Analysis by Synthesis: A (Re-)Emerging Program of Research for Language and Vision
This contribution reviews (some of) the history of analysis by synthesis, an approach to perception and comprehension articulated in the 1950s. Whereas much research has focused on bottom-up, feed-forward, inductive mechanisms, analysis by synthesis as a heuristic model emphasizes a balance of botto...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology
2010-09-01
|
| Series: | Biolinguistics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.8783 |
| _version_ | 1797338123293687808 |
|---|---|
| author | Thomas G. Bever David Poeppel |
| author_facet | Thomas G. Bever David Poeppel |
| author_sort | Thomas G. Bever |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This contribution reviews (some of) the history of analysis by synthesis, an approach to perception and comprehension articulated in the 1950s. Whereas much research has focused on bottom-up, feed-forward, inductive mechanisms, analysis by synthesis as a heuristic model emphasizes a balance of bottom-up and knowledge-driven, top-down, predictive steps in speech perception and language comprehension. This idea aligns well with contemporary Bayesian approaches to perception (in language and other domains), which are illustrated with examples from different aspects of perception and comprehension. Results from psycholinguistics, the cognitive neuroscience of language, and visual object recognition suggest that analysis by synthesis can provide a productive way of structuring biolinguistic research. Current evidence suggests that such a model is theoretically well motivated, biologically sensible, and becomes computationally tractable borrowing from Bayesian formalizations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:25:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f324448d18b742b89c50593ffb453c43 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1450-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T09:25:31Z |
| publishDate | 2010-09-01 |
| publisher | PsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for Psychology |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biolinguistics |
| spelling | doaj.art-f324448d18b742b89c50593ffb453c432024-01-31T10:02:57ZengPsychOpen GOLD/ Leibniz Institute for PsychologyBiolinguistics1450-34172010-09-0142-317420010.5964/bioling.87838783Analysis by Synthesis: A (Re-)Emerging Program of Research for Language and VisionThomas G. Bever0David Poeppel1University of ArizonaNew York UniversityThis contribution reviews (some of) the history of analysis by synthesis, an approach to perception and comprehension articulated in the 1950s. Whereas much research has focused on bottom-up, feed-forward, inductive mechanisms, analysis by synthesis as a heuristic model emphasizes a balance of bottom-up and knowledge-driven, top-down, predictive steps in speech perception and language comprehension. This idea aligns well with contemporary Bayesian approaches to perception (in language and other domains), which are illustrated with examples from different aspects of perception and comprehension. Results from psycholinguistics, the cognitive neuroscience of language, and visual object recognition suggest that analysis by synthesis can provide a productive way of structuring biolinguistic research. Current evidence suggests that such a model is theoretically well motivated, biologically sensible, and becomes computationally tractable borrowing from Bayesian formalizations.https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.8783language comprehensionneurolinguisticspredictive codingsentence processingspeech perception |
| spellingShingle | Thomas G. Bever David Poeppel Analysis by Synthesis: A (Re-)Emerging Program of Research for Language and Vision Biolinguistics language comprehension neurolinguistics predictive coding sentence processing speech perception |
| title | Analysis by Synthesis: A (Re-)Emerging Program of Research for Language and Vision |
| title_full | Analysis by Synthesis: A (Re-)Emerging Program of Research for Language and Vision |
| title_fullStr | Analysis by Synthesis: A (Re-)Emerging Program of Research for Language and Vision |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysis by Synthesis: A (Re-)Emerging Program of Research for Language and Vision |
| title_short | Analysis by Synthesis: A (Re-)Emerging Program of Research for Language and Vision |
| title_sort | analysis by synthesis a re emerging program of research for language and vision |
| topic | language comprehension neurolinguistics predictive coding sentence processing speech perception |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5964/bioling.8783 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT thomasgbever analysisbysynthesisareemergingprogramofresearchforlanguageandvision AT davidpoeppel analysisbysynthesisareemergingprogramofresearchforlanguageandvision |