Lexical decision and aphasia: Evidence for semantic processing

Wernicke's and Broca's-Conduction aphasics and a Global aphasic were presented with a lexical-decision task in which English words and pronounceable nonwords were preceded by semantically related, unrelated, or nonword primes. The patients were also given a simple semantic-judgment task using the word pairs from the lexical-decision task. Wernicke's aphasics performed similar to normals and Broca's-Conduction aphasics showing significantly shorter latencies in making real-word identifications when preceded by a semantically related word. In addition, both superordinate and coordinate associates showed semantic-priming effects. Performance on the semantic-judgment task showed significantly more impairment in the aphasic group than in the normal controls. These results suggest that aphasics with even severe language impairments retain stored semantic information that may be automatically activated, yet is inaccessible to conscious semantic decision during metalinguistic tasks.     

Reception training effects on the production of modeled language constructions

Several previous studies have reported that first-grade-age children increase their usage of prepositional phrases when exposed to novel (inverted) prepositional constructions. The hypothesis was tested that such anomalous increases could be eliminated by discrimination training on the two prepositional forms. One group of first-grade subjects (age 72 months) was trained to respond differentially to sentences containing either familiar or novel prepositional constructions, while a control group received only exposure to the same sentences. As predicted, when later exposed to the modeling of novel constructions, children in the pretrained group did not increase their frequency of familiar prepositional phrases, while those in the control group did.     

Book reviews

GRAY, J. A. Elements of a Two-Process Theory of Learning. London: Academic Press. 1975. Pp. 423. £6.60.

STOCKBRIDGE, H. C. W. Behaviour and the Physical Environment :Case Studies in Psychology and Ergonomics. London: Batsford. 1975. Pp. 191. £7.50.

CRYSTAL, D. The English Tone of Voice-Essays in Intonation, Prosody and Paralanguage. London: Edward Arnold. 1975. Pp. 198. £3.75.

MCFARLAND, D. J. (Ed.). Motivational Control Systems Analysis. London and New York: Academic Press. 1974. Pp. xii + 523. £11.00.

IVERSEN, S. D. and IVERSEN, L. L. Behavioral Pharmacology. New York and London: Oxford University Press. 1975. Pp. xiv + 310. £2.75.

LEVITT, R. A. Psychopharmacology. A Biological Approach. New York: Wiley. 1975. Pp. x + 502. £9.45.

DOWNS, R. M. and STEA, D. (Eds). Image and Environment. Chicago: Aldine. 1973. (London: Arnold). Pp. xxii + 439. £6.75.

MACCOBY, E. E. and JACKLIN, C. N. The Psychology of Sex Differences. London: Oxford University Press. 1975. Pp. 634. £7.00.

MASSARO, D. W. (Ed.). Understanding Language. New York: Academic Press. 1975. PP. 438. £7.90.

HILGARD, E. R., ATKINSON, R. C., and ATKINSON, R. L. Introduction to Psychology. Sixth Edition. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 1975. Pp. 658. £8.10.     

Facilitating accuracy of imitative articulation through reception training

Accuracy of imitation of nonsense words was examined in first- and second-grade children (65–99 months of age) as a function of prior reception training. Two experiments were conducted, involving within-subject comparisons. In the first, one group of words was trained as labels for nonsense objects, a second received noncontingent feedback yoked to the labeling words, a third was presented an equal number of times to control for exposure, and a fourth group was not included in the training phase. Testing involved accuracy of imitation of all four groups of words. Both the feedback and exposure words were imitated less accurately than the labeling words, but more accurately than the nonexposure controls. The second experiment examined the length of the label-object association, using an overtraining procedure. Words which came under the discriminative control of objects for greater numbers of trials were imitated more accurately than those meeting only a minimum discrimination criterion.     

Latency and accuracy characteristics of saccades and corrective saccades in children and adults

Accuracy and latency characteristics of the first saccade to a target together with the frequency and latency of corrective saccades were studied in children (mean age = 8.5) and adults. The independent variables manipulated were fixation-light offset to target-light onset warning interval (0 and 300 msec) and the presence and location of nontarget stimuli. Although saccade accuracy was significantly affected by nontarget lights, children could respond as accurately as adults and, in replication of previous findings, as quickly when a 300 msec warning interval was given. No speed-accuracy trade off was found for either group as a function of the warning signal condition. Children were as likely to make corrective saccades as adults, but did so with a significantly longer latency. Corrective saccade latencies were greater when a change in direction was required but this effect did not interact with age.     

Is language acquired through imitation?

The role of imitation in language acquisition is examined, including data from the psycholinguistic, operant, and social learning areas. From the psycholinguistic data, four empirical statements have been extracted: (1) there is no evidence that spontaneous imitations of adult speech influence grammatical development, (2) imitation of speech does not appear to occur with frequency beyond age 3 years, (3) speech and hence imitation are not necessary for the comprehension of linguistic structures, and (4) most utterances of a child are novel and therefore could not have been exactly modeled. The first and second propositions are seen to be based on a too restrictive definition of imitation-immediate and exact copying. Selective imitation-a functional relationship involving similarity of a particular form or function of the model's responses-is proposed as an alternative, thus leaving the validity of statements (1) and (2) in question. Concerning assertion (4), certain data from the operant literature are presented as evidence of the compatibility of novel responding and modeling, imitation, and reinforcement. Finally, it is proposed that statement (3) suggests a mechanism by which selective imitation can be understood. A three-stage process is proposed in which comprehension of a grammatical form sets the stage for selective imitation of that structure, which leads in turn to spontaneous production. Thus imitation is a process by which new syntactic structures can be first introduced into the productive mode.