Effects of phonological awareness and morphological awareness on blind students' reading comprehension

The exploration of blind students' reading skills is needed not only for further understanding their reading development but also for providing targeted suggestions for practical education. This study aims to examine the relations among phonological awareness (PA), homograph awareness (HA), compounding awareness (CA) and reading comprehension (RC), and explore the mediating effect of listening comprehension (LC) in Chinese blind students from elementary school. A total of 148 blind and 302 sighted elementary school students completed assessments of PA, HA, CA, LC and RC. The results found that PA, HA and CA were important variables that predicted Chinese blind and sighted students' RC not only directly but also indirectly through LC, which varied across different grades. The findings suggest that there were many similarities that exist in the influencing mechanism of RC between Chinese blind and sighted students.     

Understanding Disorders in Agrammatic Patients: Capacity or Structural Deficits?

Several hypotheses have been advanced in recent years to understand difficulties in agrammatic patients. Some of them are of a structural kind, as the deficiency is said to lie in some of the linguistic system components. Others are of a functional type, as it is stated that the problem of these patients lies in the loss of processing capacity.Using the existence of a syntactic type of structure in Spanish, that active sentences do not follow the canonical S-V-O order, we will try to prove in this article whether agrammatic patients' problems are due to memory span loss or to one of the syntactic process mechanisms. To this end, the performances of three groups of patients are contrasted. Agrammatic, anomic, and normal Spanish speakers are given several tasks of sentence–picture matching and tests of memory span.Results show that agrammatic patients have specific difficulties processing certain syntactical structures; however, their memory deficiencies are not more pronounced than in other patients. It can be concluded, therefore, that the deficiencies of agrammatic patients are of a structural character rather than due to memory span loss.     

知识验证信念对于多文本阅读理解的影响机制:阅读策略的中介效应和主题知识的调节效应

为厘清知识验证信念对于多文本阅读理解的影响机制,本研究构建了有调节的中介模型。采用知识验证信念量表、主题知识问卷和阅读策略量表,对于173名大学生进行调查,并要求其在多文本阅读理解之后进行开放问题回答。结果显示：精致化策略和信息收集策略在知识验证信念对于多文本阅读理解的影响中起部分中介作用;知识验证信念对于精致化策略的预测作用受到主题知识的调节。该结果不但展示了知识验证信念对于多文本阅读理解的间接影响机制,也提示了主题知识的作用在于提供了选择复杂策略的自由。     

中文故事阅读中预期与前后向推理的关系

通过3项实验,考察了中文故事阅读中前后向推理的差异及其与预期的关系。采用3×2独立设计,以反应时为指标,以较长的语篇为实验材料,分别利用核证法与命名法进行了实验一和二。实验三在实验二的基础上,用2×2独立设计,并根据实验目的修改了实验材料。实验一的结果显示,前向推理和后向推理差异显著;实验二的结果则是前向推理和后向推理无显著差异,而且预期的3个水平在前后向推理上均无显著差异;实验三的结果表明,在预期与前后向推理间距离近和预期句详述的情况下,预期与前后向推理产生了交互作用     

动词隐含因果性和重读对代词加工的影响

采用听觉动窗法和跨通道探测技术,设计3个实验考察了汉语口语句子理解中,动词隐含因果性和重读对代词加工的影响及其时间进程。其中的自变量为动词类型和韵律特征;探测实验中增加探测词类型变量。结果发现：动词隐含因果性影响代词的指认方向;当代词不重读时,动词隐含因果关系在遇到代词后立即影响代词可能先行词的激活水平。代词重读影响“因为”分句的阅读时间,且在代词后立即影响主语型动词语句中代词的加工     

自控速度的平滑滚动引导式和RSVP的文本阅读

考察了在自控速度条件下 ,显示窗口、起始速度和文本显示方式等因素对视频显示终端 (videodisplayter minals,VDT)汉语文本阅读工效的影响。结果发现 :(1)在阅读正确率上 ,VDT文本的平滑滚动引导式优于快速系列视觉呈现 (rapidserialvisualpresentation ,RSVP)方式 ;(2 )阅读速度和阅读理解成绩相互代偿 ,若注重理解正确率 ,宜采用 15 0字 /分的起始速度 ;若兼顾阅读速度 ,宜采用 75 0字 /分的起始速度 ;(3)起始速度、显示窗口和文本显示方式三者共同影响了阅读绩效 ;(4 )机控速度方式的阅读效率优于自控速度方式。     

Rapid word learning in 13- and 17-month-olds in a naturalistic two-word procedure: looking versus reaching measures

This study investigated infants’ rapid learning of two novel words using a preferential looking measure compared with a preferential reaching measure. In Experiment 1, 21 13-month-olds and 20 17-month-olds were given 12 novel label exposures (6 per trial) for each of two novel objects. Next, in the label comprehension tests, infants were shown both objects and were asked, “Where’s the [label]?” (looking preference) and then told, “Put the [label] in the basket” (reaching preference). Only the 13-month-olds showed rapid word learning on the looking measure; neither age group showed rapid word learning on the reaching measure. In Experiment 2, the procedure was repeated 24 h later with 10 participants per age group from Experiment 1. After a further 12 labels per object, both age groups now showed robust evidence of rapid word learning, but again only on the looking measure. This is the earliest looking-based evidence of rapid word learning in infants in a well-controlled (i.e., two-word) procedure; our failure to replicate previous reports of rapid word learning in 13-month-olds with a preferential reaching measure may be due to our use of more rigorous controls for object preferences. The superior performance of the younger infants on the looking measure in Experiment 1 was not straightforwardly predicted by existing theoretical accounts of word learning.     

Developmental Changes in Early Comprehension and Production of Drawings: Evidence From Two Socioeconomic Backgrounds

Two studies examined young children's comprehension and production of representational drawings across and within 2 socioeconomic strata (SES). Participants were 130 middle-SES (MSES) and low-SES (LSES) Argentine children, from 30 to 60 months old, given a task with 2 phases, production and comprehension. The production phase assessed free drawing and drawings from simple 3-dimensional objects (model drawing); the comprehension phase assessed children's understanding of an adult's line drawings of the objects. MSES children solved the comprehension phase of the task within the studied age range; representational production emerged first in model drawing (42 months) and later in free drawing (48 months). The same developmental pathway was observed in LSES children but with a clear asynchrony in the age of onset of comprehension and production: Children understood the symbolic nature of drawings at 42 months old and the first representational drawings were found at 60 months old. These results provide empirical evidence that support the crucial influence of social experiences by organizing and constraining graphic development.