3.5 - Memory for Sentences Flashcards
What did Fillenbaum want to learn in his 1966 window sentence comprehension experiment?
(2)
If subjects made similar mistakes
If certain transformations stored but not others?
What was Fillenbaum’s 1966 window sentence comprehension experiment?
Subjects given sentences such as “the window is not closed”
Subjects then asked if that had seen one of the following sentences:
“The window is closed”
“The window is not open”
“The window is open”
What did Fillenbaum find out in his 1966 window sentence comprehension experiment?
That the subjects made errors that were the closest to the meaning of the original sentence
In Sachs’ 1967 experiment, he had subjects listen to a passage about _____.
Galileo
In Sachs’ Galileo 1967 experiment, after the subjects had listened to the passage he tested them on ______.
Sentence wording and meaning
How long was the delay between the passage and the test in Sachs’ Galileo 1967 experiment?
Between 0-160 syllables
How were the sentences altered in Sachs’ Galileo 1967 experiment?
Surface change (He sent Galileo, the great Italian scientist, a letter about it.)
Semantic change (Galileo, the great Italian scientist, sent him a letter about it.)
Passive change (A letter about it was sent to Galileo, the great Italian scientist.)
No Change (He sent a letter about it to Galileo, the great Italian scientist.)
Under what conditions did the subjects perform best in Sachs’ Galileo 1967 experiment? What did this prove?
When tested immediately afterward. Performance declined after a short delay
Memory for sentences declines over time
How did subjects perform in recognizing the sentences with Surface Changes in Sachs’ Galileo 1967 experiment?
Rejected them when there was no delay
Accuracy declined the longer the delay
How did subjects perform in recognizing the sentences with Passive/Active Changes in Sachs’ Galileo 1967 experiment?
Rejected them when there was no delay
Accuracy declined the longer the delay
How did subjects perform in recognizing the sentences with Semantic Changes in Sachs’ 1967 Galileo experiment? What did this prove?
Rejected them when there was no delay
Continued to reject them even with a significant delay
Our semantic (“meaning”) memory does not decline
What did Sachs’ Galileo 1967 experiment prove?
Study shows that we store the meaning (the gist) of sentences, not the exact words
What is Elaboration?
Enriching the memory of new information by relating it to LTM
Can we elaborating by inference? How does this relate to LTM?
Yes. We make inferences when understanding events
The inferences are integrated into our LTM so later on, it’s hard for us to tell what was presented versus what was inferred
What was Johnson et al’s 1973 birdhouse experiment?
Subjects given sentences such as: “John was trying to fix the birdhouse. He was looking for the nail when his father came out to watch and help him do the work.”
Later, they were given a memory test using modified sentences: “John was using the HAMMER to fix the birdhouse when his father came out to watch him and help him do the work.”
In Johnson et al’s 1973 birdhouse experiment, how did subjects perform on the memory test?
People made memory errors based on what they had inferred
John was looking for a nail thus he must have had a hammer.
What did we learn from Johnson et al’s 1973 birdhouse experiment?
When we read/hear sentences, we make inferences based on what we know about the world.
Inferences can lead to false recognition errors. They can lead people to think that they heard or read something that was never presented.
What are Propositions?
Basic idea units
Can sentences contain one or more propositions?
Yes
How many propositions are in the following sentence?
Jane went to the house.
1
How many propositions are in the following sentence?
Jane went to the old house.
2
Jane went to the house.
The house was old.
How many propositions are in the following sentence?
Jane was late when she went to the old house.
3
Jane went to the house.
The house was old.
Jane was late.
How many propositions are in the following sentence?
Jane was late when she went to the old house in Scottsdale.
4
Jane went to house.
The house was old.
Jane was late.
The house was in Scottsdale.
Are related ideas are fused together in our memory? Can this create memory errors?
Yes
Yes
1: “You said that they were dating.”
2: “No. I said I saw them having dinner together.”
What is a Discourse?
A bunch of sentences together
What are the two levels of Discourse Structure?
Local Structure
Global Structure
What is Local Structure?
Microstructure
The relationships among the individual sentences
Establishing semantic relationships between sentences
What is an anaphor? What is an Antecedent?
Anaphor: The current item
Antecedent: A previous item. Refers to the anaphor
(Paul….he….)
What is an Anaphoric Reference?
Relating a current item (anaphor) with a previous item
Paul….he….
In the following sentence, which is the anaphor and which is the antecedent?
Lou Ann tried calling Paul four times yesterday. It turned out that he was out of town.
Anaphor = he
Antecedent = Paul
In the following sentence, which is the anaphor and which is the antecedent?
Mr. Nixon suggested to Mr. Norden that he drive his car.
It’s unclean. Who’s driving
When the antecedent is not clear, it can lead to confusion
In the following sentence, which is the anaphor and which is the antecedent?
I drank hot tea instead of my usual orange juice because it was cloudy.
It’s unclear.
Which was cloudy?
What is the Referring Item? What is the Referent?
Referring: The current item. Refers to the item to come
Referent: The (actual) item
(It…the break up….)
What is a Cataphoric Reference?
Relating a current item with an upcoming item
It…the break up….
In the following sentence, which is the referring item and which is the referent?
It had been a long time coming and John knew that it was going to be horrible, but he never imagined that the break up would end in death!
Referring: It
Referent: Break up
In the following sentence, which is the referring item and which is the referent?
This is great! I haven’t been to a party this fun in month.
Referring: This
Referent: Party
What is Global Structure?
Macrostructure
How well it follows our world knowledge
Do both local and global levels contribute to coherent discourse?
Yes
Can local coherence be established by the relationship between given information and known information?
Yes
In the following sentence, what info is given and what is new?
Herb unpacked some beer. The beer was warm.
What words lets us know, the information is given?
beer = given
warm = new
“The” refers to the previous beer.
In the following sentence, what info is given and what is new?
It was Spot that bit the cat.
Spot = new
Cat = given
In the following sentence, what info is given and what is new?
It was the cat who Spot bit.
Spot = given
Cat = new
What did Clark & Haviland look at in their new/given experiment 1977?
What a listener expects to hear
Given info vs. New info
Based on Maxim of relevance (and quantity)
If someone presents “given” information as “new”, is this weird?
Yes
“John, my husband, plays football” will sound weird to someone who knows your husband
Do very young kids assume that most info they learn is “given” info?
Yes.
They learn over time what info is “new” to certain people
Do we establish coherence by looking at words or by looking at concepts?
Matching of concepts - not words
What is Bridging?
Matching given information to inferred information
“Lisa put the groceries into the hot car. When she got home, the ice cream had melted.” – We can infer that “ice cream” refers to “groceries
“Lisa put the groceries into the hot car. When she got home, the puppies were thirsty.” – We feel like something is missing
What is a Schema?
A mental structure of known information
Does global coherence depend on how well the discourse follows our event schemas?
Yes
What is an Event Schema?
Knowlege about events, how things flow
Birthday parties, going to movies, etc.
How do we develop event schemas?
Through our experience with these events
What sort of information is contained in event schemas? How is it organized? What does it do?
The most important characteristics of the event
Organized/sequenced by time, not importance
Guides our recognition and understanding of situations
Will schema violations cause confusion? What happens?
Yes
Strange restaurant, foreign cultures, etc.
When we can’t recognize a schema, comprehension and memory for the discourse is poor
What was Bransford & Johnson’s 1972 unclear passage reading experiment?
Subjects were asked to read passages
Some were given topics; the others weren’t
What did Bransford & Johnson learn in their 1972 unclear passage reading experiment?
Those who received the topic were able to remember significantly more information about the passage.
What was Bransford & Franks’ 1971 proposition/sentence experiment?
Looked at prepositions and sentence memory
Gave subjects sentences with four propositions
Later the subjects were given a recognition test
What did Bransford & Franks find in their 1971 proposition/sentence experiment?
The subjects’ confidence that they had seen a sentence before increased as the number of propositions increased.
This occurred for both the original sentences AND newly sentence (created from the propositions)
Were there a lot of false positives in Bransford & Franks’ proposition/sentence 1971 experiment?
Yes
What did we learn from Bransford & Franks’ 1971 proposition/sentence experiment?
That we hear sentences and combine them into a whole concept
