, Ercenur
In everyday life, people see, describe and remember motion events. We tested whether the type of motion event information (path or manner) encoded in speech and gesture predicts which information is remembered and if this varies across speakers of typologically different languages. We focus on intransitive motion events (e.g., a woman running to a tree) that are described differently in speech and co-speech gesture across languages, based on how these languages typologically encode manner and path information (Kita & Özyürek, 2003; Talmy, 1985). Speakers of Dutch (n = 19) and Turkish (n = 22) watched and described motion events. With a surprise (i.e. unexpected) recognition memory task, memory for manner and path components of these events was measured. Neither Dutch nor Turkish speakers' memory for manner went above chance levels. However, we found a positive relation between path speech and path change detection: participants who described the path during encoding were more accurate at detecting changes to the path of an event during the memory task. In addition, the relation between path speech and path memory changed with native language: for Dutch speakers encoding path in speech was related to improved path memory, but for Turkish speakers no such relation existed. For both languages, co-speech gesture did not predict memory speakers. We discuss the implications of these findings for our understanding of the relations between speech, gesture, type of encoding in language and memory.