Syntactic priming in comprehension: evidence from event-related potentials

Syntactic priming is the facilitation of processing that occurs when a sentence has the same syntactic form as a preceding sentence. Such priming effects have been less consistently demonstrated in comprehension than in production, and those that have been reported have depended on the repetition of verbs across sentences. In an event-related potential experiment, subjects read target sentences containing reduced-relative clauses. Each was preceded by a sentence that contained the same verb and either a reduced-relative or a main-clause construction. Reduced-relative primes elicited a larger positivity than did main-clause primes. Reduced-relative targets that were preceded by a main-clause prime elicited a greater positivity than the same target sentences following a reduced-relative prime. In addition, syntactic priming effects were dissociated from effects of lexical repetition at the verb.     

Coreference and lexical repetition: Mechanisms of discourse integration

The use of repeated expressions to establish coreference allows an investigation of the relationship between basic processes of word recognition and higher level language processes that involve the integration of information into a discourse model. In two experiments on reading, we used eye tracking and event-related potentials to examine whether repeated expressions that are coreferential within a local discourse context show the kind of repetition priming that is shown in lists of words. In both experiments, the effects of lexical repetition were modulated by the effects of local discourse context that arose from manipulations of the linguistic prominence of the antecedent of a coreferentially repeated name. These results are interpreted within the context of discourse prominence theory, which suggests that processes of coreferential interpretation interact with basic mechanisms of memory integration during the construction of a model of discourse.     

Junior version of the Spanish NEO PI-R (JS NEO)

This article presents the preliminary data of the development of a Junior version of the Spanish NEO PI-R (JS NEO), suitable for teenagers from 12 to 17 years of age. From the 240 original English items, 92 were modified or reworded to some degree to make the vocabulary adequate for this age group. The psychometric properties of the JS NEO were investigated in a sample of 2,505 adolescents. Results showed that the adult NEO PI-R factor structure was replicated in the junior version of the inventory. Internal consistency and temporal stability reliabilities of the scales were adequate for most scales. Furthermore, the cross-form correlations between the junior (JS NEO) and the adult (NEO PI-R) scales indicated satisfactory construct validity of the junior version of the inventory.     

The organization of play fighting in the grasshopper mouse (Onychomys leucogaster): Mixing predatory and sociosexual targets and tactics

The body targets contacted, the type of contact made, and the patterns of defense and counterattack elicited by those attacks are examined in the play fighting of captive male and female pairs of grasshopper mice. The nape was the most frequently contacted body target, irrespective of the type of contact made, be it nosing, allogrooming, biting, or striking with a forepaw. The types of defense varied with both body area contacted and type of attack performed. Based on the topography and pattern of contact, it was concluded that grasshopper mice, as is the case for many other muroid rodents, primarily attack and defend targets otherwise contacted during precopulatory encounters. However, grasshopper mice, which are obligate carnivores, also attack and defend predatory targets, although less frequently than sociosexual targets. Surprisingly, predatory attacks were more likely to be counterattacked with predatory attacks, whereas sociosexual attacks were more likely to be counterattacked with sociosexual attacks. Conspecific aggression involves bites directed at the face, lower flanks, and dorsum. Neither the biting of these areas nor the tactics of attack and defense usually associated with such bites were observed during the juvenile interactions. There were no sex differences in either frequency or patterns of attack and defense in play fighting. The data presented for grasshopper mice shed light on the issue of mixing behavior patterns from multiple functional systems during play. Aggr. Behav. 26:319–334, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Unwanted Identities: A Key Variable in Shame–Anger Links and Gender Differences in Shame

The present study examined the role that unwanted identities play in accounting for extant findings concerning gender differences in shame-proneness. The construct of unwanted identities was also used to explain why powerful associations have been found between shame and anger. College students (48 men, 84 women) rated their feelings of shame, guilt, anger, and unwanted identities in response to the TOSCA-2 scenarios, known to yield robust gender differences in shame, and to new scenarios, meant to be more threatening to men's than women's identities. Even after accounting for shared variance between shame and guilt, evidence supported the conclusion that women's greater shame-proneness than men's could be an artifact, reflecting the more threatening nature of previous situations to women's identities. Mediational analyses also confirmed that unwanted identities elicit shame, which, in turn, is a powerful instigator of anger. Discussion focuses on inconsistencies between the present results and expectations based on previous theory and research.