Speech monitoring and phonologically-mediated eye gaze in language perception and production: a comparison using printed word eye-tracking

The Perceptual Loop Theory of speech monitoring assumes that speakers routinely inspect their inner speech. In contrast, Huettig and Hartsuiker (2010) observed that listening to one's own speech during language production drives eye-movements to phonologically related printed words with a similar time-course as listening to someone else's speech does in speech perception experiments. This suggests that speakers use their speech perception system to listen to their own overt speech, but not to their inner speech. However, a direct comparison between production and perception with the same stimuli and participants is lacking so far. The current printed word eye-tracking experiment therefore used a within-subjects design, combining production and perception. Displays showed four words, of which one, the target, either had to be named or was presented auditorily. Accompanying words were phonologically related, semantically related, or unrelated to the target. There were small increases in looks to phonological competitors with a similar time-course in both production and perception. Phonological effects in perception however lasted longer and had a much larger magnitude. We conjecture that this difference is related to a difference in predictability of one's own and someone else's speech, which in turn has consequences for lexical competition in other-perception and possibly suppression of activation in self-perception

Prediction of children\u27s sociometric status from adult ratings

Poor peer relations in childhood predict difficulty in adolescent and adult adjustment. Sociometric methods provide a useful way to operationalize social competence. Five groups of children (Average, Popular, Rejected, Neglected, and Controversial), identified by nomination sociometrics, show significant differences on a variety of behavioral and non-behavioral indices. This categorization scheme has value in the identification of children at risk for later maladaptive outcomes, and may be useful in designing preventive intervention programs. The current study attempted to determine the degree to which diagnostic ratings generated by significant adults can be generalized to the sociometric status of children. Parent and teacher ratings were gathered on 134 children who had previously been categorized sociometrically as Popular, Average, Neglected or Rejected. Two significant discriminant functions were found that together accounted for 95% of the variance shared between the sociometric groups and adult ratings. Interpretation of the discriminant functions suggests that Rejected children are rated by adults as more emotionally labile, interpersonally hostile, and less able to cope with failure and social pressure than the Neglected and Popular children. Neglected children are seen as displaying slight motoric, cognitive, and/or academic deficits compared to their Popular peers. The discriminant functions generated were able to correctly classify 62% of the total original sample, 48% with bias removed. Diagnostic inferences and implications of the results for clinical practice are discussed. Limitations of the study together with possible directions for future research are presented

Sociometric Categorization of Children: An Empirically Based Method

The use of sociometric assessment as a method for investigating the social competence of children and the prediction of future adjustment difficulties was reviewed. Recent methods used to form up to five sociometric groups (Popular, Average, Rejected, Neglected, and Controversial) were surveyed. Various combinations of raw scores, standard deviation units, standardized scores, and binomial probability scores have been used in classification procedures. lnclusion/exclusion criteria, or cutoff scores, have been based on arbitrary statistical decisions regarding the ”extremeness of children’s statements (positive and negative nominations) regarding their peers. These aspects of sociometric categorization result in limitations on the validity and generalizability of research in the area. The current study attempted to develop an empirically based categorization system to remedy limitations to sociometric research. Four components made up the study. The relationship between a set of teacher-reported behavioral descriptors and continuous sociometric data was determined. Second, contingent-frequency tables for the behavioral descriptors most strongly associated with the sociometric data were developed. Third, cutting scores to maximize the behavioral homogeneity of sociometric groups were determined from this information. Finally, the efficiency of binomial scores in classifying children sociometrically was compared to that achieved by arbitrary classification schemes. An empirically based method for sociometric categorization was developed which differed significantly from previously devised methods. Discriminant function analyses for the new method and two arbitrary methods were performed to assess the prediction of Average, Popular, and Rejected groups from parent ratings. No significant difference was found between the three methods’ ability to correctly classify cases into one of the three groups with parent ratings as predictor variables. However, two important groups (Neglected and Controversial children) were deleted from the comparison because of inadequate size. This placed an unintended limit on the validational comparison. Advantages of an empirical approach to sociometric classification and implications of the study are discussed in terms of the cognitive psychological concept of prototypes. Limitations of the current study together with possible directions for future research are presented