The Wind Chilled the Spectators, but the Wine Just Chilled: Sense, Structure, and Sentence Comprehension

Anticipation plays a role in language comprehension. In this article, we explore the extent to which verb sense influences expectations about upcoming structure. We focus on change of state verbs like shatter , which have different senses that are expressed in either transitive or intransitive structures, depending on the sense that is used. In two experiments we influence the interpretation of verb sense by manipulating the thematic fit of the grammatical subject as cause or affected entity for the verb, and test whether readers' expectations for a transitive or intransitive structure change as a result. This sense-biasing context influenced reading times in the postverbal regions. Reading times for transitive sentences were faster following good-cause than good-theme subjects, but the opposite pattern was found for intransitive sentences. We conclude that readers use sense-contingent subcategorization preferences during on-line comprehension.     

The associations between space and order in numerical and non-numerical sequences

Spatial-numerical associations have been found across different studies, yet the basis for these associations remains debated. The current study employed an order judgment task to adjudicate between two competing accounts of such associations, namely the Mental Number Line (MNL) and Working Memory (WM) models. On this task, participants judged whether number pairs were in ascending or descending order. Whereas the MNL model predicts that ascending and descending orders should map onto opposite sides of space, the WM model predicts no such mapping. Moreover, we compared the spatial-order mapping for numerical and non-numerical sequences because the WM model predicts no difference in mapping. Across two experiments, we found consistent spatial mappings for numerical order along both horizontal and vertical axes, consistent with a MNL model. In contrast, we found no consistent mappings for letter sequences. These findings are discussed in the context of conflicting extant data related to these two models.     

熟悉性能够支持联结记忆:一体化编码的作用

双加工理论认为熟悉性和回想是支持情景记忆的两种基本加工过程。一般认为熟悉性和回想都可以支持项目记忆,但只有回想能够支持联结记忆。然而,一体化假说提出,当刺激材料在学习阶段得到一体化编码,形成一个单一、整合的表征时,熟悉性也能够支持联结记忆。以往研究主要利用实验材料的固有特征,或使用定义法、交互表象法来实现对刺激材料的一体化编码,然后通过配对联结再认范式或来源记忆范式验证一体化假说。神经成像研究发现,位于内侧颞叶的嗅周皮层能够支持编码阶段一体化表征的形成和基于熟悉性对一体化表征的提取。未来研究应克服以往研究中存在的方法学缺陷、从功能神经网络的角度考察一体化加工的脑神经机制、并注重一体化编码策略在特殊人群中的应用价值。     

Examining the effects of frustration on working memory capacity

The present study attempts to expand our understanding of frustration, clinical symptoms, and working memory by examining the unique contribution of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and frustration to working memory capacity (WMC). A factor-analytic framework was utilized to isolate and examine WMC based on results from three working memory tasks that were administered in counterbalanced order to control for individual differences in baseline WMC. All participants provided subjective ratings of frustration both prior to and after administration of a frustration induction. Results suggest that although we were able to systematically induce subjective frustration for participants in the experimental group relative to the control group, WMC was not associated with induced frustration in the present study. Results also indicated that inattention symptoms predicted baseline frustration levels. This work highlights the need to examine the extent to which storage/rehearsal WMC and additional process-oriented working memory-related performance variables are related to frustration. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.     

MEMORY ALTERING TECHNOLOGIES AND THE CAPACITY TO FORGIVE: WESTWORLD AND VOLF IN DIALOGUE

I explore the impact of memory altering technologies in the science fiction drama (2016–2020) in order to show that unreconciled altered traumatic memory may lead to a dystopian breakdown of society. I bring Miroslav Volf's theological perspectives on memory into conversation with the plot of Westworld in order to reveal connections between memory altering technologies and humanity's responsibility to remember rightly. Using Volf's theology of remembering as an interpretive lens, I analyze characters’ inability to remember rightly while recalling partial memories of their trauma. In virtue of this examination, I contend that memory altering technologies may inhibit individuals from relational processes of healing, such as forgiveness. Consequently, I argue that this study leads to a richer understanding of the potential that memory altering technologies have for undermining humanity's ability to interact in a relational capacity, specifically in terms of forgiveness.     

The role of childhood and adulthood trauma and appraisal of self-discrepancy in overgeneral memory retrieval

The aim of this study was to examine the contributory role of childhood and adulthood trauma events and the appraisal of self-discrepancy (the magnitude and distress) in overgeneral memory retrieval (OGM) using a non-clinical sample. Participants with a history of childhood trauma (n=29); adulthood trauma only (n=17) or no-trauma (n=26) participated in this study. The childhood trauma group showed a significantly higher level of general negative memory retrieval than the no-trauma group. Conversely, the adulthood trauma group showed a significantly higher level of general threat memory retrieval than the no-trauma group. The perceived similarity and distress relating to the perceived similarity between participants' “actual self” and “feared self” significantly predicted the level of OGM, even after controlling for the impact of a history of adult or child trauma.     

Ontogeny of early event memory: I. Forgetting and retrieval by 2- and 3-month-olds

In 2 experiments, 2-month-olds, trained in the mobile conjugate reinforcement paradigm for two daily sessions, showed retrieval deficits relative to 3-month-olds. In Experiment 1, tests of simple forgetting administered to 2-month-olds after retention intervals of 1, 3, 6, and 9 days (a period over which 3-month-olds remember the contingency) indicated that their forgetting was complete after delays greater than 1 day. In Experiment 2, reactivation treatments administered to 2- and 3-month-olds alleviated forgetting after a retention interval of 28, but not 35, days in the 3-month-old group only. Previously, alleviated forgetting by a reactivation treatment had been demonstrated in 2-month-olds after a delay of 18 days. In both of the present experiments, performance of the two age groups did not differ during the immediate retention test at the end of training. These results suggest that neither the age of the infant nor the age of the memory determines memory retrieval after long delays; instead, it appears to be determined by the length of time that a memory has been inaccessible (i.e., forgotten). We propose that factors which delay simple forgetting will correspondingly increase the length of the interval over which a retrieval cue can still be effective in a reactivation paradigm, irrespective of the age of the infant or the age of the memory.     

樟柳碱所致学习和记忆障碍动物模型的探讨

本实验采用水迷津法、步下法和步入法,用樟柳碱制备学习和记忆障碍的动物模型。结果表明,樟柳碱(10毫克/公斤)可使小鼠引起学习障碍,其表现为通过水迷津全程的时间延长,而且小鼠进入盲路的错误次数明显增多。樟柳碱(10毫克/公斤)可使小鼠引起记忆障碍,在樟柳碱的影响下,小鼠步下平台或步入暗箱的潜伏期明显缩短,并使它们的错误次数增多。本实验结果进一步表明,测定小鼠的记忆障碍,步入法似乎比步下法更为敏感。     

MAKING SENSE OF SOUL AND SABBATH BRAIN PROCESSES AND MAKING OF MEANING

Abstract. Making sense of soul and Sabbath necessitates understanding these phenomena experientially and then suggesting "biochemical" or empirical analogues. Soul, which is defined as the core or essence of a person (or group), includes a working memory of personally purposeful behavior. The states of the soul are reflected in the states of the mind and their physiological correlates-the states of the brain. Such uniqueness appears similar to the biblical cycle of creation-Sabbath-consciousness and its analogue in the biorhythm of brain-mind-that is, waking and work, sleeping and rest, dreaming (rapid eye movement [REM]) and the reorganization-integration process that is ever making sense of our senses by synthesizing what they mean to us. Working memory and biorhythm, therefore, are crucial for the making of meaning, and meaning is the making of soul.     

Acting or listening: Adult age differences in source recall of enacted and nonenacted statements

This study explored age-related differences in item and source recall of enacted and nonenacted items in a sample of healthy adults between the ages of 35 and 80 years (N=1,000). Participants were screened on a variety of demographic, psychometric, and biological variables. They were presented with sentences (e.g., Lift the book) that they either read or enacted. They were then asked to recall the object of each stimulus sentence (item recall) and to identify its format of encoding (source recall). Age-related decrements were observed both in item and source memory, although age differences in source memory were more accentuated than in item memory. Further, the results indicated an overall impairment of source memory across age when individual differences in the demographic, psychometric, and biological variables were taken into consideration.