Gricean Expectations in Online Sentence Comprehension: An ERP Study on the Processing of Scalar Inferences

There is substantial support for the general idea that a formalization of comprehenders' expectations about the likely next word in a sentence helps explaining data related to online sentence processing. While much research has focused on syntactic, semantic, and discourse expectations, the present event‐related potentials (ERPs) study investigates neurolinguistic correlates of pragmatic expectations, which arise when comprehenders expect a sentence to conform to Gricean Maxims of Conversation. For predicting brain responses associated with pragmatic processing, we introduce a formal model of such Gricean pragmatic expectations, using an idealized incremental interpreter. We examine whether pragmatic expectancies derived from this model modulate the amplitude of the N400, a component that has been associated with predictive processing. As part of its parameterization, the model distinguishes genuine pragmatic interpreters, who expect maximally informative true utterances, from literal interpreters, who only expect truthfulness. We explore the model's non‐trivial predictions for an experimental setup which uses picture‐sentence verification with ERPs recorded at several critical positions in sentences containing the scalar implicature trigger some. We find that Gricean expectations indeed affect the N400, largely in line with the predictions of our model, but also discuss discrepancies between model predictions and observations critically.     

Language Abilities in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Reading Disabilities, and Normal Controls

Research has demonstrated a high prevalence of language impairments (LI) and reading disabilities (RD) in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Since RD is also associated with LI, it is unclear whether the language impairments are specific to ADHD or associated with comorbid RD. The language abilities of ADHD children with and without RD were investigated in a task requiring recall of a lengthy narrative, and in tests assessing knowledge of the semantic aspects of language. The study was conducted with 50 boys—14 ADHD, 14 ADHD + RD, 8 RD, and 14 normal controls, aged 7 to 11. Children with ADHD (ADHD-only, ADHD + RD) exhibited difficulties in organizing and monitoring their story retelling. Children with RD (RD-only, ADHD + RD) demonstrated deficits in receptive and expressive semantic language abilities on the language processing tests. The comorbid group (ADHD + RD) exhibited the deficits of both ADHD and RD children. The deficiencies of ADHD children are consistent with higher-order executive function deficits while the deficits of RD children are consistent with deficits in the basic semantics of language processing.     

语言能力的老化机制：语言特异性与非特异性因素的共同作用

语言能力的衰退是由于一般认知能力衰退引起的,还是由于语言加工系统的衰退引起的,抑或是两者的共同作用?研究中测量了青年组和老年组的一般认知能力(加工速度、工作记忆和抑制能力),以及在词汇、句子和语篇三个水平上的语言理解能力和语言产生能力。结果发现,一般认知能力、语言理解和语言产生能力都存在年老化现象。分层回归分析表明,一般认知能力对语言能力的贡献,以及语言理解能力和产生能力之间的相互贡献在青年组和老年组中是不同的,且存在词汇、句子和语篇水平上的差异。在词汇水平上,青年人的成绩能够被一般认知能力和另一种语言能力所显著预测,而老年人的成绩却不受一般认知因素影响;在句子水平上,青年人的成绩仍能被一般认知能力或另一种语言能力所解释,但这两类变量都无法预测老年人的任务成绩;在语篇水平上,青年人理解任务的成绩显著地受到产生能力影响,而老年人的理解和产生任务成绩则分别可以被一般认知能力和语言理解能力所解释。对组间差异的回归分析表明,一般认知能力和另一种语言能力对组间差异都有显著贡献,且前者的贡献大于后者。上述研究结果表明,语言能力的老化是语言特异性因素和非特异性因素共同作用的结果。     

图式教学对阅读理解能力、推理能力与自我效能感的影响

本研究采用自然实验法对吉林省松原市逸夫实验小学160名四、五年级的学生进行了对比实验研究,探讨图式教学对阅读理解能力、推理能力和自我效能感的影响。结果表明:(1)四、五年级实验班学生的阅读理解能力普遍提高,五年级明显。(2)仅五年级实验班学生的推理能力有了显著提高,相对而言,图式教学对五年级学生推理能力的影响要优于四年级。(3)四、五年级实验班学生的自我效能感均明显增强。这说明图式教学比常规教学更能有效地提高学生的阅读理解能力和自我效能感。     

Knowing how to look predicts the ability to draw realistically

Some young children are able to create stunningly realistic drawings resembling those of adult artists. What perceptual abilities underlie this talent? This study examined two candidate skills on which adult artists excel: the ability to segment a complex form mentally (measured by the Block Design Task) and the ability to see hidden forms (measured by the Group Embedded Figures Test). Sixty‐seven 6‐ to 13‐year‐olds with a wide range of drawing abilities completed these tasks as well as an IQ test and an observational drawing task. While children who scored high on drawing realism outperformed those who scored low in drawing realism on both perceptual tasks, only detection of embedded figures predicted drawing realism. This occurred independently of age, gender, years of training, and verbal and non‐verbal IQ. There are certainly many contributors to this complex ability, but one component appears to be the tendency to see things more as they really are and thereby recognize the continuous contour of an object despite interference from other overlapping objects.     

Accounting for the phenomenology and varieties of auditory verbal hallucination within a predictive processing framework

Two challenges that face popular self-monitoring theories (SMTs) of auditory verbal hallucination (AVH) are that they cannot account for the auditory phenomenology of AVHs and that they cannot account for their variety. In this paper I show that both challenges can be met by adopting a predictive processing framework (PPF), and by viewing AVHs as arising from abnormalities in predictive processing. I show how, within the PPF, both the auditory phenomenology of AVHs, and three subtypes of AVH, can be accounted for.     

An experiment on measuring awareness of stuttering in individuals with Down syndrome

BackgroundAwareness of stuttering is likely to depend upon the development of the metalinguistic skill to discriminate between fluent speech and stuttering and the ability to identify one’s own speech as fluent or stuttered. Presently, little is known about these abilities in individuals with Down syndrome (DS).PurposeThis study investigates whether individuals with DS and typically developing (TD) children who stutter and who do not stutter differ in their ability to discriminate between fluent speech and stuttering. The second purpose of this study is to discover if this ability is correlated with their self-identification ability.MethodAn experiment to investigate awareness with tasks for discrimination of stuttering and self-identification was developed. It was administered to 28 individuals (7–19 years) with DS, 17 of them stutter and 11 do not, and 20 TD children (3–10 years), 8 of them stutter and 12 do not. Skills to discriminate stuttering were compared between these groups and correlated with self-identification within these groups. The influence of stuttering severity and developmental/chronological age on their ability to discriminate was also investigated.ResultsThe ability to discriminate does not differ significantly between the DS and TD group, but is highly influenced by developmental age. This ability correlates with self-identification but only for the TD individuals who speak fluently.ConclusionThe ability to discriminate matures around the age of 7 and conscious awareness may rely on this ability. Differences between the present findings and earlier studies suggest that differentiation in levels and types of awareness is warranted.     

个体近似数量系统与其数学能力之间的关系：发展研究的证据

近似数量系统在个体数学能力的发展中起着重要的作用, 二者之间的关系受到年龄因素的影响。主要表现为, 随着年龄的增长, 相关程度逐渐减弱, 二者之间关系的作用机制可能由基数知识中介转变为多种中介变量的共同作用。未来可采用更严格的实验设计和多种研究方法考察各年龄段儿童近似数量系统与不同数学能力之间关系的发展趋势、因果方向、关键转折点和潜在机制, 以更好地理解近似数量系统在个体数学能力发展中所起的作用。     

Adaptation to an autoimmune disorder: Does mental flexibility impact illness-related self-regulation?

Objective: To examine whether mental flexibility moderates the relationship between illness representations of control and coping behaviour in individuals suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Design: Recently, diagnosed RA (N = 80) and SLE (N = 75) patients completed questionnaires about illness representations of personal and treatment control and four coping behaviours: instrumental coping, adherence to medical advice, palliative coping and wishful thinking. Mental flexibility was assessed with the Trail Making Test Part B (TMT-B), while visuomotor processing speed, as a confounder, was assessed with the Trail Making Test Part A (TMT-A). Moderated mediation models were tested within a bootstrapped multiple regression framework.

Results: TMT-A scores had no statistically significant moderation effects on the relation between representations and coping behaviour. Conversely, in those participants with SLE, TMT-B scores moderated the relation of personal control to wishful thinking and palliative coping, as well as the relation of treatment control to both wishful thinking and palliative coping. All significant effects were restricted to the SLE group.

Conclusion: Interactions between neurocognitive factors and the process of illness adaptation may emerge early during the course of SLE. The present findings highlight the role of cognitive functioning as an integral part of the illness-related self-regulation mechanism.     

Process Overlap Theory: A Unified Account of the General Factor of Intelligence

The most replicated result in the field of intelligence is the positive manifold, which refers to an all-positive pattern of correlations among diverse cognitive tests. The positive manifold is typically described by a general factor, or g. In turn, g is often identified as general intelligence, yet this explanation is contradicted by a number of results. Here we offer a new account of g: process overlap theory. According to the theory, cognitive tests tap domain-general executive processes, identified primarily in research on working memory, as well as more domain-specific processes. Executive processes are tapped in an overlapping manner across cognitive tests such that they are required more often than domain-specific ones. The theory provides an account of a number of findings on human intelligence. As well, it is formalized as a multidimensional item response model and as a structural model, and the neural mechanisms underlying the proposed overlapping processes are discussed.