Showing papers in "Advances in psychology in 1992"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the varying dependence on the alphabetic principle may mean for the mental processes involved in reading and writing, and the degree of this dependence is a function of a language's characteristic phonology and morphology, just as was the choice of the kind of orthography itself.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses that the varying dependence on the alphabetic principle may mean for the mental processes involved in reading and writing. Within the group of alphabetic orthographies itself, there are varying degrees of dependence on the strict alphabetic principle: the range of correspondence between grapheme and phoneme varies both in consistency and completeness. The degree of this dependence is to some extent a function of a language's characteristic phonology and morphology, just as was the choice of the kind of orthography itself. Even among the various alphabetic writing systems themselves, there are major differences in the degree to which they mirror the phonemic structure of their respective spoken languages. The reason for the differences is largely accounted for by the particular phonological and morphological characteristics of each language. For example, standard written Hebrew is an orthography in which all diacritics (or points) are omitted. These diacritics represent nearly all of the vowels and are also used to disambiguate some of the consonants.
676 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined team building and its influence on team effectiveness and found that team building interventions were fairly effective and team building appears to have a positive effect on perceptions and attitudes.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter examines team building and its influence on team effectiveness. The chapter provides an explanation of "teams" and "team building", and input-throughput-output model of team effectiveness to provide a context for examining team building interventions. Three previous reviews are presented, which examined team building research through 1980. The chapter also reviews the empirical research on team building published during the 1980s, comparing it to the findings of the previous research and suggesting avenues for future research. The analysis of the research conducted in the 1980's shows that the quantity of research on team building has decreased, although the quality of research has improved. It also shows that the research still focuses, for the most part, on intact, white-collar teams, with little attention being directed at newly formed or blue-collar teams. In general, team building interventions were fairly effective and team building appears to have a positive effect on perceptions and attitudes. However, the results are more equivocal with regard to behavioral outcomes.
402 citations
TL;DR: This article found that reading English and reading Chinese have more in common than has been appreciated when it comes to phonological processes, and the similarity between Chinese and English readers is not in their dependence on a visual route but in their use of phonology as quickly as allowed by the writing system.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter reveals that reading English and reading Chinese have more in common than has been appreciated when it comes to phonological processes. The text experiments suggest that readers in both systems rely on phonological processes during the comprehension of written text. The lexical experiments show differences just where it is expected : Evidence for early (“prelexical”) phonology in English but not in Chinese, but evidence for still-early (“lexical”) phonology in Chinese. The time course of activation appears to be slightly different in the two cases. Thus, the similarity between Chinese and English readers is shown not in their dependence on a visual route, but in their use of phonology as quickly as allowed by the writing system. Phonological processes are pervasive in reading, with respect to various reading processes (from comprehension to word identification), with respect to writing systems (from Chinese to English to Serbo-Croatian), and with respect to individuals (from children to hearing and deaf adults of high reading skill). The universality of phonologically referenced language assures that the achievement of reading will make use of it. The acquisition of visually based spelling representations may (or may not) reduce the role phonology plays in recognizing words, but it does not entirely eliminate it. Moreover, the value of phonological representations for memory assures a critical role for phonology in comprehension.
290 citations
TL;DR: This article examined how the bilingual's knowledge of what language a particular word belongs to is represented in bilingual memory and how that knowledge could be used to facilitate bilingual language comprehension, and two basic hypotheses (the language tag and the language network hypotheses) were presented within the framework of bilingual versions of two different models of visual word recognition (serial search and interactive activation).
Abstract: The present chapter examines how the bilingual's knowledge of what language a particular word belongs to is represented in bilingual memory and how that knowledge could be used to facilitate bilingual language comprehension. Two basic hypotheses (the language tag and the language network hypotheses) are presented within the framework of bilingual versions of two different models of visual word recognition (serial search and interactive activation). It appears that the bilingual interactive activation model best accommodates some recent data on bilingual word recognition.
265 citations
TL;DR: In a number of studies, the word translation task has been used as a means of obtaining information on the organization of knowledge in bilingual memory as discussed by the authors, where the task simply involves presenting the bilingual subjects with words in one language, and asking them to produce their translation in a second language.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the bilingual lexical representation In a number of studies the word translation task has been used as a means of obtaining information on the organization of knowledge in bilingual memory In its standard form, the task simply involves presenting the bilingual subjects with words in one language, and asking them to produce their translation in a second language Word association has also been used as a tool to investigate bilingual memory There are two common versions of this task: discrete word association and continued word association In the former the associative response to a stimulus word has to consist of a single word that is the first word that comes to the subject's mind when reading or hearing the stimulus word In the latter version, the subject generates as many word associates to the stimulus word as possible within a prespecified amount of time (often 30 or 60 seconds) In bilingual word-association studies, stimulus words are typically presented in one or both of the bilingual's two languages and responses have to be given either in the language of the stimulus word, or in the other language
265 citations
TL;DR: A particular view of bilingualism, the monolingual view, and the negative consequences it has had on various areas of bilingual research are discussed in this paper, and a bilingual (or wholistic) view is then proposed.
Abstract: A particular view of bilingualism—the monolingual (or fractional) view—is first spelled out, and the negative consequences it has had on various areas of bilingual research are discussed. A bilingual (or wholistic) view is then proposed. According to it, the bilingual is not the sum of two complete or incomplete monolinguals but a unique and specific speaker-hearer. Four areas of research are discussed in this light: comparing monolinguals and bilinguals, language learning and language forgetting, the bilingual child and ‘semilingualism’, and the bilingual's speech modes. A description of research in mixed language processing concludes the chapter.
239 citations
TL;DR: This chapter reviews the major experimental evidence that has been used to suggest that learning a motor skill can be equated with either a reduction of the need for sensory information or a decrease in the importance of visual afference in the favor of kinesthetic feedback.
Abstract: Publisher Summary Hybrid control models propose that motor control is achieved by an interplay between central planning and processing of afferent information. This chapter reviews the major experimental evidence that has been used to suggest that learning a motor skill can be equated with either a reduction of the need for sensory information or a decrease in the importance of visual afference in the favor of kinesthetic feedback. It discusses the role played by visual information for movement control as a particular individual's expertise at the task increases. Several studies are presented in which the availability of visual information for the control of various types of movement is manipulated. The “ball catching” task is discussed, which describes that a normally available visual information is a major source of afference for movement control. A transfer paradigm is used to assess the effects of different sources of afference on movement learning and control.
226 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that visual information is critical for performing a variety of motor activities, especially when the performer's movements must coincide with a changing environment, such as in catching a ball, or in motor activities requiring precise movements of the hand to a target.
Abstract: Publisher Summary Visual information is critical for performing a variety of motor activities, especially when the performer's movements must coincide with a changing environment, such as in catching a ball, or in motor activities requiring precise movements of the hand to a target. The study of “manual aiming” activities, such as pointing at a target, relocating a body segment in space, or reaching for an object, is directly linked to vision. Vision plays a number of roles in producing skilled movements. For example, it is evident that vision facilitates performance in manual aiming by specifying the target position, by indicating the position of the moving limb, and/or by providing error information regarding the discrepancy between the target and limb position. The actual performance benefit derived from visual information is a function of a number of factors, with one of the most important being temporal processing delays. The duration of the temporal delay between picking up visual information and using this information to trigger or guide movements is critical for precise manual aiming and is also important for a broad range of other activities.
180 citations
TL;DR: While the notion of the word is relatively clear to ordinary English speakers, it is not so to the Chinese Word boundaries, as distinct from morpheme boundaries, are not marked in Chinese text as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: While the notion of the word is relatively clear to ordinary English speakers, it is not so to the Chinese Word boundaries, as distinct from morpheme boundaries, are not marked in Chinese text A lot of disagreement as to word boundaries in quite simple sentences is found amongst Chinese students Psychological correlates of this fuzziness in the concept of the word and salience of the character in multi-character words are reviewed, including perceptual, eye-movement, and memory phenomena The nature of the lexicon in Chinese is discussed
173 citations
TL;DR: The chapter discusses how perceptual and conceptual similarities are different and describes the causal dependencies between the two and empirical evidence indicates that experience with correlations causes increased attention to the combinations of features that enter into correlations.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses perceptual similarity and conceptual structure. The relevance of perceptual similarity for conceptual structure stems from the role of real world experience on feature weights. One kind of knowledge that pushes feature weights around and stretches the similarity space is implicit knowledge about relations among perceptual features. Perceptual features do not vary orthogonally in the world. They come in causally related clusters; birds with webbed feet tend to have bills and objects with dog-like feet tend to have dog-like heads. Evidence from laboratory experiments indicates that both adults and older infants are sensitive to such correlations. This empirical evidence indicates that experience with correlations causes increased attention to the combinations of features that enter into correlations. Perceptual and conceptual similarity are not the same things. Conceptual similarity does not reduce to perceptual similarity. The chapter discusses how perceptual and conceptual similarities are different and describes the causal dependencies between the two.
135 citations
TL;DR: The authors found evidence that lexical connections between the two languages remain active after concept mediation is achieved, and a model of bilingual representation in which cross-language connections between lexical and conceptual memory are asymmetric.
Abstract: Research on bilingual memory suggests that words in each language are stored in separate lexical systems, but that concepts are stored in a representation common to both languages. When individuals are in early phases of acquiring a second language, lexical connections appear to mediate cross-language performance. However, as second language learners acquire expertise, they begin to conceptually mediate their understanding of second language words. In this chapter we focus on the implications of this change for second language representation. We present (1) evidence that suggests that lexical connections between the two languages remain active after concept mediation is achieved, and (2) a model of bilingual representation in which cross-language connections between lexical and conceptual memory are asymmetric.
TL;DR: This article investigated the locus of frequency effects in the character-naming task and found that high frequency characters were named faster than low-frequency characters, which indicated that the frequency effects are in the lexical access phase of character naming.
Abstract: Three experiments were conducted to investigate the psychological processes underlying character naming. Experiment 1 was designed to investigate the locus of frequency effects in the character-naming task. The results of Experiment 1 showed that high-frequency characters were named faster than low-frequency characters, which indicated that the locus of frequency effects is in the lexical access phase of character naming. Experiments 2 and 3 investigated regularity and consistency effects and how these effects interacted with frequency. The results showed that regular-inconsistent characters and irregular characters were named much more slowly than regular-consistent characters; however, the effects were found only for low-frequency characters. Two models of visual word recognition and naming were evaluated on the basis of these results.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, a taxonomy of S-R ensembles is presented based on the dimensional overlap model (Kornblum et al., 1990) that includes eight different types of SRC.
Abstract: Stimulus response coding is treated in the framework of compatibility. A taxonomy is presented based on the dimensional overlap model (Kornblum et al., 1990) that includes eight different types of S-R ensembles. Some of the literature on human performance with these ensembles is reviewed and new data are presented
TL;DR: This paper found that in fluent bilinguals both words are linked at a conceptual level in memory, and that translation equivalents share a common semantic representation, suggesting that they share the same conceptual representation.
Abstract: A fluent bilingual generally has two lexical representations for a single concept in memory, one in each of two languages. Researchers in bilingual memory have investigated the structure of the representation of a word and its translation in memory. Early research focused on translation equivalents in episodic memory while more recent research has focused on their representation in semantic memory. Current studies on facilitation effects in priming for translation equivalents suggest that in fluent bilinguals both words are linked at a conceptual level in memory. It appears that translation equivalents share a common semantic representation. Implications for learning a second language are discussed.
TL;DR: Oral and written second language data from two groups of adolescent bilingual speakers (L 1 Finnish/L 2 Swedish, L 1 Spanish/L2 Swedish respectively) were analyzed and compared to equivalent data from a group of matched monolingual speakers of Swedish.
Abstract: Oral and written second language data from two groups of adolescent bilingual speakers (L1 Finnish/L2 Swedish, L1 Spanish/L2 Swedish respectively) were analyzed and compared to equivalent data from a group of matched monolingual speakers of Swedish Each group comprised 12 subjects, all of whom were students at upper secondary school level The bilingual speakers were judged by their teachers to speak Swedish without any noticeable foreign accent in everyday oral conversation They had all started their second language acquisition before puberty, some at pre-school age ( 7) The bilingual and monolingual speakers had earlier been shown not to differ significantly on measures designed to tap language proficiency in cognitively demanding linguistic tasks (Hyltenstam & Stroud, in preparation) On measures of lexical/grammatical accuracy and appropriateness, however, the topic of the present analysis, there were clear differences between bilingual and monolingual speakers of Swedish The results in the present paper are presented against the background of the notions of completeness and fossilization The issue of competence vs control is also addressed Furthermore, the relationship between ultimate attainment and age of onset of second language acquisition is treated in some detail
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors stress the need for industrial and organizational psychologists and researchers in closely allied fields to pay much more attention to stigmas and stigma-related problems in organizational settings.
Abstract: Publisher Summary Increasing attention is being paid to the fair treatment of individuals in society and in organizational contexts. Fair treatment issues are a concern of special importance to individuals who are stigmatized by virtue of their standing on variables such as physical attractiveness, physical and psychological handicaps, and race. Theories and models from social psychology, political psychology, sociology, and other academic disciplines provide a number of useful explanations of stigmatization and its consequences. Stigma-related issues are only infrequently studied by individuals in industrial and organizational psychology and closely allied fields. This chapter stresses on the need for industrial and organizational psychologists and researchers in closely allied fields to pay much more attention to stigmas and stigma-related problems in organizational settings. The chapter considers the nature of stigmas and the processes through which individuals become stigmatized, and then deals with the stigmas of race, physical unattractiveness (unattractiveness), and handicaps. It also describes strategies that might be used to deal with problems that stigmatized individuals encounter in organizational contexts, and considers issues that relate to research on stigmas in organizational contexts.
TL;DR: Evidence supporting the specific-integrated (encoding-complex) view of number processing over the abstract-modular view is reviewed, and new experimental evidence that one aspect of numberprocessing, retrieval of simple multiplication facts, involves non-abstract, format-specific representations and processes is reported.
Abstract: Summary According to the encoding-complex approach (Campbell & Clark, 1988; Clark & Campbell, 1991), numerical skills are based on a variety of modality-specific representations (e.g., visuo-spatial and verbal-auditory codes), and diverse number-processing tasks (e.g., numerical comparisons, calculation, reading numbers, etc.) generally involve common, rather than independent, cognitive mechanisms. In contrast, the abstract-modular theory (e.g., McCloskey, Caramazza, & Basili, 1985) assumes that number processing is comprised of separate comprehension, calculation, and production subsystems that communicate via a single type of abstract quantity code. We review evidence supporting the specific-integrated (encoding-complex) view of number processing over the abstract-modular view, and report new experimental evidence that one aspect of number processing, retrieval of simple multiplication facts, involves non-abstract, format-specific representations and processes. We also consider implications of the encoding-complex hypothesis for the modularity of number skills.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review the existing research that bears on these issues and present two experiments, one focused on the deployment of working memory resources during arithmetic processing, using a standard dual-task method, and the other focused on automatic and conscious processing as revealed by a priming task.
Abstract: Summary Two complimentary topics are of special interest in the study of cognitive skills, first the involvement of working memory resources in successful performance, and second the role of automaticity in the component processes of such performance. While these questions figure prominently in contemporary cognitive research, they have only recently begun to receive direct investigation in the area of mental arithmetic. In this chapter, we review the existing research that bears on these issues, then present two experiments. Experiment 1 focused on the deployment of working memory resources during arithmetic processing, using a standard dual-task method. Experiment 2 investigated automatic and conscious processing as revealed by a priming task. The results of both experiments are viewed in terms of the basic problem difficulty variable, and the relationship between this variable and manipulations that tap automatic and effortful aspects of performance. The chapter concludes with some remarks on the central construct of problem difficulty.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors demonstrate the evolution of the romantic relationships parallels to the organizational relationships, and a considerable amount of empirical evidence that supports the contention, which plays an important role in both business and pleasure, and conclude that people are generally disinclined to admit the influence of affect in the dollars andcents world of business while quite willing to acknowledge its influence in other domains.
Abstract: Publisher Summary Organizations have no life apart from people and process. It is human decision-making that is centralized or decentralized, not some inanimate organizational structure. It is people who are departmentalized, not buildings, plants, and divisions. It is the work that people accomplish that must be integrated, not merely systems and functions. This chapter begins with the observation that people are generally disinclined to admit the influence of affect in the dollars-and-cents world of business while quite willing to acknowledge its influence in other domains. The chapter accomplishes two objectives: (1) demonstration of evolution of the romantic relationships parallels to the organizational relationships, and (2) considerable amount of empirical evidence that supports the contention, which plays an important role in both business and pleasure.
TL;DR: This article explored the application of the competition model to the study of second language acquisition and made an important distinction between transfer from L1 and direct learning of L2, which can be analyzed in terms of the constructs of cue reliability, cue cost and form-function mappings.
Abstract: Recent work has explored the application of the Competition Model (MacWhinney & Bates, 1989) to the study of second language acquisition. In making this extension, it is important to distinguish between transfer from L1 and direct learning of L2. Both processes can be analyzed in terms of the constructs of cue reliability, cue cost, and form-function mappings. The model predicts certain typical varieties of transfer during the process of phonological, syntactic, and lexical learning. In the attempt to maximize the transfer of L1 structures the learner uses a variety of complex learning strategies. In areas where transfer is poorly supported, the learner acquires L2 structures directly. Cue reliability and cue cost estimates can also be used to characterize the direct acquisition of L2 structures.
TL;DR: This chapter discusses the rise and fall of dominant paradigms in motor behavior research and presents some detailed Kuhn's notions regarding the role of normal science, revolutionary science, and paradigm crises in the development, advancement, and maturation of a field of study.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the rise and fall of dominant paradigms in motor behavior research. It attempts to show how some simple and well established notions from the philosophy of science can be meaningfully applied to investigating the historical and contemporary development of theoretical perspectives in motor control and learning. The chapter also seeks to show how such notions can provide some prospective insight into both the kinds of research which are most likely to advance knowledge, and the possible direction for resolution of some current theoretical debates within the field. The chapter presents some detailed Kuhn's notions regarding the role of normal science, revolutionary science, and paradigm crises in the development, advancement, and maturation of a field of study. The Kuhnian view of science is presented as a useful template for comparing historical developments in motor control and learning with normative developments in other fields. The chapter provides a brief history of important theoretical and paradigmatic developments in motor control and learning with an emphasis on contemporary developments. The basis and assumptions of four key theoretical propositions in the recent history of motor control and learning research are discussed along with descriptions of both the normal science they have supported and anomalous data which have led to their modification and rejection. The chapter also focuses on the current paradigm crisis between the so-called movement system and action system approaches to motor control and learning.
TL;DR: This article showed that Chinese readers rely less on information carried by individual characters or words and more on context, whereas readers of English pay considerable attention to specific syntactic and semantic information embedded in the individual words.
Abstract: In this chapter major features of the Chinese language are described and compared with those of Indo-European languages with alphabetic systems, particularly with those of English. Language-specific differences are shown to be related to differences in processing strategies in reading Chinese and English texts. It is argued that Chinese readers rely less on information carried by individual characters or words and more on context, whereas readers of English pay considerable attention to specific syntactic and semantic information embedded in the individual words. This was demonstrated in two experiments using a specially designed moving-window method to collect character and/or word reading times. In the paradigm, a reader moves an optical mouse to see each successive Chinese character or English word in a text presented in a spatially appropriate location. In the first experiment, character reading times were analyzed in multiple-regression analyses to identify regression effects at various textual levels. In the second experiment, lexical, syntactic, and semantic information were separately violated at certain points in short Chinese and English passages. The results from the two experiments are qualitatively compared to those obtained in English studies with similar methods. Character reading times in Chinese were not generally affected by properties of characters or words, but longer pauses were often found at either syntactic or physical boundaries. In contrast, both word-level and sentence-level effects were quite robust in English. These results suggest that Chinese and English languages activate different processing strategies for reading comprehension such that Chinese text induces a diffused strategy and English text a more focused strategy
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors address the questions concerning the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis (ODH) that have arisen with regard to Serbo-Croatian, English, and Hebrew and present the ways to place the issue of orthographic depth in a somewhat broader theoretical framework suggested by the Seidenberg and McClelland model.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter addresses the questions concerning the Orthographic Depth Hypothesis (ODH) that have arisen with regard to Serbo-Croatian, English, and Hebrew and presents the ways to place the issue of orthographic depth in a somewhat broader theoretical framework suggested by the Seidenberg and McClelland model. This framework suggests that a common, multi-component architecture underlies processing in different orthographies. According to this view, the critical issue concerns are termed as the “division of labor” among processing mechanisms in this multi-component processing system. Orthographic depth is one of the major factors that have an impact on the division of labor. However, orthographies differ in other respects that are also relevant. It appears that the tradeoffs among these factors are such that readers converge on very similar divisions of labor despite substantive differences among orthographies. There may be important differences among orthographies in the division of labor, owing to variation in properties such as transparency of orthographic-phonological correspondences, the number of orthographic vs. phonological word forms, and other factors. The processing style of a given reader will then depend on interactions among these factors.
TL;DR: This paper investigated the hypothesis that representations of Chinese words are stored in morphologically decomposed form and reported that character frequency, word frequency, and morphological structure of word stimuli were varied.
Abstract: This study investigated the hypothesis that representations of Chinese words are stored in morphologically decomposed form. Three lexical decision experiments are reported in which the character frequency, word frequency and morphological structure of word stimuli were varied. Results show that when word frequency is controlled, the frequency of the two characters of coordinative words determines the latencies of the stimuli, but for modifier words, only the second character's frequency affects the response to stimulus words. When character frequency is controlled, word frequency determines the latencies of two-character words. It is proposed that Chinese words are accessed via the character, and that the morphological structure has a role in the representation of characters in the lexicon
TL;DR: This chapter investigates several available visual information sources and evaluates the experimental evidence available for the use of these information sources in the regulation of behavior, with special emphasis on catching and hitting.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter investigates several available visual information sources and evaluates the experimental evidence available for the use of these information sources in the regulation of behavior, with special emphasis on catching and hitting. The analyses presented in the chapter showed that predictive information about when an approaching ball will be where is, indeed available in the transformations of optic array sampled at the point of observation of the actor. The experiments reviewed have demonstrated that humans (and an interesting range of other animals) are able to utilize these information sources. The power of predictive information lies in the possibilities it offers for prospective control. Rather than relying on feedback about the current state of affairs and having to regulate behavior on the basis thereof, predictive information allows an assessment of what will happen in the nearby future. Success in actions, such as catching and hitting as well as many others would be almost impossible without such predictive information.
TL;DR: This paper found that Mandarin speakers were poorer than Cantonese speakers at deciding whether two presented characters were homophonic, and compared to previous data collected with English materials, were extremely poor at deciding that a presented character was not homophonous with any other character.
Abstract: When making judgements about whether one character is homophonic with another, both Mandarin and Cantonese speakers encounter difficulties in saying “no” when the characters have the same phonemes but different tones, regardless of whether the task is performed silently or aloud. These difficulties were demonstrated using two different experimental paradigms. Mandarin speakers were poorer than Cantonese speakers at deciding whether two presented characters were homophonic, and compared to previous data collected with English materials, were extremely poor at deciding that a presented character was not homophonic with any other character. Theoretical consideration was therefore given to the difficulty observed when tones differed, and to the difference in performance between Mandarin and Cantonese speakers, as well as to the general difficulty observed in the homophone-generation task
TL;DR: For instance, the authors discusses the linguistic awareness and orthographic form of writing, and argues that there are two possible ways to write, the syllabic method and the segmental method, because only by using one of these two methods is the writer assured of being able to write any word in his language.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the linguistic awareness and orthographic form. It has been widely agreed that the notion of linguistic awareness is essential for an understanding of the reading process, the acquisition of reading and reading disability. This notion is likewise essential for an understanding of the invention and dissemination of orthographies. There are really only two possible ways to write, the syllabic method and the segmental method, because only by using one of these two methods is the writer assured of being able to write any word in his language. But for an illiterate to discover either of these methods, and thus be in a position to invent writing, requires awareness of the appropriate unit of linguistic representations. Awareness of syllables, or, on the other hand, of segments, is fostered by special morphophonological properties found in those languages for which writing systems were invented, though by no means in all languages. But once it has become established, the writing system itself shapes the linguistic awareness, and even the phonology, both of those inheriting the system and of those borrowing it to transcribe some other language. Thus, in the history of writing, syllabic and segmental traditions are clearly distinguished.
TL;DR: The counteracting processes of excitation and inhibition in the model reproduce a large number of response time and error phenomena observed in skilled memory for number facts.
Abstract: Summary We present a computer model of a network-interference theory of memory for single-digit multiplication and addition facts. According to the model, a presented problem activates representations for a large number of related arithmetic facts, with strength of activation of specific facts determined by similarity to the presented problem. Similarity is assumed to be based on both physical codes (e.g., common visual or phonological features) and visuo-spatial magnitude codes. Nodes representing numerical facts that are related to the presented problem are continuously activated and compete by way of mutual inhibition until one reaches the critical activation threshold and triggers a response. The counteracting processes of excitation and inhibition in the model reproduce a large number of response time and error phenomena observed in skilled memory for number facts. The general form of the representational structures proposed in the simulation provide for a natural extension of the model to other areas of cognitive arithmetic and associated research.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the evidence that phonological short-term memory is indeed required both for syntactic processing and for first and second language acquisition, and conclude that reduced shortterm memory capacity can arise because of the lack of strong phonological lexical representations for second language items in long term memory.
Abstract: In this chapter recent research on the psychology of short-term memory is discussed. The chapter begins with evidence which suggests that phonological short-term memory is indeed required both for syntactic processing and for first and second language acquisition. Current psychological models of short-term memory, and their explanation for the reduced memory span size that is observed in a less familiar language, are then summarised. These accounts are criticised, and the results of several studies that test an alternative explanation for the reduced memory span observed in a second language are described. It is concluded that reduced short-term memory capacity can arise because of the lack of strong phonological lexical representations for second language items in long term memory.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the specific characteristics of Hebrew orthography and discuss their origin with regard to the complex morphology of the Hebrew language and examine their possible effects on the reading strategies adopted by beginning and skilled readers.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter describes the specific characteristics of Hebrew orthography and discusses their origin with regard to the complex morphology of the Hebrew language. Their possible effects on the reading strategies adopted by beginning and skilled readers are examined. The pointed and unpointed Hebrew orthography presents an opportunity to examine reading processes when full or partial phonologic information is conveyed by print. This provides a significant methodological tool for investigating the effects of orthographic depth on visual word recognition, yet avoiding the pitfalls of cross-language designs. Research in reading Hebrew suggests that reading strategies are affected by the presentation or the omission of vowel marks. Efficient reading of unpointed text is based on fast recognition of orthographic clusters that become phonologically and semantically unequivocal given the available context. In contrast, the presentation of vowel marks induces a phonological processing of the printed words, which is often characteristic of shallow orthographies. This suggests that the reader of Hebrew adopts flexible reading strategies that take advantage of all possible phonemic information provided by the print.