Language and Reading 3 Flashcards
define discourse
written or spoken communication or debate
What are the three theories of discourse processing?
- constructionist approach
- minimalist hypothesis
- event-indexing model
define inference
automatic assumptions that are made based on our knowledge of the world and personal experiences
when information is not explicitly stated in the text, an inference is made
what are the different types of inferences?
- logical inferences
- bridging inference
- elaborative inference
what are logical inferences?
these are dependent only on the meaning of words
e.g.: you can infer that anyone who is a widow, you can infer that this is talking about a woman
You can infer the individual is a woman because this is part of the meaning of that word
what are bridging inferences?
these inferences help us establish links between what you are currently reading and what you have read in the past
E.g.:, if you have two sentences:
‘Mary poured the water on the bonfire. The fire went out’,
The bridging inference for this example is that ‘water extinguishes fire’
The two sentences helps us make this connection
what are elaborative inferences?
these are optional
they are not required to establish coherence
these add details to the text by utilising our knowledge of the world around us
e.g.: ‘the tooth was pulled out painlessly’
the elaborative inference is that a dentist pulled the tooth out as according to world knowledge, this is what a dentist does
what is a constructionist approach to understanding connected text (discourse processing)?
Bransford et al. (1972) argued that readers typically construct a relatively complete “mental model” of the situation and events referred to in the text
this assumes that there are many elaborative inferences even when they are not required
mental model = internal representation of possible situation or event
What evidence is there to support a constructionist approach to discourse processing?
Bransford et al. conducted study where they argued evidence for reader making elaborative inferences
ppts read sentence like:
‘three turtles rested on a floating log, and a fish swam beneath them’
the elaborative inference = the fish swam under the log
elaborative inference may be made to provide more detailed mental representation
ppts then presented with a test sentence and were asked if this was the sentence seen before
test sentence like:
‘three turtles rested on a floating log, and a fish swam beneath it’
found ppts were confident in saying that test sentence = same as original sentence
CONCLUSION:
concluded that inferences from text are stored in memory as though information is actually presented in the text
What evidence is there against a constructionist approach to discourse processing?
Dooling & Christiaansen (1997)
- ppts instructed to read story about ruthless dictator ‘Gerald Martin’
- one week later, ppts were given memory recognition test
- before the memory test, ppts were told that the story had been about Adolf Hitler
FINDINGS:
- ppts mistakenly recognised sentences that were relevant to Hitler that had not appeared in Gerald Martin story
- when asked if information relevant to Hitler was featured in Gerald Martin story, ppts answered yes
CONCLUSION:
- ppts had made inferences about what had happened in story at the time of the test a week later, NOT when they were reading the original story about General Martin
what is the problem with using memory tests to assess number of elaborative inferences made?
- researchers argued that problem with constructivist approach is the use of memory tests
- memory tests were used to assess the number of elaborative inferences made by readers
PROBLEM
- memory/recall tasks do not tell you what people are doing whilst they’re reading
- ppts could be making inferences later on while you are testing them about the test
Explain the minimalist-hypothesis theory of discourse processing
- the main assumption of this approach is that inferences are goal directed with two types of inferences
- automatic inferences
(other automatic inferences rely on information explicitly stated in text) - strategic inferences
- challenges the constructionist approach
- constructionist approach suggests the number of elaborative inferences made are limited
- or made during recall rather than when reading
- suggests that the number of inferences you make depends on what your goals are when you read the text
What do automatic inferences establish?
establishes local coherence
i.e.: bridging inferences
other automatic inferences rely on information explicitly states in the text
What do strategic inferences do?
these are formed to pursue a readers goals
e.g.: you wanted to find a particular piece of information
Outline the evidence to support the minimalist hypothesis for discourse processing
(Calvo et al., 2006)
- two groups of ppts
- groups instructed to read pieces of text
- one group instructed to read for comprehension (for understanding of text)
- other group instructed to read with a goal
the goal was to read and anticipate what may happen next - stories presented to ppts were things like a typical restaurant scenario
- after ppts read story they were presented with target word
- target word had to be said out loud as quickly and as accurately as possible
- logic was if ppts had already made the inference, target word would be quicker to read out/identify than if inferences were not made
FINDINGS:
- group that were asked read and anticipate what would happen next, made more elaborative inferences than group that were told to read for understanding
- group that were asked to read and anticipate were quicker at identifying target word
- provides evidence for minimalist hypothesis theory as it shows number of inferences made by reader is influenced by whether there is a goal when reading text
Outline the evidence against minimalist hypothesis theory
(Poynor & Morris, 2003)
- texts were compared where the goal of the main character was either explicitly stated or implied
context: Dick had a week’s vacation due
explicit goal: ‘he wanted to go somewhere warm and sunny’
implicit goal: ‘he had always been a real sun-worshipper’ (ppt had to infer that Dick would go somewhere warm and sunny)
- later on in the text, there was a sentence that either matched or did not match the goal of the character
FINDINGS:
- readers took longer to read a sentence describing an action that did not match the character’s goal
- readers were quicker at reading a sentence where the action did match characters goal
this was regardless of whether the goal was mentioned or not
shows that readers had inferred the character’s goal even when it was only implied
readers had made this extra inference when they did not have to
How does the evidence from Poyner & Morris (2003) go against the minimalist hypothesis?
- minimalist hypothesis suggests that inferences rely on information readily available as it is explicitly stated in the text
- so the minimalist hypothesis would assume that inferences are only made in the explicit group of the study (where character’s goals are clearly stated)
- inferences are measured based on how quickly ppts were able to read sentence that matched vs did not match characters goal
- it was found in the study that both conditions where characters goals are either stated explicitly or not, ppts both took longer to read the sentence that was not consistent with characters goals
- contrasts what the minimal hypothesis suggests
What is the event-indexing model?
- suggests that readers construct an internal representation of what they are reading
- this model suggests that readers monitor 5 aspects of the ‘evolving-situation model’ as they read stories
- as reader reads text, they update their situational model
- according to the evolving situation model, readers monitor/look for 5 aspects/indexes as they read stories
What are the 5 indexes that readers look for that updates their evolving situational model?
- the protagonist
- temporality
- causality
- spatiality
- intentionality
what is the protagonist index?
who the central character is in the present event occuring
what is the temporality index?
keeping track of the relationship between the times at which the events are occuring
what is the causality index?
keeping track of the causal relationship of the current event occurring and events that happened before
what is the spatiality index?
keeping track of the relationship between where the current event is taking place and where the previous event in the text was happening
what is the intentionality index?
keeping track of the relationship between the character’s goals and the present event occurring
According to the event-indexing model, how does unexpected changes to any of the 5 aspects of a situation have on discourse processing?
Processing takes longer and requires more effort compared to when all 5 indexes stay the same
Explain evidence for the event-indexing model
(Claus & Kelter, 2006) (temporality, chronological order etc.
- evidence for the idea of temporality
(the relationship between times of current and previous events occur) - ppts presented with passages describing 4 events that occured in a particular chronological order
- in some passages, the events were presented in a chronological order
- in some passages, events presented in non-chronological order with the first even being presented as a flashback
FINDINGS:
- duration of the second event (with reference to the distance of time to the first event) influenced the speed in which the first event could be accessed
- evidence that readers keep track of time in a story when it requires effort to do so
- when reading a piece of text, ppts had mentally rearranged the events, putting them back in chronological order
- this is evidence of the event-indexing model as it shows people keeping track of time when thinking about story events
- so if events happen out of chronological order, they are placing them back into chronological order
identify a strength of the event-indexing model
- identifies key processes involved in creating and updating situation models
(situation models = mental representation of what is being described in text)
reading time increases (more time spent reading and processing) when readers respond to changes in the five indexes
identify a weakness of the even-indexing model
model has little to say about the nature of the internal representations of events
these are formed when engaged in language comprehension in order to understand language
model does not look into what is contained within these internal representations
Define schemas
mental frameworks that help us understand the world around us
allow us to form expectations, make predictions
with regards to language and reading, schemas help is better understand text
Where are schemas located?
long-term memory
What two things are included in schemas?
- scripts
- frames
What are scripts with regards to schemas?
scripts deal with knowledge of particular events and consequences
these are based on own experience of the world
what are frames with regards to schemas?
these help us mentally represent objects that are being described in the text
these are knowledge structures relating to some aspect of the world
for example:
- there may be a frame that represents ‘building’
- this frame will consist of fixed structural information (i.e.: has floors and walls)
- frame may have slots for variable information (this is information that is dependent on particular context - therefore variable)
what evidence is there for schemas influencing how well a story is understood?
(Bransford & Johnson, 1972)
- in one group ppts were given a text to read such as:
“The procedure is quite simple. First, you arrange items into different groups. Of course one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step; otherwise, you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many.”
- after reading this passage without a title, ppts rates this text as incomprehensible
- ppts could not recall many details of the story
- in another group, ppts were given a title of the passage ‘washing clothes’
- it was found ppts understood the same passage far easier
- ppts able to recall much more
evidence of schemas helping with the understanding of text
Explain the experiential simulations approach
approach suggests that modal simulations, bodily states and situated action underlie cognition
How does the experiential simulations approach apply to language?
the theories claim that neural systems involved in non-linguistic activities are used in understanding language
non-linguistic activities include:
- action
- perception
- emotion
the sensorimotor representations that are activated with the environment are replicated or ‘simulated’ when reading about a similar experience
What evidence is there for experiential simulations approach when applied to language?
ACTION behaviour
- evidence has demonstrated that content of text can facilitate certain bodily actions
EXAMPLE:
- hand movements in a certain direction are facilitated when they are compatible with the direction of movement described in the text
- ppts are faster in turning a dial anti-clockwise as opposed to clockwise when listening to a sentence that describes that movement
e.g.: Eric turned down the volume
What evidence is there for experiential simulations approach when applied to language?
PERCEPTION behaviour
- evidence that sentences may evoke perceptual simulations or imagery
EXAMPLE:
- ‘the ranger saw the eagle in the sky’
ppts responded faster to recognise picture of eagle with extended wings than a picture of eagle with folded wings
illustrates how that sentence resulted in a perceptual representation of an eagle in flight
What evidence is there for experiential simulations approach when applied to language?
(Speer et al., 2009) neuroimaging
- Speer provided functional neuroimaging evidence
- showed brain areas that were activated
- found similar or same areas of the brain activated when reading about a particular action and when you’re performing that action.
- suggests reading about something activates the same areas of your brain when you’re actually performing that activity.
What evidence is there for experiential simulations approach when applied to language?
(Havas et al., 2007) EMOTION influencing processing
- looked at effects of inducing emotional states in ppts
- smile induced = holding pen between teeth
- frown induced = holding pen in lips
- results showed that facial posture influenced amount of time ppts took to judge whether sentence was positive or negative
- ppts were faster to judge sentence was positive when positive emotion induced
- ppts were faster to judge sentence was negative when negative emotion induced
identify a strength of the simulations approach
- provides a framework explaining nature of the internal representation created by readers and listeners in order to understand language
- increasing evidence that perception, action, and emotion simulations are involved in language comprehension
identify a weakness of the simulations approach
- approach is less clear whether experiential simulations approach applies to all circumstances
- doesn’t explain how abstract concepts such as ‘truth’ or ‘freedom’ are represented
