The relationship between inferential processing and text processing: a developmental study

The research reported here was designed to investigate the critical role played by certain factors implicated in the mental representation of text, and to establish whether their role varies significantly as a function of developmental age. Specifically, it was decided to analyse, in a sample of 180 subjects was selected from three different age groups (7, 10 and 18 years of age respectively), the role of such factors in mediating and influencing the generation of the inferences needed to understand a piece of text characterised by a sequence of information which flows in a logical order, but leads to a conclusion which is contrary to the expectations evoked by the text. In line with this objective, it was decided to take into account factors related to encoding (added information about the key object – a title), those involved in recall (inferential tests regarding the object and action of change), as well as purely metacognitive factors, such as evaluation of one’s own comprehension and awareness of textual incongruence, whose presence, according to our assumptions, should facilitate the formulation of inferential hypotheses. It would thus seem that inferential processing is powerfully influenced both by cognitive and structural factors, factors which can play a role during both encoding and recall. The results reported here tend to confirm the hypothesis that there is indeed a significant developmental trend in the role played by those factors involved in the coherent representation of text and in the formulation of inferences. The data suggest that children in the youngest age group obtain the greatest advantage from clues in reaching a more correct representation of the text concerned. It is concluded that inferential processes do not serve only to make connections between propositions, but to construct a coherent mental representation of text (Kintsh, 1994; Zwaan, 1994, 1996)

Linguistic prosody and comprehension of idioms and proverbs in subjects of school age

A crucial component of language is represented by the prosodic system because it provides essential elements to speaker about how a sentence should be interpreted or intended (Fodor, 2002). Increasing interest from researchers also relates to the understanding of figurative language (Levorato, & Cacciari, 2002). In the figures of speech that the speaker wants the listener intends something more or different than what is explicitly stated (Glucksberg, 2001).. In particular, prosodic intonation is crucial in the resolution of syntactic ambiguity and structural features that constitute the complex messages, such as idioms and proverbs. A crucial component of language, therefore, is represented by the prosodic system because it provides essential elements to talking about how a sentence should be interpreted or understood . The ability to relate to metalinguistic understanding the cognitive processes that allow you to reflect on language and manipulate its characteristics. These capabilities are essential to recognize and resolve the ambiguities of a complex message, you can control and plan the way we produce and understand language (Levorato, 2007). The study demonstrates that an understanding prosodic correlates with the understanding of idioms and proverbs, which are crucial for the achievement of metalinguistic awareness, are influenced by the level of schooling and socio-cultural

Down Syndrome and Referential Communication: Understanding and Production

This study aimed to evaluate the ability of referential communication in subjects with Down Syndrome (DS). We evaluated the possibility that the referential communication is the result of a set of cognitive factors, verbal and nonverbal through the evaluation of relationship between cognitive abilities in individuals with DS and typically developing. In particular, we have identified some critical dimensions of communicative function, such as the referential communication, which means the subject's ability to produce o the listener or messages "referentially oriented", ie messages that are characterized by "clarity or ambiguity referential ". The referential communication skills, intended both as production (speaker condition) and as understanding (listener condition). Furthermore, has been decided to deepen their understanding through a test that assesses understanding of the text. This choice stems from the need to investigate whether the understanding of a text for individuals with DS could be easier than the understanding of individual messages. It is assumed in fact, that understanding of a text works as a facilitator in coherent mental representation of the text, compared to a single message

Concepções pessoais de inteligência e auto-estima: Que diferenças entre estudantes portugueses e italianos?

Neste artigo apresentam-se alguns dos resultados de um estudo intercultural sobre as concepções pessoais de inteligência e a auto-estima global, comparando alunos de dois níveis de ensino (secundário e superior) de Portugal e de Itália. A amostra total compreende 1540 alunos, 811 italianos e 729 portugueses, de ambos os sexos e de diferentes níveis sócio-económicos, frequentando os 10.º e o 12.º anos do ensino secundário e o 1.º ano de vários cursos universitários em ambos os países. Os instrumentos utilizados foram a Escala de Con- 763 cepções Pessoais de Inteligência (Faria, 2003), com 26 itens, e a Escala de Auto-Estima Global (Rosenberg, 1965), com 10 itens, traduzidas e adaptadas para as versões portuguesa e italiana. Os principais resultados salientam a existência de interacções significativas entre o nível de ensino frequentado e o contexto cultural, em ambos os construtos, evidenciando ainda que os alunos italianos do ensino secundário têm concepções menos estáticas de inteligência, enquanto que os alunos universitários portugueses apresentam a maior auto-estima global de todos os grupos. Outras interacções significativas observadas para a auto-estima global identificam os alunos portugueses de classe alta e os do sexo masculino e de classes média e alta como sendo os que apresentam maior auto-estima global.ABSTRACT: This article presents some results of an intercultural study on personal conceptions of intelligence and global self-esteem, comparing students from two levels of education (secondary and university) from Portugal and Italy. The total sample includes 1540 students, 811 Italians and 729 Portuguese, from both sexes and from different socio-economic statuses (SES), of the 10th and 12th secondary grades and of the first grade of several university courses in both countries. The instruments used included The Personal Conceptions of Intelligence Scale (Faria, 2003), with 26 items, and The Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), with 10 items, both translated and adapted to Portuguese and Italian versions. The main results evidenced the existence of significant interaction effects between the level of education and the cultural context for both constructs, showing also that Italian secondary students had less static conceptions of intelligence, while the Portuguese university students presented the highest levels of global self-esteem of all. Other significant interactions for global self-esteem evidenced that both higher SES Portuguese students, and higher and middle SES males presented higher levels of global self-esteem.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Properties of the italian version of the Body Weight Image and Self-Esteem (B-WISE) in a non-clinical sample

This study aims at assessing psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Body Weight Image and Self-Esteem (B-WISE) originally developed by Awad and Voruganti (2004) with psychiatric patients. The subjects were 1,033 non-clinical Italians with an average chronological age of 27.49 years (SD = 8.91). With regard to gender, there were 547 females and 491 males. Participants were administered self-report instruments: the B-WISE Questionnaire (Awad and Voruganti, 2004) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (1965). The exploratory factor analysis revealed the existence of 3 factors explaining the 48.03% of total variance. With regard to internal consistency, our study showed a not satisfactory internal consistency of B-WISE by obtaining weak values of a ranging from .43 to .45. We found significant differences on body image between males and females. Males showed a higher body satisfaction. Moreover they revealed positive significant associations between body-image and self-esteem. Results encouraged the use of the B-WISE questionnaire and highlighted the need for this measure to be employed in order to compare clinical and non-clinical samples. In particular, the B-WISE could be used as an instrument of screening useful in the early identification of high body dissatisfaction cases

Investigating the Improvement of Decoding Abilities and Working Memory in Children with Incremental or Entity Personal Conceptions of Intelligence: Two Case Reports

One of the most significant current discussions has led to the hypothesis that domain-specific training programs alone are not enough to improve reading achievement or working memory abilities. Incremental or Entity personal conceptions of intelligence may be assumed to be an important prognostic factor to overcome domain-specific deficits. Specifically, incremental students tend to be more oriented toward change and autonomy and are able to adopt more efficacious strategies. This study aims at examining the effect of personal conceptions of intelligence to strengthen the efficacy of a multidimensional intervention progrm in order to improve decoding abilities and working memory. Participants included two children (M age= 10 years) with developmental dyslexia and different conceptions of intelligence. The children were tested on a whole battery of reading and spelling tests commonly used in the assessment of reading disabilities in Italy. Afterwards, they were given a multimedia test to measure motivational factors such as conceptions of intelligence and achievement goals. The children took part in the T.I.R.D. Multimedia Training for the Rehabilitation of Dyslexia (Rappo and Pepi, 2010) reinforced by specific units to improve verbal working memory for 3months. This training consisted of specific tasks to rehabilitate both visual and phonological strategies (sound blending, word segmentation, alliteration test and rhyme test, letterr ecognition, digraph recognition,trigraph recognition, and word recognition as samples of visual tasks) and verbal working memory (rapid words and non- words recognition).Posttest evaluations showed that the child holding the incremental theory of intelligence improved more than the child holding a static representaton. On the whole this study highlights the importance of treatment programs in which both specificity of deficits and motivational factors are both taken into account. There is a need to plan multifaceted intervention programs based on a transverse approach, considering both cognitive and motivational factors