The relationship between monitoring, control, conscious awareness and attention in language production

Abstract

This paper discusses the relationship between monitoring, control, conscious awareness, and attention in language production. Instead of focusing on a specific theory, I will examine these relationships within a framework that accommodates multiple (complementary) monitoring views, and discuss key differences between situations where competition is resolved internally vs. those that recruit external control. The takeaway message is that production performance is optimized by self-regulating monitoring-control loops, which operate largely subconsciously, but conscious awareness can be —and often is— triggered by the monitor. When triggered, in conjunction with the control system, such awareness can lead to attentional control of both the primary production process, as well as the monitoring process. I will also touch upon the repair process and its relation to these issues, and end by discussing some of the open questions as possible avenues for future research.