Michael T. Motley

Output Editing for Lexical Status in Artificially Elicited Slips of the Tongue

It was shown previously that spoonerisms (such as bad goof—gad boof) can be elicited by having subjects articulate a target (bad goof) preceded by bias items which contain at least the initial phoneme (/g/) of the desired error outcome. The present study takes advantage of the fact that two very similar targets such as darn bore and dart board will often have very different outcomes (e.g., the error outcome barn door is meaningful while bart doard is not). Any systematic difference in the rate of errors between these types of targets must be attributable to processes which take place after recoding of the target into its corresponding slip. It is thus possible to directly evaluate the effect of editing processes which apply only to the error outcome, and not to the target word pair. It is demonstrated that for lexical (L) targets, L outcomes are significantly more frequent than nonsense (N) outcomes. For N targets, the same generalization obtains, but only in a context that contains lexical filler items. There is no difference in the overall spoonerism rate on the basis of the lexical status of the error outcome unless the context clearly contains other lexical items. In such a context, nonlexical outcomes appear to be suppressed. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Facial expression of emotion: A comparison of posed expressions versus spontaneous expressions in an interpersonal communication setting

Many assumptions about the operation of nonverbal behaviors in interpersonal communication have been based upon studies which have not focused on interpersonal communication settings. Especially, most studies of facial expression have examined posed rather than spontaneous expressions, and the relatively few studies of spontaneous expressions have employed stimuli and/or settings of dubious relevance to everyday communication. The present study compares the identifiability of posed vs. spontaneous facial expressions of emotion elicited during ostensibly natural conversation. While posed expressions, as in earlier studies, were quite unambiguous, spontaneous expressions of emotion were found to be remarkably difficult to identify. Implications are discussed for the generalizability of certain nonverbal research results to interpersonal communication settings, for related methodological considerations, for revised conceptualizations of the function of facial expression, and for the more general issue of com...

Covert formulation and editing of anomalies in speech production: Evidence from experimentally elicited slips of the tongue

Models of speech production have been modified in recent years by the addition of an “editing” component, the supposed function of which is to verify the linguistic integrity of covert speech plans, and to prevent anomalous output. Empirical support for editing has been offered by the present authors. That evidence has been challenged, however, on the issue of whether the covert formulation of anomalous potential output in speech production has in fact been demonstrated. The present study provides a more direct test on the question of anomaly formulation by examining laboratory-generated spoonerism errors in which emotionally neutral target words may be transformed into obscene error utterances. Evidence for the covert formulation, and the prearticulatory edit-veto, of anomalous (taboo) potential output is discussed.

Experimental verbal slip studies: A review and an editing model of language encoding

Spoken language is encoded extremely rapidly and by exceedingly complex cognitive operations, yet it is amazingly free of errors. In recent years there has been debate on the question of how the speech‐production system guards itself against erroneous output. One explanation is that the system is sufficiently sophisticated and rule‐governed in its early message‐formulation stages so as generally to avoid constructing anomalous plans. The authors have argued elsewhere, however, for an explanation whereby anomalous and other error plans are formulated during early production stages but are vetoed and corrected (i.e., “edited”) during later encoding stages. We have yet to synthesize these arguments into a coherent encoding model, however, and that is our purpose here. An “Editing” model of speech production is presented, featuring prearticulatory evaluations of impending speech segments via feedback to a spreading‐activation lexicon which is susceptible to semantic, syntactic, phonological, and extralinguist...

Semantic bias effects on the outcomes of verbal slips

Abstract It has been shown previously that spoonerisms (such as barn door → darn bore ) can be elicited by having subjects attempt to articulate a target barn door ) preceded by bias items which contain at least the initial phoneme (/d/) of the desired error outcome. Since certain linguistic characteristics of the error outcomes differ from those of their targets, variables which affect only these ‘outcome’ properties in a systematic way can be shown to be the result of prearticulatory output processes, independent of perceptual ‘target’ properties. The present study shows that the base-rate of errors produced by the phonetic bias technique can be increased dramatically by adding, to the word-pairs preceding the target, some items which are semantically synonymous to the error outcomes of the target. In this way, it is demonstrated rigorously that semantic bias increases the likelihood of slips of the tongue; which is one of the defining properties of so-called ‘Freudian slips’. Implications are discussed.

On whether one can(not) not communicate: An examination via traditional communication postulates

Despite the popularity of the Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson (1967) axiom that one cannot not communicate, the position warrants reexamination in light of other popular claims about the nature of communication. This paper reviews four traditional communication postulates‐namely, that communication is interactive, involves encoding, involves the exchange of symbols, and has a fidelity dimension‐and finds each to be a contradiction of the popular axiom. The contradictions force a rejection of the axiom or a rejection of the postulates. Neither decision need affect the kinds of human behavior studied as relevant to communication, but the decision does affect general conceptualizations and specific claims about communication.

Laboratory induction of verbal slips: A new method for psycholinguistic research

A new method has been developed for testing hypotheses of speech production, especially those which seek to determine the causes of phonological encoding breakdowns, and thus to determine the nature of normal phonological processing. Specifically, a description is provided for a procedure by which experimental subjects may be induced to accidentally commit the type of verbal slip known as a “spoonerism.” The procedure provides the experimenter with control over the subjects speech output, sufficient to insure that the average subjects articulation on up to 30% of designated word pairs will be in the form of an accidental spoonerism error planned by the experimenter. Encoding hypotheses testable through laboratory induction of verbal slips are discussed briefly.

Unwanted escalation of sexual intimacy: Male and female perceptions of connotations and relational consequences of resistance messages

In heterosexual dating situations, males sometimes attempt levels of sexual intimacy that exceed the threshold desired by the female partner. For the woman, these situations often are extremely unpleasant. Most explanations of these episodes assume that the offending male has ignored or disregarded the messages by which his partner has indicated her resistance to escalated intimacy. The present study supports an explanation whereby males do not understand certain sexual resistance messages to indicate resistance. Indeed, it appears that the resistance messages most often used by some women are the least understood by most men. This suggests that unwanted sexual escalation efforts might be minimized if men were to better understand womens resistance messages, and/or if women were to use the clearer messages. Ironically, the resistance messages that males understand best happen to be messages that often are avoided by women because of anticipated relational consequences. The study suggests, however, that m...

Spoonerisms as Sequencer Conflicts: Evidence from Artifically Elicited Errors.

Spoonerisms were elicited by presenting a target pair of two CVCs on a memory drum preceded by bias pairs whose only resemblance to the target pair was that the first CVC of each started with the same consonant as the second CVC of the target pair (Experiment I), as well as by using an arrow to create confusion about the order in which a target pair such as barn door was to be said (Experiment II). Both methods had the subjects articulate only the target pairs, and both methods produced the switch of phonemes that characterizes a complete spoonerism. The results are consistent with an explanation that posits conflicting demands from two prearticulatory sequencing systems, a phoneme sequencer and a word sequencer.

Consciousness and intentionality in communication: A preliminary model and methodological approaches

Independent of the definitional controversy over whether communication requires intentionality, it is appropriate and necessary to view the intentional and unintentional transmission of messages as separate and very different phenomena. Even in the case of intentionally transmitted messages, however, much or most of what constitutes communication occurs without consciousness. This presents a bleak prognosis for the investigation of communication processes, since nonconscious operations are difficult to observe. Based upon a borrowed model which suggests certain conditions under which unconscious processes may become conscious, several research methods for investigating the unconscious components of intentional communication are derived and exemplified.