汉语名词特异性损伤的个案研究

报道了一例汉语命名性失语症个案,他在口语命名图形与口语产生句子时均表现为对名词的作业能力差于动词,而且这种动-名词分离现象仅局限在语音输出通道上。初步推测,他在语音输出通道存在名词特异性损伤;动、名词信息的表征具有相对独立性;词汇与句子水平的损伤彼此对应。     

语境因素对阅读时眼动控制的影响：来自汉语句子语境的证据

采用眼动记录法,探讨了语境因素对阅读过程中眼动的影响。实验为2(工作记忆容量:高、低)×2(语境:高预期性、控制性)×2(靶词:一致性、不一致性)混合因素设计。以首次注视时间、凝视时间、第二次加工时间以及向右跳的潜伏时间为因变量指标。结果发现:(1)在初步表征阶段,读者的眼动受低水平的视觉因素所控制;但在文章的整合阶段,眼动却由高水平的语义因素所控制;(2)工作记忆容量的高低影响读者整合阶段中的眼动。     

Judgments of Frequency and Recency in a Distributed Memory Model

TODAM is a theory of distributed associative memory based on the convolution-correlation formalism of A. Borsellino and T. Poggio (1973, Kybernetik, 122, 113-122), and TODAM2 is a revised version which includes context, auto-associations for binding, a dual basis for item information, and mediators for associative information. It can explain some complex interactions (differential forgetting and differential attention) between item and associative information. In this paper we derive the basic expressions for the memory-probe dot product for the 2x2 cases (item and pair study crossed with item and pair probe), and then we apply these expressions to judgments of frequency (JOF) and judgments of recency (JOR). We report an experiment which tests both JOF and JOR for single items with post-cuing to control for encoding strategies and suggest an attenuation factor for repetition to improve the fits. With attenuation, TODAM2 can fit the JOR data, but the JOF fits, while not too bad, consistently predict too much dependence between item and associative information. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

The selective impairment of the phonological output buffer: evidence from a Chinese patient

We present a Chinese-speaking patient, SJ, who makes phonological errors across all tasks involving oral production. Detailed analyses of the errors across different tasks reveal that the patterns are very similar for reading, oral picture naming, and repetition tasks, which are also comparable to the error patterns of the phonological buffer deficit cases reported in the literature. The nature of the errors invites us to conclude that the patient's phonological output buffer is selectively impaired. Different from previously reported cases, SJ's deficits in oral production tasks are not accompanied by a similar impairment of writing performance. We argue that this dissociation is evidence that the phonological output buffer is not involved in writing Chinese words. Furthermore, the majority of SJ's errors occur at the onset of a syllable, indicating that the buffer has a structure that makes the onset more prone to impairment.     

Destructive effects of “forget” instructions

In two experiments, participants were given three lists of words to study and were told to (1) remember all three lists, (2) forget the first list immediately after studying it but try to remember the other two lists, or (3) forget the middle list immediately after studying it but try to remember the first and the last lists. In Experiment 1, unrelated word lists were used, whereas Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 with categorical lists. The results from both experiments showed that forgetting the middle list leads also to recall decrement for the first list, which was not intended for forgetting. The results are discussed in terms of the contextual change hypothesis of directed forgetting.     

Type A behaviour pattern and assertive behaviour

The assertiveness patterns of Type A coronary-prone subjects were compared with those of Type B subjects in negative and positive situations. Type As were found to exhibit high assertiveness in both negative and positive situations. Type Bs responded as assertively as Type As in positive situations but less assertively in negative situations. The implications of the results are discussed.     

Effects of word frequency and visual complexity on eye movements of young and older Chinese readers

Research using alphabetic languages shows that, compared to young adults, older adults employ a risky reading strategy in which they are more likely to guess word identities and skip words to compensate for their slower processing of text. However, little is known about how ageing affects reading behaviour for naturally unspaced, logographic languages like Chinese. Accordingly, to assess the generality of age-related changes in reading strategy across different writing systems we undertook an eye movement investigation of adult age differences in Chinese reading. Participants read sentences containing a target word (a single Chinese character) that had a high or low frequency of usage and was constructed from either few or many character strokes, and so either visually simple or complex. Frequency and complexity produced similar patterns of influence for both age groups on skipping rates and fixation times for target words. Both groups therefore demonstrated sensitivity to these manipulations. But compared to the young adults, the older adults made more and longer fixations and more forward and backward eye movements overall. They also fixated the target words for longer, especially when these were visually complex. Crucially, the older adults skipped words less and made shorter progressive saccades. Therefore, in contrast with findings for alphabetic languages, older Chinese readers appear to use a careful reading strategy according to which they move their eyes cautiously along lines of text and skip words infrequently. We propose they use this more careful reading strategy to compensate for increased difficulty processing word boundaries in Chinese.     

The Longitudinal Relationship Between School Belonging and Subjective Well-Being in School Among Elementary School Students

Situated within a positive psychology perspective, the present study explored the relationship between school belonging and subjective well-being (SWB) in school among elementary school students. In order to ensure the applicability of the Brief Adolescents’ Subjective Well-Being in School Scale (BASWBSS) to elementary school students, firstly, we provided evidence for its validity using two samples (total n?=?1333) of elementary school students. Secondly, we used cross-lagged structural equation modeling techniques to evaluate the nature and directionality of relationships between school belonging and SWB in school. To test these relationships, 890 students (58.54 % male) completed a measure of school belonging and SWB in school at two time points, 6 weeks apart. The results showed that (1) BASWBSS has good applicability among elementary school students and (2) significant bidirectional relationships were found between school belonging and SWB in school. Overall, the present study provided important evidence of applicability of the BASWBSS with elementary school students and the role of school belonging in elementary school age children’s SWB in school.     

Are Early Birds More Disciplined? A Social Jet Lag Perspective

The relationship between personality and morningness-eveningness orientation is attracting a lot of attention. The relationship between morningness-eveningness orientation and personality related to self-regulation, however, remains unclear. The present research adopted a general American adult sample to investigate the relationship among morning and evening types and the individual self-regulatory trait. More important was that we used social jet lag theory to explain this relationship. According to the different scales that were used to measure self-regulatory trait, Study 1 obtained the convergent result that morningness is positively related to high self-regulation. In Study 2, we found that misalignment of rising time between free and work days (reflecting social jet lag) could partly explain the positive relationship between morningness and self-regulation. More specifically, because morning types can work in accordance with their natural clock, they have more resources for self-regulation; therefore, they have higher-self-regulation than intermediate types and evening types do.     

Assessing the role of alternative response rates and reinforcer rates in resistance to extinction of target responding when combining stimuli

Studies of behavioral momentum reveal that reinforcing an alternative response in the presence of a target response reduces the rate of target responding but increases its persistence, relative to training the target response on its own. Because of the parallels between these studies and differential‐reinforcement techniques to reduce problem behavior in clinical settings, alternative techniques to reduce problem behavior without enhancing its persistence are being explored. One potential solution is to train an alternative response in a separate stimulus context from problem behavior before combining the alternative stimulus with the target stimulus. The present study assessed how differences in reinforcement contingencies and rate for alternative responding influenced resistance to extinction of target responding when combining alternative and target stimuli in pigeons. Across three experiments, alternative stimuli signaling a response–reinforcer dependency and greater reinforcer rates more effectively decreased the persistence of target responding when combining alternative and target stimuli within the same extinction tests, but not when compared across separate extinction tests. Overall, these findings reveal that differences in competition between alternative and target responding produced by contingencies of alternative reinforcement could influence the effectiveness of treating problem behavior through combining stimulus contexts.