Dataset Information

Speaker sex influences processing of grammatical gender.

ABSTRACT: Spoken words carry linguistic and indexical information to listeners. Abstractionist models of spoken word recognition suggest that indexical information is stripped away in a process called normalization to allow processing of the linguistic message to proceed. In contrast, exemplar models of the lexicon suggest that indexical information is retained in memory, and influences the process of spoken word recognition. In the present study native Spanish listeners heard Spanish words that varied in grammatical gender (masculine, ending in -o, or feminine, ending in -a) produced by either a male or a female speaker. When asked to indicate the grammatical gender of the words, listeners were faster and more accurate when the sex of the speaker "matched" the grammatical gender than when the sex of the speaker and the grammatical gender "mismatched." No such interference was observed when listeners heard the same stimuli, but identified whether the speaker was male or female. This finding suggests that indexical information, in this case the sex of the speaker, influences not just processes associated with word recognition, but also higher-level processes associated with grammatical processing. This result also raises questions regarding the widespread assumption about the cognitive independence and automatic nature of grammatical processes.

SUBMITTER: Vitevitch MS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3827416 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Speaker sex influences processing of grammatical gender.

Vitevitch Michael S MS Sereno Joan J Jongman Allard A Goldstein Rutherford R

PloS one 20131113 11

Spoken words carry linguistic and indexical information to listeners. Abstractionist models of spoken word recognition suggest that indexical information is stripped away in a process called normalization to allow processing of the linguistic message to proceed. In contrast, exemplar models of the lexicon suggest that indexical information is retained in memory, and influences the process of spoken word recognition. In the present study native Spanish listeners heard Spanish words that varied in ...[more]

PMID: 24236155

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Project description:Gender inequality and diversity in STEM is a challenging field of research. Although the relation between the sex/gender of the researcher and the scientific research practices has been previously examined, less interest has been demonstrated towards the relation between sex/gender of the researcher and the way sex/gender as a variable is explored. Here, we examine, from a neurofeminist perspective, both questions: whether sex/gender identity is related to the examination of sex/gender as a variable and whether different approaches towards examining sex/gender are being used in different topics of study within neuroscience. Using the database of submitted posters to the Organization of Human Brain Mapping 2022 annual conference, we identified abstracts examining a sex/gender-related research question. Among these target abstracts, we identified four analytical categories, varying in their degree of content-related complexity: (1) sex/gender as a covariate, (2) sex/gender as a binary variable for the study of sex/gender differences, (3) sex/gender with additional biological information, and (4) sex/gender with additional social information. Statistical comparisons between sex/gender of researcher and the target abstract showed that the proportion of abstracts from Non-binary or Other first authors compared to both Women and Men was lower for all submitted abstracts than for the target abstracts; that more researchers with sex/gender-identity other than man implemented analytical category of sex/gender with additional social information; and, for instance, that research involving cognitive, affective, and behavioural neuroscience more frequently fit into the sex/gender with additional social information-category. Word cloud analysis confirmed the validity of the four exploratorily identified analytical categories. We conclude by discussing how raising awareness about contemporary neurofeminist approaches, including perspectives from the global south, is critical to neuroscientific and societal progress.

Dataset Information

Speaker sex influences processing of grammatical gender.

Publications

Speaker sex influences processing of grammatical gender.

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