Anticipatory coarticulation in a patient with apraxia of speech

Articulatory anticipation of vowel gestures was assessed in an apraxic patient, a dysarthric patient, and three normal speakers. The technique of assessment included perceptual identification of gated speech stimuli. The speech material consisted of /getVte/ utterances with the target vowels /i/, /y/, and /u/. In the case of the apraxic patient the gated vowels were identified at a later instant relative to the preceding plosion burst than in the normal speakers. This result was interpreted as reflecting a delayed onset of coarticulatory gestures, in particular lip rounding. The identification rates for the dysarthric's vowels rather reflected the general reduction of this patient's vowel space.     

Simulating individual word identification thresholds and errors in the fragmentation task

This article presents a large-scale study that collected word identification thresholds and errors in the fragmentation task for all four-letter French words. In the first part of this article, we identify some of the variables (e.g., word frequency, neighborhood size, letter confusability) that affect performance in the fragmentation task. In the second part, we analyze individual response performance and identify different response strategies. We demonstrate that the interactive activation model can account for individual response strategies by adapting two of its original parameters: word-letter feedback and letter-word inhibition. In the third part, we demonstrate that the adaptation of the interactive activation model to the fragmentation task makes it possible to successfully simulate a facilitatory frequency effect on identification thresholds, an inhibitory neighborhood size effect on error rates, and an inhibitory letter confusability effect on identification thresholds. When the task-specific processes of the fragmentation task are specified and individual response strategies are considered, the interactive activation model provides a parsimonious architecture for modeling the task-independent processes involved in word perception.     

Expertise and hierarchical knowledge representation in chess

Summary In two experiments the structure of knowledge representation in chess experts and average players was examined. Pattern-recognition theory explains expertise through the existence of many small, unrelated knowledge units. Recent research stresses the structure of knowledge representations. However, the standard paradigm does not allow for the detection of relations between chunks; the theoretical shift has to be accompanied by a methodological shift. In Experiment 1, by means of a partitioning task, evidence was provided for a hierarchical representation of chess positions. Chess masters formed larger and more complex knowledge units than average players. In Experiment 2, the typicality of the positions was varied. The more typical the positions were, the larger and more coherent the constructed knowledge units were. The greatest differences between both groups occurred in more typical positions. This reflects the experts' ability to relate several knowledge units with one another.     

The Construct Of Personality In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (Rebt) Theory

In this article it is argued that, if Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is to survive and prosper in the next century, it will require a more comprehensive and detailed theory of personality at its base. Ideally, REBT personality theory preferably should avoid certain basic shortcomings of other personality theories. Toward these ends, an explicit definition of the term personality is proposed for REBT theory emphasizing psychological individuality, cognition, emotion, and behavior, and their interrelationships. The central concepts in the proposed definition are then explored along with related broad-based hypotheses generally amenable to empirical test. Finally, some implications of the proposed definition of personality for treatment are then discussed.     

The role of orthography in speech production revisited

The language production system of literate adults comprises an orthographic system (used during written language production) and a phonological system (used during spoken language production). Recent psycholinguistic research has investigated possible influences of the orthographic system on the phonological system. This research has produced contrastive results, with some studies showing effects of orthography in the course of normal speech production while others failing to show such effects. In this article, we review the available evidence and consider possible explanations for the discrepancy. We then report two form-preparation experiments which aimed at testing for the effects of orthography in spoken word-production. Our results provide clear evidence that the orthographic properties of the words do not influence their spoken production in picture naming. We discuss this finding in relation to psycholinguistic and neuropsychological investigations of the relationship between written and spoken word-production.     

Pseudohomophone effects in lexical decision: still a challenge for current word recognition models.

Computational models that implement a serial mechanism of phonological assembly predict interactions between the size of the pseudohomophone (PsH) effect and stimulus length. Models with frequency-sensitive word representations predict baseword frequency effects. These predictions were tested in a lexical-decision task. The results showed constant PsH effects across different word lengths (in favor of parallel phonological activation) and baseword frequency effects (in favor of frequency-sensitive representations). However, the baseword frequency effect was opposite of what the models predicted. This result is most easily accommodated by models that assume an orthographic verification mechanism. The plausibility of such a mechanism was further supported by the results of 2 additional experiments investigating the effects of response speed and spelling probability (feedback consistency) on the size of the PsH effect.     

The effects of spelling consistency on phonological awareness: a comparison of English and German

Within alphabetic languages, spelling-to-sound consistency can differ dramatically. For example, English and German are very similar in their phonological and orthographic structure but not in their consistency. In English the letter a is pronounced differently in the words bank, ball, and park, whereas in German the letter a always has the same pronunciation (e.g., Ball, Park, Bank). It is often argued that reading acquisition has a reciprocal effect on phonological awareness. As reading is acquired, therefore, spoken language representation may be affected differently for English and German children. Prior to literacy acquisition, however, phonological representation in English and German children should be similar due to the similar phonological structure of the two languages. We explored this hypothesis by comparing phonological awareness at the rime and phoneme levels in prereaders and beginning readers in English and German. Similar developmental effects were indeed observed in prereaders, but differential effects had emerged within the first year of reading instruction.     

Can orthographic rimes facilitate naming?

Although the orthographic rime (body) is thought to play an important role in reading English, previous priming experiments found little or no evidence for facilitatory body-priming effects in the naming task. That is, hose primes NOSE no better than does a completely unrelated prime. In the present study, the hypothesis that facilitatory body-priming effects are typically masked by strong inhibitory onset effects was investigated. It was shown that when the onset of a prime was removed, facilitatory body priming could be obtained with stimuli that previously had produced no evidence of facilitation. The present study thus reconciles conflicting patterns concerning facilitation versus inhibition in body priming.     

The Concept of Psychological Health in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

The argument has been made that if Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is to survive and prosper in the 21st century, its underlying personality theory requires further development and clarification. In this spirit, the concept of psychological health in REBT theory is examined in the present article. The concept of psychological health in personality theories is discussed briefly, as are the core aspects of the REBT view of emotional disturbance. Given that necessary context, a definition of the essence of psychological health in REBT theory is proposed and discussed. The clinical implications of the proposed definition are then explored.