A Better Look at Intelligence

The Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) model is offered as an alternative to the unidimensional conceptualization of intelligence as a general ability. The unidimensional conceptualization has not helped researchers and clinicians understand variations of cognitive functions within special populations such as individuals with learning disabilities, disorders of attention, or mental retardation. Neither has this conceptualization aided in program planning for these individuals. PASS is a model of cognitive function based on contemporary research in both cognition and neuropsychology and provides a theory for both assessment and intervention. This article reviews concepts and examples of PASS theory and its application to reading disabilities and mental retardation. For example, the article links dyslexia with a deficit in successive processing. It also identifies the major difficulties of individuals with Down syndrome in phonological memory and articulation. Further research on successive processing, and planning as it relates to language, is suggested.     

Test anxiety and comprehension efficiency: The role of prior knowledge and working memory deficits

The hypotheses that test anxiety is associated with a deficit in prior knowledge and/or working memory capacity, that anxiety impairs comprehension efficiency, and that deficits in knowledge and capacity underlie the efficiency impairment, were tested. In Study 1, high-anxiety students were characterized by lower scores in several vocabulary measures, compared with low-anxiety students. In Study 2, high-anxiety individuals showed inferior working memory capacity to low-anxiety individuals under evaluative stress conditions, but not under non-stress conditions. In Study 3 high-anxiety subjects exhibited lower efficiency scores than low-anxiety subjects in expository texts without a summary: The former employed a greater amount of reading time than the latter to acquire an equivalent amount of information. In addition, the disadvantage in efficiency associated with anxiety was removed when differences in vocabulary knowledge were partialled out statistically. Instead, that disadvantage was only reduced, but not eliminated, when differences in transitory working memory capacity were partialled out. Therefore, the prior knowledge deficit hypothesis accounts for the impairment in reading efficiency associated with high anxiety better than the transitory working memory reduction hypothesis.     

Perceptual simulation in developing language comprehension

We tested an embodied account of language proposing that comprehenders create perceptual simulations of the events they hear and read about. In Experiment 1, children (ages 7–13 years) performed a picture verification task. Each picture was preceded by a prerecorded spoken sentence describing an entity whose shape or orientation matched or mismatched the depicted object. Responses were faster for matching pictures, suggesting that participants had formed perceptual-like situation models of the sentences. The advantage for matching pictures did not increase with age. Experiment 2 extended these findings to the domain of written language. Participants (ages 7–10 years) of high and low word reading ability verified pictures after reading sentences aloud. The results suggest that even when reading is effortful, children construct a perceptual simulation of the described events. We propose that perceptual simulation plays a more central role in developing language comprehension than was previously thought.     

The Occipital Cortex in the Blind

ABSTRACT— Studying the brains of blind individuals provides a unique opportunity to investigate how the brain changes and adapts in response to afferent (input) and efferent (output) demands. We discuss evidence suggesting that regions of the brain normally associated with the processing of visual information undergo remarkable dynamic change in response to blindness. These neuroplastic changes implicate not only processing carried out by the remaining senses but also higher cognitive functions such as language and memory. A strong emphasis is placed on evidence obtained from advanced neuroimaging techniques that allow researchers to identify areas of human brain activity, as well as from lesion approaches (both reversible and irreversible) to address the functional relevance and role of these activated areas. A possible mechanism and conceptual framework for these physiological and behavioral changes is proposed.     

中小学生阅读寓言过程的眼动研究

研究用眼动记录仪对小五、初二和高二年级各20名视力正常学生阅读难、易两种寓言材料的眼动过程进行了记录。结果发现：1．无论是对同一难度寓言阅读理解成绩的差异还是眼动模式的差异,在小五与初二之间显著,在初二与高二之间不显著,这说明对寓言真正理解的年龄在初中,高中只是进一步完善阶段;2材料难度对不同年级学生的眼动模式有一定影响．分别影响小学生的眼跳距离、初中生的注视次数和高中生的注视点持续时间。     

说明文形式图式阅读策略训练提高初中生阅读水平的实验研究

本研究以两所中学的136名初二学生为实验被试．采取平衡组实验设计,编制专门的(实验教程)．以专门训练与日常教学渗透相结合和专门集中训练两种方式进行说明文形式图式阅读策略训练。实验结果表明：1。说明文形式图式阅读策略训练可提高学生的阅读理解水平;2。策略训练对优生、中等生的帮助更大;3。在迁移效果上,阅读策略的专门训练与教学渗透相结合的训练明显优于专门的集中训练。4。在本实验的延迟测验条件下．对策略的运用,激活组显着优于未激活组。     

汉语阅读中词N+2的预视对高频词N+1加工影响的眼动研究

本研究采用边界范式,控制单字词N+1的预视加工负荷和词N+2首字的预视信息类型,探讨了汉语阅读中词N+2的预视对高频单字词N+1加工产生的影响。结果发现,当词N+1的预视为低加工负荷时,词N+2首字的预视对词N+1的加工产生了显著的影响;当词N+2首字的预视字与词N+1正字法相似,并且只呈现在副中央凹中时,显著的阻碍了词N+1随后的加工。结果表明,副中央凹中词N+2能够获得预视加工,可能获得正字法预视信息并对随后词N+1的加工产生了影响,并且这种影响受词N+1的预视加工负荷的调节。实验结果符合注意梯度指引模型的假设。     

PHONOLOGY IN THE LEXICAL PROCESSING OF CHINESE: PRIMING TONE NEIGHBOURS

ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＴｈｅｒｅａｒｅａｔｌｅａｓｔｔｈｒｅｅｃｒｕｃｉａｌｉｓｓｕｅｓｃｏｎｃｅｒｎｉｎｇｔｈｅｒｏｌｅｏｆｐｈｏｎｏｌｏｇｙｉｎｖｉｓｕａｌｗｏｒｄｒｅｃｏｇｎｉｔｉｏｎ(ｅ.ｇ .,Ｓｅｉｄｅｎｂｅｒｇ＆ＭｃＣｌｅｌｌａｎｄ ,1 989;Ｔａｆｔ＆Ｇｒａａｎ ,1 998;Ｚｈｏｕ ,Ｓｈｕ ,Ｂｉ,＆Ｓｈｉ,1 999) :ａ)ｗｈｅｔｈｅｒｐｈｏｎｏ ｌｏｇｉｃａｌｉｎｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎｉｓａｕｔｏｍａｔｉｃａｌｌｙａｃｔｉｖａｔｅｄｉｎｉｎｉｔｉａｌｌｅｘｉｃａｌｐｒｏｃｅｓｓｉｎｇ;ｂ)ｔｏｗｈａｔ…     

结构因素对阅读保持影响的研究

本研究探讨文章阅读过程中结构因素对文章信息保持的影响作用。包括两个实验。实验 1探讨阅读文章结构是否清晰及主体对文章结构是否有清晰的把握对文章信息保持的影响效果。结果表明 ,阅读的文章结构越清晰 ,主体对文章结构把握能力越强 ,越能促进文章的信息保持。实验 2进一步探讨文章的结构清晰及主体对文章结构的清晰把握促进的是何种信息的保持。结果证明 ,结构清晰与否促进的是文章的主要信息的保持 ,而对文章的细节性信息促进作用不大。本研究结果表明 ,文章的结构因素对阅读保持有促进作用 ,主要是促进文章的主要信息的保持。     

Sur l'omniprésence du mensonge dans le discours

Three levels are proposed to explain lying as a process in discourse production, to characterize different types of lies and to distinguish them from mistakes, ignorance and forgetting as well fr from ill-timed or irrelevant utterances.