数字工作记忆广度的毕生发展及其作用因素

以10~90岁的1993名自愿者为被试完成该实验研究。结果表明：（1）在最简单的心算加工负荷下,数字工作记忆广度约为6±2;（2）在10至90岁范围内,测验的最高成绩在16~19岁组（即高中生组）,回归分析表明数字工作记忆广度随年龄的对数呈抛物线变化;（3）教育因素对成年人数字工作记忆广度的随龄化过程有重要作用;（4）与我们过去的研究结果相比较,发现数字工作记忆广度受心算加工负荷的影响显著     

自我与提取诱发遗忘现象

考察了提取诱发遗忘现象在自我参照、母亲参照和他人参照加工条件下的不同表现,结果发现在前两种加工条件下都没有出现提取诱发的遗忘,而他人参照条件下则表现有这种遗忘,由此以提取诱发遗忘研究的实验范式证明了中国被试中自我参照加工与母亲参照加工相对于一般他人参照加工的优势。这一结果表明,对于中国被试来说,自我参照加工和母亲参照加工任务不仅可能会在总回忆量方面高于他人参照加工,而且经过这两类加工的材料在提取过程中不会形成对相关材料的抑制。另外,实验结果还说明母亲参照加工对于中国被试来说是提取诱发遗忘的一种边界条件。     

文本阅读研究的技术模型和新观点

文本阅读心理研究一直是心理学界广泛关注的课题。从20世纪30年代第一个严格的文本阅读实验至今,这一领域的研究方法和技术模型不断进步,具体理论和实际应用不断成熟。到目前为止,文本阅读领域已经形成了庞大的体系。作者首先对文本阅读研究中常用的技术模型进行了梳理,从目标、空间、时间、因果和主角五个方面分别对其进行了介绍。在此基础上,文章评述了文本阅读研究的两种新观点,即文本阅读的双加工理论和知觉符号理论。最后作者对文本阅读研究的未来趋势进行了展望     

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     

句子加工中语义关联性和句法歧义性实验研究

采用自定速移动视窗技术,探讨语义关联性和句法歧义性对汉语直接宾语、宾语小句类暂时句法歧义句理解加工的影响。结果发现：语义关联性和句法歧义性对歧义区和解歧区的阅读时间有显著影响,并在解歧区产生了显著的交互作用,表明语义信息即时参与对句子的理解加工并同句法信息一起共同影响句子的认知加工过程。     

对广告信息加工的性别差异

研究者运用加工分离程序(PDP),探讨了在不同性别的广告代言人条件下,不同性别的目标受众对其所代言品牌在控制性加工和自动化加工水平上的差异。结果发现：（1）在男性代言人条件下,男性受众对其所代言品牌的自动化加工水平明显高于女性被试,两者控制性加工水平差异不显著;（2）在女性代言人条件下,女性受众对其所代言的品牌的自动化加工水平明显高于男性被试,两者的控制性加工水平差异不显著。实验结果对广告的设计与制作有着借鉴意义。     

Effects of tasks on BOLD signal responses to sentence contrasts: Review and commentary

Functional neuroimaging studies of syntactic processing have been interpreted as identifying the neural locations of parsing and interpretive operations. However, current behavioral studies of sentence processing indicate that many operations occur simultaneously with parsing and interpretation. In this review, we point to issues that arise in discriminating the effects of these concurrent processes from those of the parser/interpreter in neural measures and to approaches that may help resolve them.     

Objects, events and "to be" verbs in Spanish--an ERP study of the syntax-semantics interface

In Spanish, objects and events at subject position constrain the selection of different forms of the auxiliary verb “to be”: locative predicates about objects require “estar en”, while those relating to events require “ser en”, both translatable as “to be in”. Subjective ratings showed that while the “object + ser + en” is considered as incorrect, the “event + estar + en” combination is also perceived as unacceptable but to a lesser degree. In an ERP study, we evaluated the impact of a purely semantic distinction (object versus events) on the subsequent processing of these auxiliary verbs followed by locatives in Spanish. For the “ser en” predicate, the P600 component was larger when the subject was an object than when it was an event. This P600 effect is consistent with an online repair of the defining predicate when it does not fit with the adequate semantic properties of the subject. On the other hand, for the “estar en” predicate, event subjects when compared to object subjects showed more positive ongoing amplitudes between 280 and 380 ms after the presentation of the “en” preposition, followed by a longer positive wave starting around 400 ms and lasting until 700 ms after the presentation of the following determiner, with central and frontal scalp distributions respectively. Thus, the different subject-predicate combinations, depending on the semantic features of the subjects, triggered syntactic reparatory processes at a structural level. These findings are consistent with an incremental interpretation of sentence meaning based on the interaction between syntactic and semantic information.     

Shedding light on words and sentences: near-infrared spectroscopy in language research

Investigating the neuronal network underlying language processing may contribute to a better understanding of how the brain masters this complex cognitive function with surprising ease and how language is acquired at a fast pace in infancy. Modern neuroimaging methods permit to visualize the evolvement and the function of the language network. The present paper focuses on a specific methodology, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), providing an overview over studies on auditory language processing and acquisition. The methodology detects oxygenation changes elicited by functional activation of the cerebral cortex. The main advantages for research on auditory language processing and its development during infancy are an undemanding application, the lack of instrumental noise, and its potential to simultaneously register electrophysiological responses. Also it constitutes an innovative approach for studying developmental issues in infants and children. The review will focus on studies on word and sentence processing including research in infants and adults.