Numerosity and number signs in deaf Nicaraguan adults

What abilities are entailed in being numerate? Certainly, one is the ability to hold the exact quantity of a set in mind, even as it changes, and even after its members can no longer be perceived. Is counting language necessary to track and reproduce exact quantities? Previous work with speakers of languages that lack number words involved participants only from non-numerate cultures. Deaf Nicaraguan adults all live in a richly numerate culture, but vary in counting ability, allowing us to experimentally differentiate the contribution of these two factors. Thirty deaf and 10 hearing participants performed 11 one-to-one matching and counting tasks. Results suggest that immersion in a numerate culture is not enough to make one fully numerate. A memorized sequence of number symbols is required, though even an unconventional, iconic system is sufficient. Additionally, we find that within a numerate culture, the ability to track precise quantities can be acquired in adulthood.     

When deaf signers read English: do written words activate their sign translations?

Deaf bilinguals for whom American Sign Language (ASL) is the first language and English is the second language judged the semantic relatedness of word pairs in English. Critically, a subset of both the semantically related and unrelated word pairs were selected such that the translations of the two English words also had related forms in ASL. Word pairs that were semantically related were judged more quickly when the form of the ASL translation was also similar whereas word pairs that were semantically unrelated were judged more slowly when the form of the ASL translation was similar. A control group of hearing bilinguals without any knowledge of ASL produced an entirely different pattern of results. Taken together, these results constitute the first demonstration that deaf readers activate the ASL translations of written words under conditions in which the translation is neither present perceptually nor required to perform the task.     

The interactive effects of perceived external prestige and need for organizational identification on turnover intentions

Recent research has highlighted the importance of understanding the influence of an organization’s external image on its members. Although progress has been made in understanding how perceived external prestige relates to workplace outcomes, researchers have not examined the joint effect of perceived external prestige and individual differences on such outcomes. In this article, we tested the impact of perceived external prestige on turnover intentions, but we also assumed that this influence is moderated by individuals’ need for organizational identification. Using three samples and a longitudinal research design, we found consistent support for this assumption. These results provide empirical support for the theoretical integration of social identity and need-based motivation theories.     

Alternating Between Masculine and Feminine Pronouns: Does Essay Topic Affect Readers' Perceptions?

Authors are routinely advised to avoid using masculine pronouns to refer to both men and women. Some style guides recommend alternating between masculine and feminine pronouns instead. Unfortunately, previous research with gender-neutral text indicates that readers perceive alternating pronouns to be biased in favor of women. We tested readers' perceptions of alternating pronouns in an essay on a traditionally feminine topic, on a traditionally masculine topic, and on a gender-neutral topic. There were four versions of each essay. One version alternated between masculine and feminine pronouns, a second version used paired masculine and feminine pronouns throughout the passage (e.g., ‘he or she’), and the remaining two versions used exclusively masculine pronouns or feminine pronouns. Readers overestimated the frequency of feminine pronouns in alternating text except when they occurred in an essay on a traditionally feminine topic. Readers also thought alternating pronouns were gender-biased and low in overall quality.     

大学生的语言学习观念与英语学习策略研究

通过问卷对606名大学生进行调查,考察其语言学习观念和英语学习策略的特点及关系。结果表明:(1)在语言学习观念上,女生比男生的英语学习动机更强,大一女生明显认为英语学习难度大,外语学能观念随年级的升高而增强,文科生比理科生认为英语学习难度大,学习动机更强;(2)在英语学习策略上,性别、年级与6种策略都有一定关系,文科生在元认知、社交、情感、补偿、认知5种策略上的运用都显著高于理科生;(3)语言学习观念与英语学习策略有密切的关系。     

For the Love of Cybernetics

This narrative is a response to an invitation to share my story regarding cybernetics. I begin with an exploration of what “for the love of cybernetics” means to me. Tracing experiences and connections to cybernetics over the course of 50?years I explore how I observe and give voice to my relation with people and situations both personal and professional. I explore life and how it is enriched by knowing cybernetics. Recent projects to encourage systems and cybernetic literacy building on work with ocean, earth, air, and energy literacies are described.     

交流语境对学习过程中学习者语言选择性注意的影响

依据交流语境特征创设了语言交流、共享对象的语言交流、共享对象和表情的语言交流,通过交流范式探查：交流语境对学习过程中学习者语言选择性注意的影响。结果显示：（1）语言交流条件下语言选择性注意整体水平最高;不同语境下选择性注意整体水平随交流时间进程而增高。（2）语言交流条件下语言选择性注意指向性水平最高;共享对象和表情条件最低,但集中性水平最高;总体上,指向性和集中性水平随学习进程相对稳定增高,但语言交流条件与共享对象条件下学习阶段1的集中性水平显著高于中间学习阶段。结果发现：交流语境不同时,不同非语言因素对于语言认知加工产生的影响作用不同;交流双方认知的协调过程同时受到语言和非语言因素的共同作用。概言之,非语言因素降低了语言选择性注意的整体水平和指向性水平;但表情因素提高了集中性水平。     

Meditation focused on self-observation of the body impairs metacognitive efficiency

In the last decade of research on metacognition, the literature has been focused on understanding its mechanism, function and scope; however, little is known about whether metacognitive capacity can be trained. The specificity of the potential training procedure is in particular still largely unknown. In this study, we evaluate whether metacognition is trainable through generic meditation training, and if so, which component of meditation would be instrumental in this improvement. To this end, we evaluated participants’ metacognitive efficiency before and after two types of meditation training protocols: the first focused on mental cues (Mental Monitoring [MM] training), whereas the second focused on body cues (Self-observation of the Body [SoB] training). Results indicated that while metacognitive efficiency was stable in MM training group, it was significantly reduced in the SoB group after training. This suggests that metacognition should not be conceived as a stable capacity but rather as a malleable skill.     

What Do North American Babies Hear? A large‐scale cross‐corpus analysis

A range of demographic variables influences how much speech young children hear. However, because studies have used vastly different sampling methods, quantitative comparison of interlocking demographic effects has been nearly impossible, across or within studies. We harnessed a unique collection of existing naturalistic, day‐long recordings from 61 homes across four North American cities to examine language input as a function of age, gender, and maternal education. We analyzed adult speech heard by 3‐ to 20‐month‐olds who wore audio recorders for an entire day. We annotated speaker gender and speech register (child‐directed or adult‐directed) for 10,861 utterances from female and male adults in these recordings. Examining age, gender, and maternal education collectively in this ecologically valid dataset, we find several key results. First, the speaker gender imbalance in the input is striking: children heard 2–3× more speech from females than males. Second, children in higher‐maternal education homes heard more child‐directed speech than those in lower‐maternal education homes. Finally, our analyses revealed a previously unreported effect: the proportion of child‐directed speech in the input increases with age, due to a decrease in adult‐directed speech with age. This large‐scale analysis is an important step forward in collectively examining demographic variables that influence early development, made possible by pooled, comparable, day‐long recordings of children's language environments. The audio recordings, annotations, and annotation software are readily available for reuse and reanalysis by other researchers.     

Infant sustained attention but not joint attention to objects at 9 months predicts vocabulary at 12 and 15 months

Vocabulary differences early in development are highly predictive of later language learning as well as achievement in school. Early word learning emerges in the context of tightly coupled social interactions between the early learner and a mature partner. In the present study, we develop and apply a novel paradigm—dual head‐mounted eye tracking—to record momentary gaze data from both parents and infants during free‐flowing toy‐play contexts. With fine‐grained sequential patterns extracted from continuous gaze streams, we objectively measure both joint attention and sustained attention as parents and 9‐month‐old infants played with objects and as parents named objects during play. We show that both joint attention and infant sustained attention predicted vocabulary sizes at 12 and 15 months, but infant sustained attention in the context of joint attention, not joint attention itself, is the stronger unique predictor of later vocabulary size. Joint attention may predict word learning because joint attention supports infant attention to the named object.