Interference effect caused by repetition in visual recognition of letters: Examination of the orthographic difference between two same letters1

Abstract: The present study examined the effect of phonological identity between two letters on the visual recognition of the letters. Participants were required to identify the two same or different letters that were successively presented for a short duration. In order to manipulate the phonological identity of the two letters, the orthography of the Kana letters was varied. In half of the trials, the first and second letters were presented in Hiragana (the same‐orthography condition). In the other half, the first letter was presented in Katakana, and the second letter in Hiragana (the different‐orthography condition). The results revealed that the identification performance for the second letter was reduced in the same‐orthography condition when the two letters were the same, compared with when they were different. In contrast to this, in the different‐orthography condition, the identification performance of the second repeated letter was marginally superior to that of the nonrepeated letter. Considering the present findings together with those of the author's previous study (Kuwana, 2004), it is suggested that the interference effect caused by repetition could result from the reduction in the availability of visual pattern information stored in long‐term memory.     

小学儿童英语正字法技能的发展及其在单词阅读中的作用

为系统探讨正字法技能不同成分的发展特点及其在英语单词阅读中的作用,对小学一、三、五年级共110名儿童施测英语正字法规则意识、正字法模式建构技能、正字法编码技能、单词阅读以及一般认知能力和英语语音意识测验。结果表明：（1）汉语儿童的英语正字法技能各成分随年级显著增长,各成分间及其与一般认知技能、语音意识的关系存在年级差异;（2）控制年龄、一般认知能力和语音意识后,正字法技能在三、五年级仍对单词阅读有显著的独立解释作用,且其独立贡献率高于语音意识;（3）进一步控制其他正字法技能成分后,正字法规则意识以正字法模式建构技能为完全中介间接地作用于单词阅读,正字法模式建构技能在三、五年级都仍对单词阅读有显著的独立解释作用,正字法编码技能在五年级中能显著地独立解释单词阅读的部分变异。     

The mind beyond our immediate awareness: Freudian, Jungian, and cognitive models of the unconscious

Abstract: Several branches of cognitive science now focus on the nature of the unconscious. This paper explores some of the findings and models from this research. By introducing formulations based on non‐clinical data, the cognitive scientists—in neural linguistics, computational modelling, and neuroscience—may depart from the older psychoanalytic formulations. An understanding of unconscious neural processes is nevertheless emerging showing how synapses are modified by experience and how learning, conscious and unconscious, is due to this important aspect of brain plasticity. Freud and Jung's formulations about the unconscious psyche, representing the main tenets of depth psychology, are also based on a conception of the mind as extending beyond immediate awareness. However, their models are more hypothetical in that their data, almost exclusively, come from treatments of psychotherapy patients and their verbal accounts. So how do these two conceptions of the unconscious match, where do they differ? And how does the neural understanding in the present research support theories and practices of analytic treatments?     

Linking sight and sound: fMRI evidence of primary auditory cortex activation during visual word recognition

We describe two studies that used repetition priming paradigms to investigate brain activity during the reading of single words. Functional magnetic resonance images were collected during a visual lexical decision task in which nonword stimuli were manipulated with regard to phonological properties and compared to genuine English words. We observed a region in left-hemisphere primary auditory cortex linked to a repetition priming effect. The priming effect activity was observed only for stimuli that sound like known words; moreover, this region was sensitive to strategic task differences. Thus, a brain region involved in the most basic aspects of auditory processing appears to be engaged in reading even when there is no environmental oral or auditory component.     

Effect of consonant/vowel letter organisation on the syllable counting task: evidence from English

Recent studies in alphabetic writing systems have investigated whether the status of letters as consonants or vowels influences the perception and processing of written words. Here, we examined to what extent the organisation of consonants and vowels within words affects performance in a syllable counting task in English. Participants were asked to judge the number of syllables in written words that were matched for the number of spoken syllables but comprised either 1 orthographic vowel cluster less than the number of syllables (hiatus words, e.g., triumph) or as many vowel clusters as syllables (e.g., pudding). In 3 experiments, we found that readers were slower and less accurate on hiatus than control words, even when phonological complexity (Experiment 1), number of reduced vowels (Experiment 2), and number of letters (Experiment 3) were taken into account. Interestingly, for words with or without the same number of vowel clusters and syllables, participants’ errors were more likely to underestimate the number of syllables than to overestimate it. Results are discussed in a cross-linguistic perspective.     

Jungian dialogism and the problem of depth

Notions of dialogical inquiry and of the dialogical self have become increasingly influential in contemporary psychology in response to the limitations of the traditional view of monologically encapsulated and radically disengaged consciousness. Conceptions of self and inquiry as intrinsically embedded in and constituted by our shared life with others seem to do better justice to the richly interconnected character of contemporary life. At the same time, our highly interconnected global world has also tended to foster a flattening of cultural and inter‐cultural horizons that undermines dialogical engagement in any deeply meaningful sense. What is needed is to enrich current conceptions of dialogue with an understanding of experiential and cultural depth. This paper seeks an understanding of the depth dimensions of dialogue through an engagement of dialogical self theory with Jungian dialogical thought. Critical to this engagement is to appreciate the expressive potential of Jungian dialogism beyond Jung's theoretical claims about dialogue.     

Decision framing: moderating effects of individual differences and cognitive processing

Two studies examined the effect of an individual difference variable, need for cognition (NC), and processing of the options on the occurrence of risky choice framing effects. In Study 1 (N=206), frame interacted with NC and math skill such that no framing effect was observed among those high in both NC and math skill. No effect was found for the processing manipulation of requesting a reason for one's choices. Study 2 (N=257) enhanced the processing of the problems by asking participants to write out the options as they would describe them to a friend. Results showed that frame interacted with NC and depth of processing such that no framing effect was observed among those high in NC who were in the deep processing condition. These findings suggest that NC and depth of processing need to be considered in concert in order to understand their moderating effects on framing. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coinductive models and normal forms for modal logics (or how we learned to stop worrying and love coinduction)

We present a coinductive definition of models for modal logics and show that it provides a homogeneous framework in which it is possible to include different modal languages ranging from classical modalities to operators from hybrid and memory logics. Moreover, results that had to be proved separately for each different language—but whose proofs were known to be mere routine—now can be proved in a general way. We show, for example, that we can have a unique definition of bisimulation for all these languages, and prove a single invariance-under-bisimulation theorem.We then use the new framework to investigate normal forms for modal logics. The normal form we introduce may have a smaller modal depth than the original formula, and it is inspired by global modalities like the universal modality and the satisfiability operator from hybrid logics. These modalities can be extracted from under the scope of other operators. We provide a general definition of extractable modalities and show how to compute extracted normal forms. As it is the case with other classical normal forms—e.g., the conjunctive normal form of propositional logic—the extracted normal form of a formula can be exponentially bigger than the original formula, if we require the two formulas to be equivalent. If we only require equi-satisfiability, then every modal formula has an extracted normal form which is only polynomially bigger than the original formula, and it can be computed in polynomial time.