Exposure-based models of human parsing: Evidence for the use of coarse-grained (nonlexical) statistical records

Several current models of human parsing maintain that initial structural decisions are influenced (or tuned) by the listener's or reader's prior contact with language. The precise workings of these models depend upon the grain, or level of detail, at which previous exposures to language are analyzed and used to influence parsing decisions. Some models are premised upon the use of fine-grained records (such as lexical cooccurrence statistics). Others use coarser measures. The present paper considers the viability of models based exclusively on the use of fine-grained lexical records. The results of several studies are reviewed and the evidence suggests that, if they are to account for the data, experience-based parsers must draw upon records or representations that capture statistical regularities beyond the lexical level. This poses problems for several parsing models in the literature.Aspects of this work were supported by ESRC grant No. R0023 4062 to Don Mitchell, by a Spanish Government grant DGICVT No. PB-92-0656-C04-02 to Fernando Cuetos, and by the Belgian National Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, of which Marc Brysbaert is a Research Associate. We are grateful to Chuck Clifton, Barbara Hemforth, Martin Pickering, Matt Traxler, and an anonymous reviewer-all of whom made helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.     

Sources of sexual information and sexual attitudes and behaviors of Anglo and Hispanic adolescent males.

A survey of Anglo and Hispanic adolescent males' sources of sexual information and their attitudes and practices was conducted. A comparison of attitudes and behaviors revealed little difference by ethnicity; however, a more detailed analysis of sources of information resulted in some interesting findings. The relationship between completing a sex education class and condom use was statistically significant in a positive direction. In addition, this relationship was much stronger for Hispanic youth. The important implications of this finding are discussed.     

Personality correlates of heroic rescue during the holocaust

This study investigated the extent to which personality variables can be used to discriminate non-Jewish heroes of the Holocaust from bystanders and from a comparison group of prewar European immigrants who left their countries of origin prior to World War II. Eighty verified rescuers, 73 bystanders, and 43 immigrants were administered measures of locus of control, autonomy, risk taking, social responsibility, tolerance/authoritarianism, empathy, and altruistic moral reasoning. A three-group discriminant function analysis was able to correctly classify 80.2% of the sample by a combination of personality and demographic variables. When the bystanders and immigrants, who differed very little from each other, were grouped together and compared to the rescuers, the personality variables alone correctly classified 93.1% of the sample. Implications regarding the relationship between personality and altruistic behavior, as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Reverse causation in activity-cognitive ability associations: the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Active lifestyles might protect cognitive abilities; however, studies rarely consider the reverse causal direction. Activity-cognition associations might reflect stable intelligence differences rather than a protective effect of activity. The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (n = 1091) completed cognitive tests aged 70, having taken an intelligence test aged 11. Activity (assessed by participation in 15 activities that produced a socio-intellectual activity factor, and by physical activity) was positively associated with cognition (r = .08 to .32, p ≤ .05). When age-11 IQ and adult social class were controlled, only physical activity remained significantly associated with general cognitive ability and processing speed.     

Seeing ahead: Experience and language in spatial perspective

Spatial perspective can be directed by various reference frames, as well as by the direction of motion. In the present study, we explored how ambiguity in spatial tasks can be resolved. Participants were presented with virtual reality environments in order to stimulate a spatialreference frame based on motion. They interacted with an ego-moving spatial system in Experiment 1 and an object-moving spatial system in Experiment 2. While interacting with the virtual environment, the participants were presented with either a question representing a motion system different from that of the virtual environment or a nonspatial question relating to physical features of the virtual environment. They then performed the target task assign the label front in an ambiguous spatial task. The findings indicate that the disambiguation of spatial terms can be influenced by embodied experiences, as represented by the virtual environment, as well as by linguistic context.     

The role of inhibition in the production of disfluencies

Disfluency is a common occurrence in speech and is generally thought to be related to difficulty in the production system. One unexplored issue is the extent to which inhibition is required to prevent incorrect speech plans from being articulated. Therefore, we examined disfluency production in participants with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which is linked to deficits in inhibitory function and response suppression (Nigg, 2001). Participants completed a sentence production task in which they were presented with two pictures and a verb and their task was to produce a sentence. If inhibition plays a role in preventing incorrect speech plans, we would expect ADHD participants to produce more repetition and repair disfluencies than would non-ADHD controls. The results showed that one subtype of ADHD (i.e., the combined) produced more repair disfluencies as task demands increased. We conclude that the production system relies on inhibitory control in order to prevent errors in language production.     

Individual differences in executive functions are almost entirely genetic in origin

Recent psychological and neuropsychological research suggests that executive functions--the cognitive control processes that regulate thought and action--are multifaceted and that different types of executive functions are correlated but separable. The present multivariate twin study of 3 executive functions (inhibiting dominant responses, updating working memory representations, and shifting between task sets), measured as latent variables, examined why people vary in these executive control abilities and why these abilities are correlated but separable from a behavioral genetic perspective. Results indicated that executive functions are correlated because they are influenced by a highly heritable (99%) common factor that goes beyond general intelligence or perceptual speed, and they are separable because of additional genetic influences unique to particular executive functions. This combination of general and specific genetic influences places executive functions among the most heritable psychological traits. These results highlight the potential of genetic approaches for uncovering the biological underpinnings of executive functions and suggest a need for examining multiple types of executive functions to distinguish different levels of genetic influences.     

Common Genetic and Environmental Influences on Major Depressive Disorder and Conduct Disorder

The evidence for common genetic and environmental influences on conduct disorder (CD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents was examined. A sample of 570 monozygotic twin pairs, 592 dizygotic twin pairs, and 426 non-twin siblings, aged 12-18 years, was recruited from the Colorado Twin Registry. For the past year data, there was a significant correlation between the genetic influences on MDD and CD and, for the lifetime data, there was a significant correlation between the genetic influences on MDD and CD, and a significant correlation between the nonshared environmental influences on MDD and CD. Our results suggest that some genetic factors will increase an individual's vulnerability to both MDD and CD in adolescence.     

It's the way that you, er, say it: hesitations in speech affect language comprehension

Everyday speech is littered with disfluency, often correlated with the production of less predictable words (e.g., Beattie & Butterworth [Beattie, G., & Butterworth, B. (1979). Contextual probability and word frequency as determinants of pauses in spontaneous speech. Language and Speech, 22, 201-211.]). But what are the effects of disfluency on listeners? In an ERP experiment which compared fluent to disfluent utterances, we established an N400 effect for unpredictable compared to predictable words. This effect, reflecting the difference in ease of integrating words into their contexts, was reduced in cases where the target words were preceded by a hesitation marked by the word er. Moreover, a subsequent recognition memory test showed that words preceded by disfluency were more likely to be remembered. The study demonstrates that hesitation affects the way in which listeners process spoken language, and that these changes are associated with longer-term consequences for the representation of the message.     

A Couple-Based Psychological Treatment for Chronic Pain and Relationship Distress

Chronic pain impacts individuals with pain as well as their loved ones. Yet, there has been little attention to the social context in individual psychological treatment approaches to chronic pain management. With this need in mind, we developed a couple-based treatment, “Mindful Living and Relating,” aimed at alleviating pain and suffering by promoting couples’ psychological and relational flexibility skills. Currently, there is no integrative treatment that fully harnesses the power of the couple, treating both the individual with chronic pain and the spouse as two individuals who are each in need of developing greater psychological and relational flexibility to improve their own and their partners’ health. Mindfulness, acceptance, and values-based action exercises were used to promote psychological flexibility. The intervention also targets relational flexibility, which we define as the ability to interact with one’s partner, fully attending to the present moment, and responding empathically in a way that serves one’s own and one’s partner’s values. To this end, the intervention also included exercises aimed at applying psychological flexibility skills to social interactions as well as emotional disclosure and empathic responding exercises to enhance relational flexibility. The case presented demonstrates that healthy coping with pain and stress may be most successful and sustainable when one is involved in a supportive relationship with someone who also practices psychological flexibility skills and when both partners use relational flexibility skills during their interactions.