Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-ksp62 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-10T08:03:30.323Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Understanding language processing in variable populations on their own terms: Towards a functionalist psycholinguistics of individual differences, development, and disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2023

Bob McMurray Open the ORCID record for Bob McMurray [Opens in a new window] ,
Keith S. Baxelbaum ,
Sarah Colby Open the ORCID record for Sarah Colby [Opens in a new window]  and
J. Bruce Tomblin
Bob McMurray*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA Department of Linguistics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA Department of Otolaryngology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
Keith S. Baxelbaum
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
Sarah Colby
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA Department of Otolaryngology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
J. Bruce Tomblin
Affiliation:
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
*
Corresponding author. Bob McMurray; email: bob-mcmurray@uiowa.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Classic psycholinguistics seeks universal language mechanisms for all people, emphasizing the “modal” listener: hearing, neurotypical, monolingual, and young adults. Applied psycholinguistics then characterizes differences in terms of their deviation from the modal. This mirrors naturalist philosophies of health which presume a normal function, with illness as a deviation. In contrast, normative positions argue that illness is partially culturally derived. It occurs when a person cannot meet socio-culturally defined goals, separating differences in biology (disease) from socio-cultural function (illness). We synthesize this with mechanistic functionalist views in which language emerges from diverse lower-level mechanisms with no one-to-one mapping to function (termed the functional mechanistic normative approach). This challenges primarily psychometric approaches—which are culturally defined—suggesting a process-based approach may yield more insight. We illustrate this with work on word recognition across multiple domains: cochlear implant users, children, language disorders, L2 learners, and aging. This work investigates each group’s solutions to the problem of word recognition as interesting in its own right. Variation in the process is value-neutral, and psychometric measures complement this, reflecting fit with cultural expectations (disease vs. illness). By examining variation in processing across people with a variety of skills and goals, we arrive at deeper insight into fundamental principles.

Keywords

adult language disorderslexical processingdeafness and hearing impairmentadult second-language acquisitionchild typical language

Information

Type
Review Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 44 , Special Issue 4: Towards a Just and Equitable Applied Psycholinguistics , July 2023 , pp. 565 - 592
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Altman, D. G., & Royston, P. (2006). The cost of dichotomizing continuous variables. BMJ, 332, 1080.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altmann, G. T. M. (1998). Ambiguity in sentence processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2(4), 146–152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Apfelbaum, K. S., Goodwin, C., Blomquist, C., & McMurray, B. (2022). The development of lexical competition in written and spoken word recognition. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76(1), 196–219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. (1992). Working memory. Science, 255(5044), 556–559. https://doi.org/doi:10.1126/science.1736359 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bechtel, W., & Abrahamsen, A. (2005). Explanation: A mechanist alternative. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 36(2), 421–441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsc.2005.03.010 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bechtel, W., & Richardson, R. C. (1992). Emergent phenomena and complex systems. In Beckermann, A., Flohr, H. & Kim, J. (Eds.), Emergence or reduction? Essays on the prospects of Nonreductive physicalism (pp. 257–288). Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Blumenfeld, H. K., & Marian, V. (2011). Bilingualism influences inhibitory control in auditory comprehension. Cognition, 118(2), 245–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2010.10.012 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boorse, C. (2014). A second rebuttal on health. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, 39(6), 683–724. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmp/jhu035 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bureau, U. S. C. (2022). Why we ask questions about… Language spoken at home. https://www.census.gov/acs/www/about/why-we-ask-each-question/language/ Google Scholar
Carraher, T. N., Carraher, D. W., & Schliemann, A. D. (1985). Mathematics in the streets and in schools. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 3, 21–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassidy, J., Valadez, C. M., & Garrett, S. D. (2010). Literacy trends and issues: A look at the five pillars and the cement that supports them. The Reading Teacher, 63(8), 644–655. https://doi.org/10.1598/RT.63.8.3 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catts, H. W., Tomblin, J. B., Compton, D., & Bridges, M. (2012). Prevalence and nature of late-emerging poor readers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104, 166–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025323 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chomsky, N. (1976). On the nature of language. Origins and Evolution of Language and Speech, 280, 46–57.Google Scholar
Christiansen, M. H., & Chater, N. (2008). Language as shaped by the brain. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31(05), 489–509. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X08004998 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, A. (2005). Word, niche and super-niche: How language makes minds matter more. Theoria. Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia, 20(3), 255–268.Google Scholar
Clark, H. H. (1997). Dogmas of understanding. Discourse Processes, 23(3), 567–598.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clegg, J., Hollis, C., Mawhood, L., & Rutter, M. (2005). Developmental language disorders – A follow-up in later adult life. Cognitive, language and psychosocial outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(2), 128–149. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00342.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colby, S., & McMurray, B. (submitted). The dynamics of lexical competition across the lifespan. https://psyarxiv.com/gcj76 Google Scholar
Craver, C. F. (2001). Role functions, mechanisms, and hierarchy. Philosophy of Science, 68(1), 53–74. https://doi.org/10.1086/392866 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronbach, L. J. (1957). The two disciplines of scientific psychology. American Psychologist, 12(11), 671–684. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0043943 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummins, R. (1975). Functional analysis. The Journal of Philosophy, 72(20), 741–765.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dennis, M., Francis, D. J., Cirino, P. T., Schachar, R., Banres, M. A., & Fletcher, J. M. (2009). Why IQ is not a covariate in cognitive studies of neurodevelopmental disorders. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 15, 331–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diachek, E., Blank, I., Siegelman, M., Affourtit, J., & Fedorenko, E. (2020). The domain-general multiple demand (MD) network does not support core aspects of language comprehension: A large-scale fMRI investigation. Journal of Neuroscience, 40(23), 4536–4550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elguero, E., Délicat-Loembet, L. M., Rougeron, V., Arnathau, C., Roche, B., Becquart, P., Gonzalez, J.-P., Nkoghe, D., Sica, L., Leroy, E. M., Durand, P., Ayala, F. J., Ollomo, B., Renaud, F., & Prugnolle, F. (2015). Malaria continues to select for sickle cell trait in Central Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(22), 7051–7054. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1505665112 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elman, J. L. (2009). On the meaning of words and dinosaur bones: Lexical knowledge without a lexicon. Cognitive Science, 33, 547–582.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Engelhardt, H. T. (1975). The concepts of health and disease. In H. T. Engelhardt Jr. & S. F. Spicker (Eds.), Evaluation and explanation in the biomedical sciences (pp. 125–141). Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, N., & Levinson, S. C. (2009). The myth of language universals: Language diversity and its importance for cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32(05), 429–448. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999094X CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farris-Trimble, A., McMurray, B., Cigrand, N., & Tomblin, J. B. (2014). The process of spoken word recognition in the face of signal degradation: Cochlear implant users and normal-hearing listeners. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 40(1), 308–327.Google Scholar
Glennan, S. S. (1996). Mechanisms and the nature of causation. Erkenntnis, 44(1), 49–71. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172853 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goosens, W. K. (1980). Values, health, and medicine. Philosophy of Science, 47(1), 100–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, S., Levy, A., & Bechtel, W. (2015). Design sans adaptation. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 5(1), 15–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, P. E. (1993). Functional analysis and proper functions. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 44(3), 409–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedge, C., Powell, G., & Sumner, P. (2018). The reliability paradox: Why robust cognitive tasks do not produce reliable individual differences. Behavior Research Methods, 50(3), 1166–1186. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-0935-1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendrickson, K., Apfelbaum, K. S., Goodwin, C., Blomquist, C., Klein, K., & McMurray, B. (2021). The profile of real-time competition in spoken and written word recognition: More similar than different Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75(9), 1653–1673.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoff, E. (2018). Bilingual development in children of immigrant families. Child Development Perspectives, 12(2), 80–86. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12262 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoff, E. (2021). Chapter four – Why bilingual development is not easy. In Lockman, J. J. (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 61, pp. 129–167). JAI. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2021.03.002 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kapnoula, E. C., & McMurray, B. (2016). Inhibitory processes are plastic: Training alters competition between words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(1), 8–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidd, E., Donnelly, S., & Christiansen, M. H. (2018). Individual differences in language acquisition and processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(2), 154–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2017.11.006 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, K., Walker, E., & McMurray, B. (2022). Delayed lexical access and cascading effects on spreading semantic activation during spoken word recognition in children with hearing aids and cochlear implants: Evidence from eye-tracking. Ear and Hearing. https://psyarxiv.com/mdzn7/, https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001286 Google ScholarPubMed
Klem, M., Melby-Lervåg, M., Hagtvet, B., Lyster, S.-A. H., Gustafsson, J.-E., & Hulme, C. (2015). Sentence repetition is a measure of children’s language skills rather than working memory limitations. Developmental Science, 18(1), 146–154. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12202 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lane, H. (1995). Constructions of deafness. Disability & Society, 10(2), 171–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599550023633 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, L. B. (1991). Specific language impairment as a clinical category. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 22(2), 66–68. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461.2202.66 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, M. C. (2016). Speak, act, remember: The language-production basis of serial order and maintenance in verbal memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25(1), 47–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721415620776 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magnuson, J. S. (2019). Fixations in the visual world paradigm: Where, when, why? Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 3, 113–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margolis, J. (1976). The concept of disease. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 1(3), 238–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marslen-Wilson, W. D. (1987). Functional parallelism in spoken word recognition. Cognition, 25(1–2), 71–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClelland, J. L. (2010). Emergence in Cognitive Science. Topics in Cognitive Science, 2(4), 751–770. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01116.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClelland, J. L., Botvinick, M. M., Noelle, D. C., Plaut, D. C., Rogers, T. T., Seidenberg, M. S., & Smith, L. B. (2010). Letting structure emerge: Connectionist and dynamical systems approaches to cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14(8), 348–356. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1364661310001245 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McMurray, B., Apfelbaum, K. S., & Tomblin, J. B. (2022). The slow development of real-time processing: Spoken Word Recognition as a crucible for new about thinking about language acquisition and disorders. Current Directions in Psychological Science. https://psyarxiv.com/uebfc/. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214221078325 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMurray, B., Ellis, T., & Apfelbaum, K. S. (2019). Cochlear Implant users show enhanced coping with mispronounced words: Evidence from eye-tracking. Ear and Hearing, 40(4), 961–980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMurray, B., Farris-Trimble, A., & Rigler, H. (2017). Waiting for lexical access: Cochlear implants or severely degraded input lead listeners to process speech less incrementally. Cognition, 169, 147–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McMurray, B., Horst, J. S., Toscano, J. C., & Samuelson, L. (2009). Towards an integration of connectionist learning and dynamical systems processing: Case studies in speech and lexical development. In Spencer, J., Thomas, M. & McClelland, J. L. (Eds.), Toward a unified theory of development: Connectionism and dynamic systems theory re-considered (pp. 218–252). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McMurray, B., & Jongman, A. (2011). What information is necessary for speech categorization? Harnessing variability in the speech signal by integrating cues computed relative to expectations. Psychological Review, 118(2), 219–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McMurray, B., Klein-Packard, J., & Tomblin, J. B. (2019). A real-time mechanism underlying lexical deficits in developmental language disorder: Between-word inhibition. Cognition, 191, 104000.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McMurray, B., Munson, C., & Tomblin, J. B. (2014). Individual differences in language ability are related to variation in word recognition, not speech perception: Evidence from eye-movements. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 57, 1344–1362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMurray, B., Samelson, V. S., Lee, S. H., & Tomblin, J. B. (2010). Individual differences in online spoken word recognition: Implications for SLI. Cognitive Psychology, 60(1), 1–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2021). 2020 long-term trend reading and mathematics assessment results at age 9 and age 13. National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2021077 Google Scholar
Newbury, D., Cleak, J., Banfield, E., Marlow, A., Fisher, S., & Monaco, A. (2004). Highly significant linkage to the SLI1 locus in an expanded sample of individuals affected by specific language impairment. American Journal of Human Genetics, 74, 1225–1238.Google Scholar
Norbury, C. F., Gooch, D., Wray, C., Baird, G., Charman, T., Simonoff, E., Vamvakas, G., & Pickles, A. (2016). The impact of nonverbal ability on prevalence and clinical presentation of language disorder: Evidence from a population study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(11), 1247–1257. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12573 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nordenfelt, L. (2006). The concepts of health and illness revisited. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 10(1), 5–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-006-9017-3 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pennington, B., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2009). Relations among speech, language, and reading disorders. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 283–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petersen, I. T., Choe, D. E., & LeBeau, B. (2020). Studying a moving target in development: The challenge and opportunity of heterotypic continuity. Developmental Review, 58, 100935. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2020.100935 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peterson, G. E., & Lehiste, I. (1962). Revised CNC lists for auditory tests. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 27(1), 62–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rice, M., & Wexler, K. (1996). Phenotypes of SLI: Extended optional infinitives. In Rice, M. (Ed.), Toward a Genetics of Language (pp. 215–237). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Rigler, H., Farris-Trimble, A., Greiner, L., Walker, J., Tomblin, J. B., & McMurray, B. (2015). The slow developmental timecourse of real-time spoken word recognition. Developmental Psychology, 51(12), 1690–1703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roembke, T., Reed, D. K., Hazeltine, E., & McMurray, B. (2019). Automaticity of word recognition is a unique predictor of reading fluency in middle-school students Journal of Educational Psychology, 111(2), 314–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rumelhart, D., McClelland, J. L., & The PDP Research Group. (1986). Parallel distributed processing: Explorations in the microstructure of cognition: Foundations (volume 1). The MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarrett, M., McMurray, B., & Kapnoula, E. (2020). Dynamic EEG analysis during language comprehension reveals interactive cascades between perceptual processing and semantic expectations. Brain and Language, 211, 104875.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sarrett, M., Shea, C., & McMurray, B. (in press). Within- and between-language competition in adult second language learners: Implications for language proficiency. https://psyarxiv.com/bwv7c/ Google Scholar
Saxe, G. B. (1988). The mathematics of child street vendors. Child Development, 59, 1415–1425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scarr, S. (1992). Developmental theories for the 1990s: Development and individual differences. Child Development, 63(1), 1–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaywitz, S. E., Escobar, M. D., Shaywitz, B. A., Fletcher, J. M., & Makuch, R. (1992). Evidence that dyslexia may represent the lower tail of a normal distribution of reading ability. New England Journal of Medicine, 326(3), 145–150. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejm199201163260301 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spahr, A. J., Dorman, M. F., Litvak, L. M., Van Wie, S., Gifford, R. H., Loizou, P. C., Loiselle, L. M., Oakes, T., & Cook, S. (2012). Development and validation of the AzBio sentence lists. Ear and Hearing, 33(1), 112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Szasz, T. S. (1960). The myth of mental illness. American Psychologist, 15(2), 113–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorell, A. (2021). Distinguishing health from pathology. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, 46(5), 561–585.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomblin, J. B., Records, N. L., Buckwalter, P., Zhang, X., Smith, E., & O’Brien, M. (1997). Prevalence of specific language impairment in kindergarten children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 40, 1245–1260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomblin, J. B., Records, N. L., & Zhang, X. (1996). A system for the diagnosis of specific language impairment in kindergarten children. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research, 39, 1284–1294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomblin, J. B., & Zhang, X. (1999). Are children with SLI a unique group of language learners? In Tager-Flusberg, H. (Ed.), Neurodevelopmental disorders: Contributions to a new framework from the cognitive neurosciences (pp. 361–382). The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Tresker, S. (2020). Theoretical and clinical disease and the biostatistical theory. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 82, 101249.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van der Lely, H. K. (1998). SLI in children: Movement, economy, and deficits in the computational-syntactic system. Language Acquisition, 7(2–4), 161–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Engen, K. J., Dey, A., Runge, N., Spehar, B., Sommers, M. S., & Peelle, J. E. (2020). Effects of age, word frequency, and noise on the time course of spoken word recognition. Collabra: Psychology, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.17247 Google ScholarPubMed
Westermann, G., Mareschal, D., Johnson, M. H., Sirois, S., Spratling, M. W., & Thomas, M. S. C. (2007). Neuroconstructivism. Developmental Science, 10(1), 75–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yarkoni, T. (2022). The generalizability crisis. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45, e1, Article e1. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X20001685 CrossRefGoogle Scholar