Valeria A. Pfeifer

Visual metaphors require viewers to access visual features, integrate conflicting elements, and output a coherent figurative interpretation. Yet little is known about how and when this process unfolds in the brain. Using electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs), we examined the neural processing of visual metaphors. Twenty-five undergraduates viewed metaphoric, literal, and anomalous images, judged whether each contained a metaphor, and typed a brief interpretation. Behaviorally, identification was effortful: participants showed a conservative "not-a-metaphor" bias, missing metaphors more often than misclassifying other images. EEG/ERP data were analyzed two ways. First, in a familiarity-matched subset, an earlier negativity (200–800 ms) was larger for anomalous than for literal and metaphor images, reflecting failed and continued semantic integration. A later positivity (800–1,500 ms) was larger for metaphor than for literal and anomalous images, reflecting metaphor-specific reanalysis and integration. Second, across all stimuli (varying in familiarity), familiarity modulated both windows but explained the condition difference only in the earlier one; the late metaphor effect persisted when familiarity was controlled. Overall, visual metaphors are not processed as anomalies, and metaphor-specific interpretation emerges late and is modulated by familiarity.

Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys is considered one of the most prolific artists of the 20th century. At the same time, he is also known for his persisting struggles with mental health. Considering that most of his 60+-year career consists of published songs and lyrics, he makes an interesting case study to understand the dynamics of language use in relation to psychological experiences over the course of an individual’s life and career. We identified song lyrics for which he is credited as (co-)writer and analyzed their lyrics ( N = 250) using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program. Considering features previously associated with mental health (I-talk, Emotional Tone, Analytic language and Cognitive Processes words) over time, we found that I-talk and Cognitive Processes showed an initial increase, followed by a plateau (in 1967), while Emotional Tone showed a cubic relationship with time, being sensitive to changes in Brian Wilson’s life. Analytic language was highly variable and did not show any patterns. Our data suggest that even carefully crafted language, such as song lyrics, can carry information about the writer’s mental health and that considering language use over the course of an individual’s lifespan can provide crucial insights into psychological processes.

Introduction: Individuals’ construals of aging capture how they think of aging, and what aging well means to them. Assessing such construals is important for understanding attitudes toward aging and, ultimately, how to tailor personalized aging well interventions to an individual. Methods: We analyzed 100 younger adults (YAs)’ and 92 older adults (OAs)’ spoken narratives of what aging well means to them using two language analysis approaches, closed-vocabulary, word count analysis via Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) and open-vocabulary, word co-occurrence analysis via topic modeling. Results: YAs’ and OAs’ spoken narratives differed in both word and topic use. YAs used more words related to physical aspects, more tentative language, and expressed themselves via higher status language (clout), while OAs used authentic language, i-talk, and words related to work, home, family, and religion. Topic modeling complemented the LIWC analyses and showed that YAs primarily discussed topics of bodily and cognitive decline and strategies of preventing aging, conveying concerns about, and negative stereotypes of aging. OAs topicalized family reflections, openness to new experiences, and their social engagement, signaling a more positive outlook on (continued) aging. Conclusion: Our complimentary word count and word co-occurrence language analyses of aging well construals revealed stark differences between YAs’ and OAs’ perceptions of aging well, which raise important questions about intergenerational exchanges and communications about aging more broadly. Further, we found that aging construals of OAs are useful for estimating their future outlook, an important aspect of resilience against cognitive decline and possible entry point for targeted precision aging interventions.

Introduction: Studying what older adults say can provide important insights into cognitive, affective, and social aspects of aging. Available language analysis tools generally require audio-recorded speech to be transcribed into verbatim text, a task that has historically been performed by humans. However, recent advances in AI-based language processing open up the possibility of replacing this time- and resource-intensive task with fully automatic speech to text. Methods: This study evaluates the accuracy of two common automatic speech-to-text tools – OpenAI’s Whisper and otter.ai – relative to human-corrected transcripts. Based on two speech tasks completed by 238 older adults, we used the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to compare language features of text generated by each transcription method. The study further assessed the degree to which manual tagging of filler words (e.g., “like,” “well”) common in spoken language impacts the validity of the analysis. Results: The AI-based LIWC features evidenced very high convergence with the LIWC features derived from the human-corrected transcripts (average r = 0.98). Further, the manual tagging of filler words did not impact the validity for all LIWC features except the categories filler words and netspeak. Conclusion: These findings support that Whisper and otter.ai are valuable tools for language analysis in aging research and provide further evidence that automatic speech to text with state-of-the art AI tools is ready for psychological language research.

Introduction: Individuals’ construals of aging capture how they think of aging, and what aging well means to them. Assessing such construals is important for understanding attitudes towards aging and, ultimately, how to tailor personalized aging well interventions to an individual.Methods: We analyzed 100 younger adults and 92 older adults’ spoken narratives of what aging well means to them using two language analysis approaches, closed vocabulary, word-count analysis via Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) and open vocabulary, word-co-occurrence analysis via topic modelling. Results: Younger and older adults’ spoken narratives differed in both word and topic use. Younger adults used more words related to physical aspects, more tentative language, and expressed themselves via higher status language (clout), while older adults used authentic language, i-talk, and words related to work, home, family, and religion. Topic modelling complemented the LIWC analyses and showed that younger adults primarily discussed topics of bodily and cognitive decline, and strategies of preventing aging, conveying concerns about, and negative stereotypes of aging. Older adults topicalized family reflections, openness to new experiences, and their social engagement, signaling a more positive outlook on (continued) aging.Conclusion: Our complimentary word-count and word-co-occurrence language analyses of aging well construals revealed stark differences between younger and older adults’ perceptions of aging well, that raise important questions about intergenerational exchanges and communications about aging more broadly. Further, we found that aging construals of older adults are useful for estimating their future outlook, an important aspect of resilience against cognitive decline and possible entry point for targeted precision aging interventions.

This study investigated the role of self-construal and language background in irony interpretation. Prior research considered either cultural or language background, but not both. Spanish–English bilinguals ( N  = 152) from the U.S. and Mexico rated stories containing ironic and literal statements in English and Spanish, then completed the Language History Questionnaire, Self-construal Scale, and Sarcasm-self-report scale (SSS). Results showed that ironic items were rated as less ironic when presented in Spanish compared to English. Further, participants who scored higher in independent self-construal scored higher on SSS subscale “general sarcasm” (frequency of irony use), suggesting that irony is used more frequently by those who see themselves as more separate from others. These findings highlight the complex relationship between language and cultural tendencies measured in self-construal and demonstrate that language and culture need to be considered at the level of the individual participant.

What does ironic language indicate about an emotional state? When we experience negative events, we may produce an ironic comment about our experience to cope....

For the longest time, the gold standard in preparing spoken language corpora for text analysis in psychology was using human transcription. However, such s

How do you feel when something bad happens and someone makes an ironic comment about it? Verbal irony is when the literal meaning of words is in contrast with their intended meaning. For example, d...