Searching for importance : focus facilitates memory for words in English

Heather Kember; Jiyoun Choi; Jenny Yu

Searching for importance : focus facilitates memory for words in English

Heather Kember, Jiyoun Choi, Jenny Yu

Western Sydney University

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference Paper › Conference Paper › peer-review

Abstract

![CDATA[Focus, both prosodic and syntactic, conveys processing advantages in English. We compared recognition memory for words that received syntactic, prosodic, syntactic + prosodic, or no focus. English speakers listened to blocks of sentences, then were presented with words and asked if they remembered them. Words with focus were recognised faster than words without focus, and there was an additive effect, such that words with both focus types were responded to even faster than words that had only prosodic, or syntactic focus. These findings suggest a common mechanism for drawing attention towards focused constituents within an utterance.]]

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the Sixteenth Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 6-9 December 2016, Parramatta, Australia
Publisher	Australasian Speech Science & Technology Association
Pages	181-184
Number of pages	4
Publication status	Published - 2016
Event	Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology - Duration: 6 Dec 2016 → …

Publication series

Name
ISSN (Print)	2207-1296

Conference

Conference	Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology
Period	6/12/16 → …

Keywords

English language
prosodic analysis (linguistics)
focus (linguistics)
speech perception
memory

Cite this

@inproceedings{9d640ff4f25a4891b08ee778e5cc7f98,

title = "Searching for importance : focus facilitates memory for words in English",

abstract = "![CDATA[Focus, both prosodic and syntactic, conveys processing advantages in English. We compared recognition memory for words that received syntactic, prosodic, syntactic + prosodic, or no focus. English speakers listened to blocks of sentences, then were presented with words and asked if they remembered them. Words with focus were recognised faster than words without focus, and there was an additive effect, such that words with both focus types were responded to even faster than words that had only prosodic, or syntactic focus. These findings suggest a common mechanism for drawing attention towards focused constituents within an utterance.]]",

keywords = "English language, prosodic analysis (linguistics), focus (linguistics), speech perception, memory",

author = "Heather Kember and Jiyoun Choi and Jenny Yu",

year = "2016",

language = "English",

publisher = "Australasian Speech Science & Technology Association",

pages = "181--184",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the Sixteenth Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 6-9 December 2016, Parramatta, Australia",

note = "Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology ; Conference date: 06-12-2016",

}

Kember, H, Choi, J & Yu, J 2016, Searching for importance : focus facilitates memory for words in English. in Proceedings of the Sixteenth Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 6-9 December 2016, Parramatta, Australia. Australasian Speech Science & Technology Association, pp. 181-184, Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 6/12/16.

Searching for importance : focus facilitates memory for words in English. / Kember, Heather; Choi, Jiyoun; Yu, Jenny.
Proceedings of the Sixteenth Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 6-9 December 2016, Parramatta, Australia. Australasian Speech Science & Technology Association, 2016. p. 181-184.

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference Paper › Conference Paper › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Searching for importance : focus facilitates memory for words in English

AU - Kember, Heather

AU - Choi, Jiyoun

AU - Yu, Jenny

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - ![CDATA[Focus, both prosodic and syntactic, conveys processing advantages in English. We compared recognition memory for words that received syntactic, prosodic, syntactic + prosodic, or no focus. English speakers listened to blocks of sentences, then were presented with words and asked if they remembered them. Words with focus were recognised faster than words without focus, and there was an additive effect, such that words with both focus types were responded to even faster than words that had only prosodic, or syntactic focus. These findings suggest a common mechanism for drawing attention towards focused constituents within an utterance.]]

AB - ![CDATA[Focus, both prosodic and syntactic, conveys processing advantages in English. We compared recognition memory for words that received syntactic, prosodic, syntactic + prosodic, or no focus. English speakers listened to blocks of sentences, then were presented with words and asked if they remembered them. Words with focus were recognised faster than words without focus, and there was an additive effect, such that words with both focus types were responded to even faster than words that had only prosodic, or syntactic focus. These findings suggest a common mechanism for drawing attention towards focused constituents within an utterance.]]

KW - English language

KW - prosodic analysis (linguistics)

KW - focus (linguistics)

KW - speech perception

KW - memory

UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:53578

UR - https://assta.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/SST2016_Proceedings.pdf

M3 - Conference Paper

SP - 181

EP - 184

BT - Proceedings of the Sixteenth Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, 6-9 December 2016, Parramatta, Australia

PB - Australasian Speech Science & Technology Association

T2 - Australasian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology

Y2 - 6 December 2016

ER -

Searching for importance : focus facilitates memory for words in English

Abstract

Publication series

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Keywords

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