Our Research
Comprehension of Figurative Multiword Phrases
Have you ever wondered how we can quickly and easily understand phrases like "kick the bucket" or "spill the tea"? These phrases are challenging for the language comprehension system because correctly interpreting them frequently involves resolving ambiguity between literal and figurative meanings-- does spill the tea mean literally "cause tea to flow over the edge of its container" or figuratively "share gossip"? How and when do we decide between these meanings? In this line of research, the ExCL Lab seeks to integrate models of idiom processing (and theories of figurative language comprehension more generally) with extant research on literal language processing to arrive at a more comprehensive, nuanced, view of the mechanisms driving language comprehension.
Dynamic Reliance on Semantic Information During Language Comprehension
As we comprehend language, we use different sources of information to make sense of the language that we're hearing. Two types of information that we use are verb and world knowledge: coffee, milk, and antifreeze are all drinkable given that the verb “drink” requires a liquid patient, but we need world knowledge to tell us who is likely to drink what (and that some liquids should not be drunk at all!). In this line of research, we examine how different populations, like college-aged adults, older adults, and people with aphasia differently rely on these two sources of information during language comprehension. This can help us build a picture of how knowledge is shaped over time across the lifespan, as well as help us build appropriate interventions for language recovery in aphasia.