Picture-Induced Semantic Interference Reflects Lexical Competition during Object Naming

With a picture–picture experiment, we contrasted competitive and non-competitive models of lexical selection during language production. Participants produced novel noun–noun compounds in response to two adjacently displayed objects that were categorically related or unrelated (e.g., depicted objects: apple and cherry; naming response: “apple–cherry”). We observed semantic interference, with slower compound naming for related relative to unrelated pictures, very similar to interference effects produced by semantically related context words in picture–word-interference paradigms. This finding suggests that previous failures to observe reliable interference induced by context pictures may be due to the weakness of lexical activation and competition induced by pictures, relative to words. The production of both picture names within one integrated compound word clearly enhances lexical activation, resulting in measurable interference effects. We interpret this interference as resulting from lexical competition, because the alternative interpretation, in terms of response-exclusion from the articulatory buffer, does not apply to pictures, even when they are named

Implicature Found in The Slogans Of Life Insurance Advertisements

In this research, the writer focuses on the analysis of implicature or implied meaning found in the life insurance’s advertisements published This study is limited on analyzing the advertisement containing pictures. They could be used as the context of the analysis. Therefore, the writer could find out the implicature of the slogans. There are three steps in doing this research; collecting data, analyzing data and presenting the result of data analysis. In collecting the data, 12 slogans of the advertisements were taken from internet. Those data were chosen based on some characteristics. They should have illustrations and pictures in order to help the writer in finding the implicature. Furthermore, the data are analyzed by applying the pragmatics identity method to investigate the data descriptively. The theory used is proposed by Grice and Mey. The finding of the data is presented by using formal and informal method. From the analysis, the writer found some implied meanings in the life insurance slogans. They are related to financial solution, safe and enjoyable life, health protection, solution to future plans, and a great life solution which can be acquired when joining the company of the life insurance. In general, the slogans promote the quality of the company implicitly.Keywords: implicature, context, implied meanin

A critical content analysis of English textbook for senior high school students in Indonesia

Driven by sparse investigations on cultural content in a textbook in English as a foreign language context, this study aims to analyze the cultural information embedded in an English textbook for senior high school students in Indonesia. A critical content analysis was employed to analyze the textbook entitled “Pathway to English for SMA/MA Grade XI” in compliance with the cultural information cores from Adaskou et al. (1990). The findings showed that the textbook contains four main topics of cultural information infused in 14 reading texts, 20 pictures, 30 recordings, and seven cultural awareness texts. The reading texts provide equal information related to target culture (i.e., the culture belongs to English speaking countries) and local culture, but the pictures, recordings, and cultural awareness topics tend to inform the target culture information. Furthermore, the researchers found several weaknesses in the reading texts and pictures where the information provided was too general that they neither contain cultural information nor relevant to other information in the textbook. Meanwhile, all pictures were in white and black with less detail provided. The results suggested that teachers should adapt and balance the cultural information in the textbook with their local cultures or norms by finding other materials from various sources

Enhanced visual exploration for real objects compared to pictures during free viewing in the macaque monkey

The question of whether animals perceive pictures as representation of real objects remains still unsolved. Object-picture perception is generally studied requiring animals to learn some information about real objects and transfer that knowledge to the pictorial domain, or vice versa. Here, we tackle the issue of object-picture perception from a different perspective, examining visual exploration behavior of two naïve macaque monkeys during free-viewing of objects and pictures of these objects on a computer monitor. Our main finding is that monkeys looked spontaneously longer at object rather than picture stimuli. However, we find striking similarities in temporal dynamics of gaze allocation within the time course of a single stimulus presentation, as well as in habituation rates within and across behavioral sessions. We also highlight differences between stimulus types in terms of spatial gaze patterns and looking strategies. Stimulus features that attract overt attention during spontaneous visual exploration are thus better predicted for object stimuli by a visual saliency model. Moreover, we provide evidence for a consistency in stimulus preference for objects and pictures, suggesting a correspondence of in how macaques perceive objects and their pictorial stimuli. Taken together, our data suggest that macaque monkeys exhibit evidence for correspondence between objects and pictures. This validates spontaneous visual exploration as a method for studying object-picture correspondence without a need for extensive behavioral training. We discuss the potential advantages of using object over picture stimuli in the context of studies on visual cognition

Plurilingual Identities of ELT Students: A Preliminary Study

Plurilingualism is another breakthrough of multilingualism. It is believed to be able to promote learning in cross cultural settings. This study focuses on finding out students’ plurilingual identities within the context of Indonesian higher education students majoring in English Language Teaching (ELT). This is a mixed-method study that used a survey to get quantitative data and a focus group to help the researcher get the qualitative data. More than sixty students of a private university in Banggai Regency have participated in the survey, however only five that had been taken to participate in the focus group. The results found that most of the students come from mixed marriage parents from different ethnicities backgrounds. Within more than six months of acquaintance with the students, various ways have been revealed from the way the students explain their plurilingual identity. Many students could not identify and describe their plurilingual identities properly during the survey study. In the focus group, students were asked to describe their plurilingual identities through pictures description. The pictures were drawn by the students. The data were analyzed through content analysis. Finally, this paper is expected to portrait plurilingual identities of ELT students as well as strengthens their cross-cultural understanding in the Indonesian higher education context.

An event-related potential investigation of the neural representations that support familiarity-based picture recognition

Most models of recognition memory assume that familiarity results from the matching of stimuli to the contents of memory. This matching process accumulates evidence that the stimulus was seen before, and when the evidence exceeds a criterion, a feeling of familiarity is experienced. Such models do not specify what constitutes evidence, and therefore offer limited insight into the specific attributes that make stimuli feel familiar. In two experiments, this dissertation examined the type of pictorial attributes that serve as evidence for familiarity-based picture recognition. Participants encoded briefly presented, masked pictures while event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Of primary interest were ERPs for pictures that participants could not identify by name, as previous behavioral research suggests that such items are recognized on the basis of familiarity. Analysis of these encoding ERPs revealed that the global shape of subsequently recognized yet unidentified pictures was fully extracted during the picture\u27s brief presentation, but that their global object shapes were not successfully matched to object representations in memory (Exp 1 & 2). This result indicated that the memory trace for unidentified pictures contained limited conceptual information, and perceptual details that were abstract rather than detailed/episodic. ERPs recorded during retrieval revealed that the neural correlate of familiarity-based retrieval, the FN400, was present for unidentified pictures (Exp 1 & 2), and that the FN400 was more pronounced when participants were oriented toward processing perceptual, as opposed to conceptual, attributes of pictures during encoding (Exp 2). The behavioral measure of familiarity was consistent was consistent with this finding, which together implied that the largely perceptual representations in the pictorial memory trace were sufficient for later recognition of the unidentified picture, and that the pictures were more familiar when perceptual processing was greatest at encoding. The data presented in this dissertation indicate that familiarity-based picture recognition can be based on evidence that is largely perceptual and abstractly represented. The results are discussed within the context of perirhinal cortex models of familiarity, which suggest that picture familiarity is based on conjunctive features represented by the perirhinal cortex within the medial temporal lobe

Integrating Local Context to Teaching English for Young Learners (Eyl)

English for young learners (EYL) studies have dealt with quiet number of teaching methods and strategies. However, researchers have not conducted adequate analyses of EYL teacher candidates‟ creativity in integrating the local context into their lesson plans. This writing, therefore, address this issue by analyzing the teacher candidates‟ portfolio when they take English for Children course. Limitation of accessibility, however, have led this study to only focus on analyzing the portfolios submitted by the teacher candidates pursuing their S1 degree in an English Language Teaching Department of State Islamic College of Metro Lampung, Indonesia. This study will contribute to filling the gap of the stakeholders‟ expectation toward the possibility of integrating the local context, particularly Islamic values as they are the prominent characteristic of the college, into the arena of ELT within Indonesian context. The analysis shows that local and ideological features are inseparable in ELT and that those are commonly integrated with songs and pictures

Tweet, but Verify: Epistemic Study of Information Verification on Twitter

While Twitter provides an unprecedented opportunity to learn about breaking news and current events as they happen, it often produces skepticism among users as not all the information is accurate but also hoaxes are sometimes spread. While avoiding the diffusion of hoaxes is a major concern during fast-paced events such as natural disasters, the study of how users trust and verify information from tweets in these contexts has received little attention so far. We survey users on credibility perceptions regarding witness pictures posted on Twitter related to Hurricane Sandy. By examining credibility perceptions on features suggested for information verification in the field of Epistemology, we evaluate their accuracy in determining whether pictures were real or fake compared to professional evaluations performed by experts. Our study unveils insight about tweet presentation, as well as features that users should look at when assessing the veracity of tweets in the context of fast-paced events. Some of our main findings include that while author details not readily available on Twitter feeds should be emphasized in order to facilitate verification of tweets, showing multiple tweets corroborating a fact misleads users to trusting what actually is a hoax. We contrast some of the behavioral patterns found on tweets with literature in Psychology research.Comment: Pre-print of paper accepted to Social Network Analysis and Mining (Springer

Attachment-related attention bias plays a causal role in trust in maternal support

The current study was designed to test whether children's ability to flexibly shift their attention (from their mother during distress to peers during exploration and vice versa) causally increases children's trust in the mother's support. We trained attention flexibility using a gaze-contingent music reward design. A total of 85 children (9-13 years of age; 46% boys) were randomly assigned to this training or a comparable yoked control condition. Attentional preferences were measured via eye tracking. Before and after the manipulation, we measured self-reported trust. Results showed that the training condition increased children's attention flexibility. Training-related increased attentional focus on the mother during distress was linked with increased trust. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Speaker emotion can affect ambiguity production

Does speaker emotion affect degree of ambiguity in referring expressions? We used referential communication tasks preceded by mood induction to examine whether positive emotional valence may be linked to ambiguity of referring expressions. In Experiment 1, participants had to identify sequences of objects with homophonic labels (e.g., the animal bat, a baseball bat) for hypothetical addressees. This required modification of the homophones. Happy speakers were less likely to modify the second homophone to repair a temporary ambiguity (i.e., they were less likely to say … first cover the bat, then cover the baseball bat …). In Experiment 2, participants had to identify one of two identical objects in an object array, which required a modifying relative clause (the shark that's underneath the shoe). Happy speakers omitted the modifying relative clause twice as often as neutral speakers (e.g., by saying Put the shark underneath the sheep), thereby rendering the entire utterance ambiguous in the context of two sharks. The findings suggest that one consequence of positive mood appears to be more ambiguity in speech. This effect is hypothesised to be due to a less effortful processing style favouring an egocentric bias impacting perspective taking or monitoring of alignment of utterances with an addressee's perspective