The Relationship Between Artificial and Second Language Learning

Artificial language learning (ALL) experiments have become an important tool in exploring principles of language and language learning. A persistent question in all of this work, however, is whether ALL engages the linguistic system and whether ALL studies are ecologically valid assessments of natural language ability. In the present study, we considered these questions by examining the relationship between performance in an ALL task and second language learning ability. Participants enrolled in a Spanish language class were evaluated using a number of different measures of Spanish ability and classroom performance, which was compared to IQ and a number of different measures of ALL performance. The results show that success in ALL experiments, particularly more complex artificial languages, correlates positively with indices of L2 learning even after controlling for IQ. These findings provide a key link between studies involving ALL and our understanding of second language learning in the classroom.     

The bits and bytes of computer/internet addiction: A factor analytic approach

A factor analytic approach was used to explore possible constructs underlying so-called computer/Internet addiction. A 94-item survey was developed, from which two major and two minor factors were derived. Factor 1 focused on problematic computer-related behaviors in heavy users of the Internet, whereas Factor 2 focused on the usefulness and general purpose nature of computers and the Internet. Factor 3 isolated a combination of use of the Internet for sexual gratification and shyness/introversion, and Factor 4 focused on an absence of problems related to Internet use that were coupled with a mild aversion or a disinterest in this technology. These data support the notion that some individuals have a mixture of obsessive-like characteristics related specifically to their computer/Internet use but that, not surprisingly, they also exhibit a preference for on-line, rather than in-person, interactions.     

Familiarity and pop-out in visual search

In this paper, we report that when the low-level features of targets and distractors are held constant, visual search performance can be strongly influenced by familiarity. In the first condition, a was the target amid as distractors, and vice versa. The response time increased steeply as a function of number of distractors (82 msec/item). When the same stimuli were rotated by 90° (the second condition), however, they became familiar patterns— and —and gave rise to much shallower search functions (31 msec/item). In the third condition, when the search was for a familiar target, (or ), among unfamiliar distractors, (or ), the slope was about 46 msec/item. In the last condition, when the search was for an unfamiliar target, (or ), among familiar distractors, s (or s), parallel search functions were found with a slope of about 1.5 msec/item. These results show that familiarity speeds visual search and that it does so principally when the distractors, not the targets, are familiar.     

The parallel-less Poggendorff: Virtual contours put the illusion down but not out

Four versions of Poggendorff displays were compared: (1) the conventional display of a transversal interrupted by parallel lines, (2) a transversals-only display, (3) a virtual-contour display where the parallels were suggested (but not drawn) via “good continuation” and “c1osure, ” and (4) the profile display, a degraded version of the virtual-contour display that retained many of its borders but did not suggest parallels. Each display was drawn with transversal tilted at 45 and 51 deg from vertical. All displays produced significant illusions at both tilts. By comparison with the illusion magnitudes of the conventional display, the effects for the other displays were small. The outcome supports the existence of two salient illusion-producing factors: the necessity for actual contours to form the subtended angle and assimilation of the transversal toward O’s horizontal.     

Poetic comparisons: Psychological dimensions of metaphoric processing

A sample of 204 poetic metaphors was rated along 10 scales by 300 participants (30 different people for each of the scales). The scales were identical to ones previously used in a study involving ratings of artificially constructed metaphors, and were chosen on the basis of their relevance to current models of metaphor processing. Three major findings emerged. First, the overall pattern of findings was identical to the one obtained earlier using constructed metaphors, and aspects of it provided support for each major metaphor model without completely onfirming any one of them. Models that attribute an important role to perceptual like processes provided the most successful fit to the data. Second, all of the 10 scales were positively intercorrelated, although the correlations were generally moderate enough to permit independent experimental manipulations of the variables defined by the different scales. These results, too, are similar to those obtained earlier with constructed metaphors. Third, we identify and discuss some suggestive differences between the results of the two studies.     

Semantic congruity in symbolic comparisons: Salience,expectancy, and associative priming

An expectancy interpretation of semantic congruity effects suggests that in symbolic comparisons involving the typical comparative-then-stimuli paradigm, the comparative acts as a cue in priming memory for related stimuli. A recent study by Holyoak and Mah (1981) presented evidence purported to disconfirm this hypothesis insofar as a congruity effect also was obtained when the stimuli preceded the comparative. The present study showed the stimulicomparative effect to be a consequence of the pairing of stimuli with particularly salient comparatives such that the former could serve the cuing function. This finding is consistent with the expectancy hypothesis in emphasizing the role of a flexible encoding process but inconsistent with the view that only comparatives can create expectancies in symbolic comparisons.     

The effect of anticipated future interaction on reward allocation in same- and opposite-sex dyads

Hypotheses were tested concerning the relationship of anticipated future interaction and sex of allocator vs. sex of recipient on reward allocation norm choice. Male and female college students worked on a sex-neutral, attributionally ambiguous task. Subjects participated in same- and mixed-sex dyads, but were kept isolated from one another. All received feedback that they had contributed higher input than their partner and had been randomly chosen to apportion a group reward. The primary dependent variable was amount of reward allocated to self. As predicted, there was a significant difference in allocation norm choice in the no future interaction condition (with males favoring equity and females employing equality), while both sexes divided the reward equally between themselves and the coworker in the future interaction condition. A model was proposed to explain these findings in terms of a continuum of social interaction levels. Rather than being viewed as independent causal entities, sex of allocator and sex of recipient were demonstrated to play roles of differing importance as a function of the level of interaction experienced or anticipated.     

Stimulus-specific processing consequences of pattern goodness

Two issues concerning the effects of visual pattern goodness on information processing time were investigated: the role of memory vs. encoding and the role of individual stimulus goodness vs. stimulus similarity. A sequential “same-different” task was used to provide differentiation of target item or memory effects from display item or encoding effects. Experiment 1 used four alternative stimuli in each block of trials. The results showed that good patterns were processed faster than poor patterns for both “same” and “different” responses. Furthermore, the goodness of the target item had a greater effect on reaction time than did the goodness of the display item, indicating that memory is more important than encoding in producing faster processing of good stimuli. Effects of interstimulus similarity on processing time were minimal, although isolation of good stimuli in a similarity space could explain many of the results. Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1, despite the fact that differences in similarity space had been minimized by using only two alternative stimuli in each block. In addition, the speed of processing a “same” pair was essentially independent of the particular alternative stimulus in a block. These results suggest that in this task, there is a processing advantage for good stimuli that is stimulus specific, with the effect operating primarily in memory.     

Testing global memory models using ROC curves.

Global memory models are evaluated by using data from recognition memory experiments. For recognition, each of the models gives a value of familiarity as the output from matching a test item against memory. The experiments provide ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curves that give information about the standard deviations of familiarity values for old and new test items in the models. The experimental results are consistent with normal distributions of familiarity (a prediction of the models). However, the results also show that the new-item familiarity standard deviation is about 0.8 that of the old-item familiarity standard deviation and independent of the strength of the old items (under the assumption of normality). The models are inconsistent with these results because they predict either nearly equal old and new standard deviations or increasing values of old standard deviation with strength. Thus, the data provide the basis for revision of current models or development of new models.