Tacit verification of determinate and indeterminate text ideas.

Singer (2006; see record 2006-05124-008) presented evidence that reading time reflects, in part, processes of continuously verifying current clauses with reference to their text antecedents. This study extended that analysis to text ideas of indeterminate truth in their discourse context. For example, having read simply that Norm’s house was destroyed, one might later read that Norm’s cousin believed that Norm’s house was destroyed by a fire. Research concerning people’s reports of not knowing something suggested that the reading of clauses of indeterminate truth would be faster than for false or inconsistent clauses. In two experiments, target sentences varied in their truth, verb entailments, and use of negation with reference to their antecedents. Reading time for indeterminate targets was sometimes distinctly shorter and was never longer than for corresponding false targets. The effects were modulated by the entailments of factive and nonfactive main verbs and by negative expression. All of the conditions that were identical to ones of Singer (2006) replicated the former findings. It was concluded that encountering text ideas of indeterminate truth does not initiate protracted memory searches for comparable concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategies for studying text: A comparison of Papua New Guinean and American research findings.

Replicated a study by A. L. Brown and S. S. Smiley (see PA, Vols 58:7183 and 62:8220) on the development of strategies for studying texts, using a cross-cultural design. In an initial norming phase 24 undergraduates from Papua New Guinea were found to make the same discrimination between linguistic units of a prose passage in terms of importance to textual theme as did the original American sample. Subsequently, recall of units was experimentally demonstrated to correspond with the rated importance of each unit. Contrary to Brown and Smiley's findings, however, intentional study instructions and provision of extended study time had minimal effect on recall performance. In addition, there was no significant difference between 1st- and 4th-yr students. Explanations of these data in terms of differential motivation and lack of effective use of study strategies are discussed. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Checking it out: Cognitive style, context, and problem type in children's monitoring of text comprehension.

Three experiments investigated the effects of age, context, and reflection–impulsivity (as assessed by the Matching Familiar Figures Test) on children's monitoring of comprehensibility problems in extended passages. In Exp I with 20 kindergartners and 20 2nd graders, reflective listeners were generally more effective detectors of referentially ambiguous terms in brief texts than were their impulsive agemates. Presence of a perceptual context for the messages significantly facilitated Ss' ambiguity detection as well. Exp II replicated the perceptual-context effect for 20 1st graders but failed to find any effects of cognitive style. In Exp III, 72 1st, 3rd, and 6th graders heard stories with several types of coherence problems, including referential confusions or global text-organization problems (missing story themes or resolutions). Half the Ss anticipated retelling the stories, and half did not. No effects of this listener–purpose manipulation were observed. More reflective listeners again detected referential ambiguities more readily overall, but this cognitive style effect did not extend to other types of message problems. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing text representations with recognition: The interaction of domain knowledge and text coherence.

Readers construct at least 2 interrelated mental representations when they comprehend a text: a textbase and a situation model. Two experiments were conducted with recognition memory to examine how domain knowledge and text coherence influence readers' textbase and situation-model representations. In Experiment 1, participants made remember-know judgments to text ideas. Knowledge and coherence interacted to influence remember judgments differently than know judgments. In Experiment 2, the authors used the process-dissociation procedure to obtain recollection and familiarity estimates. Knowledge and coherence interacted to influence recollection estimates but not familiarity estimates. The authors claim that recollection and familiarity can be used as markers of the different processes involved in constructing a textbase and a situation model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reprocessing text: Contributions from conceptually driven processes.

Recent claims that reprocessing benefits observed during rereading are mediated by abstract word-level representations (T. H. Carr et al; see record 1989-38877-001) were countered in 4 experiments with a total of 100 undergraduates. In these experiments, the amount of text context that was repeated between original and rereading tasks was varied. For reprocessing normal text, there was a systematic involvement of conceptually driven processes in the text reprocessing transfer observed across reading repetitions. This reprocessing advantage was consistent across reading modality. Unlike normal texts, the scrambled texts became more and more scrambled across studies. It is argued that the processing orientation is critical to transfer effects in scrambled reading conditions. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategies of text retrieval: A criterion shift account.

This study scrutinized people's ability to apply different strategies to randomly intermixed immediate and delayed test items. In three experiments a total of 221 participants first read one set of stories. Later, they read more stories, and after each one, answered intermixed questions about that story and one of the earlier ones. The experiments cumulatively manipulated amount of delay, test probe plausibility, probe relation (explicit, paraphrase, inference), and testing procedure (mixed versus uniform delay). Using signal detection response criterion as the index of strategy, the authors contrasted the single criterion hypothesis, according to which one text retrieval criterion is applied to all test items and a multiple-criterion hypothesis. The results consistently favoured the multiple-criterion hypothesis. The results also indicated that the presence of immediate and delayed probes mutually influence one another less extreme signal detection criteria were adopted under mixed than uniform testing. It was concluded that text retrieval strategy is continually calibrated with reference to the quality of the test probes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comprehension of learning-disabled readers: Task and text variations.

In Exp I, 24 learning-disabled (LD; mean age 155.13 mo) and 24 normal (mean age 130.54 mo) children demonstrated similar skill in title selection and summary sentence writing. In Exp II, 14 LD readers (mean age 154.14 mo) in a reading-with-listening condition detected deviant sentences more accurately than 14 LD readers (mean age 160.64 mo) in a reading-only condition and 14 normal readers (mean age 132.07 mo). Type of deviant sentence, position of deviant sentence, and topic-sentence condition affected all groups similarly, with one exception: The placement of the deviant sentence later in a paragraph did not aid the LD reading-only group as it had the other groups. Findings replicate and extend those of J. P. Williams et al (see record 1982-20880-001) to include a different population and a different presentation mode. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learner-generated organizational aids: Effects on learning from text.

Compared the effects on learning from text of 4 contexts (topic sentences, headings, related sentences, and unrelated sentences) when they were generated by readers or provided in text. 133 female undergraduates read a 522-word passage based on 15 related topics within a conceptual hierarchy on minerals, and performance under each of the treatments was examined on a free recall test, matching test, and test for knowledge of passage structure. The contexts had differential effects on knowledge of passage structure only when they were generated; readers who generated topic sentences recalled more than all other learners. The provided contexts had no effect on knowledge of passage structure but increased recall of subordinate information over generated contexts. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Monitoring text comprehension: Individual differences in epistemological standards.

Examined individual differences in reading comprehension standards by asking 9 undergraduates enrolled in a "Fundamentals of Psychology" course to describe the criteria they used to decide whether or not they had comprehended textbook chapters. Ss were classified as having a dualistic (fact-oriented) or a relativistic (context-oriented) conception of knowledge on the basis of their ratings of attitude statements drawn from the work of W. G. Perry (1968). Comprehension criteria reported by dualists more often involved the knowledge category found in the B. S. Bloom et al (1956) book, Taxonomy, and those reported by relativists, the comprehension or application categories. The nature and number of reported comprehension criteria were found to be predictive of course grades. Ss reporting the use of comprehension or application criteria earned better grades than those reporting the use of knowledge criteria; Ss reporting the use of more than one criterion earned better grades than those reporting the use of a single criterion. These data suggest that one's epistemological beliefs may dictate one's choice of comprehension standards and that these epistemological standards, in turn, may control the effectiveness of one's text processing efforts. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dangerous ideas: Five beliefs that propel groups toward conflict.

The toll in death, suffering, and displacement caused by conflicts engaging groups defined by ethnicity, nationality, religion, or other social identities has reached staggering proportions over the past decade. With expertise in research and intervention, psychologists have critical contributions to make to more fully understanding and more effectively confronting this distressing global phenomenon. The authors focus on the parallels between the core beliefs of individuals and the collective worldviews of groups that may operate to trigger or constrain violent struggles. On the basis of a review of relevant literatures, 5 belief domains--superiority, injustice, vulnerability, distrust, and helplessness--are identified as particularly important for further study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mixture distribution latent state-trait analysis: Basic ideas and applications.

Extensions of latent state-trait models for continuous observed variables to mixture latent state-trait models with and without covariates of change are presented that can separate individuals differing in their occasion-specific variability. An empirical application to the repeated measurement of mood states (N = 501) revealed that a model with 2 latent classes fits the data well. The larger class (76%) consists of individuals whose mood is highly variable, whose general well-being is comparatively lower, and whose mood variability is influenced by daily hassles and uplifts. The smaller class (24%) represents individuals who are rather stable and happier and whose mood is influenced only by daily uplifts but not by daily hassles. A simulation study on the model without covariates with 5 sets of sample sizes and 5 sets of number of occasions revealed that the appropriateness of the parameter estimates of this model depends on number of observations (the higher the better) and number of occasions (the higher the better). Another simulation study estimated Type I and II errors of the Lo-Mendell-Rubin test. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depending on my mood: Mood-driven influences on text comprehension.

Reading comprehension is a critical component of success in educational settings. To date, research on text processing in educational and cognitive psychological domains has focused predominantly on cognitive influences on comprehension and, in particular, those influences that might be derived from particular tasks or strategies. However, there is growing interest in documenting the influences of emotional factors on the processes and products of text comprehension, because these factors are less likely to be associated with explicit reading strategies. The present study examines this issue by evaluating the degree to which mood can influence readers' processing of text. Participants in control, happy-induced, or sad-induced groups thought aloud while reading expository texts. Happy, sad, and neutral moods influenced the degree to which readers engaged in particular types of coherence-building processes in the service of comprehension. Although reading strategies clearly influence processing, understudied factors that are less explicitly goal-driven, such as mood, can similarly impact comprehension activity. These findings have important implications for the role of mood on reading instruction and evaluation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detecting letters in continuous text: Effects of display size.

In three letter detection experiments, subjects responded to each instance of the letter t in continuous text (a) typed in a standard paragraph, (b) typed with one to four words per line, or (c) shown for a fixed duration on a computer screen either one or four words at a time. In the multiword and the standard paragraph conditions, errors were greatest and latencies longest on the word the when it was correctly spelled. This effect was diminished or reversed in the one-word conditions. These findings support a set of unitization hypotheses about the reading process, according to which subjects do not process the constituent letters of a word once that word has been identified unless no other word is in view. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning from instructional text: Test of an individual-differences model.

An individual-differences model of learning from instructional text was tested on 211 Air Force recruits. The results strongly supported the model, with a high level of fit for a structural equation modeling analysis using LISREL 8 (K. J?reskog & D. S?rbom, 1993). According to the model, learning from text is determined by making connections among ideas, including ideas from the text and from prior knowledge. Making the connections depends in part on 4 variables that differ among individuals: metacognition, specifically the ability to sense that one's mental representation is not coherent and consequently needs extra connections; inference-making ability, which spreads activation among the elements within working memory, which provides the arena in which the connections are made; and domain knowledge, which provides prior knowledge elements for use by the inference-making process to make connections. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissertation while on internship: Obstacles and predictors of progress.

Dissertation status of intern applicants is an issue for training directors and students alike. Two major concerns are that students may fail to finish the dissertation after the internship and that they may be distracted during internship while also working on the dissertation. The dissertation status and progress of 1,025 psychology interns is described, as well as obstacles to and predictors of dissertation progress. While 20% of all interns start the year with their dissertations complete, students who start internship with completed proposals make more dissertation progress while on internship than those beginning at preproposal stages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Rereading text: Words and their context": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by B. A. Levy et al (Canadian Journal of Psychology, 1991[Dec], Vol 45[4], 492–506). Corrections to tables 2 and 3 regarding mean reading times during original reading and rereading in Exps 1 and 2, respectively, are provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in PA Vol 79:18597.) Two experiments examined whether the benefits of rereading are mediated by abstract word-level representations and are subject to the reader's focus of attention (T. H. Carr and J. S. Brown; see record 1990-27485-001). The effect of prior reading history was measured when 50 undergraduates reread a normal text and a scrambled word version of the text. The prior reading history was either with the normal or the scrambled version. In Exp 1, readers were oriented to surface level processing by a Greek letter detection task while reading. In Exp 2, Ss were oriented to message level processing by being required to write a summary of the text after each rereading. Transfer to normal text rereading is context specific, and this specificity is resistant to influences by focus of attention. Transfer to rereading scrambled word displays is variable, usually nonspecific, and perhaps open to attentional strategy. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sport psychology service delivery: Staying ethical while keeping loose.

Although the parent discipline of sport psychology is psychology, the delivery of sport psychology services has its main roots in physical education and sports science (motor learning and control, skill acquisition). Thus, sport psychologists may look more like coaches than they look like clinicians or counselors. In this article, the authors trace the evolution of sport psychology services and contrast the temporal, spatial, and delivery issues of applied sport psychology with more mainstream counseling and clinical psychology. The looser boundaries of sport psychologist practice have both benefits and dangers, and the authors offer some examples to professional psychologists who are thinking of expanding their delivery of service to athletes and coaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reaching while calculating: Scheduling of cognitive and perceptual-motor processes.

To address the neglected question of how cognitive and perceptual-motor processes are coordinated, the authors asked participants to move a cursor from one target to another to reveal operators and operands for a running arithmetic task. In Experiment 1 performance on this task was compared with performance on tasks requiring only aiming or only arithmetic. Aiming was faster in the aiming-only task than in the combined task. More importantly, times for steps requiring calculation were equivalent in the combined and arithmetic-only tasks. The results from this and a second experiment suggest that participants slowed their aiming to allow calculations to be completed before subsequent targets were entered. As a whole, the results suggest that cognitive and perceptual-motor processes are coordinated through scheduling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)