Do Marked Topics Enhance Memory?

We examined the effects of markedness, the deviation from the canonical Subject-Verb-Object structure in English, on the memory of listeners for the topic of the sentence. We used three marked topic constructions: Left-Dislocation, Object-Fronting, and Subject-Marking. Sentences with these structures were inserted as the 6th item in lists of 12 canonical sentences. In all sentences the topic was the name of a man. We measured recall of the critical name. The results revealed that topics of Left-Dislocated sentences were recalled more than topics of the other constructions, with topics of Object-Fronting sentences recalled the least. We briefly discuss how sentence processing procedures might give rise to these effects

The contribution of the two hemispheres to lexical decision in different languages

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Both reading words and text in Arabic is slower than in other languages, even among skilled native Arabic speakers Previously we have shown that the right hemisphere (RH) had difficulty in matching Arabic letters, and suggested that it cannot contribute to word recognition in Arabic. In this study we tested this finding directly.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>We used the Divided Visual Field (DVF) lexical decision (LD) paradigm to assess hemispheric function during reading. The experiment had two conditions (unilateral and bilateral). In the unilateral condition, the target stimulus was presented unilaterally to the left or the right visual field. In the bilateral condition two stimuli were presented simultaneously, and participants were cued as to which one was the target. Three groups of participants were tested: Arabic speakers, Hebrew speakers, and English speakers. Each group was tested in their native language.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For Hebrew and English speakers, performance in both visual fields was significantly better in the unilateral than in the bilateral condition. For Arabic speakers, performance in the right visual field (RVF, where stimuli are presented directly to the left hemisphere) did not change in the two conditions. Performance in the LVF (when stimuli are presented directly to the right hemisphere) was at chance level in the bilateral condition, but not in the unilateral condition.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We interpret these data as supporting the hypothesis that in English and Hebrew, both hemispheres are involved in LD, whereas in Arabic, the right hemisphere is not involved in word recognition.</p

Phonological and orthographic visual word recognition in the two cerebral hemispheres : Evidence from Hebrew

Studies on the cerebral mechanisms of reading have mostly used Latin-based writing systems and assume that the left, but not the right, cerebral hemisphere is capable of phonological processing. The present study used Hebrew as the test language to examine the effects of phonological and orthographic information in the two hemispheres. In unvoweled Hebrew script, words are read via consonant information alone. We used two naming tasks with an interference paradigm, where phonemically, orthographically, and figurally incorrect vowel information conflicted with the consonant information of words presented in the left, right, or central visual fields. Interference patterns indicated that the left hemisphere automatically transforms graphemes into phonemes (Experiments 1 and 2), whereas the right hemisphere processes vowel diacritics as visual objects (Experiment 1), although it possesses some phonological categories (Experiment 2). The significance of these findings for models of visual word recognition in the cerebral hemispheres is discussed

Separability of Lexical and Morphological Knowledge: Evidence from Language Minority Children

Lexical and morphological knowledge of school-aged children are correlated with each other, and are often difficult to distinguish. One reason for this might be that many tasks currently used to assess morphological knowledge require children to inflect or derive real words in the language, thus recruiting their vocabulary knowledge. The current study investigated the possible separability of lexical and morphological knowledge using two complementary approaches. First, we examined the correlations between vocabulary and four morphological tasks tapping different aspects of morphological processing and awareness, and using either real-word or pseudo-word stimuli. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that different morphological tasks recruit lexical knowledge to various degrees. Second, we compared the Hebrew vocabulary and morphological knowledge of 5th grade language minority speaking children to that of their native speaking peers. This comparison allows us to ask whether reduced exposure to the societal language might differentially influence vocabulary and morphological knowledge. The results demonstrate that indeed different morphological tasks rely on lexical knowledge to varying degrees. In addition, language minority students had significantly lower performance in vocabulary and in morphological tasks that recruited vocabulary knowledge to a greater extent. In contrast, both groups performed similarly in abstract morphological tasks with a lower vocabulary load. These results demonstrate that lexical and morphological knowledge may rely on partially separable learning mechanisms, and highlight the importance of distinguishing between these two linguistic components

Brain correlates of discourse processing: An fMRI investigation of irony and conventional metaphor comprehension

Department of Psycholog

Fact retrieval and memory consolidation for a movement sequence: bidirectional effects of 'unrelated' cognitive tasks on procedural memory.

The generation of long-term memory for motor skills can be modulated by subsequent motor experiences that interfere with the consolidation process. Recent studies suggest that even a non-motor task may adversely affect some aspects of motor sequence memory. Here we show that motor sequence memory can be either enhanced or reduced, by different cognitive tasks. Participants were trained in performing finger movement sequences. Fully explicit instructions about the target sequence were given before practice. The buildup of procedural knowledge was tested at three time-points: immediately before training (T1), after practice (T2), and 24 hours later (T3). Each participant performed the task on two separate occasions; training on a different movement sequence on each occasion. In one condition, interference, participants performed a non-motor task immediately after T2. Half the participants solved simple math problems and half performed a simple semantic judgment task. In the baseline condition there was no additional task. All participants improved significantly between T1 and T2 (within-session gains). In addition, in the baseline condition, performance significantly improved between T2 and T3 (delayed 'off-line' gains). Solving math problems significantly enhanced these delayed gains in motor performance, whereas performing semantic decisions significantly reduced delayed gains compared to baseline. Thus, procedural motor memory consolidation can be either enhanced or inhibited by subsequent cognitive experiences. These effects do not require explicit or implicit new learning. The retrieval of unrelated, non-motor, well established knowledge can modulate procedural memory