Publisher Summary This chapter discusses data concerning the time course of word identification in a discourse context. A simulation of arithmetic word-problem understanding provides a plausible account for some well-known phenomena. The current theories use representations with several mutually constraining layers. There is typically a linguistic level of representation, conceptual levels to represent both the local and global meaning and structure of a text, and a level at which the text itself has lost its individuality and its information content. Knowledge provides part of the context within which a discourse interpreted. The integration phase is the price the model pays for the necessary flexibility in the construction process.

http://www.texai.org/papers/Kintsch_1988.pdf

The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension : a construction-integration model

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/5/110/206.full.pdf

The american psychological association.

(1998). Human cognitive abilities: A survey of factor analytic studies. Gifted and Talented International: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 97-98.

Human cognitive abilities: A survey of factor analytic studies

This article reviews research on the use of situation models in language comprehension and memory retrieval over the past 15 years. Situation models are integrated mental representations of a described state of affairs. Significant progress has been made in the scientific understanding of how situation models are involved in language comprehension and memory retrieval. Much of this research focuses on establishing the existence of situation models, often by using tasks that assess one dimension of a situation model. However, the authors argue that the time has now come for researchers to begin to take the multidimensionality of situation models seriously. The authors offer a theoretical framework and some methodological observations that may help researchers to tackle this issue.

/pdf/situation-models-in-language-comprehension-and-memory-1geul7x1or.pdf

Situation Models in Language Comprehension and Memory

https://www.heartmathbenelux.com/doc/Thayer%20meta%20analysis%20heart%20rate%20variability%20pfc%20NBR%2012.pdf

A meta-analysis of heart rate variability and neuroimaging studies: implications for heart rate variability as a marker of stress and health.

Studied the mental representation of verbally described spatial layouts. Human subjects: 36 normal Swiss adolescents and adults. Two informationally equivalent texts describing the same fictitious town were constructed and presented to different groups. Spatial information was given in geographic terms in the survey text and in the form of directions for driving through the town in the route text. After learning the texts Ss had to verify the route (forward vs backward) and survey inferences.

Die mentale Repräsentation von verbalen Ortsbeschreibungen

Implicit and explicit memory in mentally retarded, language/learning disabled and normal kindergarten children

The mental representation of verbally described spatial layouts

Abstract Learning and academic performance are explained mainly by basic limited-capacity processes, most notably by working memory (WM). Consequently, training WM has been considered a promising approach to fostering these abilities. However, school-based investigations are rare. This study examined the effects of training task features and trainees’ characteristics on transfer to cognitive and academic measures. Eighty-six typically developing 8–12-year-old children completed 6 weeks of either WM training with n-back and complex span tasks or a control training with perceptual-matching tasks in a regular school setting. The study also assessed some personal variables of the children, such as neuroticism, conscientiousness, joy of learning, and power of endurance. The WM training group showed increased WM and math performance compared to the control group. Also, there was a trend toward some improvements in vocabulary after WM training, and overall improvements after both trainings were observed in fluid intelligence and reading. Analyses of individual differences in the WM training group indicated increased training performance in relation to emotional stability, conscientiousness, power of endurance, as well as teacher-reported joy of learning and social integration of participants. Thus, the results indicate the potential of WM training to improve WM capacity and mathematical skills and reveal the impact of regulative, motivational, and social factors on cognitive training performance. 

/pdf/effects-of-working-memory-training-on-childrens-memory-and-191pe30c.pdf

Effects of Working Memory Training on Children’s Memory and Academic Performance: the Role of Training Task Features and Trainee’s Characteristics

Cet article regroupe des resultats d'une enquete effectuee aupres de 442 personnes âgees, entre 65 et 93 ans, sur les themes suivants : a) changements correles avec l'âge intervenants au niveau de differentes fonctions de la memoire ; b) relation entre la performance objective de la memoire et l'auto-evaluation; c) facteurs biologiques ayant une influence sur differentes fonctions de la memoire. Les resultats demontrent que la capacite de la memoire de travail, le pouvoir episodique de recouvrement et la performance de la memoire a long terme sont fortement lies a l'avance en âge, alors que l'exploitation automatique de l'experience n'est pas touchee. On peut constater que les personnes âgees sont en mesure d'apprecier avec realisme leurs performances. Des variables biologiques (vitamine C, betacarotene, ferritine, force musculaire) ont en outre une valeur de prediction significative au niveau de differents parametres de la memoire.

Walter J. Perrig

Papers

Die mentale Repräsentation von verbalen Ortsbeschreibungen

Implicit and explicit memory in mentally retarded, language/learning disabled and normal kindergarten children

The mental representation of verbally described spatial layouts

Effects of Working Memory Training on Children’s Memory and Academic Performance: the Role of Training Task Features and Trainee’s Characteristics

Mémoire et vieillissement. Modifications objectives, auto-évaluations et facteurs biologiques