Development of word identification speed in skilled and less skilled beginning readers.

Three phases comprise the development of word reading skill: accuracy, automaticity, and speed. The 3rd phase is reached when components of the identification process (i.e., graphic, phonological, semantic) are unitized in memory for particular words. Attainment of this final phase was explored with 2 experiments. In Exp I with Ss from 1st-, 2nd-, and 4th-grade classes, skilled and less skilled readers identified familiar printed words, CVC nonwords, digits, and pictures. Attainment of unitized speeds to printed words was inferred if Ss identified words as rapidly as digits. This level was exhibited by skilled readers in all grades but by less skilled readers only in 4th grade. Unitized speed with CVCs was evident among 2nd- and 4th-grade skilled readers, but not among less skilled readers at any grade. In Exp II, 18 1st-grade and 19 2nd-grade poor readers practiced reading familiar words and CVCs. Practice boosted RTs to CVCs but not to words read accurately before training, and RTs to both remained slower than digit RTs, indicating that practice promotes the development of unitized speeds very slowly in less skilled readers. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading and generating normal and transformed sentences.

Three experiments (108 undergraduates) examined the relative contributions made in skilled and unskilled processing by data driven and conceptually driven processes. In Exp I, Ss recalled nouns and complete sentences after having read and generated meaningful and anomalous sentences. Generated and transformed sentences were better recalled than normal sentences if they were meaningful, but not if they were anomalous. Exp II used the same sentences as Exp I, except they were displayed in 3 typographies: normal orientation, mirror transformed, or rotated 180°. Results show that reading the transformed typography increased semantic interword organization. In Exp III, Ss had to generate sentences and read transformed typography. Results duplicate those in Exps I and II. It is concluded that a decrease in the efficiency of data driven processing causes an increase in semantic interword organization. (French abstract) (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Activation of semantic and phonological codes during reading.

Examined coding processes involved in reading connected text in 3 experiments with 54 Ss who read text passages and occasionally responded to lexical-decision probes. Exp I focused on semantic and surface codes. Results suggest that the activation of semantic codes increased over time, whereas surface codes did not. In addition, Ss who were instructed to remember the exact wording of the passages showed stronger activation of surface codes than did Ss who read for comprehension. Exps II and III explored the role of phonological codes in reading. Results from Exp II indicate that phonological codes were activated by specific words in a passage; however, Exp III results fail to demonstrate that phonological codes were activated by the more general passage context. Combined results suggest that reading involves several coding systems that are activated according to time and reading instruction constraints. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of word imagery on reading performance as a function of reader ability.

Conducted 3 experiments on the effects of word imagery, length, and frequency on reading difficulty. Ss were 27 8-10 yr old poor readers in Exp I, 24 8-11 yr old good readers in Exp II, and 10 poor and 10 good readers (mean age 9 yrs 6 mo) in Exp III. High frequency words were found to be easier to read for both good and poor readers. High-imagery words were easier to read for poor readers only. Word length had little effect on reading difficulty for either good or poor readers. The differential effect of word imagery on reading difficulty for good and poor readers is interpreted in terms of the types of reading strategy used--phonics for good readers and whole word reading for poor readers. When children are forced to learn to read words by a whole word method, word imagery predicts ease of learning for both good and poor readers. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading skill and the role of verbal experience in decoding.

Previous studies have shown that decoding speeds are generally faster for skilled readers than for less skilled readers. In Exp I with 66 3rd and 4th graders, this reader difference was found to be greater for pseudowords and 2-syllable units than for English words and 1-syllable units. Exps II and III, with 20 4th and 12 3rd graders, respectively, provided skilled and less-skilled readers with various types of experience with pseudowords prior to 2 decoding tests, vocalization latency and same–different decisions. Aural and printed experience with pseudowords provided significant increases in decoding speeds for both reader groups, but providing meanings for pseudowords as a part of the experiences added nothing. These effects were still present after 10 wks. Results suggest that decoding differences are not wholly attributable to prior experience with word units and that processes involving phonetic components may be involved. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

To know oneself is to like oneself: Self-certainty and self-affect.

Four experiments demonstrated that certainty about self-attributes is associated with positive affect about the self. In Experiments (Exps.) 1–3, low esteem was associated with less certainty about possessing several trait attributes, as measured by confidence intervals (Exps. 1–2) and reaction time (Exp. 3). The finding that low-esteem Ss were less certain was reversed when Ss rated the traits in public (Exp. 2a), suggesting that low-esteem Ss do not simply respond to impression management cues, and was attenuated when Ss estimated the traits of friends (Exps. 2b and 3), suggesting that lack of certainty of low-esteem people is specific to self-judgments. In Exp. 4, Ss exposed to certain diagnoses of their self-perceived traits showed an improvement in self-affect and egotism. Links between prediction and control, and subsequent affect about the self are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How level of processing really influences awareness in recognition memory.

Examined the effect of level of processing on awareness in recognition memory, in 3 experiments. In yes/no and 2-alternative forced-choice recognition tests, 64 young adults in UK reported 1 of 3 states of awareness when selecting each target: Remembering, knowing, or guessing. In Exps 1 and 2, Ss produced associates of the target words and recalled them after varying intervals of time. In Exp 3, the level of processing manipulation was replaced by a generate/read manipulation. In Exps 1 and 2, level of processing influenced remember responses but not know responses. In Exp 3, generating vs reading similarly influenced remember but not know responses. In each experiment, when Ss reported that they were guessing they showed no ability to discriminate targets from lures. Results show that remember/know findings generalize from yes/no to 2-alternative forced-choice recognition and that knowing is dissociable from guessing. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cue depreciation: When word fragment completion is undermined by prior exposure to lesser fragments.

Studied impairment in ability to think of a previously studied item resulting from a change in extra-item context from study to test in 5 experiments, using a total of 156 Ss (primarily university students). The following results were obtained: a fragment (e.g, r-i--rop) of a just-studied word (raindrop) was shown to be less readily completed if it was presented bit by bit (r------p, r----r-p, r-i--r-p, r-i--rop) rather than all at once (Exps I, III, IV, and V). No such effect was found if the word had not been studied beforehand (Exps II–V). This pattern of results occurred even when fragments of studied and nonstudied words occurred in the same test and under conditions in which Ss could not tell whether a given fragment was of a studied or nonstudied word (Exps IV and V). In addition, for words that had been studied beforehand, the impairment was shown to increase systematically with the number of steps involved in the presentation of the word fragment (Exp III) and also to persist when the time allowed for completion of the final version of the fragment was increased from 4 sec to a full minute (Exp V). The target words are appended. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nursery rhymes and prose passages: Preschoolers' liking and short-term retention of story events.

In Exps I–IV, 128 3–5 yr old preschoolers listened to stories told in either prose or verse form and then answered recognition or recall questions about each narrative's content. Ss also indicated their liking of the story on a 3-point scale. Even though Ss reported liking stories better in verse than in prose form, results demonstrate that Ss' overall short-term retention of story events was significantly higher for prose than for verse presentations. Although 40 college students in Exp V showed higher recall of the rhyming than prose passages, no overall facilitation for rhyme was found with preschoolers, even when recognition of only the rhyming facets of a narration was tested. Results are discussed in terms of a levels-of-processing approach to memory functioning. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Advance organizers: Encoding manipulations.

Investigated whether varying students' methods of encoding advance organizers would influence the memorability of the organizers and subsequent reading materials in 2 experiments involving a total of 121 undergraduates. In Exp I, 3 encoding procedures were contrasted in the reading of a 1,300-word essay: (a) a nonorganizer, read only control, (b) a condition that required Ss to deal with the semantic base of organizers, and (c) a condition that required Ss merely to read the organizer and list key words it contained. In addition, both true organizers and control organizers were used to allow a contrast of advance organizers with other, nonorganizer prefatory materials. The results indicate that when Ss dealt with the semantic base of organizers, memory for the organizers and the subsequent essay content was significantly greater than in other conditions. However, Ss who dealt with the semantic base of organizers required significantly more study time than other Ss. Exp II replicated Exp I but entailed only 3 conditions: (a) control, (b) read organizer and chapter only, and (c) paraphrase organizer and read chapter. In addition, the reading material used in this experiment was a 5,000-word essay. The results confirm those of Exp I, but in this instance no significant differences in study time were observed. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Representation-mediated overshadowing and potentiation of conditioned aversions.

Examined the ability of CS-evoked representations of flavored substances to modulate the conditioning of LiCl-based aversions to simultaneously presented flavors or odors. In Exps I–III, 156 thirsty Sprague-Dawley rats first received pairings of an auditory CS with a flavored-water UCS; they then received pairings of a compound stimulus with a toxin. Exp IV examined the potentiation of aversion conditioning to a novel odor using 32 Ss. In Exp I, conditioning of a flavor was partially overshadowed when it was presented in compound with a tone that had been previously paired with another flavor. Exp II replicated that result and also found that conditioning to a flavor was not overshadowed when the flavor was presented in compound with a tone that had been paired with that same flavored substance. In Exps III and IV, conditioning to an odor stimulus was potentiated when it was presented in compound with either a tone or another odor that had been previously paired with a flavor stimulus. Results suggest that evoked representations of stimuli may substitute for those events themselves in a variety of associative functions. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infants' perception of musical relations in short transposed tone sequences.

Tested 104 infants (aged 7–11 mo) for their detection of a frequency relational change of 1 semitone in a 5-note melody. In Exp I, Ss were able to discriminate contrasting melodies that differed from the background melodies by 1 semitone. In Exp II, Ss detected a semitone difference more easily when the major triad was background and a relatively uncommon triad, the augmented triad, was the contrast. In Exp III, Ss discriminated the major and minor backgrounds used in Exps I and II from contrasting variations, called inversions, that did not differ in triad quality. Results indicate that infants can respond to precise relations between the component tones of a melody based on familiar or stable structures. Findings also imply that sets of tones that are unfamiliar or unstable may present encoding or memory difficulties for infants, as has been found for children and adults. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of intertrial reinstatement of training stimuli on complex maze learning in rats: Evidence that "acquisition" curves reflect more than acquisition.

In Exps I–III (224 male Sprague-Dawley rats), Ss were run in a complex maze to escape weak footshock or to approach an appetitive reinforcer. Extramaze intertrial reinstatement of the same reinforcer as that used in training was found to enhance subsequent maze performance. Exp IV (80 Ss) determined that appetitively and aversively motivated performance benefitted from brief intertrial exposures to the start box of the maze. In Exp V (64 Ss), a facilitatory effect indicated that memory trace activity need not be maintained between training and reinstatement or between reinstatement and subsequent training. Exp VI (80 Ss) examined the effects of reinstatement at the beginning, middle, or end of 5-min intertrial intervals and found enhanced performance in the last 2 conditions. Exp VII (24 Ss) established that 4 successive reinstatement treatments without interpolated training trials were no more beneficial than a single reinstatement. Exp VIII (16 Ss) determined that forgetting had occurred over the standard 5-min interval between training trials. Exp IX (32 Ss) found that reinstatement alleviated forgetting that had already transpired. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sampling of similar and dissimilar comparison persons and objects as a function of the generality of attribution goal.

Conducted an information-search procedure in which Ss were asked to seek information regarding persons and objects in order to validate a given person or object cause. Four hypotheses were tested: When asked to validate a person cause, Ss are more likely to select distinctiveness information than target-object consensus information. When asked to validate an object cause, Ss are more likely to select target-object consensus information than distinctiveness information. As the generality of person inference increases, progressively dissimilar object comparisons are sought. As the generality of object inference increases, progressively dissimilar person comparisons are sought. In Exp I, 26 undergraduates read attitude statements and answered judgment goals or questions about the statement's generality or object inference. 52 undergraduates in Exp II completed a similar task. The first 3 hypotheses were supported in both Exp I and Exp II, whereas the 4th hypothesis received only mixed support in Exp I and was not supported in Exp II. Unlike Exp I, Exp II did not include cues suggesting the relevant type of information to be sought. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term retention of discourse during reading.

In 2 experiments, 68 3rd, 4th, and 6th graders at different reading levels were given a probe memory task assessing the availability in working memory of recently read discourse segments. During oral and silent reading (Exp I), retention was related to segment length and the occurrence of a sentence boundary. The limits on retention were tested by increasing segment length and difficulty (Exp II). For these segments, performance of less skilled readers was uniformly low, whereas that of the skilled and older readers continued to be affected by length and sentence boundary. Relationships between individual differences in verbal coding processes and short-term retention of discourse as well as implications for text comprehension models are discussed. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory connections between thematically similar episodes.

Investigated the use of cross-episode connections (i.e., when 2 episodes with a shared theme are connected through a thematic structure) in comprehension and memory in 6 experiments with 106 undergraduates. Results from the use of a priming technique in Exps I and II indicate that verification time for a test sentence from 1 story was speeded by an immediately preceding test sentence from a thematically similar story but only when Ss were given instructions to rate the similarities of the stories. In Exp III–VI, a single test sentence was presented immediately after a story was read, with timing controlled by presenting the story one word at a time. Response time for a test sentence from a previously read story was facilitated if the immediately preceding story was thematically similar but only if the previously read story was extensively prestudied. It is concluded that during reading of an episode, thematic information may be encoded to lead to activation of similar episodes and formation of connections in memory between episodes, but such encoding is not automatic and depends on Ss' strategies and task difficulty. Sample stories are appended. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading both high-coherence and low-coherence texts: Effects of text sequence and prior knowledge.

Determined if (1) the advantage for the low-coherence text is due to inferences made while reading, or alternatively, due to inferences generated during testing as a result of less information being available from the low-coherence text; (2) the inferences must rely on prior knowledge, or if inferences based on the text (or recently presented information) are sufficient; and (3) reading 2 different text versions is advantageous for readers. Ss were 80 university students who were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions representing if the Ss read the high-coherence text followed by either the high- or low-coherence text, or the low-coherence text followed by either the high-or the low-coherence text. Methodology involved reading the texts, answering questions about the text, and answering prior knowledge questions. The results indicate that high-knowledge readers benefited from the low-coherence only text when it was read first. Further, low-knowledge readers benefited from the high-coherence text, regardless of whether it was read first, second, or twice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contingency judgments by depressed college students: Sadder but not always wiser.

Three experiments with 296 undergraduates examined depressed and nondepressed (Beck Depression Inventory) Ss' perceptions of control over outcomes in a task similar to the one introduced by L. B. Alloy and L. Y. Abramson (see record 1981-02686-001). In Exp I, when Ss completed a contingency learning task with no one else present, nondepressed Ss perceived themselves to have more control over frequently occurring response-independent outcomes than did depressed Ss, which replicated Alloy and Abramson's finding. When Ss completed the task in the presence of an observer, depressed students perceived themselves to have more control than did nondepressed Ss. In Exp II, the observer effects found in Exp I were replicated; the present authors also showed that, when response-independent outcomes occurred relatively infrequently, depressed and nondepressed Ss who completed the task in the presence of an observer did not reliably differ in their estimates of personal control. In Exp III, the pattern of results found in Exps I and II was replicated under conditions in which observers were present while Ss received frequently occurring outcomes. Overall findings demonstrate that the consistently accurate personal control estimates of depressed Ss that have been found across a variety of situations break down when Ss complete a contingency learning task in the presence of an observer, and outcomes occur independently of response at a high frequency. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of physostigmine upon consolidation of memory in mice.

Investigated the influence of physostigmine upon the consolidation process in 4 experiments with 162 male DBA/2J mice. Ss were trained to escape shock in a 'Y'-maze. In Exp I physostigmine (.4 mg/kg, ip) impaired a previously learned task 2 days after initial learning but improved performance 11 days after initial learning. In Exps II and III, it was determined that the impairment of memory found on Day 3 was transitory and no longer evident once the drug was no longer active in an S's system. The findings of Exp IV, in which the Day 12 facilitory effect was examined, were essentially the same as those of Exps II and III. Results tend to support an inhibitory or motivational hypothesis rather than a consolidation hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)