Masked priming is abstract in the left and right visual fields

Two experiments assessed masked priming for words presented to the left and right visual fields in a lexical decision task. In both Experiments, the same magnitude and pattern of priming was obtained for visually similar (kiss-KISS) and dissimilar (read-READ) prime-target pairs. These findings provide no support for the hypothesis that word identification is mediated by separate and lateralized abstract and specific visual form systems. Strikingly, equivalent priming was observed when primes and targets were presented to the same or opposite visual fields, suggesting that priming occurs after visual information from the two hemispheres is integrated.     

Grammar overrides frequency: evidence from the online processing of flexible word order

We show that online processing difficulties induced by word order variations in German cannot be attributed to the relative infrequency of the constructions in question, but rather appear to reflect the application of grammatical principles during parsing. Event-related brain potentials revealed that dative-marked objects in the initial position of an embedded sentence do not elicit a neurophysiologically distinct response from subjects, whereas accusative-marked objects do. These differences are predictable on the basis of grammatical distinctions (i.e. underlying linguistic properties), but not on the basis of frequency information (i.e. a superficial linguistic property). We therefore conclude that the former, but not the latter, guides syntactic integration during online parsing.     

Semantic representations of word meanings by the cerebral hemispheres

Two priming experiments investigated kind and strength of semantic knowledge underlying known, frontier, and unknown low frequency words. Results from Experiment 1 suggest that known words reflect categorical knowledge, but frontier and unknown words reflect thematic knowledge. Thematic knowledge for frontier words appears to be stronger than that for unknown words. Experiment 2 entailed visual half-field presentation of targets. All facilitory effects were restricted to the lvf/RH, and inhibitory effects to the rvf/LH. Experiment 1 findings were mirrored by the RH. Thematic knowledge appears to precede categorical knowledge for the RH, but the opposite may be true of the LH. Results are also discussed in terms of the RH role in meaning acquisition and metacontrol.     

Young children's comprehension of English SVO word order revisited: Testing the same children in act-out and intermodal preferential looking tasks

Act-out and intermodal preferential looking (IPL) tasks were administered to 67 English children aged 2–0, 2–9 and 3–5 to assess their comprehension of canonical SVO transitive word order with both familiar and novel verbs. Children at 3–5 and at 2–9 showed evidence of comprehending word order in both verb conditions and both tasks, although children at 2–9 performed better with familiar than with novel verbs in the act-out task. Children at 2–0 showed no evidence of comprehending word order in either task with novel verbs; with familiar verbs they showed competence in the IPL task but not in the act-out task. The difference in performance for familiar and novel verbs from the same children at 2–0, on the IPL task, and at 2–9, on the act-out task, is consistent with the hypothesis that early linguistic/cognitive representations are graded in strength, with early representations still weak and very task dependent. However, these representations also become more abstract with development, as indicated by the familiarity effect even in the more sensitive IPL task.     

Is early word-form processing stress-full? How natural variability supports recognition

In a series of studies, we examined how mothers naturally stress words across multiple mentions in speech to their infants and how this marking influences infants’ recognition of words in fluent speech. We first collected samples of mothers’ infant-directed speech using a technique that induced multiple repetitions of target words. Acoustic analyses revealed that mothers systematically alternated between emphatic and nonemphatic stress when talking to their infants. Using the headturn preference procedure, we then tested 7.5-month-old infants on their ability to detect familiarized bisyllabic words in fluent speech. Stress of target words (emphatic and nonemphatic) was systematically varied across familiarization and recognition phases of four experiments. Results indicated that, although infants generally prefer listening to words produced with emphatic stress, recognition was enhanced when the degree of emphatic stress at familiarization matched the degree of emphatic stress at recognition.     

Creating analysts, creating analytic patients

This paper applies a contemporary, 'two-track'- transformational as well as archaeological - perspective on psychoanalytic process to clinical issues in the creation of analytic patients: case finding, recommending analysis, and recommending and negotiating the intensification of frequency of sessions in analytic psychotherapy. Central importance is assigned to the role of the mind and analytic identity of the analyst, including the analyst's capacity to maintain an internal analytic frame and analyzing attitude from the very first contact with the patient and throughout the treatment, the analyst's confidence in and conviction about the usefulness of analysis for a given analytic dyad and the role of the analyst's theory, which must be broad and consistent enough to allow the analyst to feel that he or she is operating analytically when addressing non-neurotic (unrepresented and weakly represented mental states) as well as neurotic structures.     

What’s in the name? Or how rocks and stones are different from bunnies and rabbits

Labels have been shown to play an important role in inductive generalization; however, the mechanism by which labels contribute to generalization early in development remains unclear. We investigated two factors that may influence the inductive potential of labels: semantic similarity and co-occurrence probability. Results suggested that adults and 6-year-olds rely on semantic similarity of labels and that their generalizations are not affected by co-occurrence probability. Specifically, generalization patterns were qualitatively similar for co-occurring semantically similar labels (e.g., bunny-rabbit) and non-co-occurring semantically similar labels (e.g., rock-stone) in 6-year-olds and adults. Unlike 6-year-olds and adults, 4-year-olds were likely to generalize co-occurring labels but not non-co-occurring labels. Possible mechanisms by which co-occurrence probability may influence label generalization in young children are discussed.     

What determines creative association? Revealing two factors which separately influence the creative process when solving the Remote Associates Test

The Remote Associates Test is a well‐established measure, frequently used to assess individuals’ creative abilities, as a function of the ability to elicit remote associates. The nature of the involved associative processes is still poorly understood. This hampers a deeper understanding of the creative process, rendering it difficult to determine what factors are controlled for, when the RAT is employed. We report an experiment that sheds further light on the nature of the associative process by manipulating (a) the frequency with which a pair of items are associated as associative strength, and (b) the probability of reaching the answer given the strength and the spread. Experimental results indicate a clear and surprisingly separate influence of frequency and probability on accuracy and response times. Frequency and probability both are thus factors that need to be included in the modeling process and controlled for when using the RAT to assess creativity.     

A dynamic systems approach to the feeling toned complex

A review of Jung’s writing on the ‘feeling‐toned complex’ shows that he considered it to comprise independent, split‐off, psychic elements. Modern advances in scientific thinking and technology, namely Dynamic Systems Theory and neuro‐imaging, allow us to better define and explore this psychic phenomenon. Considering the constellation of the complex as a hierarchy of dynamic systems allows for a prediction of the timing of brain activity. This has been confirmed by two independent studies using fMRI and QEEG while administering the Word Association Experiment, the tool Jung used to investigate brain/psychic functioning over a century ago. Using as a framework the stages of the constellation of a complex viewed as a hierarchy of dynamic systems, I review the neuro‐imaging studies reported by Petchkovsky et al. (2013, 2017) and Escamilla et al. (2018), concluding that quantitative theoretical predictions and experimental results are in agreement within an order of magnitude. The change in attention caused by the constellation of the complex can also be conceived as the switching from a default neuro‐network, a startle response activating executive functioning in the frontal cortex of either the ego‐complex or an autonomous complex.     

正字法深度对汉族、维吾尔族大学生汉字词命名的影响

汉字的多音字数量众多, 种类复杂, 为维吾尔族学生学习汉语带来了困难。通过两个实验, 考察正字法深度对汉族大学生和维吾尔族大学生的汉字词命名的影响。结果表明, 无论是命名单字词还是命名双字词, 维吾尔族学生的反应时均比汉族学生显著长。对单字词, 两个民族被试的命名时间均受汉字的正字法深度和词频影响, 被试命名多音字的时间显著长于命名单音字, 命名低频字的时间显著长于命名高频字。对双字词, 两个民族被试的命名时间存在着词频与正字法深度的交互作用：对高频词, 汉族学生对由多音字组成的词与由单音字组成的词的反应时差异不显著, 维吾尔族学生对由多音字组成的词的反应时显著长于对由单音字组成的词; 对低频词, 汉族学生对由多音字组成的词的反应时显著长于对由单音字组成的词, 维吾尔族学生对由多音字组成的词与由单音字组成的词的反应时差异不显著。整个研究表明, 正字法深度对两个民族大学生的汉字词命名的影响具有不同模式。所以如此, 与两个民族的母语特点、词汇获得年龄、语言熟练程度和语言加工方式不同有关。