listeners use descriptive contrast to disambiguate novel
TRANSCRIPT
Listeners use descriptive contrast to disambiguate novel referents and make inferences about novel categories
Claire BergeyDan Yurovsky
How can people use contrastive inferences to learn about new words and categories?
What are people doing when they communicate?
– people are roughly minimal and informative; description contrasts with some relevant set
– description contrasts with some relevant set○ contrast with other present objects
– description contrasts with some relevant set○ contrast with other present objects
– description contrasts with some relevant set○ contrast with other present objects
Pass me the tall glass.
Mangold & Pobel, 1988; Pechmann, 1989
– description contrasts with some relevant set○ contrast with other present objects
Pass me the tall glass.
Sedivy et al., 1999; Sedivy, 2003
– description contrasts with some relevant set○ contrast with other present objects○ contrast with object’s category
– description contrasts with some relevant set○ contrast with other present objects○ contrast with object’s category
Pass me the hairy cup.
Mitchell et al., 2013; Westerbeek et al., 2015; Rubio-Fernández, 2016
Meret Oppenheim, Object
– description contrasts with some relevant set○ contrast with other present objects○ contrast with object’s category
How can people use contrastive inferences to learn about new things?
How can people use contrastive inferences to learn about new things?
Horowitz & Frank, 2016
How can people use contrastive inferences to learn about new things?
“Pass me the tall dax.”
How can people use contrastive inferences to learn about new things?
“Pass me the tall dax.”
-> Look for multiple similar things that vary in height, and choose the taller one.
How can people use contrastive inferences to learn about new things?
“Pass me the tall dax.”
-> Look for multiple similar things that vary in height, and choose the taller one.
-> Most daxes are shorter than the one being talked about.
How can people use contrastive inferences to learn about new things?
– resolving reference among novel objects
– inferring that a novel object is atypical of its category
How can people use contrastive inferences to learn about new things?
– resolving reference among novel objects
– inferring that a novel object is atypical of its category
Perhaps these inferences trade off: if description contrasts among present objects, don’t infer contrast with the category.
“Find the toma.”
“Find the big toma.”
“Find the big toma.”
lure target
“Find the toma.”
“Find the blue toma.”
“Find the blue toma.”
lure target
Resolving reference among novel objects
– referential disambiguation task○ utterance: adjective vs. no adjective○ context: same-shape pair vs. unique shapes○ adjective type: size vs. color
Resolving reference among novel objects
– referential disambiguation task○ utterance: adjective vs. no adjective○ context: same-shape pair vs. unique shapes○ adjective type: size vs. color
– 300 MTurk participants, 163 retained after attention checks
Resolving reference among novel objects
“toma” “blue toma” “toma” “big toma”
lure target
Color Size
Pro
port
ion
cho
ice
of i
tem
Resolving reference among novel objects
“toma” “blue toma” “toma” “big toma”
lure target
Color Size
Pro
port
ion
cho
ice
of i
tem
Resolving reference among novel objects
“toma” “blue toma” “toma” “big toma”
Color Size
Pro
port
ion
cho
ice
of i
tem
lure target
Resolving reference among novel objects
Resolving reference among novel objects
– participants use contrastive inference to resolve reference among unknown objects
Resolving reference among novel objects
– participants use contrastive inference to resolve reference among unknown objects
– effect is stronger for size adjectives, directional for color adjectives
How can people use contrastive inferences to learn about new things?
– resolving reference among novel objects
– inferring that a novel object is atypical of its category
Hey, pass me the blue toma.
Here you go!
Hey, pass me the blue toma.
0% 100%
In general, what percentage of tomas do you think are the color shown below?
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
– 400 MTurk participants,203 retained after attention checks
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
– 400 MTurk participants,203 retained after attention checks
– do participants infer contrast with the category from description?
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
– 400 MTurk participants,203 retained after attention checks
– do participants infer contrast with the category from description?
– does contrast with the category trade off with contrast among present objects?
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
– 400 MTurk participants,203 retained after attention checks
– do participants infer contrast with the category from description?
– does contrast with the category trade off with contrast among present objects?
– color vs. size?Rubio-Fernández, 2016; Degen et al., 2019
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
color
size
Pre
vale
nce
judg
men
t
“toma” “big toma”
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
color
size
Pre
vale
nce
judg
men
t
“toma” “big toma”
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
color
size
Pre
vale
nce
judg
men
t
“toma” “toma” “big toma”“big toma”
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
color
size
Pre
vale
nce
judg
men
t
“toma” “toma”“big toma” “big toma”
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
color
size
Pre
vale
nce
judg
men
t
“toma” “toma”“big toma” “big toma”
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
– participants infer that a described feature is atypical of the referent’s category
– robust across variation in adjective type and object context
Inferring atypicality within a novel category
– participants infer that a described feature is atypical of the referent’s category
– robust across variation in adjective type and object context
– contrast among present objects does not ‘explain away’ contrast with category
Both inferences at once?
Hey, pass me the small dax.
Hey, pass me the small dax.
0% 100%
In general, what percentage of daxes do you think are the size shown below?
Both inferences at once?
Per
cent
cho
ice
of t
arge
t
“dax” “small dax”
Pre
vale
nce
judg
men
t
“dax” “small dax”
Both inferences at once?
Per
cent
cho
ice
of t
arge
t
“dax” “small dax”
Pre
vale
nce
judg
men
t
“dax” “small dax”
Both inferences at once?
Per
cent
cho
ice
of t
arge
t
“dax” “small dax”
Pre
vale
nce
judg
men
t
“dax” “small dax”
People make inferences about new words, objects and categories using descriptive contrast.
People make inferences about new words, objects and categories using descriptive contrast.
– infer which unfamiliar object an unfamiliar word refers to
People make inferences about new words, objects and categories using descriptive contrast.
– infer which unfamiliar object an unfamiliar word refers to
– infer that a described object is atypical of its category
People make inferences about new words, objects and categories using contrastive inference.
– infer which unfamiliar object an unfamiliar word refers to
– infer that a described object is atypical of its category
– can make both inferences at once—inferences do not trade off substantially
Both inferences at once?
