The role of working memory in syntactic ambiguity resolution: a psychometric approach

In 2 studies, the authors used a combination of psychometric and experimental techniques to investigate the effects of domain-general and domain-specific working memory factors on offline decisions concerning attachment of an ambiguous relative clause. Both studies used English and Dutch stimuli presented to English- and Dutch-speaking participants, respectively. In Study 1, readers with low working memory spans were less likely to use recency strategies for disambiguation than were readers with high spans. This finding is inconsistent with predictions of locality- and resource-based accounts of attachment. Psychometric analyses showed that both domain-specific (verbal) and domain-general working memory accounted for the effect. Study 2 found support for the hypothesis that segmentation strategies imposed during silent reading can account for the counterintuitive relationship. Results suggest that readers with low spans have a greater tendency to break up large segments of text because of their limited working memory, leading to high attachment of the ambiguous relative clause.     

Modeling individual differences in working memory performance: a source activation account

Working memory resources are needed for processing and maintenance of information during cognitive tasks. Many models have been developed to capture the effects of limited working memory resources on performance. However, most of these models do not account for the finding that different individuals show different sensitivities to working memory demands, and none of the models predicts individual subjects' patterns of performance. We propose a computational model that accounts for differences in working memory capacity in terms of a quantity called source activation , which is used to maintain goal-relevant information in an available state. We apply this model to capture the working memory effects of individual subjects at a fine level of detail across two experiments. This, we argue, strengthens the interpretation of source activation as working memory capacity.     

Deep dyslexia in the two languages of an Arabic/French bilingual patient.

We present a single case study of an Arabic/French bilingual patient, ZT, who, at the age of 32, suffered a cerebral vascular accident that resulted in a massive infarct in the left peri-sylvian region. ZT's reading displays the characteristics of the deep dyslexia syndrome in both languages, that is, production of semantic, visual, and morphological errors, and concreteness effect in reading aloud and impossibility of reading nonwords. In the first part of this paper, using a three-route model of reading, we account for the patient's performance by positing functional lesions, which affect the non-lexical, the semantic lexical and the non-semantic lexical routes of reading. Phonological priming observed in a cross-language visual lexical decision task indicates that implicit assembled phonological recoding is possible. The above lesions and implicit nonword reading characterize the output form of deep dyslexia. However, error distribution reveals dissociations across languages (e.g. the semantic error rate is higher in French whereas translations are more frequent in the Arabic testing) that cannot be accounted for within a three-route model. In the second part, extensions to Plaut and Shallice's connectionist model (Cognitive Neuropsychology, 10 (5) (1993) 377) are proposed to account for the translinguistic errors observed. ZT's error distribution is compared to that obtained by Plaut and Shallice after lesions had been applied at different locations through the 40-60 network. The overall syndrome of deep dyslexia found in both languages is explained as resulting from lesions along the direct (O-->I) and output (S-->Ip, Ip-->P) pathways of reading. Lesions along the output pathway mostly affecting S-->Ip connections in French and Ip-->P connections in Arabic account for discrepancies in ZT's error pattern across tasks and languages. This case study demonstrates the superiority of a connectionist approach for predicting the error pattern in deep dyslexia.     

Tolerant (In)civility? A Longitudinal Analysis of White Conservative Protestants’ Willingness to Grant Civil Liberties

Past research has found conservative Protestants to be less willing than most Americans to grant civil liberties to unpopular groups. In light of evidence of high and growing civility by Smith (2000) and Hunter (1984), there is good reason to believe that conservative Protestants are becoming less distinctive with regard to granting civil freedoms. We update and expand previous research on conservative Protestants and civil liberties by examining the civil liberties measures in the General Social Survey over a 26-year period, with special attention to explaining conservative Protestantism's rejection of civil liberties. In comparison to mainline Protestants and Catholics, we find that conservative Protestants are still less willing to grant civil liberties to unpopular groups, though important qualifications apply. Various explanations are examined.     

Response to Slavin: Considering the Evolutionary and Existential Contexts of Dialectical Constructivism

Within his evolutionary framework, Slavin elaborates eloquently on the dialectic of construction of meaning and anticipation of death. Also within that framework he highlights the emergence of the universal dialectic of self-interest and care for others, perhaps finding its most poignant expression in the relation of parents and children. I raise questions about Slavin's attribution of a “sense of loss” to humans who allegedly long for the experience of evolutionarily earlier species, particularly their sense of automatic connectedness and automatic ways of relating to the world free of the burdens of uncertain, self-conscious choice. A longing for earlier states in human development is easier to grasp than a longing for the experience of less advanced species from which humans evolved. Nevertheless, Slavin's views and my own are otherwise deeply compatible, particularly his sense of what emerges as the uniquely human challenge of intersubjective construction of meaning in the context of individual self-interest and in the face of death. Slavin is also emphatic that the pervasiveness of absolute belief systems that preempt awareness of ambiguity, the anxiety of freedom, and the dread of death, does not gainsay their defensive nature. I argue, in accord with Altman, Butler, and others, that denial of death may promote dissipation of communal sensibility and replacement of it in a capitalist world (and perhaps others as well) with destructive splitting and fetishistic, competitive pursuit of money and power.     

Personal and Environmental Factors Predict Participation of Children With and Without Mild Developmental Disabilities

Enhancing participation in age-related activities is a key goal in the education and rehabilitation of children with diverse disabilities. The aim of this study was to explore a multidimensional and ecological model of participation for young children. Seventy eight children with mild developmental disabilities (MDD, such as motor and visual-motor difficulties), and 110 children without disabilities, between the ages 4 and 6 years old, participated in the study together with their parents. Data were collected using standardized assessments for child capacities and newly developed questionnaires for child participation and for human and physical environmental factors. Associations were found between personal and environmental factors and the participation dimensions amongst young children, thus supporting the validity of the proposed model of participation. Moreover, the study results outline different pathways for the participation of children with and without MDD. Child factors (e.g. process skills) were found to be crucial predictors of participation particularly for children with MDD, whereas human environmental factor (e.g. maternal self-efficacy beliefs) was associated with higher participation scores especially for children without disabilities. These findings may facilitate the development of effective intervention programs which focus on environmental factors as well as on child factors.     

Artistic style and personality in creative painters

The present study attempted to demonstrate a correspondence between artistic style and the personality of the creator. Personality style, defined as a cognitive-affective system of defenses and controls, was identified for 20 renowned painters through an analysis of their individual Rorschach protocols. Their creative work was classified independently by a jury of 4 persons (one art critic; two eminent painters and the junior author) into stylistic categories similar to those elaborated by the senior author for the Rorschach. The overall correspondence achieved was statistically significant (.72, p < .01), with individual correlations ranging from .75 to .86 (p < .01).     

Recent Rorschach Literature Rorschach Bibliography No. IV

Abstract

This is a supplement to the Rorschach bibliographies published by Dr. P. E. Vernon; the last of these was published in the January 1937 issue of the Rorachach Research Exchange. All available articles which are not contained in Dr. Vernon's bibliography are included. Those articles which have appeared in the Rorschach Research Exchange but which have not appeared elsewhere are omitted.     

Attention and Memory in Children with Brain Tumors

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test was utilized to examine attention, learning, and memory abilities in 42 children with cerebellar (N?=?18) and third ventricle tumors (N?=?24). Children with cerebellar tumors exhibited significant auditory attentional impairments and displayed adequate encoding and retrieval across subsequent learning and memory trials. In contrast, children with third ventricle tumors exhibited average auditory attentional abilities, but they displayed mild encoding deficits across trials 2–5. Furthermore, the third ventricle group's compromised performance on the delayed recall trial and average performance on the delayed recognition trial is suggestive of underlying retrieval deficits.