Experimental pragmatics: a Gricean turn in the study of language

Discerning the meaning of an utterance requires not only mastering grammar and knowing the meanings of words but also understanding the communicative (i.e., pragmatic) features of language. Although it has been an ever present aspect of linguistic analyses and discussions, it is only over the last ten years or so that cognitive scientists have been investigating--in a concerted fashion--the pragmatic features of language experimentally. We begin by highlighting Paul Grice's contributions to ordinary language philosophy and show how it has led to this active area of experimental investigation. We then focus on two exemplary phenomena--'scalar inference' and 'reference resolution'--before considering other topics that fit into the paradigm known as 'experimental pragmatics'.     

Lesslie Newbigin and Edinburgh’s Common Call

In a world where pluralism is the norm, interfaith encounter and dialogue are essential parts of the Christian experience. Lesslie Newbigin reflected extensively on a theological understanding of the Christian encounter with those of other faiths, emphasizing the importance of both a humble orientation toward God and others and a firm commitment to the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. This juxtaposition of humble witness and firm faith in interfaith encounter is also reflected in the Edinburgh 2010 mission conference’s Common Call. This article will explore Newbigin’s reflections on interfaith dialogue and consider their implications for the future of the ecumenical movement.     

Attention bias for social threat in youth with tic disorders: Links with tic severity and social anxiety

Many individuals with Tourette syndrome and chronic tic disorders (TS/CTDs) report poor social functioning and comorbid social anxiety. Yet limited research has investigated the role of cognitive factors that highlight social threats in youth with TS/CTD, and whether these biases underlie tic severity and co-occurring social anxiety. This study examined whether selective attention to social threat is enhanced young people with TS/CTDs compared to healthy controls, and whether attention biases are associated with tic severity and social anxiety. Twenty seven young people with TS/CTDs and 25 matched control participants completed an experimental measure of attention bias toward/away from threat stimuli. A clinician-rated interview measuring tic severity/impairment (YGTSS Total Score) and questionnaire measures of social anxiety were completed by participants and their parents. Young people with TS/CTD showed an attention bias to social threat words (relative to benign words) compared to controls but no such bias for social threat faces. Attention bias for social threat words was associated with increasing YGTSS Total Score and parent-reported social anxiety in the TS/CTDs group. Mediation analysis revealed a significant indirect path between YGTSS Total Score and social anxiety, via attention to social threat. Tentatively, these associations appeared to be driven by impairment rather than tic severity scores. Preliminary data suggests that youth with TS/CTD have enhanced attention to threat, compared to controls, and this is associated with impairment and social anxiety. Attention to threat could offer a cognitive mechanism connecting impairment and social anxiety, and so be a valuable trans-diagnostic treatment target.     

Memory fragments as components of autobiographical knowledge

Adults described and dated two kinds of personal remembrances: a fragment—a memory moment that is largely bereft of context—and an episodic, personal event memory—a narrative that consists of a number of related events. In Experiment 1 subjects reported memories from when they were 0–8 years of age and in Experiment 2, from when they were 0–16 years of age. Fragments were judged to be older than event memories, especially in Experiment 2 where the estimated ages of most fragments were from 0 to 8 years and of most episodic memories, from 8 to 16 years. Ratings of various features of the two kinds of memories also differed. We conclude that isolated memory moments possess validity and that although they are most likely to arise when the autobiographical memory system is not fully developed, they can also originate during a time when it is. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rorschach Comprehensive System data for a sample of 52 older adult nonpatients from the United States

This study is composed of 52 older adults, ages 60 to 80, all from the United States. In addition to being administered the Rorschach (Rorschach, 1942), all participants also were administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R; Weschler, 1981), the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989), the Neuro Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE; Kiernan, Mueller, Langston, & Van Dyke, 1987), and the Trail Making Test Part B (Reitan, 1958; Reitan & Wolfson, 1993). Examiners included the principal author as well as three other trained examiners. Inclusion criteria are described. Interrater reliability statistics at the response level are presented along with scores for the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 1995).     

Juvenile prostitution and community rehabilitation: an exploratory analysis of beliefs and values

A community, juvenile prostitution rehabilitation programme in Bogotá, Colombia, South America is described; and beliefs and values of the residents were explored. Multiple sorting procedures and multi‐dimensional scaling analysis elicited qualitative, structured, self‐report data, and investigated cognitive constructs. Participants discriminated between belief‐statements along two global dimensions: street‐life and prostitution; and rehabilitation. These were comprised of qualitatively different elements. Clinical implications for interventions with this group and the rehabilitation programme are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neurotic contentment: a self-regulation view of neuroticism-linked distress

The present hypotheses were guided by four premises, which were systematically examined in six studies involving 409 undergraduate participants. The first premise, established by prior work, is that trait neuroticism is closely associated with avoidance-related goals. The second premise, however, is that neuroticism may be uncorrelated with cognitive tendencies to recognize threats as they occur, and subsequently to down-regulate them. In support of this point, all six studies found that neuroticism was unrelated to post-error behavioral adjustments in choice reaction time. The third premise is that post-error reactivity would nonetheless predict individual differences in threat-recognition (Studies 1 and 2) and its apparent mitigation (Study 3), independently of trait neuroticism. These predictions were supported. The fourth premise is that individual differences in neuroticism and error-reactivity would interact with each other in predicting everyday experiences of distress. In support of such predictions, Studies 4-6 found that higher levels of error-reactivity were associated with less negative affect at high levels of neuroticism, but more negative affect at low levels of neuroticism. The findings are interpreted in terms of trait-cognition self-regulation principles.     

What's the use of being happy? Mood states, useful objects, and repetition priming effects

Two experiments involving 99 undergraduate participants sought to examine the influence of mood states on encoding speed within lexical decision and pronunciation tasks. Mood states were measured naturalistically in Experiment 1 and manipulated in Experiment 2. Stimuli consisted of nouns representing useful (e.g., food) and nonuseful (e.g., lint) objects. Mood states had no implications for initial encoding speed. However, when the same words were presented a 2nd time (i.e., repeated), happy individuals displayed a tendency to encode useful words faster than nonuseful ones. Thus, mood states influenced repetition priming on the basis of stimulus valence. The authors propose that happiness sensitizes individuals to useful or rewarding objects, which in turn creates a stronger memory trace for such stimuli in the future.     

Neuroticism and Affective Priming: Evidence for a Neuroticism-Linked Negative Schema

Neuroticism has been hypothesized to systematically relate to semantic memory networks favoring negative affect, but no studies using affective priming tasks have established this link. The present two studies, involving 145 undergraduate participants, sought to provide initial evidence along these lines. Study 1 used a task in which participants were asked to judge their emotions in the past, whereas Study 2 used a perceptual identification task in which participants merely had to identify the word in question. In both studies, neuroticism was positively correlated with negative affective priming, but not positive affective priming. The studies suggest that neuroticism systematically relates to the inter-connectivity of negative affect with semantic memory systems, whether involving the self-concept (Study 1) or not (Study 2). These results are novel and important in understanding individual differences in neuroticism and their affective processing correlates.