Dr. Gwen Rehrig, Ph.D.
Picture of Dr. Gwen Rehrig encircled with a gray-teal border.
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Projects

Recent Projects

If You See Something, Say Something

with Madison Barker, Taylor R. Hayes, John M. Henderson, and Fernanda Ferreira

 Speakers often use language to describe the world around them, yet we know little about the real-world interaction of these systems. To talk about a scene, speakers convert a static image into a dynamic description using language (the linearization problem; Levelt, 1993). Visual attention also has a linearization problem because the eye moves dynamically across a scene. The goal of this project is to understand the relationship between scene level information available to the visual system (visual salience, meaning), visual attention, and speech.
Animated fixation density map showing where subjects tend to look in a scene over the course of a 30 second trial. The fixation density is cumulative. High fixation density is indicated by fully transparent regions of the density map, showing the scene image underneath. The scene that is visible under the density map shows an indoor lounge area that has a red couch as well as a bar with adjacent stools and chairs of wicker construction. The regions most fixated include the coffe table in front of the couch, the seats of chairs in the center of the screen, and objects sitting on the bar counter.

Manuscripts related to this project: Henderson, Hayes, Rehrig, & Ferreira (2018), Ferreira & Rehrig (2019), Rehrig, Peacock, Hayes, Henderson, & Ferreira (2020), Rehrig, Hayes, Henderson, & Ferreira (2020), Rehrig, Barker, Peacock, Hayes, Henderson & Ferreira (2022).

Publications

Papers

Published
Rehrig, G., Hayes, T. R., Henderson, J. M., & Ferreira, F. (2023). Visual attention during seeing for speaking in healthy aging. Psychology and Aging, 38(1), 49-66. [access PsyArXiv preprint here]
Rehrig, G., Barker, M., Peacock, C. E., Hayes, T. R., Henderson, J. M., & Ferreira, F. (2022). Look at what I can do: Object affordances guide visual attention while speakers describe potential actions. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-022-02467-6. [access PsyArXiv preprint here]
Rehrig, G., Cheng, M., McMahan, B. C., & Shome, R. (2021). Why are the batteries in the microwave?: Use of semantic information under uncertainty in a search task. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 6(1), 32. Data and supplemental materials are available on the OSF.
Rehrig, G., Cullimore, R. A., Henderson, J. M., & Ferreira, F. (2021). When more is more: Redundant modifiers can facilitate visual search. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 6(1), 1-20. Data and supplemental materials are available on the OSF.
     Listen on Apple Podcasts.
Beier, E. J., Chantavarin, S., Rehrig, G., Ferreira, F., & Miller, L. M. (2021). Cortical tracking of speech: Towards collaboration between the fields of signal and sentence processing. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 33(4), 574-593.
Rehrig, G., Hayes, T. R., Henderson, J. M., & Ferreira, F. (2020). When scenes speak louder than words: Verbal encoding does not mediate the relationship between scene meaning and visual attention. Memory & Cognition, 48(7), 1181-1195. doi:10.3758/s13421-020-01050-4 [access PsyArXiv preprint here]. Data and supplemental materials are available on the OSF.
     Listen on Apple Podcasts.
Rehrig, G., Peacock, C. E., Hayes, T. R., Henderson, J. M., & Ferreira, F. (2020). Where the action could be: Speakers look at graspable objects and meaningful scene regions when describing potential actions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 46(9), 1659-1681. [access PsyArXiv preprint here]. Data and supplemental materials are available on the OSF.
Henderson, J. M., Hayes, T. R., Peacock, C. E., & Rehrig, G. (2019). Meaning and attentional guidance in scenes: A review of the meaning map approach. Vision, 3(2), 19.
Ferreira, F. & Rehrig, G. (2019). Linearization during language production: Evidence from scene meaning and saliency maps. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 34(9), 1129-1139.
Henderson, J. M., Hayes, T. R., Rehrig, G., & Ferreira, F. (2018). Meaning guides attention during real-world scene description. Scientific Reports, 8, 13504.
Rehrig, G., & Stromswold, K. (2018). What does the DAP:IQ measure?: Drawing comparisons between drawing performance and developmental assessments. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 179(1), 9-18. [access PsyArXiv postprint here]
Torres, E. B., Isenhower, R. W., Yanovich, P., Rehrig, G., Stigler, K., Nurnberger, J., & José, J. V. (2013). Strategies to develop putative biomarkers to characterize the female phenotype with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Neurophysiology, 110(7), 1646-1662.

Presentations

Talks
Rehrig, G., Hayes, T. R., Peacock, C. E., Henderson, J. M., & Ferreira, F. (2019). But what does it mean?: Meaning and language in real-world scene processing. May 24th 2019, Spring Psychology Conference, Center for Mind and Brain, Davis, CA.
Rehrig, G., Hayes, T. R., Henderson, J. M., & Ferreira, F. (2018). If you see something, say something: Meaning guides visual attention during the description of rich scenes. May 4th 2018, Spring Psychology Conference, Center for Mind and Brain, Davis, CA.
Rehrig, G., Schrum, N., & Stromswold, K. (2017). Acoustic correlates of syntax in English sentences produced by Mandarin speakers. December 2nd 2017, California Meeting on Psycholinguistics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA.
Rehrig, G., Abraham, C., Patel, C., & Stromswold, K. (2015). Children's human figure drawing tasks: Measures of intelligence or motor skills? March 7th 2015, Eastern Psychological Association Conference, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Philadelphia, PA.

Invited Talks
Acoustic correlates of syntax in sentence production and comprehension. Northwestern University, May 15th, 2017.

Posters
Rehrig, G., Barker, M., Cotter, B., Liu, Z., Qiu, H. & Ferreira, F. (2022). Trade-offs between memory retrieval and planning in language production. Poster presentation given virtually on March 24th, 2022 at the 35th Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing, hosted by the University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA.
Rehrig, G., & Ferreira, F. (2021). Good-enough for all intensive purposes: Eggcorns and noisy channel processing. Short presentation given virtually on March 4th, 2021 at the 34th Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Rehrig, G., Hayes, T., Henderson, J. M., & Ferreira, F. (2020). Visual attention during seeing for speaking in healthy aging. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, November 21, 2020.
Rehrig, G., Peacock, C. E., Hayes, T. R., Henderson, J. M. & Ferreira, F. (2020). Where the action could be: Speakers look at graspable objects and meaningful scene regions when describing potential actions. Poster presented on June 19th, 2020, V-VSS 2020. Video presentation, poster file, and preprint for our related published manuscript available on the OSF.
Rehrig, G., Hayes, T. R., Henderson, J. M. & Ferreira, F. (2020). Setting the scene: Saliency and meaning in linearization during scene description. Poster presented on March 20th, 2020 at the 33rd Annual CUNY Human Sentence Processing Conference, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Rehrig, G., Hayes, T. R., Henderson, J. M. & Ferreira, F. (2018). If you see something, say something: Meaning guides visual attention during the description of rich scenes. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New Orleans, LA, November 17, 2018.
Rehrig, G., Schrum, N., Knutsen, S., & Stromswold, K. (2018). Use it or lose it: Delayed syntactic integration in L2 English speakers. Poster presented March 17th, 2018 at the 31st Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, UC Davis Conference Center, Davis, CA.
Rehrig, G., Knutsen, S., Schrum, N., de Lacy, P., & Stromswold, K. (2017). The long and short of it: The role of verb stem vowel duration in sentence processing. Poster presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Hilton London Metropole, London, UK.
Rehrig, G., Cheng, M., McMahan, B. C., & Shome, R. (2016). Why are the batteries in the microwave?: Use of semantic information under uncertainty in a search task. Poster presented May 17th 2016, Vision Sciences Society, TradeWinds Island Resort, St. Pete Beach, FL.
Rehrig, G., Abraham, C., Patel, C., & Stromswold, K. (2015). Components of drawing ability: A cross-sectional study. Poster presented March 20th 2015, 2015 Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA.
Rehrig, G., Beier, E., Chalmers, E., Schrum, N., & Stromswold, K. (2015). Robust acoustic cues indicate upcoming structure in active and passive sentences. Poster presented March 19th 2015, The 28th Annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Midtown Los Angeles Radisson Hotel, Los Angeles, CA.
Rehrig, G., Yanovich, P., DiFeo, G., Yang, L., Santos, E. M., Ross, N., & Torres, E. B. (2012). Congruent map between the kinesthetic and the visual perceptions of our physical movements, even with noise. October 17th 2012, Society for Neuroscience Conference, Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, LA.
Rehrig, G., Yanovich, P., DiFeo, G., Yang, L., Santos, E. M., Ross, N. & Torres, E. B. (2012). What do we see in each other: How movement drives social interaction. May 31st, 2012, National Science Foundation IGERT PI Meeting, Capitol Hilton, Washington, D.C.

Honors and Awards