Prosodic influences on the resolution of temporary ambiguity during on-line sentence processing

We present three experiments designed to investigate the role of prosody during sentence processing. The first investigated the question of whether an utterance's prosodic contour influences its comprehension on-line. We spliced the beginning and end portions of direct object and embedded clause sentences and observed the consequent effects on comprehension using a dual-task procedure to measure processing load. Our second experiment sought to determine-whether the constituent structure of these sentences could be reliably predicted using prosodic information. We found that the duration and F₀ contour associated with the main-clause verb and the following NP reliably distinguished between the direct object and embedded clause constructions. In the final experiment, we manipulated the duration of the main-clause verb and found that subjects used this information to guide their initial parse during on-line sentence comprehension. The need for a model of sentence processing that addresses the use of prosodic information is discussed.The work reported in this paper was supported in part by NTH grant DC00494.     

Reinventing Ethnicity in Yucatan

The contributors to this issue examine variousinterconnections among gender, class, ethnicity, region,and nation through a focus upon Yucatecan women. Somecommon themes that link the papers relate to rural social and economic transformation,migration, and the redefinition of indigenous ethnicity.We are given glimpses of the emergence of new andpreviously unthinkable configurations of class andethnicity in Yucatan, a process that has taken placethroughout Latin America in recent decades. A number ofpapers describe situations of partial proletarianizationin which men migrate from rural areas to cities, while women remain in the countryside. Theauthors stress the often-overlooked contributions madeby indigenous women to household economy, and also tendto stress continuity, complementarity, and the mediating or brokerage position of women. Contradictionswithin the household and between rural and urban areasshould also be considered. The assertion that Mayawomen's role in social transformations is primarily that of guardians and defenders of tradition isproblematic. Tradition andmodernity are not fixed categories, norare they qualities of people or collectivities, but waysof talking about the relationship between the present andthe past, about social and spatial distance from centersof polity and economy. Staking a claim to being theguardians of tradition or of an ethnic essence may be a wayof defining a social position inthe present, in the context of contemporaryrelationships within the community. This collectionprovides compelling evidence of the reinvention ofethnicity in contemporary Yucatan, but our assumptionsabout ethnicity and tradition should be approached withthe same critical attitude these authors bring to thestudy of gender.     

FEMALE PARTNERS OF BISEXUAL MEN What They Don't Know Might Hurt Them

Individual interviews with 350 behaviorally bisexual men aged 18–30 revealed that 71% of their female sexual partners and 59% of their steady female sexual partners in the past 6 months had not been aware of their homosexual activity. Rates of nondisclosure were higher for African-American than White men. Compared to nondisclosers, men who disclosed to all their female partners were less self-homophobic and perceived their friends, families, and neighbors as more accepting of their homosexual behavior. Compared to men who had disclosed, the nondisclosers had more female partners and used condoms less consistently with women.     

The influence of catch trial frequency on simple reaction time

The major purpose of the present investigation was to examine the combined influence of variations in foreperiod length (1.0, 5.0 sec) and catch trial frequency (0.0, 0.1, 0.2) on simple reaction time (RT) magnitude when verbal mediation was permitted and when it was not. A significant foreperiod length, catch trial frequency, mediation type interaction was obtained supporting the notion that all three factors influence a common process (i.e. Sternberg 1969), here called ‘preparation’. More specifically, for the non-mediation group, foreperiod length and catch trial frequency had both additive (0.0 vs 0.1) and interactive (0.1 vs 0.2) effects on mean simple RT while only catch trial frequency significantly altered simple RT for the mediating group. In all instances, mean simple RT increased significantly when some catch trials were employed as opposed to when none were used, a finding which was interpreted as reflecting an induced preparation decrement upon the introduction of catch trials.     

Locus of control and self-esteem as correlates of role orientation in traditional and nontraditional women

This research attempted to establish relationships between locus of control, self-esteem, and traditional-nontraditional behavior. It was hypothesized that (1) women tending toward internality and high self-esteem should be more likely to manifest nontraditional behaviors, as evidenced through career-oriented roles, and to rank these roles as their primary source of satisfaction; and (2) women tending toward externality and low self-esteem should be more likely to manifest traditional behavior, as evidenced through family-oriented roles, and to rank these roles as their primary source of satisfaction. The sample consisted of 91 White females in a southern metropolitan area. The data were collected using a survey design. As expected, high self-esteem internals were more likely to manifest nontraditional behavior. Contrary to expectation, low self-esteem externals were more nontraditional in role orientation.     

Interpersonal Reactions to Depression and Physical Disablllty In Dyadic Interactions1

Examined the interpersonal responses of persons engaged in dyadic interactions with confederates who enacted either depressed or socially appropriate roles and appeared either with or without a physical disability. Subject negative evaluations of confederates were indirectly obtained from a thought-listing measure. The overt behaviors of subjects were surreptitiously recorded on videotape and measures of verbal and nonverbal behavior were acquired. Subjects spoke less to the depressed targets and had significantly higher rates of negative evaluations of these persons. In addition, subjects gazed less at the depressed confederates. These effects were not moderated by target physical appearance. Findings are discussed as they relate to social models of depression and the stigmatizing effects of disability.     

A comparison of mothers' and fathers' speech to their 3-year-old sons

The language patterns of 10 mothers and 10 fathers with their firstborn 3-year-old sons were compared. Ten-minute mother-son and father-son conversations were recorded independently in the home during a free-play session with standard play mterials. The findings of this study indicate that although mothers and fathers used a similar number of utterances in conversing with their sons over a 10-minute period, their patterns of speech were different on a number of quantitative measures including MLU, MLU of five longest utterances, percent of imperatives, and percent of questions. In general, fathers' communication was viewed as more controlling and involving the child less, while mothers' communication was viewed as more child-centered and involving the child more.     

EVALUATION OF BIOFEEDBACK IN THE TREATMENT OF BORDERLINE ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION1

Direct biofeedback of blood pressure was compared with frontal EMG biofeedback and with self-instructed relaxation for the treatment of essential hypertension in a controlled group outcome study. Patients were followed up for four months after the end of treatment. Generalization of treatment effects was assessed through pre- and posttreatment measurements of blood pressure under clinical conditions in a physician's office. There were no significant reductions in diastolic blood pressure. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) of the patients receiving blood pressure biofeedback decreased 8.1 mm mercury (p = 0.07) and the SBP of the patients in the relaxation condition decreased 9.5 mm mercury (p = 0.05). In the generalization measures, there were significant reductions in SBP for the relaxation group. The results are discussed in terms of the general lack of replicability within the area of biofeedback treatment of hypertension.     

Semantic categorization in a linear order problem

The present investigation was conducted to determine whether subjects could use categorical codes based on semantic memory information (gender of names) to make rapid decisions about the order of names in a linear series. Subjects were taught linear order problems in which 12 names (six male and six female) were either randomly ordered or blocked by sex. The results support a dual-process model which proposes that subjects use both categorical information (discrete linguistic codes) and serial position information when asked to make mental comparisons of arbitrarily ordered items. Furthermore, the data indicate that both the ordinal distance between the terms in the test pair (step size) and the serial position of the test terms in the linear order affect the reaction time to a particular test comparison.