Production of narrative discourse in aphasia

The study described the abilities of a group of 15 moderately impaired aphasics and 15 normals to produce narrative discourse. The experimental tasks included telling stories, summarizing stories, and giving morals to stories. The data were analyzed in terms of sentential grammar, discourse grammar, and subjective ratings of content and clarity of language. The results showed that aphasics produced well-structured discourse. The language of the aphasics' discourse was reduced in both complexity and amount, as compared to that produced by normals. The reduction of language reflected selective reduction of hierarchically organized information. The findings of the study confirm the results of previous research on mildly impaired aphasics, which also showed preservation of discourse structure with selective reduction of information.     

The role of causal discourse structure in narrative writing

All writers produce text content and ideally connect it together according to discourse conventions. We investigate whether a particularly strong discourse convention, the need for causal coherence in narratives, can predict the kind of text writers will produce. Causality has been found to be a significant discourse factor in reading comprehension and hence can be expected to determine also what writers produce during composition. In Experiment 1, writers composed short continuations at various points throughout a simple narrative, whereas in Experiment 2, writers composed continuations to complete several narratives. The results indicate that causality indeed plays a major role in composition. Writers tend to produce new text in such a way that it is causally connected to the prior text. Furthermore, writers favored causal relations of necessity or of necessity and sufficiency while largely avoiding relations of sufficiency alone, which suggests a general discourse constraint to be maximally informative (e.g., Grice, 1975).     

The use of heuristic strategies in the interpretation of pronouns

The aim of the two experiments reported here was to distinguish between two heuristic strategies that have been proposed to account for the assignment of pronouns: the subject assignment strategy and the parallel function strategy. According to the subject assignment strategy, a pronoun is assigned to a preceding subject noun phrase, whereas according to the parallel function strategy, a pronoun is assigned to a previous noun phrase in the same grammatical position as the pronoun. These two strategies were tested by examining the interpretation of single object pronouns, first in a reading task and second in an assignment task. In both experiments, there was a strong preference for assigning an object pronoun to the preceding subject noun phrase, thus supporting the subject assignment strategy. However, this was only the case for pronouns that were linguistically ambiguous. When assignment was constrained by gender, there was no effect of either strategy. It is suggested that heuristic strategies are only used in the absence of other strong cues to assignment.     

The organization of narrative discourse in Lewy body spectrum disorder

Narrative discourse is an essential component of day-to-day communication, but little is known about narrative in Lewy body spectrum disorder (LBSD), including Parkinson’s disease (PD), Parkinson’s disease with dementia (PDD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). We performed a detailed analysis of a semi-structured speech sample in 32 non-aphasic patients with LBSD, and we related their narrative impairments to gray matter (GM) atrophy using voxel-based morphometry. We found that patients with PDD and DLB have significant difficulty organizing their narrative speech. This was correlated with deficits on measures of executive functioning and speech fluency. Regression analyses associated this deficit with reduced cortical volume in inferior frontal and anterior cingulate regions. These findings are consistent with a model of narrative discourse that includes executive as well as language components and with an impairment of the organizational component of narrative discourse in patients with PDD and DLB.     

Production of narrative and procedural discourse in aphasia

The study described the abilities of a group of 10 aphasics and 10 normals to produce narrative and procedural discourse. The experimental tasks included telling stories, producing summaries, giving morals to the stories, and producing procedures. The variables examined in the investigation included features of sentential grammars, such as amount of embedding, and features of discourse grammars, such as occurrence of elements of superstructure in narrative. Additionally, raters assessed the content and clarity of the discourses. The results showed that aphasics produced well-structured narrative and procedural discourse. Aphasics' discourse errors differed only in degree, not qualitatively, from those of normals. The language of the aphasics' discourses was reduced in both complexity and amount. It was found that the aphasics had difficulties in producing summaries and giving morals for the stories when compared with the normals. Both the content and clarity of the discourses produced by the aphasics were rated lower than those produced by the normals.     

Informative content of narrative discourse in right-brain-damaged right-handers

Thirty-six right-brain-damaged (RBD) right-handers and 20 controls (C) were submitted to a narrative production task using the pictorial representation of a trivial story. Each subject's narrative was analyzed, using a “propositional analysis,” in order to study amount as well as nature of informative content. Results show (a) that RBD subjects' narratives contain a smaller amount of information that did not appear to be related to a smaller amount of verbal output or to the presence of a visual neglect, (b) that the information contained in RBD subjects' narratives appears to be a subset of that contained in C subjects' narratives, and (c) that these results do not pertain to all C or RBD subjects, since both groups are nonhomogeneous. Even though these results are not linked to the presence of some visual neglect or visual agnosia per se, they could be, at least in part, the expression of some degree of perceptive difficulties of the iconography. However, they are also interpreted as expressing a problem with the organization of narrative discourse at levels of cognitive processing which may not be exclusive to language, but which are nonetheless essential for discourse organization.     

Comparing qualitative research methodologies for systemic research: the use of grounded theory, discourse analysis and narrative analysis

Many of the qualitative research methods developed in the social sciences are well suited to explore research questions pertinent for the systemic field, and make a good fit with systemic thinking. In this paper I briefly outline the value of qualitative research for systemic psychotherapies. I explore some parallel developments in the field of qualitative research and systemic therapy which can inform each other. Three qualitative methodologies, a grounded theory approach, discourse analysis and narrative analysis, particularly useful for the research of subjective experience and meaning, are briefly outlined. To compare and contrast these methodologies, I discuss their application to a pilot study concerning the experiences of living life in more than one language. I demonstrate how each research methodology can highlight different aspects of qualitative research material and address different research questions. The challenge of how these methodologies may be further developed for systemic research is posed.     

Cognitive structures in comprehension and memory of narrative discourse

The effects of structure and content variables on memory and comprehension of prose passages were studied in two experiments. The experimental passages exemplify a class of simple narrative stories that is described by a generative grammar of plot structures. A comprehension model is proposed that assumes a hierarchical organizational framework of stories in memory, determined by the grammar, representing the abstract structural components of the plot. The quality and characteristics of subjects' memory for stories were tested on a variety of experimental tasks in which story organization was manipulated. Comprehensibility and recall were found to be a function of the amount of inherent plot structure in the story, independent of passage content. Recall probability of individual facts from passages depended on the structural centrality of the facts: Subjects tended to recall facts corresponding to high-level organizational story elements rather than lower-level details. In addition, story summarizations from memory tended to emphasize general structural characteristics rather than specific content. For successively presented stories, both structure and content manipulations influenced recall. Furthermore, repeating story structure across two passages produced facilitation in recall of the second passage, while repeating story content produced proactive interference. The implications for a model of memory for narrative discourse are discussed.     

The use of superficial and meaning-based representations in interpreting pronouns: Evidence from Spanish

Abstract

In this paper, we address the question of whether a representation of the surface form of a text is directly implicated in the interpretation of definite pronouns in that text. According to an influential theory proposed by Sag and Hankamer (1984), it should not be, because definite pronouns are model-interpretive anaphors that take their meaning from elements in a representation of content. We report three experiments in Spanish, a language with non-semantic gender, in which pronouns can match their antecedents on the basis of morphosyntactic properties alone. The first experiment suggested that a surface representation might not be implicated in the interpretation of pronouns, since a gender match speeded only the interpretation of pronouns referring to people and not those referring to things. However, a questionnaire study (Experiment 2) confirmed that our strategy of modelling the Spanish sentences in Experiment 1 on sentences used in English studies had affected the results, and a further on-line experiment provided evidence that the interpretation of pronouns referring to things can be speeded by a gender match (Experiment 3). We discuss the implication of these findings for theories of text comprehension.     

The influence of types of character on processing background information in narrative discourse

The background sentenceThe air was cold and clammy depicts setting information which may or may not be of significance to a given character in a narrative. We tested the hypothesis that such information is processed with respect to the main character in a narrative rather than with respect to a secondary character. In Experiment 1, subjects making attributions of awareness of such background states were more likely to attribute such awareness to main than to secondary characters. In Experiment 2, using self-paced reading, we showed that such information is more important for main than for secondary characters during reading. Thus, unattached background information is processed with respect to main characters. This bias provides a source of control over the processing necessary to establish a coherent representation during the reading of narratives. Experiment 3 eliminated the possibility that the effects were due to generally shallower processing of sentences centered on secondary characters.     

Assignment of reference to reflexives and pronouns in picture noun phrases: evidence from eye movements

Most structural Binding Theories predict a complementary distribution between reflexives and pronouns in picture noun phrases containing possessors (e.g. "Ken's picture of himself/him"). In two head-mounted eye-tracking experiments, listeners frequently violated Binding Theory predictions for reflexives, often interpreting the reflexives as taking an antecedent outside of the binding domain, and violating complementarity assumptions. Moreover, the pattern and timing of the eye movements showed Binding Theory violations for reflexives during the earliest moments of reference resolution. The results demonstrate that either binding constraints must be reformulated to decouple pronouns and reflexives or all reflexives in picture noun phrases must be treated as logophors, and thus exempt from structural Binding Theory.     

Neurofunctional (re)organization underlying narrative discourse processing in aging: evidence from fNIRS

Relatively few studies have analyzed the mechanisms underlying the cognitive changes that affect language in the elderly, and fewer have done so for narrative discourse. The goal of this study was to explore the neurofunctional changes associated with aging for different components of narrative discourse. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and behavioral data on 10 younger adults and 10 healthy elderly participants were collected. Ten younger adults in a non-proficient second language condition were included to explore the possibility that the age-related neurofunctional reorganization partly expresses demanding resource allocation. Results show within- and across-hemispheric differences in the neurofunctional pattern of activation in the older participants with reference to the younger ones, partially shared with the low-proficiency young adults, providing support for the recognized mechanisms underlying neural reserve and compensation. fNIRS was shown to be appropriate for studying the age-related neurofunctional reorganization of complex cognitive abilities.     

The use of early recollections as a narrative aid in psychotherapy

A narrative framework is put forward for using early recollections as a narrative aid in psychotherapy. According to this framework, early recollections are beginning episodes in the current version of an autobiography or self-narrative which is continuously updated to make sense of current concerns. Inclusion of these episodes in psychotherapy can provide therapists who share an interest in narrative and their clients with a quick way to recognize central themes that are restricting clients’ lives and detect openings to revise them. Revisions regard the form and content of early recollections. Three case examples propose ways of incorporating early recollections in empathic dialogs, including the process of detecting restricting themes and encouraging persons to tell stories in more compassionate voices. Group therapy is proposed as one of the contexts where early recollections can be discussed, but readers are encouraged to extend these ideas to work with individuals and families.     

The flow of narrative in the mind unmoored: An account of narrative processing

Verbal narratives provide incomplete information and can be very long, yet readers and hearers often effortlessly fill in the gaps and make connections across long stretches of text, sometimes even finding this immersive. How is this done? In the last few decades, event-indexing situation modeling and complementary accounts of narrative emotion have suggested answers. Despite this progress, comparisons between real-life perception and narrative experience might underplay the way narrative processing modifies our world model, as well as the role of the emotions that do not relate to characters. I reframe narrative experience in predictive processing and neural networks, capturing continuity between fiction, perception, and states like dreaming and imagination, enabled by the flexible instantiation of concepts. In this framework, narrative experience is more clearly revealed as a creative experience that can share some of the phenomenology of dreams.     

The use of the beck depression inventory with adolescents

Despite numerous theoretical and anecdotal reports of depression in adolescence, and the potential destructiveness of this disorder in this age group, little empirical work has been done. This study presents data on administration of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to an adolescent sample (N= 568). Factor analysis and interitem and itemscale correlations of the BDI suggested that this questionnaire can be used with this population. The mean BDI score for the sample was slightly higher than that obtained in general population studies of younger children or adults. However, only 5% reported depression sufficiently high to be classified as severe, a figure similar to that of younger children but somewhat lower than that for adults. No significant differences across age were obtained, although significantly more females than males reported high depression scores.This article is based upon a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology at the University of Vermont. The author gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the members of her committee and those of her advisor, Harold Leitenberg, Ph.D.     

Psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents: an updated narrative review of the evidence base

While the evidence base for psychodynamic therapy with adults is now quite substantial, there is still a lack of research evaluating the effectiveness of psychodynamic therapies with children and young people. Those studies that have been carried out are also not widely known in the field. To help address the second point, in 2011, we carried out a review of the evidence base for psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents, which identified 35 studies which together provided some preliminary evidence for this treatment for a range of childhood disorders. The present study is an updated review, focusing on research published between March 2011 and November 2016. During this period, 23 additional studies were published, of which 5 were reports on randomised controlled trials, 3 were quasi-experimental controlled studies and 15 were observational studies. Although most studies covered children with mixed diagnoses, there were a number of studies examining specific diagnostic groups, including children with depression, anxiety and disruptive disorders. whilst the quality of studies was mixed, some were well-designed and reported, and overall indicated promising findings. Nevertheless, further high-quality research is needed in order to better understand the effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapy across a range of different disorders, and to ensure that services can provide a range of evidence-based treatments for children and young people.     

Making sense of life stories: the role of narrative perspective in perceiving hidden information about social identity

Does the narrative perspective people adopt when describing important life events convey any hidden information to audiences about their social identities? In this experiment, participants (who were either professional psychotherapists, or laypersons) formed impressions about, and judged the identities of narrators who described important identity‐related life events (being Jewish, being gay, being infertile) from one of three different narrative perspectives (retrospective, experiencing and re‐experiencing). Results showed that narrative perspective had a highly significant influence on impression formation and identity judgments even when the same events were described. Narrators using the retrospective perspective were generally judged to be better adjusted, more socially desirable and less anxious and dynamic than were narrators describing the same events from the experiencing or re‐experiencing perspectives. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.