Beyond common features: the role of roles in determining similarity

Historically, accounts of object representation and perceived similarity have focused on intrinsic features. Although more recent accounts have explored how objects, scenes, and situations containing common relational structures come to be perceived as similar, less is known about how the perceived similarity of parts or objects embedded within these relational systems is affected. The current studies test the hypothesis that objects situated in common relational systems come to be perceived as more similar. Similarity increases most for objects playing the same role within a relation (e.g., predator), but also increases for objects playing different roles within the same relation (e.g., the predator or prey role in the hunts relation) regardless of whether the objects participate in the same instance of the relation. This pattern of results can be captured by extending existing models that extract meaning from text corpora so that they are sensitive to the verb-specific thematic roles that objects fill. Alternative explanations based on analogical and inferential processes are also considered, as well as the implications of the current findings to research in language processing, decision making, and category learning.     

轻度认知损伤的语义记忆研究述评

轻度认知损伤（Mild cognitive impairment,MCI）是介于正常老化与痴呆之间的过渡阶段,表现为与年龄和教育程度不相称的认知功能减退。本文回顾了近期有关MCI语义记忆的研究,分析比较了各研究的实验任务及结果,得出MCI患者存在一定程度的由多种原因造成的语义记忆损伤,语义记忆测验对MCI的早期筛查和转归预测有重要作用。最后指出将来的研究需要将包括语义记忆成分在内的多种认知测验相结合,以便及早发现有可能发展为痴呆的危险个体并开展相应干预。     

中文句子阅读中语义信息对眼动预视效应的影响

采用句子为阅读材料,变化句子中一个单字词形成语义连贯与语义违背两种实验条件,通过两个眼动实验探讨中文句子阅读中预视效应的产生是否受语义信息的影响。实验一运用自然阅读范式,考察当语义连贯与违背两类信息被读者直接注视时,读者眼动模式的变化。结果发现,在语义连贯与违背两种条件下,读者的眼动模式在目标位置立即产生差异,违背条件下首次注视时间更长,说明中文句子理解中语义加工可以进行得十分即时。实验二运用边界技术,使实验一的语义连贯与违背两类关键字只呈现在预视位置上,当读者的注视点越过边界时,两类预视字均变为另一个与句子意义连贯的目标字。结果发现,语义违背预视条件下,读者对预视位置将进行更长时间的加工。上述结果表明,中文句子阅读过程中,语义信息可以对预视效应产生影响     

汉字词和图片命名与分类的比较

采用命名与分类任务考察了汉字词和图片命名与分类的特点,揭示义符在汉字词和图片命名与分类中的作用。结果表明,汉字词和图片的命名与分类与拼音文字的词和图片的命名和分类既有共性,又有差异。汉字词和图片的命名与分类具有不对称性：汉字词的命名快于汉字词的分类,图片的分类快于图片的命名。义符对于汉字词和图片的命名与分类的影响具有不对称性：对汉字词的加工有重要影响,对图片的加工无影响;对汉字词的分类有重要影响,对汉字词的命名无影响。被试对有标示类别的义符的词的分类显著快于对无标示类别的义符的词的分类,甚至快于对图片的分类。所以如此,与汉字词的结构特点有关。汉字形声字多用义符来标记事物的类别,提供了重要的类别信息。根据上述结果,作者构建了汉字词和图片认知加工的综合模型     

Overweight and cognition

There is a growing concern among health authorities that an increasing number of people in the Western world become overweight and even obese. It is well known that obesity is related to several diseases (e.g., diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure) and that such diseases related to obesity lead to early death. It has also been discussed whether overweight and obesity in themselves or in relation to such diseases lead to cognitive decline. On the basis of data from a large, population‐based, prospective study we examined three cognitive domains: episodic memory, semantic memory, and spatial ability. Two body measures were used to define normal weight and overweight, body‐mass index and waist/hip ratio. Although these two body measures reveal quite different prevalence data of overweight, the associations between overweight and cognition are similar. For episodic memory, overweight interacts with age, but when controlling for hypertension, stroke and diabetes, this interaction disappears. For semantic memory, normal weight participants outperform overweight participants even after controlling for these diseases. For spatial ability, the well‐established advantage for men holds for young‐old and old‐old normal‐weight participants. For overweight participants, this advantage holds for middle‐age participants only. We conclude that there is a weight‐cognition relationship even after controlling for obesity‐related diseases. The results are discussed in terms of possible biological mechanisms.     

义符熟悉性对高频形声字词汇通达的影响

采用启动词汇判断范式,考察义符熟悉性对高频汉字形声字认知的影响。结果表明,义符加工与整字加工存在动态的交互作用。在加工早期,高频汉字形声字的整字语义已经激活,但此时义符的语义并未激活。高熟悉性义符的词形启动比低熟悉性义符早。随着SOA增长,高、低熟悉性义符的语义都出现激活。到了加工晚期,汉字形声字整字的语义激活仍然显著,但义符的语义激活消失,表明字词认知的整合过程已经完成。这一结果支持汉字认知中整字加工和部件加工相结合的观点     

句子背景下缺失音素的中文听觉词理解的音、义激活进程（Ⅰ）

听觉词的语义激活过程是认知心理学和心理语言学的热点问题。近期出现了两种假设：（1）全部通达理论;（2）语义背景依赖假设。采用缺失音素的中文双字词为材料,考察了中文听觉词的语音、语义激活进程。实验1考察了影响缺失音素的中文听觉词语音、语义激活的因素;实验2考察了在听觉词理解初期,词义提取是否存在句子背景效应。结果表明：（1）对缺失音素的中文听觉词识别受听觉词语音和句子语义背景影响;（2）句子语义背景在缺失音素的中文听觉词识别之初就开始发挥作用,并一直影响着中文听觉词的理解。     

A Dissociation between Symbolic Number Knowledge and Analogue Magnitude Information

Semantic understanding of numbers and related concepts can be dissociated from rote knowledge of arithmetic facts. However, distinctions among different kinds of semantic representations related to numbers have not been fully explored. Working with numbers and arithmetic requires representing semantic information that is both analogue (e.g., the approximate magnitude of a number) and symbolic (e.g., what / means). In this article, the authors describe a patient (MC) who exhibits a dissociation between tasks that require symbolic number knowledge (e.g., knowledge of arithmetic symbols including numbers, knowledge of concepts related to numbers such as rounding) and tasks that require an analogue magnitude representation (e.g., comparing size or frequency). MC is impaired on a variety of tasks that require symbolic number knowledge, but her ability to represent and process analogue magnitude information is intact. Her deficit in symbolic number knowledge extends to a variety of concepts related to numbers (e.g., decimal points, Roman numerals, what a quartet is) but not to any other semantic categories that we have tested. These findings suggest that symbolic number knowledge is a functionally independent component of the number processing system, that it is category specific, and that it is anatomically and functionally distinct from magnitude representations.     

学习因素对语义信息加工性质的影响

本研究通过两个行为实验,采用句子核证作业,将SAD技术和范畴学习范式有机地结合起来,对语义信息加工进程以及学习因素在其中的作用进行了考察。实验一研究了熟悉性对语义信息加工的影响。结果表明,高熟悉句的部分信息积累具有离散的趋势;低熟悉句的部分信息积累是连续性的。实验二采用范畴学习。并结合SAD技术的句子核证作业．考察了在学习过程中语义加工性质的变化。结果发现：过度学习比初始学习有更多的部分信息积累,并随信号间隔的延长而逐渐增加;过度学习表现出部分信息积累的离散性变化;初始学习则表现出连续累积的趋势。说明学习确实造成了连续性加工向离散性质的过渡。     

汉语并列式合成词的词汇通达

汉语并列式合成词具有三种类型,这三种类型内部不同的词素组合在心理词典中则需要不同的词汇通达时间。实验结果表明,在对汉语并列式合成词的词汇通达过程中,第一成分并不总是起决定作用;同样,并列式合成词中的两个成分在词汇通达过程中并不总是同等重要。实验证明,语义透明度对并列式合成词的词汇通达起重要作用。实验还发现,在心理词典中对并列式合成词的词汇通达需要一个证实原则。