Internal number magnitude representation is not holistic,either

Over the last years, evidence has accumulated that the magnitude of two-digit numbers is not only represented as one holistic entity, but also decomposed for tens and units. Recently, Zhang and Wang (2005) suggested such separate processing may be due to the presence of external representations of numbers, whereas holistic processing became more likely when one of the to-be-compared numbers was already internalised. The latter conclusion essentially rested on unit-based null effects. However, Nuerk and Willmes (2005) argued that unfavourable stimulus selection may provoke such null effects and misleading conclusions. Therefore, we tested the conclusion of Zhang and Wang for internal standards with a modified stimulus set. We observed reliable unit-based effects in all conditions contradicting the holistic model. Thus, decomposed representations of tens and units can also be demonstrated for internal standards. We conclude that decomposed magnitude processing of multidigit numbers does not rely on external representations. Rather, even when two-digit numbers are internalised, the magnitudes of tens and units seem to be (also) represented separately.     

Effects of the degree of meaning similarity on cross-language semantic priming in highly proficient bilinguals

This study aimed to determine if access to meaning can be directly achieved from the words in the two languages, examining the influence of the degree of semantic overlap between related words across languages in the pattern of priming effects. Nonassociative semantically related words (members of the same category) were used, avoiding explicitly associative relationships. Using a priming paradigm, highly proficient Catalan–Spanish bilinguals were visually presented with pairs of words that either were translations of each other, had a very close semantic relationship (in terms of shared features), a close semantic relationship, or no semantic relationship at all. Participants performed either a lexical decision task (Experiment 1) or a semantic decision task (Experiment 2). The main results of the study were the same in both language directions (Spanish–Catalan and Catalan–Spanish), showing that the degree of semantic overlap (in terms of shared features) between words in different languages can modulate priming effects, regardless of the language of the prime and the task used. These results demonstrate that there is cross-language activation of shared semantic representations and, thus, that highly proficient bilinguals can have direct access to word meaning from the two languages.     

Are bilingual advantages dependent upon specific tasks or specific bilingual experiences?

Paap and Greenberg concluded that there is no coherent evidence for bilingual advantages in executive processing. More optimistic researchers believe that the advantages may be restricted to certain types of bilinguals. Recent large-scale and lifespan investigations that tested highly fluent bilinguals from communities where the same two languages are spoken by most residents reported no bilingual advantages in any age group or in any of the tasks used to measure executive functioning. The present study takes a complementary approach by examining a sample that is quite homogeneous in terms of current life experiences, but heterogeneous in terms of its exposure to second languages. The composite database of 168 bilinguals and 216 monolinguals is used to explore for differences based on: (1) the age of acquiring a second language (L2), (2) the relative proficiency of an L2 and (3) the number of languages used. Across 12 different measures of executive function, derived from 4 different nonverbal tasks, there was no consistent evidence supporting the hypotheses that either early bilingualism, highly fluent balanced bilingualism, or trilingualism enhances inhibitory control, monitoring or switching. In fact, when statistically significant effects did occur, they more often disconfirmed than confirmed these hypotheses.     

Culturally Competent Assessment: More Than Nonbiased Tests

The persistent and unresolved issue of minority disproportionality in special education provides a strong rationale for ensuring that assessment is culturally appropriate and sensitive. An extensive literature on test bias has failed to find evidence of bias sufficient to fully explain disproportional representation of minorities in special education. Yet minorities in this nation, most especially African Americans, have been exposed to a long history of unequal opportunity and oppression, and these inequities continue to be played out in educational settings. In the face of inadequate cultural and educational opportunity, unbiased tests provide an accurate estimate not only of individual capability, but also of the inhospitable conditions that depress that capability. A failure to take differential educational opportunity into account when considering minority test performance may lead to serious errors of test score interpretation. In the face of unequal educational opportunity, culturally competent assessment thus means more than manipulating the content of tests. Rather, it represents a comprehensive process that uses the results of assessment to identify and remedy educational conditions that systematically disadvantage students of color.     

Probability, logic and the cognitive foundations of rational belief

Since Pascal introduced the idea of mathematical probability in the 17th century discussions of uncertainty and “rational” belief have been dogged by philosophical and technical disputes. Furthermore, the last quarter century has seen an explosion of new questions and ideas, stimulated by developments in the computer and cognitive sciences. Competing ideas about probability are often driven by different intuitions about the nature of belief that arise from the needs of different domains (e.g., economics, management theory, engineering, medicine, the life sciences etc). Taking medicine as our focus we develop three lines of argument (historical, practical and cognitive) that suggest that traditional views of probability cannot accommodate all the competing demands and diverse constraints that arise in complex real-world domains. A model of uncertain reasoning based on a form of logical argumentation appears to unify many diverse ideas. The model has precursors in informal discussions of argumentation due to Toulmin, and the notion of logical probability advocated by Keynes, but recent developments in artificial intelligence and cognitive science suggest ways of resolving epistemological and technical issues that they could not address.     

词汇表征和加工理论及其认知神经心理学证据

认知神经心理学为探讨语言心理表征和加工理论提供了新途径 ,使得人们对心理词典结构的认识不断深入细化。研究表明词汇不同性质的信息在表征上相互独立 ,词典系统至少包括语义系统、语音输入词典与语音输出词典、字形输入词典与字形输出词典等模块。本文着重介绍了这一词典系统及其认知神经心理学证据     

阅读理解的风景模型:整合的观点

阅读理解是构建篇章有效而连贯的心理表征的过程,研究者提出了许多模型,分别去解释阅读结果的心理表征和阅读的加工过程.风景模型则同时考虑了阅读的加工过程与心理表征,并描述了二者之间的动态、交互作用,整合了以往的理论模型.大量实验证据验证了风景模型的心理真实性,并发现它可以应用到各种阅读情景中.     

On the Meaning of Words and Dinosaur Bones: Lexical Knowledge Without a Lexicon

Although for many years a sharp distinction has been made in language research between rules and words—with primary interest on rules—this distinction is now blurred in many theories. If anything, the focus of attention has shifted in recent years in favor of words. Results from many different areas of language research suggest that the lexicon is representationally rich, that it is the source of much productive behavior, and that lexically specific information plays a critical and early role in the interpretation of grammatical structure. But how much information can or should be placed in the lexicon? This is the question I address here. I review a set of studies whose results indicate that event knowledge plays a significant role in early stages of sentence processing and structural analysis. This poses a conundrum for traditional views of the lexicon. Either the lexicon must be expanded to include factors that do not plausibly seem to belong there; or else virtually all information about word meaning is removed, leaving the lexicon impoverished. I suggest a third alternative, which provides a way to account for lexical knowledge without a mental lexicon.     

Creativity and Aging: Personal Journals and the Creation of Self

This article considers the writing of personal journals as a process through which an individual constructs a linguistic representation of one's self, with the self constituting a narrative. Rather than a fixed narrative, one's life exists as a narrative subject to revision and reinterpretation. Through journal writing, then, one constructs and reconstructs his or her identity. Berman finds the value in personal journals not only in the themes that surface but also in the creative process they reveal. In this article, he examines passages from five journalists that demonstrate this process of creating and revising meaning in one's life.