重读在口语语篇理解加工中的作用

用三个实验探索了重读在口语语篇理解加工中的作用。其中实验1利用以句子为单位的口语动窗法,考察了重读如何影响语篇的临场加工速度。实验2和实验3利用词汇再认任务,考察了重读对语篇临场加工效果（即信息在语篇表征中的激活水平）的影响。结果表明：与控制条件相比,一致性重读加快语篇的临场加工,不一致性重读减慢语篇的理解加工;与控制条件相比,一致性重读提高了新信息在语篇表征中的激活水平;不一致性重读虽然促进了所标示的旧信息的激活,但是对于相对重要的新信息的激活具有抑制作用。从而说明一致性重读对语篇理解具有促进作用,而不一致性重读阻碍语篇理解。这一促进和抑制作用不仅体现于语篇的临场加工过程中,而且表现在即时的语篇加工效果中。     

重读与信息结构对语篇理解加工的影响

该研究利用口语动窗技术和双重任务范式,探索了重读与信息结构的匹配关系对语篇理解加工的影响、以及其发挥作用的内部机制。结果表明：与控制条件相比,不一致性重读阻碍语篇的理解加工,而一致性重读对语篇理解的促进作用相对不明显;重读促进焦点词汇的加工,而不重读促进非焦点词汇的加工,从而说明重读影响语篇理解不仅仅是由于它能调控听者的注意力分配,更重要的是重读的有无传达着不同的信息加工方式。     

工作记忆容量的差异对第二语言句法歧义句加工的影响

采用眼动技术, 以句子阅读过程中, 句子不同区段的首次注视时间作为句子即时性加工的指标, 回扫次数和总的注视时间作为句子非即时加工的指标, 考察了非熟练的汉-英双语者, 工作记忆容量的差异对第二语言(英语)暂时句法歧义句加工的影响。结果显示: 高工作记忆容量的被试, 在句子不同区段的首次注视时间和总的注视时间均短于低工作记忆容量的被试; 高、低工作记忆容量被试的回扫模式相似。研究结果表明, 对于非熟练的汉-英双语者, 工作记忆容量的差异既影响英语句法歧义句即时性的加工, 也影响非即时性的加工, 即工作记忆容量的差异既影响英语句法歧义句初始的句法加工过程, 也影响句法的重新分析过程。研究结果在一定程度上支持工作记忆容量限制的理论。     

不一致性重读对口语语篇加工中信息激活水平的影响

利用跨通道词汇再认任务,探索了口语临场加工过程中,不一致性重读对新信息以及它所标示的旧信息在语篇表征中激活的影响。结果表明：与控制条件相比,不一致性重读虽然提高了旧信息在语篇表征中的激活水平,但是同时抑制了新信息的激活;这一促进和抑制作用在关键词汇后的500 ms就已出现。从而说明,对于相对重要的新信息,不一致性重读会阻碍语篇的理解,并且会影响到语篇的临场加工过程。     

认知负荷和控制性注意对工作记忆广度任务成绩的影响

通过stroop干扰实验严格筛选被试,考察了控制性注意能力不同的被试在加工部分认知负荷不同的工作记忆广度任务中的成绩。结果表明：任务复杂性和加工速度对工作记忆广度任务成绩有重要影响,任务越复杂或加工速度越快,被试的工作记忆广度任务成绩越低;在复杂的和加工速度快的工作记忆广度任务中,控制性注意能力高的被试成绩要好于控制性注意能力低的被试,但在简单的和加工速度慢的任务中两者成绩没有显著差异。     

方位和视空间工作记忆广度对空间情境模型更新的影响

该研究采用混合实验设计,以含有空间信息的语篇为实验材料,选取32名不同视空间工作记忆广度的大学生作为被试,考察方位和视空间工作记忆广度对空间情境模型更新的影响。研究发现:方位对空间情境模型更新的影响是显著的,视空间工作记忆广度对模型更新后的左右方位的判断有显著影响。研究验证了方位效应的稳定性,发现了视空间工作记忆广度对空间情境模型更新的影响。     

问题表征、工作记忆对小学生数学问题解决的影响

以104名小学六年级学生为被试, 采用4个相对独立的研究探讨了工作记忆广度、问题表征方式与小学生数学应用题解决的关系。结果表明：(1)言语工作记忆广度只影响高难度应用题的解决, 在低难度、中等难度的应用题解决上, 高、低言语工作记忆广度者不存在显著差异; (2)视觉-空间工作记忆广度对低难度、中等难度、高难度应用题的解决都存在影响; (3)问题表征方式影响数学应用题的解决, 应用题的解题成绩与问题表征方式的使用有关; (4)言语工作记忆广度对应用题的表征方式没有影响, 高、低言语工作记忆广度者在三种难度水平应用题的表征方式上不存在显著差异; (5)视觉-空间工作记忆广度对应用题的表征方式存在影响, 高、低视觉-空间工作记忆广度者在三种难度水平应用题的表征方式上均存在组间差异。     

移动窗口条件下不同工作记忆者阅读差异的眼动研究

采用EyelinkⅡ眼动仪为工具,考察在移动窗口条件下不同工作记忆容量读者的阅读差异。实验为5（窗口大小：1个字、3个字、5个字、7个字、4×25个字）×2（工作记忆容量：高、低）混合设计。结果表明：随着窗口大小的增加,阅读时间、注视次数、眼跳次数显著减少,阅读速度显著加快,眼跳幅度显著增加。与低工作记忆容量被试相比,高工作记忆容量被试能够更好地整合文章信息,进行更有效的阅读。     

工作记忆、语境限制强度和句子长度对二语词汇学习的影响

本研究选取初二、高二、大三三个年龄段的被试,考察在句子阅读过程中,工作记忆容量、语境限制强度和句子长度对第二语言词汇学习的影响。研究结果发现,在句子阅读条件下,工作记忆容量是影响第二语言词汇学习的重要因素,高工作记忆容量促进了第二语言词汇的学习;在中等和长句子的条件下,语境的限制性越强,词汇学习的成绩越好;相比初二年龄组被试,高二和大三年龄组被试,在低语境限制性的情况下,阅读的句子越长,第二语言词汇学习效果越差。研究结果说明,个体工作记忆的容量,以及阅读材料等变量,都是影响自然阅读条件下二语词汇学习的重要因素。     

高功能孤独症幼儿空间工作记忆的组块加工缺陷

孤独症谱系障碍者存在空间工作记忆加工缺陷,其具体受损环节尚不明确。组块是一种有效的策略性信息编码方式,是空间工作记忆的关键环节。高度结构化的刺激容易形成高水平组块,因此,刺激结构化程度对记忆效果的影响能够反映个体的组块加工能力。研究采用Sternberg空间工作记忆任务、Corsi空间广度任务,加入刺激结构化因素,考察高功能孤独症幼儿是否存在组块加工缺陷,并探讨组块加工是否直接影响到空间工作记忆容量。实验1采用Sternberg空间工作记忆任务,结果表明,ASD幼儿存在明显的组块加工缺陷。在易于组块的高结构化条件下,健康幼儿的记忆成绩明显较高,而ASD幼儿在高、低结构化条件下的记忆成绩并无显著差异。实验2采用Corsi空间广度任务,结果显示,不论高、低结构化条件,ASD幼儿的空间工作记忆容量均显著低于健康幼儿。但ASD幼儿由于存在组块加工缺陷,在高、低结构化条件下的记忆成绩差异较健康幼儿小。因此,ASD幼儿的组块能力一定程度上影响了空间工作记忆容量。此外,记忆存储器的异常可能也是ASD幼儿空间工作记忆容量不足的重要原因。研究表明,ASD幼儿的空间组块缺陷主要由于弱中央统合的认知风格,他们缺乏自上而下的组块加工动机,难以主动对刺激形成高水平组块编码,从而影响记忆效果。     

A capacity theory of comprehension: individual differences in working memory.

A theory of the way working memory capacity constrains comprehension is proposed. The theory proposes that both processing and storage are mediated by activation and that the total amount of activation available in working memory varies among individuals. Individual differences in working memory capacity for language can account for qualitative and quantitative differences among college-age adults in several aspects of language comprehension. One aspect is syntactic modularity: The larger capacity of some individuals permits interaction among syntactic and pragmatic information, so that their syntactic processes are not informationally encapsulated. Another aspect is syntactic ambiguity: The larger capacity of some individuals permits them to maintain multiple interpretations. The theory is instantiated as a production system model in which the amount of activation available to the model affects how it adapts to the transient computational and storage demands that occur in comprehension.     

The role of working memory in the development of emotion comprehension

This study investigated the relationship between emotion comprehension, grammar comprehension, and working memory capacity in children between 5 and 11 years (n= 130), testing the hypothesis that working memory has a role in the development of emotion comprehension. We replicated the correlation between emotion comprehension and grammar comprehension, and found that working memory capacity correlates with both of these variables (also with age statistically controlled). The significant effect of age on emotion comprehension was eliminated when working memory capacity was co‐varied. In a regression analysis of emotion comprehension scores, when working memory capacity was entered as a predictor, no additional variance was significantly accounted for by grammar comprehension, gender, or age. A structural relations model, in which the paths from working memory capacity to emotion comprehension and from working memory capacity to grammar comprehension account fully for the correlation between grammar and emotion comprehension, fit the data well. However, working memory capacity was not equally related to all components of the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) ( Pons & Harris, 2000 ), the relationship being significant only for some of them. In particular, working memory capacity has a decisive role in the transition from understanding external to mental aspects of emotions. It is concluded that the development of working memory has a considerable impact on the development of emotion comprehension.     

Role of Working Memory in Typically Developing Children’s Complex Sentence Comprehension

The influence of three mechanisms of working memory (phonological short-term memory (PSTM capacity), attentional resource control/allocation, and processing speed) on children's complex (and simple) sentence comprehension was investigated. Fifty two children (6-12 years) completed a nonword repetition task (indexing PSTM), concurrent verbal processing-storage task (indexing resource control/allocation), auditory-visual reaction time (RT) task (indexing processing speed), and a sentence comprehension task that included complex and simple sentences. Correlation and regression analyses were run to determine the association between the memory variables and sentence comprehension accuracy. Results revealed: (1) none of the memory variables correlated with simple sentence comprehension, (2) resource control/allocation and processing speed correlated significantly with complex sentence comprehension, even after covarying for age, and (3) attentional functioning and processing speed predicted complex sentence comprehension (after accounting for age). Results were interpreted to suggest that working memory is significantly involved in school age children's comprehension of familiar complex sentence structures.     

Reassessing working memory: comment on Just and Carpenter (1992) and Waters and Caplan (1996)

M. A. Just and P. A. Carpenter's (1992) capacity theory of comprehension posits a linguistic working memory functionally separated from the representation of linguistic knowledge. G. S. Waters and D. Caplan's (1996) critique of this approach retained the notion of a separate working memory. In this article, the authors present an alternative account motivated by a connectionist approach to language comprehension. In their view, processing capacity emerges from network architecture and experience and is not a primitive that can vary independently. Individual differences in comprehension do not stem from variations in a separate working memory capacity; instead they emerge from an interaction of biological factors and language experience. This alternative is argued to provide a superior account of comprehension results previously attributed to a separate working memory capacity.     

信息加工效率与阅读的关系研究

对23名大学生进行知觉广度、记忆广度和阅读理解的多项测验,探求知觉、记忆加工效率与不同语言阅读成绩和阅读眼动特性之间的关系。结果发现：低水平的视觉符号方向信号知觉广度与阅读不存在明显的关系,从眼跳幅度指标上反映出右侧知觉广度大的被试对第二语言加工难度更为敏感。短时记忆和工作记忆能力对阅读的影响主要反映在眼跳幅度方面,与单个注视点获取的信息量有关,但与课文理解水平的关系不明显。短时记忆能力强的被试在眼跳幅度上以及第二语言言语工作记忆弱的被试在注视时间上均出现语言差异效应。     

The relationship between age,processing speed,working memory capacity,and language comprehension

A total of 50 elderly individuals and 48 college students were tested on several measures of processing speed and of working memory capacity. Language processing was tested with an on‐line measure of sentence processing efficiency, an end‐of‐sentence acceptability judgement task, and a paragraph comprehension test. Elderly individuals performed more poorly than college students on the speed of processing and working memory measures and had longer listening times overall on the sentence processing measures. Elderly individuals did not, however, have overall longer listening times at the most capacity‐demanding regions of the harder sentence types. Correlational analyses failed to establish a relationship between the increase in syntactic processing load at the capacity‐demanding region of the harder sentence type and the measures of working memory capacity, but did establish a relationship between paragraph comprehension and working memory capacity. The data are argued to provide evidence that the WM system used to structure sentences syntactically is separate from that used in other aspects of language comprehension.     

The relationship between age, processing speed, working memory capacity, and language comprehension

A total of 50 elderly individuals and 48 college students were tested on several measures of processing speed and of working memory capacity. Language processing was tested with an on-line measure of sentence processing efficiency, an end-of-sentence acceptability judgement task, and a paragraph comprehension test. Elderly individuals performed more poorly than college students on the speed of processing and working memory measures and had longer listening times overall on the sentence processing measures. Elderly individuals did not, however, have overall longer listening times at the most capacity-demanding regions of the harder sentence types. Correlational analyses failed to establish a relationship between the increase in syntactic processing load at the capacity-demanding region of the harder sentence type and the measures of working memory capacity, but did establish a relationship between paragraph comprehension and working memory capacity. The data are argued to provide evidence that the WM system used to structure sentences syntactically is separate from that used in other aspects of language comprehension.     

工作记忆对知觉类别学习的影响:问题与构想

人们学习将感知到的客体按照不同的标准或规则分类存储,即类别学习。而工作记忆作为多种认知加工的基础,对类别学习具有重要作用。基于已有研究,分别梳理了言语工作记忆和视空工作记忆对基于规则和信息整合类别结构的影响。目前,执行功能是否影响内隐类别学习系统、工作记忆负荷对内隐外显类别学习系统的影响是否一致还存在争议。此外,工作记忆影响知觉类别学习的认知加工阶段尚不清晰。未来的研究还需明确工作记忆负荷对内隐和外显类别学习的影响,进一步验证工作记忆影响类别学习的认知加工阶段假设的合理性。     

Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity: More Evidence for a General Capacity Theory

The causes of the positive relationship between comprehension and measures of working memory capacity remain unclear. This study tests three hypotheses for the relationship by equating the difficulty, for 48 individual subjects, of processing demands in complex working memory tasks. Even with difficulty of processing equated, the relationship between number of words recalled in the working memory measure and comprehension remained high and significant. The results favour a general capacity view. We suggest that high working memory span subjects have more limited-capacity attentional resources available to them than low span subjects and that individual differences in working memory capacity will have implications for any task that requires controlled effortful processing.     

An examination of the seductive details effect in terms of working memory capacity

Previous work on learning from text has demonstrated that although illustrated text can enhance comprehension, illustrations can also sometimes lead to poor learning outcomes when they are not relevant to understanding the text This phenomenon is known as the seductive details effect. The first experiment was designed to test whether the ability to control one's attention, as measured by working memory span tasks, would influence the processing of a scientific text that contained seductive (irrelevant) images, conceptually relevant images, or no illustrations. Understanding was evaluated using both an essay response and an inference verification task. Results indicated that low working memory capacity readers are especially vulnerable to the seductive details effect. In the second experiment, this issue was explored further, using eye-tracking methodology to evaluate the reading patterns of individuals who differed in working memory capacity as they read the same seductively illustrated scientific text Results indicated that low working memory individuals attend to seductive illustrations more often than not and, also, for a longer duration than do those individuals high in working memory capacity.