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Laurence PG, Bassetto SA, Bertolino NP, Barros MSCVO, Macedo EC. Differences in scanpath pattern and verbal working memory predicts efficient reading in the Cloze gap-filling test. Cogn Process 2024:10.1007/s10339-024-01189-x. [PMID: 38613720 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-024-01189-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/15/2024]
Abstract
Different tests measure text comprehension, including the cloze gap-filling test, often used for language learning. Different studies hypothesized cognitive strategies in this type of test and their relationship with working memory and performance. However, no study investigated the cloze test, working memory, and possible cognitive strategies, while performing the test. Therefore, this study aimed to identify cognitive visual strategies in the cloze test by applying an unsupervised algorithm and to analyze the relationship between these strategies with working memory and performance in the cloze test. Our sample consisted of 51 university students, the largest sample in studies of cognitive strategies with cloze tests. Participants answered an 11-item cloze test in a computer with eye-tracking, a verbal working memory test, and a visuospatial working memory test. Our analysis of participants' scanpath identified two main strategies: one with fewer toggles between text and word bank and fewer fixations than the other one, indicating the existence of a global strategy. Furthermore, a model predicting the efficiency of participants in the cloze test found that item complexity, using a global strategy, and higher scores of working memory were the most significant predictors. These results confirm the hypothesis of a global strategy being related to successfully achieving higher-order reading processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paulo G Laurence
- Human Developmental Sciences Graduate Program, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, Brazil.
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Rua Piaui, No 181, 10th Floor, São Paulo, 01241-001, Brazil.
| | - Stella A Bassetto
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Rua Piaui, No 181, 10th Floor, São Paulo, 01241-001, Brazil
| | - Natalia P Bertolino
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Rua Piaui, No 181, 10th Floor, São Paulo, 01241-001, Brazil
| | - Mayara S C V O Barros
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Rua Piaui, No 181, 10th Floor, São Paulo, 01241-001, Brazil
| | - Elizeu C Macedo
- Human Developmental Sciences Graduate Program, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, Brazil
- Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Center for Health and Biological Sciences, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, Rua Piaui, No 181, 10th Floor, São Paulo, 01241-001, Brazil
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Hildenbrand L, Sarmento D, Griffin TD, Wiley J. Conceptual overlap among texts impedes comprehension monitoring. Psychon Bull Rev 2024; 31:750-760. [PMID: 37715059 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02349-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/17/2023]
Abstract
For decades, research on metacomprehension has demonstrated that many learners struggle to accurately discriminate their comprehension of texts. However, while reviews of experimental studies on relative metacomprehension accuracy have found average intra-individual correlations between predictions and performance of around .27 for adult readers, in some contexts even lower near-zero accuracy levels have been reported. One possible explanation for those strikingly low levels of accuracy is the high conceptual overlap between topics of the texts. To test this hypothesis, in the present work participants were randomly assigned to read one of two text sets that differed in their degree of conceptual overlap. Participants judged their understanding and completed an inference test for each topic. Across two studies, mean relative accuracy was found to match typical baseline levels for the low-overlap text sets and was significantly lower for the high-overlap text sets. Results suggest text similarity is an important factor impacting comprehension monitoring accuracy that may have contributed to the variable and sometimes inconsistent results reported in the metacomprehension literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Hildenbrand
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 W Harrison St, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA.
| | - David Sarmento
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 W Harrison St, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA
| | - Thomas D Griffin
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 W Harrison St, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA
| | - Jennifer Wiley
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 W Harrison St, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA
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Vargas C, Altamura L, Blanco-Gandía MC, Gil L, Mañá A, Montagud S, Salmerón L. Print and digital reading habits and comprehension in children with and without special education needs. Res Dev Disabil 2024; 146:104675. [PMID: 38266354 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 12/16/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Text comprehension is a major obstacle for many Primary school students with special education needs (SEN). Reading episodes bring students opportunities to be exposed to new vocabulary and knowledge, potentially boosting their development of text comprehension skills. AIMS Our study seeks to understand how reading frequency (leisure and academic) and reading medium (print and digital) contribute to the development of text comprehension during Primary school in students with and without SEN. METHODS AND PROCEDURES We tested 2289 Spanish students from fourth to sixth grade, from which 212 had an official decision of SEN. Students self-reported their reading frequency (as a measure of their reading habits) and completed a standardized text comprehension test. We employed multiple regression models with a robust maximum likelihood estimator to test associations between reading frequency and comprehension. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS Students' comprehension was positively associated with their leisure print reading habits, and negatively associated with their frequency of academic digital reading. Those associations were independent of SEN status. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Results highlight the importance of promoting leisure reading in print to all students, regardless of SEN status. In addition, caution is advised when encouraging Primary school children to use digital texts when the emphasis is on comprehending texts for acquiring knowledge.
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Deb P, Basu A. The Role of Verbal Fluency as a Variable in Reading and Comprehension Skills in Bengali. J Psycholinguist Res 2024; 53:11. [PMID: 38319444 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-024-10037-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
The study explored the role of verbal fluency in determining reading and comprehension skills in Bengali among 10-year old typically developing Bengali children. Robust correlations were found between semantic fluency and word reading (0.63) as well as semantic fluency and comprehension (0.70). Good correlation was found between letter fluency and comprehension (0.49), and, word reading and comprehension (0.62). The findings suggest that good word storing capacity and executive functions led to enhanced automaticity of retrieval and verbal fluency, which together with improved orthographic and phonological processing led to good word reading scores, contributing to lesser cognitive load thereby easing out the complex text comprehension task. Transcending narrow empirical base of reading theories derived from Western writing typologies delimited to orthographic depth and psycholinguistic grain size, the study contends that verbal fluency is another interesting variable determining the reading and comprehension skills in Bengali along with visuo-spatial complexity and complex phonology-orthography inconsistencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paromita Deb
- Centre for Educational Technology, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, West Bengal, India.
| | - Anupam Basu
- NIT Durgapur, Durgapur, West Bengal, India
- Computer Science Department, IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, West Bengal, India
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Steindorf L, Pink S, Rummel J, Smallwood J. When there is noise on Sherlock Holmes: mind wandering increases with perceptual processing difficulty during reading and listening. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2023; 8:31. [PMID: 37227554 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-023-00483-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigated whether increased perceptual processing difficulty during reading or listening to a Sherlock Holmes novella impacts mind wandering as well as text comprehension. We presented 175 participants with a novella in either a visual or an auditory presentation format and probed their thoughts and motivational states from time to time during reading/listening. For half of the participants in each presentation-format condition (visual or auditory), the story was superimposed by Gaussian noise. For both presentation formats, the participants who were exposed to noise while processing the story mind-wandered more and performed worse in a later comprehension test than the participants who processed the story without added noise. These negative effects of increased perceptual processing difficulty on task focus and comprehension were partly driven by motivational factors: reading/listening motivation mediated the relationship between perceptual processing difficulty and mind wandering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Steindorf
- Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Hauptstrasse 47-51, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Sebastian Pink
- Mannheim Centre for European Social Research, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Jan Rummel
- Department of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Hauptstrasse 47-51, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany
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Westbury C, Harati P. Is theology more of a field than a father is a king? Modelling semantic relatedness in processing literal and metaphorical statements. Psychon Bull Rev 2022. [PMID: 35318579 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02072-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
One major question in the study of metaphors historically is: Are different mechanisms involved in the comprehension of figurative statements versus literal statements? Many studies have addressed this question from a variety of perspectives, with mixed results. Following Harati, Westbury, and Kiaee (Behavior Research Methods, 53, 2214-2225, 2021), we use a computational (word embedding) model of semantics to approach the question in a way that allows for the quantification of the semantic relationship between the two keywords in literal and metaphorical “x is a y” statements. We first demonstrate that almost all literal statements (95.2% of 582 statements we considered) have very high relatedness values. We then show that literality decisions are slower for literal statements with low relatedness and metaphorical statements with high relatedness. We find a similar but smaller effect attributable to the cosine of the vectors representing the two keywords. The fact that the same measurable characteristics allow us to predict which metaphors or literal sentences will have the slowest literality decision times suggests that the same processes underlie the comprehension of both literal and metaphorical statements.
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Wannagat W, Waizenegger G, Nieding G. Coherence formation during narrative text processing: a comparison between auditory and audiovisual text presentation in 9- to 12-year-old children. Cogn Process 2021; 22:299-310. [PMID: 33404902 PMCID: PMC8179903 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-020-01008-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2020] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In an experiment with 114 children aged 9-12 years, we compared the ability to establish local and global coherence of narrative texts between auditory and audiovisual (auditory text and pictures) presentation. The participants listened to a series of short narrative texts, in each of which a protagonist pursued a goal. Following each text, we collected the response time to a query word that was either associated with a near or a distant causal antecedent of the final sentence. Analysis of these response times indicated that audiovisual presentation has advantages over auditory presentation for accessing information relevant for establishing both local and global coherence, but there are indications that this effect may be slightly more pronounced for global coherence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wienke Wannagat
- Department of Psychology, Developmental Psychology, University of Würzburg, Röntgenring 10, 97070 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Gesine Waizenegger
- Department of Psychology, Developmental Psychology, University of Würzburg, Röntgenring 10, 97070 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Gerhild Nieding
- Department of Psychology, Developmental Psychology, University of Würzburg, Röntgenring 10, 97070 Würzburg, Germany
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Buehler FJ, van Loon MH, Bayard NS, Steiner M, Roebers CM. Comparing metacognitive monitoring between native and non-native speaking primary school students. Metacogn Learn 2021; 16:749-768. [PMID: 34867119 PMCID: PMC8616870 DOI: 10.1007/s11409-021-09261-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Metacognitive monitoring is a significant predictor of academic achievement and is assumed to be related to language competencies. Hence, it may explain academic performance differences between native and non-native speaking students. We compared metacognitive monitoring (in terms of resolution) between native and non-native speaking fourth graders (~ 10 year olds) in two studies. In Study 1, we matched 30 native and 30 non-native speakers and assessed their monitoring in the context of a paired-associates task, including a recognition test and confidence judgements. Study 1 revealed that recognition and monitoring did not differ between native and non-native speaking children. In Study 2, we matched 36 native and 36 non-native speakers and assessed their monitoring with the same paired-associates task. Additionally, we included a text comprehension task with open-ended questions and confidence judgments. We replicated the findings of Study 1, suggesting that recognition and monitoring do not necessarily differ between native and non-native speakers. However, native speaking students answered more open-ended questions correctly than non-native speaking students did. Nevertheless, the two groups did not differ in monitoring their answers to open-ended questions. Our results indicate that native and non-native speaking children may monitor their metacognitive resolution equally, independent of task performance and characteristics. In conclusion, metacognitive monitoring deficits may not be the primary source of the academic performance differences between native and non-native speaking students.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian J. Buehler
- Institute of Psychology, Department for Developmental Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Mariëtte H. van Loon
- Institute of Psychology, Department for Developmental Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Natalie S. Bayard
- Institute of Psychology, Department for Developmental Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Martina Steiner
- Institute of Psychology, Department for Developmental Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
| | - Claudia M. Roebers
- Institute of Psychology, Department for Developmental Psychology, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
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Hausser LP, Bugaud A, Noblet V, de Sousa PL, Botzung A, Blanc F, Bernard FA. The hippocampal region is necessary for text comprehension and memorization: a combined VBM/DTI study in neuropsychological patients. Brain Imaging Behav 2021. [PMID: 33415514 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-020-00432-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
According to the Construction-Integration model (Kintsch 1988; Kintsch 1998), two forms of representation are activated during the reading and the comprehension of a text: 1) the text base, which includes semantic propositions and 2) the situation model, corresponding to the integration of the information contained in the text to the memories and knowledge of the reader. Functional neuroimaging studies in healthy subjects have shown that the text base is underpinned by frontal regions and lateral temporal regions whereas the situation model would rather depend on the posterior cingulate cortex, the precuneus and other regions depending on the dimension studied. However, the brain regions highlighted so far were only involved in comprehension and not necessary for this cognitive ability. For the first time, we explored the brain structures necessary to understand texts using a combined VBM/DTI approach in neuropsychological patients with whom we obtained comprehension scores (text base and situation model) after the reading of narrative texts. To our great surprise and contrary to our hypotheses, which were based on the results of functional neuroimaging studies, our own results show that it is the hippocampal region that is necessary to activate and memorize/remember the text base and the situation model. The highlighting of a link between the integrity of a portion of the uncinate fasciculus which is well known to play a role in semantic processing and the performance scores of the text base suggests that the hippocampal region is necessary not only for the retrieval of the text base and of the situation model thanks to episodic memory, but also for the activation of the text base during the reading and the comprehension of a text.
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Saux G, Vibert N, Dampuré J, Burin DI, Britt MA, Rouet JF. From simple agents to information sources: Readers' differential processing of story characters as a function of story consistency. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2021; 212:103191. [PMID: 33147538 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2020] [Revised: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 10/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The study examined how readers integrate information from and about multiple information sources into a memory representation. In two experiments, college students read brief news reports containing two critical statements, each attributed to a source character. In half of the texts, the statements were consistent with each other, in the other half they were discrepant. Each story also featured a non-source character (who made no statement). The hypothesis was that discrepant statements, as compared to consistent statements, would promote distinct attention and memory only for the source characters. Experiment 1 used short interviews to assess participants' ability to recognize the source of one of the statements after reading. Experiment 2 used eye-tracking to collect data during reading and during a source-content recognition task after reading. As predicted, discrepancies only enhanced memory of, and attention to source-related segments of the texts. Discrepancies also enhanced the link between the two source characters in memory as opposed to the non-source character, as indicated by the participants' justifications (Experiment 1) and their visual inspection of the recognition items (Experiment 2). The results are interpreted within current theories of text comprehension and document literacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaston Saux
- Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina - National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Av. Alicia Moreau de Justo 1500, Edif. San José, 2do piso (1107), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Nicolas Vibert
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage, CNRS, Université de Poitiers, Université de Tours, MSHS - Bâtiment A5, 5, rue Théodore Lefebvre, TSA 21103, 86073 Poitiers cedex 9, France
| | - Julien Dampuré
- University of La Laguna - University of La Sabana, Facultad de Psicología, Campus del Puente Común, Km. 7 Autopista Norte de Bogotá, Chía, Cundinamarca, Colombia
| | - Debora I Burin
- University of Buenos Aires - National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Lavalle 2353 (1052), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - M Anne Britt
- Northern Illinois University, office 363, 100 Normal Rd. DeKalb, IL 60115, USA
| | - Jean-François Rouet
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage, CNRS, Université de Poitiers, Université de Tours, MSHS - Bâtiment A5, 5, rue Théodore Lefebvre, TSA 21103, 86073 Poitiers cedex 9, France
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Abstract
Validation of text information as a general mechanism for detecting inconsistent or false information is an integral part of text comprehension. This study examined how the credibility of the information source affects validation processes. Two experiments investigated combined effects of source credibility and plausibility of information during validation with explicit (ratings) and implicit (reading times) measurements. Participants read short stories with a high-credible versus low-credible person that stated a consistent or inconsistent assertion with general world knowledge. Ratings of plausibility and ratings of source credibility were lower when a credible source stated a world-knowledge inconsistent assertion compared with a low-credible source. Reading times on target sentences and on spillover sentences were slower when a credible source stated an assertion inconsistent with world knowledge compared with a low-credible source, suggesting that source information modulated the validation of implausible information. These results show that source credibility modulates validation and suggest a bidirectional relationship of perceived plausibility and source credibility in the reading process.
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Pérez A, Schmidt E, Kourtzi Z, Tsimpli I. Multimodal semantic revision during inferential processing: The role of inhibitory control in text and picture comprehension. Neuropsychologia 2020; 138:107313. [PMID: 31904356 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2019] [Revised: 12/08/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Although language comprehension usually requires multimodal information, no study to date has investigated how comprehenders deal with the revision of a text's interpretation when different modalities are involved. Twenty-four young adults listened to a story prompting an inference (e.g., polar bear), and then saw a picture that was either consistent (polar bear) or inconsistent but still plausible (penguin). Larger negativity (N400) in the inconsistent picture indicated successful inferential monitoring. Subsequently, a sentence carried the disambiguating word which was either expected ("bear") or unexpected ("penguin") in relation to the auditory-verbal information. Larger negativity in the unexpected word coming from the consistent picture suggested that comprehenders had difficulties selecting the unexpected concept when previous information was contradictory. More importantly, this effect was modulated by inhibitory control, where a higher resistance to distractor interference (flanker task) was associated with a better ability to suppress pictorial information, therefore preventing semantic competition. Similarly, accuracy measured in a final comprehension question demonstrated that higher inhibitory control was related to a more efficient ability to revise the situation model across modalities. Our findings speak to a relationship between story comprehension and mental flexibility during multimodal processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Pérez
- Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, UK; Dept. of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Spain.
| | - E Schmidt
- Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, UK; Cambridge Assessment English, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Z Kourtzi
- Dept. of Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - I Tsimpli
- Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, UK
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Dar R, Eden T, van Dongen M, Hauschildt M, Liberman N. Obsessive-compulsive tendencies predict seeking proxies for understanding. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2019; 64:87-91. [PMID: 30877850 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2019.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2018] [Revised: 12/16/2018] [Accepted: 03/05/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The Seeking Proxies for Internal States (SPIS) model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) postulates that obsessive-compulsive (OC) individuals have reduced access to their internal states and must therefore seek and rely on external proxies for these states. The present study extended this hypothesis to the feeling of understanding, which had not been examined previously in relation to OCD. METHODS We presented 148 participants with a computerized task requiring them to read and understand a text on medieval architecture. Participants were randomly assigned to an ongoing feedback condition (comprehension quiz and answers provided after each text segment) or no-feedback condition (quiz and answers provided only at the end). Throughout, participants were offered proxies in the form of "learning aids," which were unrelated to text comprehension. Participants were divided to high vs. low OC tendencies based on a median split on a measure of OCD symptoms. RESULTS As predicted, lacking feedback on understanding was associated with higher use of proxies and high OC participants used more proxies than low OC participants in the no-feedback condition. Actual understanding, as assessed by comprehension scores, was unrelated to OC tendencies. LIMITATIONS Among other limitations discussed in the article, our results were obtained on a non-selected sample of students varying on OC tendencies. It would be important to replicate these findings with diagnosed OCD participants as compared to both non-clinical and anxiety disorders control participants. CONCLUSIONS These findings extend the SPIS model to the domain of understanding and may have important clinical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reuven Dar
- Tel Aviv University, School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.
| | - Tal Eden
- Tel Aviv University, School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.
| | - Michal van Dongen
- Tel Aviv University, School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.
| | - Marit Hauschildt
- Tel Aviv University, School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.
| | - Nira Liberman
- Tel Aviv University, School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.
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Schotter ER, Leinenger M, von der Malsburg T. When your mind skips what your eyes fixate: How forced fixations lead to comprehension illusions in reading. Psychon Bull Rev 2018; 25:1884-90. [PMID: 28766185 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-017-1356-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The phenomenon of forced fixations suggests that readers sometimes fixate a word (due to oculomotor constraints) even though they intended to skip it (due to parafoveal cognitive-linguistic processing). We investigate whether this leads readers to look directly at a word but not pay attention to it. We used a gaze-contingent boundary paradigm to dissociate parafoveal and foveal information (e.g., the word phone changed to scarf once the reader's eyes moved to it) and asked questions about the sentence to determine which one the reader encoded. When the word was skipped or fixated only briefly (i.e., up to 100 ms) readers were more likely to report reading the parafoveal than the fixated word, suggesting that there are cases in which readers look directly at a word but their minds ignore it, leading to the illusion of reading something they did not fixate.
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Bagnoud J, Burra N, Castel C, Oakhill J, Thevenot C. Arithmetic word problems describing discrete quantities: E.E.G evidence for the construction of a situation model. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2018; 190:116-121. [PMID: 30071358 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2017] [Revised: 06/01/2018] [Accepted: 07/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In this research, university students were asked to solve arithmetic word problems constructed either with discrete quantities, such as apples or marbles, or continuous quantities such as meters of rope or grams of sand. An analysis of their brain activity showed different alpha levels between the two types of problems with, in particular, a lower alpha power in the parieto-occipital area for problems describing discrete quantities. This suggests that processing discrete quantities during problem solving prompts more mental imagery than processing continuous quantities. These results are difficult to reconcile with the schema theory, according to which arithmetic problem solving depends on the activation of ready-made mental frames stored in long-term memory and triggered by the mathematical expression used in the texts. Within the schema framework, the nature of the objects described in the text should be quickly abstracted during problem solving because it cannot impact the semantic structure of the problem. On the contrary, our results support the situation model theory, which places greater emphasis on the problem context in order to account for individuals' behaviour. On a more methodological point of view, this study constitutes the first attempt to infer the characteristics of individual's mental representations of arithmetic text problems from EEG recordings. This opens the door for the application of brain activity measures in the field of arithmetic word problem.
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Abstract
Readers generate situation models representing described events, but the nature of these representations may differ depending on the reading goals. We assessed whether instructions to pay attention to different situational dimensions affect how individuals structure their situation models (Exp. 1) and how they update these models when situations change (Exp. 2). In Experiment 1, participants read and segmented narrative texts into events. Some readers were oriented to pay specific attention to characters or space. Sentences containing character or spatial-location changes were perceived as event boundaries-particularly if the reader was oriented to characters or space, respectively. In Experiment 2, participants read narratives and responded to recognition probes throughout the texts. Readers who were oriented to the spatial dimension were more likely to update their situation models at spatial changes; all readers tracked the character dimension. The results from both experiments indicated that attention to individual situational dimensions influences how readers segment and update their situation models. More broadly, the results provide evidence for a global situation model updating mechanism that serves to set up new models at important narrative changes.
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Wannagat W, Waizenegger G, Nieding G. Multi-level mental representations of written, auditory, and audiovisual text in children and adults. Cogn Process 2017; 18:491-504. [PMID: 28593440 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-017-0820-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2016] [Accepted: 05/31/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
We examined whether the comprehension of narrative texts differed between auditory, audiovisual, and written text presentations in a sample of 8- and 10-year-olds and adults. Based on multi-level theories of text comprehension that assume text comprehension to involve at least three levels of mental representation, we applied a sentence recognition task that enabled the separate assessment of the memory of the text surface, text base, and the situation model. Results indicate that 8-year-olds benefit from audiovisual and auditory text presentations in comparison with written text presentations in terms of their memory of situation model information. For 10-year-olds and adults, their text comprehension did not differ between audiovisual, auditory, and written text presentations. Additionally, the mode of text presentation had no effect on the memory of text surface and text base information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wienke Wannagat
- Department of Psychology (Developmental Psychology), University of Würzburg, Röntgenring 10, 97070, Würzburg, Germany.
| | - Gesine Waizenegger
- Department of Psychology (Developmental Psychology), University of Würzburg, Röntgenring 10, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Gerhild Nieding
- Department of Psychology (Developmental Psychology), University of Würzburg, Röntgenring 10, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
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Veldre A, Andrews S. Parafoveal preview benefit in sentence reading: Independent effects of plausibility and orthographic relatedness. Psychon Bull Rev 2017; 24:519-28. [PMID: 27418260 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-016-1120-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recent evidence from studies using the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm has suggested that parafoveal preview benefit is contingent on the fit between a preview word and the sentence context. We investigated whether this plausibility preview benefit is modulated by preview-target orthographic relatedness. Participants' eye movements were recorded as they read sentences in which the parafoveal preview of a target word was manipulated. The nonidentical previews were plausible or implausible continuations of the sentence and were either orthographic neighbors of the target or unrelated to the target. All first-pass reading measures showed strong plausibility preview benefits. There was also a benefit from preview-target orthographic relatedness across the reading measures. These two preview effects did not interact for any fixation measure. We also found no evidence that the relatedness effect was caused by misperception of an orthographically similar preview as the target word. These data highlight the existence of two independent mechanisms underlying preview effects: a benefit from the contextual fit of the preview word in the sentence, and a benefit from the sublexical overlap between the preview and target words.
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Barajas C, González-Cuenca AM, Carrero F. Comprehension of texts by deaf elementary school students: The role of grammatical understanding. Res Dev Disabil 2016; 59:8-23. [PMID: 27490963 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2016.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2016] [Revised: 07/11/2016] [Accepted: 07/11/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to analyze how the reading process of deaf Spanish elementary school students is affected both by those components that explain reading comprehension according to the Simple View of Reading model: decoding and linguistic comprehension (both lexical and grammatical) and by other variables that are external to the reading process: the type of assistive technology used, the age at which it is implanted or fitted, the participant's socioeconomic status and school stage. DESIGN Forty-seven students aged between 6 and 13 years participated in the study; all presented with profound or severe prelingual bilateral deafness, and all used digital hearing aids or cochlear implants. Students' text comprehension skills, decoding skills and oral comprehension skills (both lexical and grammatical) were evaluated. RESULTS Logistic regression analysis indicated that neither the type of assistive technology, age at time of fitting or activation, socioeconomic status, nor school stage could predict the presence or absence of difficulties in text comprehension. Furthermore, logistic regression analysis indicated that neither decoding skills, nor lexical age could predict competency in text comprehension; however, grammatical age could explain 41% of the variance. Probing deeper into the effect of grammatical understanding, logistic regression analysis indicated that a participant's understanding of reversible passive object-verb-subject sentences and reversible predicative subject-verb-object sentences accounted for 38% of the variance in text comprehension. CONCLUSIONS Based on these results, we suggest that it might be beneficial to devise and evaluate interventions that focus specifically on grammatical comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmen Barajas
- Universidad de Málaga, Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Campus de Teatinos, 29071, Málaga, Spain.
| | - Antonia M González-Cuenca
- Universidad de Málaga, Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Campus de Teatinos, 29071, Málaga, Spain.
| | - Francisco Carrero
- Universidad de Málaga, Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Campus de Teatinos, 29071, Málaga, Spain.
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Tavares G, Fajardo I, Ávila V, Salmerón L, Ferrer A. Who do you refer to? How young students with mild intellectual disability confront anaphoric ambiguities in texts and sentences. Res Dev Disabil 2015; 38:108-124. [PMID: 25556895 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.12.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2014] [Revised: 12/07/2014] [Accepted: 12/09/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Along 2 experiments we tested the anaphoric pronoun resolution abilities of readers with intellectual disability in comparison with chronological and reading age-matched groups. In Experiment 1, the anaphor test of Elosúa, Carriedo, and García-Madruga (2009) confirmed that readers with intellectual disability (ID) are slower than control readers resolving clitic anaphoric pronouns, especially when the use of morphological cues (e.g. gender) is necessary. In order to test if the poor performance could be due to low levels of metacognitive skills during reading, an inconsistency detection task combined with eye tracking was designed in Experiment 2. Participants read short texts with an anaphoric pronoun in the fifth sentence, either morphologically (gender) consistent or not with the information provided in the second sentence. The scores in the anaphor comprehension questions presented after the text confirmed that readers with ID are affected by the gender inconsistency but they are unable to explicitly report it and recover from it, as the number of re-fixations after reading the critical sentence suggests. As their answers to the explicit detection questions showed, the adults control group did not show any preference for morphosyntax or semantics in spite of being aware of the inconsistency. In sum, both groups of readers with and without ID are affected by inconsistencies, but ID readers do not have appropriate metacognitive skills to explicitly identify the source of the inconsistency and fix it.
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Bos LT, de Koning BB, van Wesel F, Boonstra AM, van der Schoot M. What can measures of text comprehension tell us about creative text production? Read Writ 2015; 28:829-849. [PMID: 26005289 PMCID: PMC4438258 DOI: 10.1007/s11145-015-9551-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Evidence is accumulating that the level of text comprehension is dependent on the situatedness and sensory richness of a child's mental representation formed during reading. This study investigated whether these factors involved in text comprehension also serve a functional role in writing a narrative. Direct influences of situatedness and sensory richness as well as indirect influences via the number of sensory and situational words on the creativity (i.e., originality/novelty) of a written narrative were examined in 165 primary school children through path analyses. Results showed that sensory richness and situatedness explained 35 % of the variance in creativity scores. Sensory richness influenced the originality/novelty of children's narrative writing directly, whereas situatedness had an indirect influence, through the number of sensory words, but both pathways influenced the outcomes to a comparable extent. Findings suggest that creative writing requires similar representational processes as reading comprehension, which may contribute to the development of instructional methods to help children in creative writing assignments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisanne T. Bos
- Department of Educational Neuroscience and LEARN! Research Institute for Learning and Education, Faculty of Psychology and Education, VU University Amsterdam, van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Björn B. de Koning
- Department of Educational Neuroscience and LEARN! Research Institute for Learning and Education, Faculty of Psychology and Education, VU University Amsterdam, van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Floryt van Wesel
- Department of Educational Neuroscience and LEARN! Research Institute for Learning and Education, Faculty of Psychology and Education, VU University Amsterdam, van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - A. Marije Boonstra
- Unit Contract Research, Department of Research and Innovation, CED-Groep. Educative Services, Dwerggras 30, 3068 PC Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Menno van der Schoot
- Department of Educational Neuroscience and LEARN! Research Institute for Learning and Education, Faculty of Psychology and Education, VU University Amsterdam, van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Stafura JZ, Perfetti CA. Word-to-text integration: Message level and lexical level influences in ERPs. Neuropsychologia 2014; 64:41-53. [PMID: 25234645 PMCID: PMC4362931 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2013] [Revised: 08/07/2014] [Accepted: 09/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Although the reading of connected text proceeds in a largely incremental fashion, the relative degree to which message level and lexical level factors contribute to integration processes across sentences remains an open question. We examined the influence of both factors on single words using event-related potentials (ERPs). Word pairs with either strong or weak forward association strength were critical items: embedded as coreferential words within two-sentence passages in a text comprehension task, and as isolated word pairs in a word meaning judgment task. While the N400 ERP component reflected an effect of forward association strength on lexico-semantic processing in the word task (i.e., reduced N400 amplitudes were seen for strongly associated pairs relative to weakly associated pairs), in the comprehension task, passages embedded with any associated word pairs elicited reduced N400 amplitudes relative to coherent baseline passages lacking one of the critical words. These comprehension effects reflect responses from the highest skilled comprehenders. The results demonstrate the effects of message level factors, and reading abilities, on the processing of single words.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Z Stafura
- Department of Psychology Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, 3939 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States; Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
| | - Charles A Perfetti
- Department of Psychology Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, 3939 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, United States; Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
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