Use of verb information in syntactic parsing: evidence from eye movements and word-by-word self-paced reading

We investigated whether readers use verb information to aid in their initial parsing of temporarily ambiguous sentences. In the first experiment, subjects' eye movements were recorded. In the second and third experiments, subjects read sentences by using a noncumulative and cumulative word-by-word self-paced paradigm, respectively. The results of the first two experiments supported Frazier and Rayner's (1982) garden-path model of sentence comprehension: Verb information did not influence the initial operation of the parser. The third experiment indicated that the cumulative version of the self-paced paradigm is not appropriate for studying on-line parsing. We conclude that verb information is not used by the parser to modify its initial parsing strategies, although it may be used to guide subsequent reanalysis.     

Exposure to sexism can decrease implicit gender stereotype bias

Two studies examined the effect of exposure to sexism on implicit gender bias, focusing specifically on stereotypes of men as competent and women as warm. Male and female participants were exposed to sexism or no sexism. In both Experiment 1 (Implicit Association Task; N = 115) and Experiment 2 (Go/No‐go Association Task; N = 167), women who had been exposed to sexist beliefs demonstrated less implicit gender stereotype bias relative to women who were not exposed to sexism. In contrast, exposure to sexism did not influence men's implicit gender stereotype bias. In Experiment 2, process modelling revealed that women's reduction in bias in response to sexism was related to increased accuracy orientation and a tendency to make warmth versus competence judgments. The implications of these findings for current understandings of sexism and its effects on gender stereotypes are discussed.     

Career meta-capacities and retention factors of recruitment advertising agencies: An exploratory study

This study aimed to determine the extent to which employees’ career adaptability and employability capacities predicted employee retention factors in the information sector industry. A probability sample of 337 South African recruitment advertising employees participated in the study (females = 65.9%; black Africans = 53.4%, predominantly early career stage (aged > 40 years = 57.9%). The employees responded to surveys on their career adaptability, employability capacities, and job retention considerations. Step-wise hierarchical regression analysis was computed to predict employee retention factors from their career meta-capacities of career adaptability and employability attributes. Results suggest the career meta-capacities to explain 71% of the variance in employee retention factors. Moreover, overall career adaptability (concern, control, curiosity, and cooperation) predict the overall retentions factors of employees. White employees self-reported with higher work retention and career opportunities than employees of other races/ethnicities. Career adaptability and employability capabilities matter for talented employee retention in the information sector industry.     

Workplace Family Support,Parental Satisfaction,and Work–Family Conflict: Individual and Crossover Effects among Dual‐Earner Couples

Workplace family support has been regarded as a factor that helps reduce individuals' work to family conflict (WFC). How this support translates into families' functioning is still to be determined. In this study, we used a systems perspective to examine (a) how perceptions of workplace family support affect parental satisfaction and consequently reduce WFC and (b) how the perception of support affects partners' parental satisfaction and WFC in dual‐earner couples. A two‐wave dyadic data set of dual‐earner couples with preschool‐aged children (N = 90) was used, and the actor‐partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) was applied. Results showed that controlling for WFC, working hours, number and age of children, mothers' perceptions of workplace family support (time 1) had indirect effects, through mothers' parental satisfaction (time 1), on their own levels of WFC (time 2) as well as on their partners' levels of WFC (time 2). Fathers' perceptions of workplace family support (time 1) had a direct effect on fathers' parental satisfaction (time 1) and on fathers' WFC (time 2). These results suggest that in addition to boosting parental well‐being, perceptions of a supportive workplace may help reduce the level of WFC for both direct recipients of support and their partners, in particular when support is experienced by mothers, and when these mothers experience heightened parental satisfaction.     

The psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Personality Inventory for DSM‐5

The DSM‐5 Section III proposes a hybrid dimensional‐categorical model of conceptualizing personality and its disorders that includes assessment of impairments in personality functioning (criterion A) and maladaptive personality traits (criterion B). The Personality Inventory for the DSM‐5 is a new dimensional tool, composed of 220 items organized into 25 facets that delineate five higher order domains of clinically relevant personality differences, and was developed to operationalize the DSM‐5 model of pathological personality traits. The current studies address the internal consistency (study 1), the test‐retest reliability (study 2) and the criterion validity (studies 3 and 4) of the Portuguese version of the PID‐5 in samples of native speaking psychology students. Results indicated good internal consistency reliabilities and good temporal stability reliabilities for the majority of the PID‐5 traits. The correlational pattern of the PID‐5 traits with two measures of personality was in accordance with theoretical expectations and showed its concurrent validity.     

Conceptual accessibility and sentence production in a free word order language (Odawa)

The study reported here was conducted in the Algonquian language of Odawa (a.k.a. Ottawa), with the goal of gaining new insight into the ways that conceptual accessibility affects human sentence production. The linguistic characteristics of Odawa are quite different from those found in the languages most often examined by psycholinguists. The data obtained from the sentence production experiment reported here are thus relevant to production in a heretofore unexamined language. Moreover, the data inform broader theoretical issues, such as the extent to which sentence production can be considered as an incremental process, and the interaction of the various factors affecting conceptual accessibility. In addition, the study stands as evidence that experimental psycholinguistic research can and should be carried out in typologically diverse languages.     

Disfluencies and human language comprehension

Spoken language contains disfluencies, which include editing terms such as uh and um as well as repeats and corrections. In less than ten years the question of how disfluencies are handled by the human sentence comprehension system has gone from virtually ignored to a topic of major interest in computational linguistics and psycholinguistics. We discuss relevant empirical findings and describe a computational model that captures how disfluencies influence parsing and comprehension. The research reviewed shows that the parser, which presumably evolved to handle conversations, deals with disfluencies in a way that is efficient and linguistically principled. The success of this research program reinforces the current trend in cognitive science to view cognitive mechanisms as adaptations to real-world constraints and challenges.     

Age Preservation of the Syntactic Processor in Production

Two experiments are reported on the influence of cognitive aging on grammatical choice in language production. In both experiments, participants from two age-groups (young and old) produced sentences in a formulation task (V. Ferreira, 1996) that contrasted conditions allowing a choice between alternative sentence arrangements (i.e., double object or prepositional dative) or that permitted no choice (i.e., prepositional dative only). Experiment 1 showed that older adults were able to formulate the alternative sentence arrangements with the same speed and fluency as young adults. Experiment 2 showed that cueing attention to one of the two object nouns to be included in the sentence resulted in the earlier expression of the cued noun in choice conditions, but with little evidence of a response time or dysfluency cost in the no-choice condition. As in Experiment 1, there were no substantive age differences in latencies or dysfluencies. These results support existing models for the mechanisms that choose between grammatical alternatives and bind phrases to available argument positions and provide evidence that older adults are not impaired in their use of these mechanisms.     

Effect of ambiguity and lexical availability on syntactic and lexical production

Speakers only sometimes include the that in sentence complement structures like The coach knew (that) you missed practice. Six experiments tested the predictions concerning optional word mention of two general approaches to language production. One approach claims that language production processes choose syntactic structures that ease the task of creating sentences, so that words are spoken opportunistically, as they are selected for production. The second approach claims that a syntactic structure is chosen that is easiest to comprehend, so that optional words like that are used to avoid temporarily ambiguous, difficult-to-comprehend sentences. In all experiments, speakers did not consistently include optional words to circumvent a temporary ambiguity, but they did omit optional words (the complementizer that) when subsequent material was either repeated (within a sentence) or prompted with a recall cue. The results suggest that speakers choose syntactic structures to permit early mention of available material and not to circumvent disruptive temporary ambiguities.     

Crisis phenomena among African adolescents

This study investigated inadequate parent-child relationships, problems with regard to sexuality, and substance abuse among African university students. They reported experiencing positive aspects of the parent-child relationship, such as acceptance, love, understanding, encouragement, and guidance, as well as negative aspects, including inadequate communication and parents' authoritarian attitudes. Numerous sexual issues and the abuse of alcohol and other drugs were perceived as serious problems among teenagers in general. Although an inadequate parent-child relationship appears to contribute to substance abuse and sexuality problems, it cannot be regarded as solely responsible, as a multitude of factors also play a role. The results indicate the need for life-skills training for both adolescents and parents, particularly regarding communication.