文本阅读中预期推理生成的容量制约性

本研究通过操纵读者信息加工的时间量考察了工作记忆容量对预期推理生成的影响性质。结果表明,如果没有信息加工时间的限制,则工作记忆容量低的读者也能表现出在阅读中生成预期推理的证据,而如果读者的阅读加工时间受一定限制,则工作记忆容量低者建构预期推理的证据随着被允许的加工时间的缩短而逐渐消失。结果支持“工作记忆容量只影响阅读中预期推理建构速度”的观点。     

How the brain processes causal inferences in text

Abstract— Theoretical models of text processing, such as the construction-integration framework, pose fundamental questions about causal inference making that are not easily addressed by behavioral studies. In particular, a common result is that causal relatedness has a different effect on text reading times than on memory for the text: Whereas reading times increase linearly as causal relatedness decreases, memory for the text is best for events that are related by a moderate degree of causal relatedness and is poorer for events with low and high relatedness. Our functional magnetic resonance imaging study of the processing of two-sentence passages that varied in their degree of causal relatedness suggests that the inference process can be analyzed into two components, generation and integration, that are subserved by two large-scale cortical networks (a reasoning system in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right-hemisphere language areas). These two cortical networks, which are distinguishable from the classical left-hemisphere language areas, approximately correspond to the two functional relations observed in the behavioral results.     

不同阅读能力聋人语篇理解中连接推理的眼动比较

采用记录被试阅读完成后回答问题的正确率、反应时与眼动指标,试图探讨不同阅读能力聋人语篇理解中连接推理的加工特点与效率。结果表明:在语篇局部连贯中断情况下,高低阅读能力聋人在语篇理解过程中的连接推理加工是主动的即时性加工,而非语篇阅读完成后被动的延时性加工;但高阅读能力聋人能有效激活背景知识,所发生的连接推理加工是一个自动化的加工;低阅读能力聋人主动尝试即时激活背景知识、构建句子间的连接推理,但连接推理的加工还未达到自动化程度,推理加工的效率较低。     

Coherence-driven resolution of referential ambiguity: A computational model

We present a computational model that provides a unified account of inference, coherence, and disambiguation. It simulates how the build-up of coherence in text leads to the knowledge-based resolution of referential ambiguity. Possible interpretations of an ambiguity are represented by centers of gravity in a high-dimensional space. The unresolved ambiguity forms a vector in the same space. This vector is attracted by the centers of gravity, while also being affected by context information and world knowledge. When the vector reaches one of the centers of gravity, the ambiguity is resolved to the corresponding interpretation. The model accounts for reading time and error rate data from experiments on ambiguous pronoun resolution and explains the effects of context informativeness, anaphor type, and processing depth. It shows how implicit causality can have an early effect during reading. A novel prediction is that ambiguities can remain unresolved if there is insufficient disambiguating information.     

当前西方文本阅读研究的主要共识与争议

当前,西方研究者在文本阅读研究中取得了一些共识,主要体现在文本表征结构的层次性与情境模型多维性两个方面;而对于文本表征的加工历程则存在较大争议,形成了记忆基础的文本加工观、建构主义文本加工观和情境模型多维加工观三种有代表性的理论。     

说明文阅读中局部连贯因果推理的产生

探讨熟悉主题的说明文阅读过程中维持局部连贯的因果推理的产生问题。3个实验分别采用了不同的实验材料, 实验1的文本提供明确的前提信息, 实验2的材料提供隐含的前提信息, 实验3的材料在前提信息与结论信息之间插入了其他信息。总的结果表明, 熟悉主题的说明文阅读过程中, 当文本提供的前提信息与结论信息一起呈现时, 无论提供明确的还是隐含的前提信息, 实现文本局部因果连贯的推理能够即时产生; 当前提信息相隔2个句子后, 虽然读者还是可以产生因果推理检测到与推理内容矛盾的信息, 但是这种检测敏感度大有降低。基于本研究结果, 结合相关研究, 本文尝试提出关于文本阅读中推理产生的“认知代价”观, 试图整合文本推理理论。     

TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH IN READING INSTRUCTION: EARLY EFFORTS TO PRESENT FOCUS

A quantitative and qualitative investigation was conducted to determine the relative efficacy of textual and instructional manipulations on concept acquisition. One hundred four high‐school chemistry students were assigned randomly to one of four treatments ‐‐ a group that read the course textbook (nonrefutational text), a group that read refutational text (i.e., text which cited and refuted common misconceptions about the topic for study), a group that read nonrefutational text but experienced a prereading activation activity (designed to elicit cognitive dissonance) and a group that read refutational text following the same activation activity. Results of Analyses of Covariance revealed no significant differences between the groups on three measures designed to assess concept comprehension and learning. A purposive sample of eleven students was selected for a qualitative examination of their text‐processing strategies. Analyses of audio‐recorded interviews revealed insights into the process of conceptual change. An instructional model of the construct of prior knowledge is presented.     

构成理论关于推论与记叙文篇章理解的研究

构成理论认为,读者在阅读记叙文篇章时,试图构成一个有意义的情景参照模式以表达读者的目标、篇章连贯性以及解释文中为何提到所描述的行为、事件及情景,其中推论生成是一个重要环节。而推论可分为十三类,有六类属线上生成,五类属脱线生成,有两类难以确定．需考虑语用因素,其中有些推论因读者目标不同而有特殊性。构成理论还认为,除了局部推论和整体推论外,其它推论都与读者的世界知识有关。该者目标满足,局部与整体连贯实现,以及外显信息解释决定着对记叙文篇章的理解。     

Inference during reading.

Most current theories of text processing assume a constructionist view of inference processing. In this article, an alternative view is proposed, labeled the minimalist hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, the only inferences that are encoded automatically during reading are those that are based on easily available information, either from explicit statements in the text or from general knowledge, and those that are required to make statements in the text locally coherent. The minimalist hypothesis is shown to be supported by previous research and by the results of several new experiments. It is also argued that automatically encoded minimalist inferences provide the basic representation of textual information from which more goal-directed, purposeful inferences are constructed.     

阅读理解困难儿童的认知加工

阅读理解困难是阅读障碍的一个主要类型,近年来受到西方研究者的重视。阅读理解认知加工,核心是有层次的语义加工,理解困难儿童在词汇语义加工和篇章推理和整合上都存在落后。理解困难儿童的信息推理水平落后,可能原因来自两个方面：一方面是语音工作记忆缺陷导致推理加工能力缺陷,另一方面是阅读元认知缺陷导致阅读目的和理解监控发展不正常。这些缺陷之间复杂的关系,还需要进一步研究     

熟悉主题说明文阅读推理加工的认知神经机制

采用功能磁共振成像(Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, fMRI)技术对熟悉主题说明文阅读过程因果推理加工进行研究, 探讨说明文阅读过程中读者是否能够自发进行因果推理加工, 以及阅读焦点的存在是否会对说明文阅读过程中的因果推理加工产生影响。结果表明, 读者在熟悉主题说明文阅读过程中能够自动进行推理加工, 负责推理加工的主要脑区为额叶(尤其是额下回)、顶叶下部及双侧楔前叶等区域。在熟悉主题说明文阅读过程中, 阅读焦点的存在一定程度上使读者的认知加工资源集中在对与焦点相关的推理关系的加工上。     

When Laddering and the Downward Arrow Can Be Used as Adjuncts to Inference Chaining in REBT Assessment

This paper looks at the ways in which laddering in Personal Construct Therapy and the downward arrow in Cognitive Therapy can be used as adjunctive techniques to inference chaining in locating a client's critical A or emotional core. We describe their use through a number of case examples and annotations. We conclude that these two methods require skilled use if they are to be successfully integrated into inference chaining and are offered as part of REBT's interest in theoretically consistent eclecticism. The use of inference chaining in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), the downward arrow in Cognitive Therapy (CT) and laddering in Personal Construct Therapy (PCT) are techniques which aim to help therapists and clients gain rapid insight into the latters' core beliefs and values about themselves, others and the world. This article will show how each technique reveals underlying beliefs and then, from the REBT viewpoint, in what circumstances laddering or the downward arrow might be used as an adjunct to inference chaining in the assessment stage of therapy.     

文本阅读双加工理论与实验证据

文本阅读信息加工过程研究一直是国内外心理学界高度重视和关注的领域, 形成了建构主义理论、最低限度假设理论和记忆基础文本加工理论等派别百家争鸣的局面。这些理论争议的焦点在于自然阅读是主动的、积极的、目标策略驱动的过程, 还是被动的、消极的、自动的过程。在全面总结国内外心理学界有关文本阅读的研究成果的基础上, 文本阅读双加工理论提出并对文本阅读的主要争议进行了整合。该理论的核心观点是文本的自然阅读过程是连贯阅读与焦点阅读的双加工过程。文本阅读中读者所阅读的材料特点不同, 引发的阅读信息加工活动也不同, 而不同性质的阅读过程, 又会引发不同的推理整合, 从而会建构不同类型的文本表征。文本阅读双加工理论已经形成了比较完整的理论框架, 并获得了很多实验证据的支持。当然, 文本阅读双加工理论作为一个新的理论, 其中的有些观点还需要进一步检验。在未来的文本阅读研究领域, 有很多问题还需要研究者进一步关注。     

THE INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENTIAL PRE-READING INSTRUCTIONS ON CONSTRUCTING DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF SITUATIONAL REPRESENTATIONS AND PROBLEM-SOLVING IN FL NARRATIVE TEXT COMPREHENSION

This article reports two experiments that address effects of differential pre-reading instructions: 1) IP (instruction to monitor procedural representations) and IN (no instruction); and 2) IS (instruction to monitor spatial representations) and IN, on subsequent situational representations construction and problem-solving in FL narrative text comprehension. While the structure of IP was consistent with the text, the structure of IS was not. The results from Experiment 1 suggest that IP helps readers with low FL proficiency to construct situational representations, but is of little help to solve an inference problem. In addition, readers with low proficiency are hindered from comprehending a text by IS. Experiment 2 suggests that for readers with higher (high-intermediate) FL proficiency, IP had little effect on constructing situational representations and had a negative effect on solving an inference problem. IS, on the other hand, enhances these readers' construction of situational representations and helps their problem-solving. Thus, language proficiency mediates the effects of prereading instructions on the subsequent text comprehension.     

Individual differences in bridging inference processes

The role of individual differences in bridging-inference processing was studied. Students (n = 135) read passages of short to moderate length. After each one, they answered corresponding questions about inferences that bridged causally related ideas that were either near or far apart in the text. The main hypothesis was that local bridging-inference processing is facilitated by the reader's predisposition to access pertinent knowledge during comprehension. Regression analyses provided support for this proposal and indicated that greater working-memory capacity and vocabulary knowledge promote inference processing. The following relationships between the predictors and inference processing were proposed: Knowledge access promotes the co-occurrence in working memory of the text ideas and knowledge needed to compute the bridge. Working-memory capacity enhances the likelihood that needed antecedent ideas will be available to the bridging processes. Vocabulary knowledge may promote inference processing because unfamiliar word meanings place more demands on working-memory resources than do familiar meanings.     

Applying automated deduction to natural language understanding

Very few natural language understanding applications employ methods from automated deduction. This is mainly because (i) a high level of interdisciplinary knowledge is required, (ii) there is a huge gap between formal semantic theory and practical implementation, and (iii) statistical rather than symbolic approaches dominate the current trends in natural language processing. Moreover, abduction rather than deduction is generally viewed as a promising way to apply reasoning in natural language understanding. We describe three applications where we show how first-order theorem proving and finite model construction can efficiently be employed in language understanding.The first is a text understanding system building semantic representations of texts, developed in the late 1990s. Theorem provers are here used to signal inconsistent interpretations and to check whether new contributions to the discourse are informative or not. This application shows that it is feasible to use general-purpose theorem provers for first-order logic, and that it pays off to use a battery of different inference engines as in practice they complement each other in terms of performance.The second application is a spoken-dialogue interface to a mobile robot and an automated home. We use the first-order theorem prover spass for checking inconsistencies and newness of information, but the inference tasks are complemented with the finite model builder mace used in parallel to the prover. The model builder is used to check for satisfiability of the input; in addition, the produced finite and minimal models are used to determine the actions that the robot or automated house has to execute. When the semantic representation of the dialogue as well as the number of objects in the context are kept fairly small, response times are acceptable to human users.The third demonstration of successful use of first-order inference engines comes from the task of recognising entailment between two (short) texts. We run a robust parser producing semantic representations for both texts, and use the theorem prover vampire to check whether one text entails the other. For many examples it is hard to compute the appropriate background knowledge in order to produce a proof, and the model builders mace and paradox are used to estimate the likelihood of an entailment.     

类比的图式驱动效应

本研究采用了两个实验探讨了类比的图式驱动效应即类比的映射不仅是一种外显的推理过程而且也是一种内隐的推理过程,这一内隐过程具有图式驱动效应.实验1要求被试者首先阅读基础课文和目标课文然后回答问题,结果表明在课文阅读过程中存在着内隐推理.实验2采用更加复杂的实验方法检验了影响内隐推理的图式驱动效应,结果发现被试者的类比内隐推理主要受图式驱动或者结构排列的影响而很少受到语义激活或者启动效应的影响.最后,在结构排列理论与图式理论的框架中讨论了本研究的结果.     

Comprehension skill, inference-making ability, and their relation to knowledge

In this study we investigated the relation between young children's comprehension skill and inference-making ability using a procedure that controlled individual differences in general knowledge (Barnes & Dennis, 1998; Barnes, Dennis, & Haefele-Kalvaitis, 1996). A multiepisode story was read to the children, and their ability to make two types of inference was assessed: coherence inferences, which were essential for adequate comprehension of the text, and elaborative inferences, which enhanced the text representation but which were not crucial to understanding. There was a strong relation between comprehension skill and inference-making ability even when knowledge was equally available to all participants. Subsidiary analyses of the source of inference failures revealed different underlying sources of difficulty for good and poor comprehenders.