The influence of semantic context on initial eye landing sites in words

To determine the role of ongoing processing on eye guidance in reading, two studies examined the effects of semantic context on the eyes' initial landing position in words of different levels of processing diffculty. Results from both studies clearly indicate a shift of the initial fixation location towards the end of the words for words that can be predicted from a prior semantic context. However, shifts occur only in high-frequency words and with prior fixations close to the beginning of the target word. These results suggest that ongoing perceptual and linguistic processes can affect the decision of where to send the eyes next in reading. They are explained in terms of the easiness of processing associated with the target words when located in parafoveal vision. It is concluded that two critical factors might help observing effects of linguistic variables on initial landing sites, namely, the frequency of the target word and the position where the eyes are launched from as regards to the beginning of the target word. Results also provide evidence for an early locus of semantic context effects in reading

How does Employment Growth in Wisconsin Compare to Other States Over the Past Decade?

Does the way in which a scene is viewed influence the interpretation of the role of the characters that appear in it, and does narrative context influence sensitivity to camera angle? In the linear conditions of the present study, each of 3 stories consisted of a sequence of 5 pictures. Pictures 2 and 3 introduced the 2 characters with either a high-angle, an eye-level, or a low-angle shot. In the random conditions, the S pictures were rearranged into a random order. Immediately after viewing each story, the 2 characters were rated on the 3 factors of Osgood's semantic differential (Evaluation, Potency, & Activation). Thereafter, an acceptable end to each of the 3 stories was to be chosen on a multiple-choice questionnaire. The results show a significant effect of the camera angle on the factor "Potency" under the linear condition: A low-angle shot elicited more potency. In addition, for one of the 3 stories in which the 2 characters were engaged in a common activity (chess playing), there was a significant difference on the choice of the probable ends as a function of camera position: The character, presented with a low-angle shot, was perceived as the winning player.Laboratorium voor Experimentele psychologie.status: publishe

“The head draws, the hand thinks.” Interview met Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven

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Opposing the direct and indirect theory in explaining the tunnel effect

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Comité national des Sciences Psychologiques. Rapport annuel 1987

Van Outryve d'Ydewalle Géry. Comité national des Sciences Psychologiques. Rapport annuel 1987. In: Bulletin de la Classe des sciences, tome 74, 1988. p. 233

Implicit false memory in the DRM paradigm: Effects of amnesia, encoding instructions, and encoding duration

Recent studies with the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (Deese 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995) paradigm have revealed that amnesic patients do not only show impaired veridical memory, but also diminished false memory for semantically related lure words. Due to the typically used explicit retrieval instructions, however, this finding may reflect problems at encoding, at recollection, or both. Therefore, the present experiments examined implicit as well as explicit false memory in patients suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome and controls. In Experiment 1, encoding instructions either focused on remembering individual list words, or on discovering semantic relationships among the words. In Experiment 2, different presentation durations were used. Results emphasize the distinction between automatic and intentional retrieval: Korsakoff patients' veridical and false memory scores were diminished when explicit recollection was required, but not when memory was tested implicitly. Encoding manipulations only significantly affected veridical memory: Priming was reduced with thematic encoding, and explicit retrieval was facilitated when given more study time.status: publishe

Incidental versus intentional encoding in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm: Does amnesic patients’ implicit false memory depend on conscious activation of the lure?

In two experiments, implicit false memory was investigated in Korsakoff patients and controls following incidental and intentional encoding in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Participants were asked to think aloud, to investigate whether conscious lure activation occurs equally often in both groups under both types of instructions, and whether this influences the likelihood of later false memory. Results revealed normal priming for critical lures in amnesia following both types of encoding. Korsakoff patients did verbalize fewer lures than did controls during intentional encoding and showed impaired recognition performance. Lure verbalization was shown to contribute to explicit false memory, but had no clear effect on implicit memory. Together, results point to the conclusion that amnesic patients' encoding abilities are sufficient to obtain normal priming for critical lure words, and that conscious lure activation during study is not required to do so.status: publishe

Mémoire prospective et métacognition dans le vieillissement normal

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