Language and reading-discourse processing Flashcards
Logical inferences
Depends only on the meaning of words
Bridging inferences
Establish coherence between current part of text and preceding text
Elaborative influences
Embellish or add details to the text using world knowledge
Not essential to understand text
Constructionist approach
readers construct a relatively complete mental model of a situation and event referred to in a text
Support for constructionist approach
Present with a sentence eg. three turtles rested on a floating log and the fish swam beneath them
Inference: the fish swam under the log
Present with another sentence: eg. three turtles rested on a floating log and a fish swam beneath it
Result: most readers didn’t notice the change as they had already inferred the the fish swam beneath the log
Against constructionist approach
eg. participants told a story
1 week later had a memory test on the story. Just before the memory test told that the story was about Adolph Hitler
Findings: participants mistakenly ‘recognised’ sentences relevant to Hitler that had not appeared in the original story
Potential problem is that inferences may not be made at the time of reading
Minimalist hypothesis
-Inferences are automatic or strategic (goal directed)
-Some automatic influences rely on information explicitly stated in the text
-Strategic inferences are formed in pursuit of the reader’s goal
Most elaborative inferences are made at recalll
Evidence supporting minimalist hypothesis
Group 1 instructed to read for comprehension
Group 2 told to anticipate why might happen next
After reading, participants were presented with a target word
Participants that had already made the inference would read out the target word faster
Evidence against minimalist hypothesis
The goal of the main character was explicitly stated or implied
There was a sentence in the text that didn’t match the goal of the character
Readers Tok longer to read the sentence that didn’t match the character’s goal regardless of whether it was explicit or implicit
Event-indexing model
Readers construct an internal representation or ‘situation model’ of what the text describes
5 aspects of event-indexing model
The protagonist- central character in the present event compared to previous one
Temporality- the relationship between the times at which the present and previous events occurred
Causality- causal relationship of the current event and previous one
Spatiality- the relationship between the spatial setting the current and previous events
Intentionality- the relationship between the characters’s goals and the present event
Evidence for event-indexing model
When presented with a flashback the reader was still able to construct the correct time line of events
Harder to access information when it is part of a flashback
Harder to access information when it happens further in that past
Key finding: duration of the second event influenced the speed in which the first event could be accessed
Event-indexing model strengths and weaknesses
Strengths: identifying key processes involved in updating situation models
weaknesses: has little detail about the internal representation that is built by readers and listeners in order to understand language
Schemas
Stored in long term memory include scripts and frames
Scripts
Deal with knowledge about particular events and consequences of events
Frames
Knowledge structures relating to some aspect of the world
Consist of fixed structural information and slots for variable information
Evidence for schemas
When supplied with information before reading a paragraph it is easier to understand what the paragraph is about and people were able to recall more
Experimental simulation approach
Neural systems involved in non-linguistic activities such as action, perception and emotion are used during language comprehension
eg. imagining a particular body action when reading about it
Experimental simulations approach - neuroimaging evidence
Same areas of brain activated during reading vs. doing
Evidence to suggest positive and negative stimuli are automatically evaluated
Pushing/pulling a leaver towards/away depending on whether it is a positive or negative word that is heard
Response time was faster for positive towards and negative away as
positive emotional stimuli ‘prime’ behaviours
Affect-movement compatibility effect
negative emotional stimuli prepare the body to avoid
Inducing emotional states can influence ….
Language comprehension
Shown by a study of holding pen between teeth or lips
Holding between teeth activated muscles that make you smile
People were faster to judge that a sentence was positive
Simulations approach
Constructing a perceptual simulation of the situation describes provides a framework for the nature of internal representation
Simulations approach strengths and weaknesses
Strengths- framework for explaining nature of internal representation created by reader/ listeners to understand language
Weaknesses- not known whether experimental simulations approach applies under all circumstances
