Cognitive science and augmentative and alternative communication
01 Jan 1991-Augmentative and Alternative Communication (Taylor & Francis)-Vol. 7, Iss: 3, pp 186-203
TL;DR: The authors explored some of the theoretical issues currently being addressed in the field of cognitive science and discussed the potential impact of these issues for persons who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems.
Abstract: To date, research and clinical attention in the field of augmentativeand alternative communication (AAC) has largely ignored the role of cognition. This paper explores some of the theoretical issues currently being addressed in the field of cognitive science and discusses the potential impact of these issues for persons who use AAC systems. Issues considered include the information-processing capabilities of human memory systems, the limitations of working memory, the knowledge structures of long-term memory, the encoding of information into memory, the retrieval of information from memory stores, the construction of mental models to make sense of the world, the role of metacognition in problem solving, and the nature of novice and expert performances. Case examples from the AAC field are used to illustrate how the theoretical constructs presented may apply to system design and to clinical and educational practice. Directions for further research to address the information processing issues in the AAC fie...
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarize research and directions for future research with regard to the delivery of AAC supports to individuals with autism, including what modality is preferable to use and what do we know about the use of voice output communication aids with people with autism.
Abstract: Many individuals with autism are candidates for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, either to supplement (i.e., augment) their existing speech or to act as their primary (i.e., alternative) method of expressive communication. The purpose of this article is to summarize research and directions for future research with regard to two questions related to the delivery of AAC supports to these individuals: (a) What AAC modality is preferable to use? and (b) What do we know about the use of voice output communication aids with people with autism?
301 citations
TL;DR: A full account of language development must consider not only the child's characteristics and skills but also the environment for language learning, a complex network of interrelated contexts including the physical, functional, language, social, and cultural contexts.
Abstract: A full account of language development must consider not only the child's characteristics and skills but also the environment for language learning. The language learning environment can be conceptualized as a complex network of interrelated contexts including the physical, functional, language, social, and cultural contexts. The physical context is defined by the people, objects, and events within the physical environment; the child's access to the physical context impacts conceptual development and forms the foundation for lexical development. The functional context refers to the structure and function of daily activities; it is the functional context that determines the time and place accorded to language learning within the child's daily life. The language context refers to the actual language code(s) within the child's environment, the “tools” of communication. For the child with severe physical and speech impairments, these tools include receptive skills and as many expressive skills as possible in ...
159 citations
TL;DR: The use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) as used to enhance comprehension and expression of people with autism is discussed and a theoretical model for AAC assessment and intervention planning is presented.
135 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider how knowledge from one area of cognitive science, that of visual cognition, might be integrated into AAC symbol array construction, and they review four areas of visual cognitive science that might relate to the construction of AAC displays.
Abstract: Beukelman (1991) introduced the concept of the magic versus the cost of communicative competence in AAC. Fundamentally, this refers to the relative effort that must be exerted (the cost) in order for AAC to be a viable communication mode (the magic). Many clinicians have seen the magic for clients who are truly successful in using AAC; such successes have also been documented in the literature. Yet until AAC is successful with each and every client for whom it is implemented, it is necessary to continue to identify barriers to its effective use. In the same year, Light and Lindsay (1991) argued for consideration of principles of cognitive science in constructing maximally useful AAC symbol arrays. In the current paper, we consider how knowledge from one area of cognitive science, that of visual cognition, might be integrated into AAC symbol array construction. We review four areas of visual cognition that might relate to the construction of AAC displays:(a) organization of stimulus arrays within either gr...
122 citations
Cites background from "Cognitive science and augmentative ..."
...Over 10 years ago, Light and Lindsay (1991) called for consideration of the cognitive sciences in the design and implementation of aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems....
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...Keywords: Cognitive science; Visual processing; Symbol organization Over 10 years ago, Light and Lindsay (1991) called for consideration of the cognitive sciences in the design and implementation of aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems....
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...In the same year, Light and Lindsay (1991) argued for consideration of principles of cognitive science in constructing maximally useful AAC symbol arrays....
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TL;DR: A study to investigate the learning demands of dynamic display systems that differed in system layout and language organization for children approximately 2 1/2 years old found evidence that the children failed to generalize their knowledge of the vocabulary to facilitate learning of novel vocabulary items.
Abstract: The current generation of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies is largely based on conceptual models of adults who are not disabled (J. Light & P. Lindsay, 1991). As a resu...
122 citations
References
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Journal Article•
TL;DR: The theory of information as discussed by the authors provides a yardstick for calibrating our stimulus materials and for measuring the performance of our subjects and provides a quantitative way of getting at some of these questions.
Abstract: First, the span of absolute judgment and the span of immediate memory impose severe limitations on the amount of information that we are able to receive, process, and remember. By organizing the stimulus input simultaneously into several dimensions and successively into a sequence or chunks, we manage to break (or at least stretch) this informational bottleneck. Second, the process of recoding is a very important one in human psychology and deserves much more explicit attention than it has received. In particular, the kind of linguistic recoding that people do seems to me to be the very lifeblood of the thought processes. Recoding procedures are a constant concern to clinicians, social psychologists, linguists, and anthropologists and yet, probably because recoding is less accessible to experimental manipulation than nonsense syllables or T mazes, the traditional experimental psychologist has contributed little or nothing to their analysis. Nevertheless, experimental techniques can be used, methods of recoding can be specified, behavioral indicants can be found. And I anticipate that we will find a very orderly set of relations describing what now seems an uncharted wilderness of individual differences. Third, the concepts and measures provided by the theory of information provide a quantitative way of getting at some of these questions. The theory provides us with a yardstick for calibrating our stimulus materials and for measuring the performance of our subjects. In the interests of communication I have suppressed the technical details of information measurement and have tried to express the ideas in more familiar terms; I hope this paraphrase will not lead you to think they are not useful in research. Informational concepts have already proved valuable in the study of discrimination and of language; they promise a great deal in the study of learning and memory; and it has even been proposed that they can be useful in the study of concept formation. A lot of questions that seemed fruitless twenty or thirty years ago may now be worth another look. In fact, I feel that my story here must stop just as it begins to get really interesting. And finally, what about the magical number seven? What about the seven wonders of the world, the seven seas, the seven deadly sins, the seven daughters of Atlas in the Pleiades, the seven ages of man, the seven levels of hell, the seven primary colors, the seven notes of the musical scale, and the seven days of the week? What about the seven-point rating scale, the seven categories for absolute judgment, the seven objects in the span of attention, and the seven digits in the span of immediate memory? For the present I propose to withhold judgment. Perhaps there is something deep and profound behind all these sevens, something just calling out for us to discover it. But I suspect that it is only a pernicious, Pythagorean coincidence.
19,835 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1956
TL;DR: The theory provides us with a yardstick for calibrating the authors' stimulus materials and for measuring the performance of their subjects, and the concepts and measures provided by the theory provide a quantitative way of getting at some of these questions.
Abstract: First, the span of absolute judgment and the span of immediate memory impose severe limitations on the amount of information that we are able to receive, process, and remember. By organizing the stimulus input simultaneously into several dimensions and successively into a sequence or chunks, we manage to break (or at least stretch) this informational bottleneck. Second, the process of recoding is a very important one in human psychology and deserves much more explicit attention than it has received. In particular, the kind of linguistic recoding that people do seems to me to be the very lifeblood of the thought processes. Recoding procedures are a constant concern to clinicians, social psychologists, linguists, and anthropologists and yet, probably because recoding is less accessible to experimental manipulation than nonsense syllables or T mazes, the traditional experimental psychologist has contributed little or nothing to their analysis. Nevertheless, experimental techniques can be used, methods of recoding can be specified, behavioral indicants can be found. And I anticipate that we will find a very orderly set of relations describing what now seems an uncharted wilderness of individual differences. Third, the concepts and measures provided by the theory of information provide a quantitative way of getting at some of these questions. The theory provides us with a yardstick for calibrating our stimulus materials and for measuring the performance of our subjects. In the interests of communication I have suppressed the technical details of information measurement and have tried to express the ideas in more familiar terms; I hope this paraphrase will not lead you to think they are not useful in research. Informational concepts have already proved valuable in the study of discrimination and of language; they promise a great deal in the study of learning and memory; and it has even been proposed that they can be useful in the study of concept formation. A lot of questions that seemed fruitless twenty or thirty years ago may now be worth another look. In fact, I feel that my story here must stop just as it begins to get really interesting. And finally, what about the magical number seven? What about the seven wonders of the world, the seven seas, the seven deadly sins, the seven daughters of Atlas in the Pleiades, the seven ages of man, the seven levels of hell, the seven primary colors, the seven notes of the musical scale, and the seven days of the week? What about the seven-point rating scale, the seven categories for absolute judgment, the seven objects in the span of attention, and the seven digits in the span of immediate memory? For the present I propose to withhold judgment. Perhaps there is something deep and profound behind all these sevens, something just calling out for us to discover it. But I suspect that it is only a pernicious, Pythagorean coincidence.
16,902 citations
TL;DR: This paper reviewed the evidence for multistore theories of memory and pointed out some difficulties with the approach and proposed an alternative framework for human memory research in terms of depth or levels of processing.
8,195 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: Adaptive Control of Thought (ACT*) as mentioned in this paper is a theory of the basic principles of operation built into the cognitive system and is the main focus of Anderson's theory of cognitive architecture.
Abstract: Now available in paper, The Architecture of Cognition is a classic work that remains relevant to theory and research in cognitive science. The new version of Anderson's theory of cognitive architecture -- Adaptive Control of Thought (ACT*) -- is a theory of the basic principles of operation built into the cognitive system and is the main focus of the book. (http://books.google.fr/books?id=Uip3_g7zlAUC&printsec=frontcover&hl=fr#v=onepage&q&f=false)
6,911 citations
TL;DR: In this article, two instructional studies directed at the comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities of seventh grade poor comprehenders are reported, and the training method was that of reciprocal teaching, where the tutor and students took turns leading a dialogue centered on pertinent features of the text.
Abstract: Two instructional studies directed at the comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities of seventh grade poor comprehenders are reported. The four study activities were summarizing (self-review), questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The training method was that of reciprocal teaching, where the tutor and students took turns leading a dialogue centered on pertinent features of the text. In Study 1, a comparison between the reciprocal teaching method and a second intervention modeled on typical classroom practice resulted in greater gains and maintenance over time for the reciprocal procedure. Reciprocal teaching, with an adult model guiding the student to interact with the text in more sophisticated ways, led to a significant improvement in the quality of the summaries and questions. It also led to sizable gains on criterion tests of comprehension, reliable maintenance over time, generalization to classroom comprehension tests, transfer to novel tasks that tapped the trained skills of...
5,127 citations