关于汉字识别加工单位的研究

以眼动为指标的研究发现,汉字识别是以笔画为单位进行加工的。而词识别单位化模型则认为对熟悉词的识别与组成词的字母加工无关。本研究利用汉字具有笔画多少不同及组成部件不等的差别,以独体字或少笔画字为对照,通过三个实验探讨了高频和低频汉字识别的加工单位问题。实验结果表明,高频字笔画数和部件数分别对字识别产生显著影响,低频字似乎只有当笔画数和部件数两种成分都具有一定差异时才表现出识别速度的显著差别。此结果不支持前述的两种模型。提出汉字识别是由多种成分综合作用的结果似更合理。     

Lexical status of inflectional and derivational suffixes: Evidence from Finnish

The present study tested whether Finnish inflectional or derivational suffixes have lexical access units separate from word roots. In three lexical decision experiments, pseudowords carrying a case-inflection required significantly longer rejection times than nonaffixed pseudowords. This suggests that case-inflections have separate lexical access units. Similar effects were obtained for productive derivational suffixes, too. A specific lexical architecture, being able to account for both the present pseudoword results as well as earlier ones obtained with real Finnish nouns, is proposed.     

Perceptual unit formation in simple motion patterns

The present study investigated the proximal constraints that determine perceptual unit formation under minimal stimulus conditions. Projections of three moving dots, which could form two possible two-dot configurations, were presented to naive observers. In a forced-choice situation, their task was to report which two-dot configuration was perceived as a distinct perceptual unit. The results showed that common motions (arbitrary translations and rigid rotations in the frontoparallel plane) have stronger grouping power as compared to different relative motions (expansions/contractions, or simultaneous expansions/contractions and deformations in the frontoparallel plane). It was found that proximal changes of distances between elements in two-dot structures reduce grouping power. Changes of proximal directions, however, did not affect unit formation in two-dot structures at all. The effect of vector algebraic combinations on grouping power in three-dot strutures was also investigated. Evidently, visual vector analysis splits up motion combinations into their constituents, and in come cases this contributes to additive effects.     

基于语义的词汇判断的计算模型

词汇判断是一种在字词认知研究中广泛使用的实验范式。本文提出了一个基于分布式语义表征的计算模型,用来解释某些在词汇判断作业中出现的实验现象。模型是一个包括词形层、隐层、语义层、词典层和判断层的前传网络。词形层、隐层和语义层之间的连接权重在学习过程中被不断调整,使用反传算法进行学习。语义层、词典层和判断层之间的连接权重在学习前就已被固定,在学习过程中不进行调整。模型模拟了在词汇判断作业中出现的四种实验现象：（１）频率效应;（２）语义启动效应;（３）频率与语境的交互作用;（４）重复启动效应。模型所表现出的行为特性由模型的框架和学习算法所决定。     

Activation of emotion information in text among younger and older adults

The ability to represent emotions is an important capacity for the understanding of discourse. In the current literature, it is unclear whether older adults represent emotion information in the course of language processing, in particular as it relates to developing an adequate mental model of characters in narratives. We addressed this issue in two studies, one assessing emotion activation at the word level and the other at the mental model level. In the first experiment, subjects performed a lexical decision task in which words were drawn from both logic- and emotion-based categories. For both category types, priming was evident for young and old. In the second experiment, subjects read passages with emotion information that was consistent or inconsistent with the implied emotional tone. Both age groups showed an increase in reading time in response to inconsistent emotion information, indicating that the protagonist's emotional state was represented while reading. Results of these studies generally suggest age preservation in the activation of emotion information in language processing.     

Some linguistic determinants of Swedish word recognition

Native Swedish words and words of foreign origin were studied in a word fill-in task (Experiment 1), in a task in which words were explicitly classified as being native or loan words (Experiment 2), and in a lexical decision task in which a small onset asynchrony was introduced in displaying a word's letter pattern (Experiment 3). The findings obtained show that, both in simple printed word recognition and when asked to make explicit judgments about origin, readers are sensitive to phonological features of words not marked in Swedish orthography. It was further found that previewing a substring of word-initial letters which determines a word's root morpheme will prime recognition, whereas previewing a randomly selected pattern of letters inhibits recognition.     

Matching, maximizing, and the behavioral unit: concurrent reinforcement of response sequences.

Pigeons pecked two keys in a probability matching situation in which four two-peck sequences were intermittently reinforced: left-left, left-right, right-left and right-right. In Phase 1, relative reinforcement rate was varied with respect to the first response of a sequence: reinforcers were differentially assigned for left-left and left-right sequences as opposed to right-left and right-right sequences. The second response of reinforced sequences occurred equally on the left and right keys across conditions. In Phase II, relative reinforcement rate was varied for sequences that involve an alternation as opposed to those that did not. The relative outputs of the different sequences matched the relative reinforcement rates for the different sequences in both phases. Relative response rates for key pecks did not always match relative reinforcement rates. The intertrial interval separating responses was varied in both phases; increases in the intertrial interval affected the relative frequency of different sequences. The results demonstrate that response sequences acted as functional units influencing choice and thus support a structural account of choice. At the same time, the matching of relative sequence proportion and relative reinforcement rate supports a matching account.     

关于幼儿嗅、味、动、触摸感觉道记忆的研究

记忆在幼儿心理的发展过程中,具有极为重要的作用。幼儿知识的掌握,语言的学习,技巧的培养,以至个性的形成,都与记忆活动密切联系。国内外关于幼儿记忆的研究,主要限于有意与无意识记,机械与意义识记,形象与语词记忆等方面,很少从不同感觉道输入信息来进行比较。有的实验虽然涉及到不同感觉道的记忆,但被试者都是7岁以上的儿童,如斯梅德利(Smedley)和三岛、横尾等人的研究。为了全面了解幼儿的记忆发展水平,我们设计了关于幼儿不同感觉道记忆的实验研究,试图通过对幼儿各个感觉道输入信息来全面测查幼儿的视觉、听觉、味觉、嗅觉、动觉和触摸党的记忆水平,了解其发展规律及特点,以便为幼儿记忆的理论研究提供实验数据,为幼儿教育提供心理学依据。     

Why do older adults have difficulty with semantic fluency?

Aging involves many cognitive declines, particularly in fluid intelligence, with relative maintenance of crystallized intelligence. This paradox is evident in the language domain: lexical retrieval becomes slower and less accurate, despite well preserved vocabularies. Verbal fluency assesses both crystallized and fluid aspects of language. Semantic fluency hypothetically reflects semantic knowledge, while letter fluency putatively reflects executive functioning, which would predict a greater impact of aging on the latter. However, the opposite is typically observed.

To investigate factors contributing to such asymmetries, we examined verbal fluency in 86 adults (30-89 years). Multiple regression analyses indicated that semantic fluency depends largely on lexical retrieval speed, as well as visualization strategies to support controlled retrieval, skills which may disproportionately decline with age. By contrast, letter fluency relies heavily on vocabulary knowledge, providing some protection against age-related declines. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms of typical age-related declines in word retrieval.     

The oral and written side of word production in young and older adults: generation of lexical neighbors

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of aging on both spoken and written word production by using analogous tasks. To do so, a phonological neighbor generation task (Experiment 1) and an orthographic neighbor generation task (Experiment 2) were designed. In both tasks, young and older participants were given a word and had to generate as many words as they could think of by changing one phoneme in the target word (Experiment 1) or one letter in the target word (Experiment 2). The data of the two experiments were consistent, showing that the older adults generated fewer lexical neighbors and made more errors than the young adults. For both groups, the number of words produced, as well as their lexical frequency, decreased as a function of time. These data strongly support the assumption of a symmetrical age-related decline in the transmission of activation within the phonological and orthographic systems.