Society for
Human Sentence Processing
The Society for Human Sentence Processing represents scholars dedicated to the study of language and cognition. Each year its Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing (HSP) brings together delegates for three days of talks, posters, workshops and networking.
News and Upcoming Events
March 27-29, 2025
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION NOW OPEN
DEADLINE: DECEMBER 9, 2024
Special Session: Connecting Minds, Building Bridges: Community Outreach in Language Processing Research
Online Seminar Series: Computational Language Models and Psycholinguistics
New seminar series
Starting in the Spring of 2025, the Human Sentence Processing Society will present a series of on-line seminars presenting research that uses large-scale computational language models for human psycholinguistics. By computational language models, we mean both large-scale (many-parameter) machine learning systems, such as generative pretrained transformer networks, as well as other computational approaches to modeling human language learning and knowledge. We’ve invited scholars who are using such systems to conduct research in human psycholinguistics to present on a range of topics within this area. The goal of these seminars is to present important findings, to share some methodological and technical knowledge, and to inform our community about both the strengths and limitations of using computational language models in psycholinguistic research. The seminar series was initiated by Yuhan Zhang, Stanford University, current junior member of the HSP Executive Committee.
Seminars will meet over Zoom. Attendance is free but requires registration at the links provided below.
Our initial line up of speakers is as follows:
Grusha Prasad, Colgate University
Friday, March 21, 2025, 2-3:30pm Eastern (11/12/1 PT/MT/CT)
Title: Using (L)LM predictability to model psycholinguistic effects: a guide to the why and how.
To attend this free seminar, register here
Kyle Mahowald, University of Texas Austin.
April 4, 2025, 2pm Eastern (11/12/1 PT/MT/CT).
Title: TBD
To attend this seminar, please register here.
April 11, 2025, 2-3:30pm Eastern (11/12/1 PT/MT/CT)
Title: TBD
To attend this seminar, please register here.
HSP at the Annual Meeting of the AAAS
Sarah Brown-Schmidt and Tom McCoy are organizing a special session entitled The Science of Human Language: Insights For and From AI at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which will meet in Boston on Feb 13-15, 2025.
Janet was honored at the University of Michigan on May 15, 2024.
In memoriam
Janet Dean Fodor
Janet Dean Fodor, a beloved member of the psycholinguistic community, was a brilliant teacher and generous mentor, supportive to everyone, above all those just beginning their careers. There was a characteristic polish and depth to everything she did, whether it was research on semantics and the possible interpretations of indefinites, learnability, studies of processing empty categories, or the role of implicit prosody in silent reading.
Janet and David Swinney were the founders of the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, now Human Sentence Processing (HSP). The basic conception for the conference came from Janet. She envisioned bringing together linguists, psychologists and computer scientists to form a community of individuals working on language processing. From the outset, Janet knew this would require a format with a single plenary session where everyone heard the same talk and participated in a general discussion rather than parallel sessions likely to fragment along disciplinary lines. Her vision succeeded beyond anyone’s imagination thanks to her hard work and that of others at CUNY, most notably Dianne Bradley and Eva Fernandez. Today this conference organizes the field of psycholinguistics in the US and beyond.
I will miss Janet deeply as will many in our community. But what a legacy she leaves behind.
- Lyn Frazier
Please also see Susan Fischer's obituary of Janet Fodor on the LSA website.