越难读意味着学得越好?学习过程中的不流畅效应

教育心理学领域的不流畅效应认为,学习难读材料要比学习易读材料的效果更好。已有研究主要通过操纵学习材料中的文本、画面或声音属性考察知觉流畅性在学习过程中的作用,并发现不流畅材料可能有助于缓解过度自信现象,但不一定能提高学习效果,不流畅效应的稳健性受到质疑。合理难度理论与不流畅理论均认为,知觉不流畅所引发的额外认知负荷促进了学习;相反,认知负荷理论认为这种额外认知负荷会阻碍学习。对现有研究进行元分析,结果表明,知觉不流畅既降低了学习判断的自信心(d=-0.54),也不利于提高学习效果(d=-0.36),一定程度上支持认知负荷理论。未来研究需关注知觉流畅性本身的操纵、界限及系统性评定,并探讨不流畅效应的边界条件等。     

Inhibitory control and the speech patterns of second language users

Inhibitory control (IC), an ability to suppress irrelevant and/or conflicting information, has been found to underlie performance on a variety of cognitive tasks, including bilingual language processing. This study examines the relationship between IC and the speech patterns of second language (L2) users from the perspective of individual differences. While the majority of studies have supported the role of IC in bilingual language processing using single‐word production paradigms, this work looks at inhibitory processes in the context of extended speech, with a particular emphasis on disfluencies. We hypothesized that the speech of individuals with poorer IC would be characterized by reduced fluency. A series of regression analyses, in which we controlled for age and L2 proficiency, revealed that IC (in terms of accuracy on the Stroop task) could reliably predict the occurrence of reformulations and the frequency and duration of silent pauses in L2 speech. No statistically significant relationship was found between IC and other L2 spoken output measures, such as repetitions, filled pauses, and performance errors. Conclusions focus on IC as one out of a number of cognitive functions in the service of spoken language production. A more qualitative approach towards the question of whether L2 speakers rely on IC is advocated.     

Disfluencies signal theee,um, new information

Speakers are often disfluent, for example, saying theee uh candle instead of the candle. Production data show that disfluencies occur more often during references to things that are discourse-new, rather than given. An eyetracking experiment shows that this correlation between disfluency and discourse status affects speech comprehension. Subjects viewed scenes containing four objects, including two cohort competitors (e.g., camel, candle), and followed spoken instructions to move the objects. The first instruction established one cohort as discourse-given; the other was discourse-new. The second instruction was either fluent or disfluent, and referred to either the given or new cohort. Fluent instructions led to more initial fixations on the given cohort object (replicating Dahan et al., 2002). By contrast, disfluent instructions resulted in more fixations on the new cohort. This shows that discourse-new information can be accessible under some circumstances. More generally, it suggests that disfluency affects core language comprehension processes.