Tasks and timing in the perception of linguistic anomaly

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the relative timing of syntactic and pragmatic anomaly detection during sentence processing. Experiment 1 was an eye movement study. Experiment 2 employed a dual-task paradigm with compressed speech input, to put the processing routines under time pressure. Experiment 3 used compressed speech input in an anomaly monitoring task. The outcomes of these experiments suggest that there is little or no delay in pragmatic processing relative to syntactic processing in the comprehension of unambiguous sentences. This narrows the possible explanations for any delays that are observed in the use of pragmatic information for ambiguity resolution.The research reported in this paper was supported by Program Project Grant HD-01994 to Haskins Laboratories from the National Institutes of Child and Human Development, and in part by a grant to Stephen Crain and Donald Shankweiler from the University of Connecticut Research Foundation. We thank Jacques Mehler and Gerry Altmann for helpful information about speech compression algorithms. We are especially grateful to Ignatius Mattingly for his generous expert advice on speech compression and design of the experimental materials, and also for recording all the speech stimuli. Julie Boland, Brian McElree, Janet Nicol, and Martin Pickering provided very helpful advice on an earlier draft.     

How the rich get richer: affluence cues at universities increase the social class achievement gap

Social Psychology of Education - Past research on socioeconomic status (SES) and test performance in higher education has highlighted the factors that depress performance among students from...     

Body mass index in female Spanish Olympic athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the Body Mass Index of 180 female Spanish Olympic athletes (M age = 27.1 yr., SD = 5.9 yr.) who participate in presentation sports and nonpresentation sports, in comparison with 114 female nonathletes (M age = 20.7, SD = 1.5 yr.). Presentation sports athletes have a profile similar to that of a university student but by age with a lower Body Mass Index. In particular, rhythmic gymnasts have a lower weight and Body Mass Index than other athletes and nonathletes.     

How consumers respond to the behavior of missing a free gift promotion: inaction inertia effect on products offered as free gifts

Inaction inertia describes the phenomenon that an individual is unlikely to act on an attractive opportunity after having bypassed an even more attractive one. The results of two experiments indicate that after missing an initial opportunity to obtain a product as a free gift during a promotional period, the inaction inertia effect reduces the likelihood of consumers buying the product at a discounted price (second, inferior opportunity), particularly if the free gift has a high regular price. Additionally, according to the results of Experiment 2, those consumers are less likely to buy a product that has been offered previously as a free gift when a greater total quantity of the free gift is offered during a promotional period. Moreover, the mediation analysis results indicate that anticipated regret and valuation significantly impact the mediating role of inaction inertia.     

海峡两岸大学生适应性比较研究——以华南师范大学和彰化师范大学为例

以华南师范大学及彰化师范大学的大学生为被试,抽取大一至大四共440人为预测样本及1493人为正式施测样本,通过探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析编制大学生适应性量表,并通过t检验和单因素方差分析考察两岸大学生适应性情况的差异。结果显示:(1)大学生适应性量表由目标规划、学习趋向、人际关系及环境认同4个维度组成,具有良好的信度与效度;(2)两岸大学生在总体适应性、目标规划、学习趋向及环境认同维度上差异显著;(3)不同专业的两岸大学生适应性差异显著,且校园活动对两岸大学生适应影响显著。     

生命意义的缺失与追寻

生命意义(Meaning in life)指人们对自己生命中的目的、目标的认识和追求,主要包括意义存在(Presence of Meaning)和意义追求(Search for Meaning)两个维度。生命意义缺失(Absence of Meaning)指个体缺乏生活的目标、对自身存在价值和意义感的感知。意义缺失的体验一方面会带来焦虑、抑郁等消极影响,另一方面将激发起个体强烈的重构意义的动机,引导人们进行意义追求。未来研究应增加对生命意义的获取和提升、意义缺失的原因、含义与结构、意义追求的动机和效果的研究。     

Distance perception from motion parallax and ground contact

Meng and Sedgwick (2001, 2002) found that the perceived distance of an object in a stationary scene was determined by the position at which it contacted the ground in the image, or by nested contact relations among intermediate surfaces. Three experiments investigated whether motion parallax would allow observers to determine the distance of a floating object without intermediate contact relations. The displays consisted of one or more computer-generated textured cylinders inserted into a motion picture or still image of an actual 3-D scene. In the motion displays, both the cylinders and the scene translated horizontally. Judged distance for a single cylinder floating above the ground was determined primarily by the location at which the object contacted the ground in the projected image (“optical contact”), but was altered in the direction indicated by motion parallax. When more than one cylinder was present and observers were asked to judge the distance of the top cylinder, judged distance moved closer to that indicated by motion parallax, almost matching that value with three cylinders. These results indicate that judged distance in a dynamic scene is affected both by optical contact and motion parallax, with motion parallax more effective when multiple objects are present.     

Scene layout from ground contact,occlusion, and motion parallax

An important factor in determining perceived scene layout is optical contact between objects and the ground surface (“ground contact”). The relation between ground contact and occlusion was investigated in four experiments with stationary and motion parallax scenes containing a pole that occluded or was occluded by one or more cylinders. Some judgements were inconsistent with occlusion in stationary scenes, but judgements were consistent with occlusion in motion parallax scenes. When the range of object positions consistent with occlusion did not include the positions specified by ground contract or by motion parallax, the ground contact and motion parallax information still had a quantitative effect on the perceived position of the object within the range consistent with occlusion. These results demonstrate a cooperative interaction between ground contact, occlusion, and motion parallax in determining perceived layout in 3-D scenes.     

Social inequality and the reduction of ideological dissonance on behalf of the system: evidence of enhanced system justification among the disadvantaged

According to system justification theory, people are motivated to preserve the belief that existing social arrangements are fair, legitimate, justifiable, and necessary. The strongest form of this hypothesis, which draws on the logic of cognitive dissonance theory, holds that people who are most disadvantaged by the status quo would have the greatest psychological need to reduce ideological dissonance and would therefore be most likely to support, defend, and justify existing social systems, authorities, and outcomes. Variations on this hypothesis were tested in five US national survey studies. We found that (a) low‐income respondents and African Americans were more likely than others to support limitations on the rights of citizens and media representatives to criticize the government; (b) low‐income Latinos were more likely to trust in US government officials and to believe that ‘the government is run for the benefit of all’ than were high‐income Latinos; (c) low‐income respondents were more likely than high‐income respondents to believe that large differences in pay are necessary to foster motivation and effort; (d) Southerners in the USA were more likely to endorse meritocratic belief systems than were Northerners and poor and Southern African Americans were more likely to subscribe to meritocratic ideologies than were African Americans who were more affluent and from the North; (e) low‐income respondents and African Americans were more likely than others to believe that economic inequality is legitimate and necessary; and (f) stronger endorsement of meritocratic ideology was associated with greater satisfaction with one's own economic situation. Taken together, these findings are consistent with the dissonance‐based argument that people who suffer the most from a given state of affairs are paradoxically the least likely to question, challenge, reject, or change it. Implications for theories of system justification, cognitive dissonance, and social change are also discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.