Visual problem solving in the absence of lexical semantics: Evidence from dementia

A case of dissociation between visual and praxic skills and linguistic, referential, and semantic skills is described in a case of dementia. Testing revealed that her visual processing was intact and that she was capable of a wide range of visually based tasks. These included copying geometric figures and block designs; matching items on the basis of number, color, or relative size, matching upper and lower case letters, sequencing numerals, orienting pictures, coins, and letters appropriately, and solving problems based on the identification of geometric patterns or on the identification of logical sequences based on pattern alternation, number, and size increases. In contrast, she was completely incapable of matching pictures on the basis of their semantic or referential meaning; similarly she had lost all comprehension of language. It was argued that this case demonstrates the capacities of a visual system cut off from all symbolic and semantic processes. When examined with other case studies this case provides information about the nature of and interaction between modality-specific perceptual processing and semantic processing, and information about the various cognitive factors involved in visual gnosis. The CT scan indicated frontal atrophy and marked anterior temporal atrophy, a pattern that is consistent with Pick's disease. The case was discussed in terms of the correlation between the pattern of observed strengths and deficits and the neurological pattern of atrophy.     

Cultural, contextual, and intrapersonal predictors of risky sexual attitudes among urban African American girls in early adolescence

The role of cultural factors in explaining sexual attitudes among African American urban girls, aged 10-13 years, was investigated in this study. The authors predicted that girls with higher school interest, family cohesion, religiosity, and behavioral self-esteem would endorse less risky sexual attitudes. Also, older girls were expected to have more risky sexual attitudes than younger girls, and girls from 1- rather than 2-parent households were expected to have more risky sexual attitudes. The authors hypothesized that ethnic identity and gender role orientations would contribute to explaining variability in sexual attitudes after controlling for contextual and intrapersonal variables. A questionnaire containing measures of the study constructs was administered to 214 girls who were participants in a substance abuse prevention program. Pretest data were used in analyses. A final regression model accounted for 23% of the variance in sexual attitudes. Age and behavioral self-esteem were significant predictors, with younger teens and teens with higher behavioral self-esteem having less risky sexual attitudes. Cultural variables contributed to explaining variation in sexual attitudes after other variables were controlled for. Higher levels of ethnic identity were associated with less risky sexual attitudes. A masculine gender role orientation was associated with more risky sexual attitudes.     

Semantic mechanisms in paralexia

This study explores the effects of semantic constraints on the occurrence of paralexic responses in two patients who tend to produce semantic errors in reading aloud. In the first experiment, semantic constraints were provided by using words as proper names (e.g., “brown” vs. “Sam Brown”), and in the second by using short, highly familiar phrases to restrict the meaning of the target word (e.g., the polar bear; green with envy). These constraints were found to be effective in reducing the frequency of paralexic errors.     

CHANGING PERSPECTIVES IN COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY*

Neuropsychology, the study of behavioral and mental disorders resulting from brain damage, seeks to integrate observable mental and motor functions with knowledge of nervous system structure and function. The first part of this paper deals with the empirical and theoretical contributions that arise from the study of classical clinical syndromes, from cognitive psychology based on information processing, and from the computationally-based study of complex cognitive systems such as language. The second part of this paper deals with two areas of neuropsychological research, memory mechanisms and motor behavior, that exemplify some of the methodological and conceptual problems that arise in trying to bridge animal and human studies, or psychological and physiological levels of analysis. Suggestions are made for how greater progress can be made by considering fundamental processes, and, by focusing on levels of abstraction useful to both the psychologist and the biologist. The last part of the paper briefly discusses some of the major issues involved in an attempt to establish a neurobiologically-based theory of human behavioral and mental function.     

Masked repetition and phonological priming in picture naming

We report a series of picture naming experiments in which target pictures were primed by briefly presented masked words. Experiment 1 demonstrates that the prior presentation of the same word prime (e.g.,rose-rose) facilitates picture naming independently of the target’s name frequency. In Experiment 2, primes that were homophones of picture targets (e.g.,rows-rose) also produced facilitatory effects compared with unrelated controls, but priming was significantly larger for targets with low-frequency names relative to targets with high-frequency names. In Experiment 3, primes that were higher frequency homophones of picture targets produced facilitatory effects compared with identical primes. These results are discussed in relation to different accounts of the effects of masked priming in current models of picture naming.     

The syllable’s role in speech production: Are syllables chunks, schemas, or both?

Two experiments, one using the masked priming technique combined with very brief prime exposures and the other using a new technique, the induction technique, were run in order to investigate the role of syllabic structure in speech production. Experiment 1 (masked priming) showed no effect when primes shared only the abstract syllabic structure without the phonological content, whereas the same picture stimuli produced a syllabic priming effect in Ferrand, Segui, and Grainger (1996, Experiment 4) when primes corresponded to full syllables. In contrast, the results of Experiment 2 (induction) showed that picture naming latencies were significantly faster when subjects had first read aloud a set of words with the same syllabic structure than when these words did not share the syllabic structure with the picture target. This result was also observed when the set was composed of nonwords. These results demonstrate that the abstract syllabic structure (independently of its phonological content) plays an important role in speech production depending on the task used.     

The syllable’s role in word naming

In a series of experiments, the masked priming paradigm with very brief prime exposures was used to investigate the role of the syllable in the production of English. Experiment 1 (word naming task) showed a syllable priming effect for English words with clear initial syllable boundaries (such as BALCONY), but no effect with ambisyllabic words targets (such as BALANCE, where the /l/ belongs to both the first and the second syllables). Experiment 2 failed to show such syllable priming effects in the lexical decision task. Experiment 3 demonstrated that for words with clear initial syllable boundaries, naming latencies were faster only when primes formed the first syllable of the target, in comparison with a neutral condition. Experiment 4 showed that the two possible initial syllables of ambisyllabic words facilitated word naming to the same extent, in comparison with the neutral condition. Finally, Experiment 5 demonstrated that the syllable priming effect obtained for CV words with clear initial syllable boundaries (such as DIVORCE) was not due to increased phonological and/or orthographic overlap. These results, showing that the syllable constitutes a unit of speech production in English, are discussed in relation to the model of phonological and phonetic encoding proposed by Levelt and Wheeldon (1994).     

Applying the M-92, A Self-Knowledge Technique for Determining Job Aspirations and Expectations

The M-92 technique is aimed at helping teenagers become aware of: (a) the relationships between certain classic determinants such as prestige, income, and job opportunities and their system of job aspirations and/or expectations; (b) the strong and weak points in their system of information about jobs; (c) the internal structure of their system of occupational representations; and (d) possible conflicts in values or discordancies between aspirations and expectations. From a theoretical standpoint the M-92 draws directly on Coombs (1975) and Gottfredson (1981). Methodologically, it is an extension of the Hammond et al. (1988) Social Judgement Theory to the case of pair comparisons. Several concrete examples of the M-92 in use are described.     

Sequential effects of phonological priming in visual word recognition

Two masked priming experiments were conducted to examine phonological priming of bisyllabic words in French, and in particular, whether it operates sequentially or in parallel. Bisyllabic target words were primed by pseudowords that shared either the first or the second phonological syllable of the target. Overlap of the first syllable only-not the second-produced facilitation in both the lexical decision and the naming tasks. These findings suggest that, for polysyllabic words, phonological codes are computed sequentially during silent reading and reading aloud.