Aloud Conditions Research Articles

Neural representation of a one-week delay in remembering information after production and self-generated elaboration encoding strategy

Many studies have confirmed the memory enhancement effect of production, generation and elaboration which can be effective after only one encoding. It is also known that greater memory enhancement effects can be obtained by combining multiple memory strategies during encoding. This study aimed to investigate whether the combination of production and self-generated elaboration enhances memory performance compared with production or generation alone. A total of 23 undergraduate and graduate students participated in this study. In the functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis, we explored the neural representation of remembering information after production and self-generated elaboration strategy. We set four encoding strategy conditions: (1) Read Silent (read without production), (2) Read Aloud (only production), (3) Add Silent (self-generated elaboration without production), (4) Add Aloud (production and self-generated elaboration). The retrieval performance and brain activity while retrieving the learned sentences after a one-week delay were examined. The behavioral results showed that the highest memory performance was for sentences encoded in Add Aloud. The interaction between production and self-generated elaboration was statistically significant. These results suggest that the memory enhancement effect of combining production and self-generated elaboration is not a simple addition nor synergistic facilitation effect. The imaging results showed that the following areas were related to the retrieval of the target encoded in the add aloud condition: the area related to integration of internal and external information (precuneus), area related to information rich stimuli (lateral occipital lobe), area related to self-involvement and inference of others' feelings (MPFC), area related to seen imagery (retrosplenial region) and area related to adjustment of movement (cerebellum). These results suggest that with an encoding strategy that combines production and self-generated elaboration, integrated auditory input of vocalizations and generated images, visual images of the scene, self-relevance, inference of other's feeling, movement by moving mouth are stored with the target and enhanced memory performance of AA.

EEG-based univariate and multivariate analyses reveal that multiple processes contribute to the production effect in recognition

The production effect (PE) is the finding that reading words aloud rather than silently during study leads to improved memory. We used electroencephalography (EEG) techniques to detect the contributions of recollection, familiarity, and attentional processes to the PE in recognition memory, using Chinese stimuli. During the study phase, participants encoded each list item aloud, silently, or by performing a non-unique aloud (control) task. During the test phase, they made remember/know/new recognition judgments. We recorded EEG data in both phases. The behavioral results replicated the typical pattern with English stimuli: Recognition was better in the aloud condition than in the silent (and control) condition, and this PE was due to enhanced recollection and familiarity. At study, the amplitude of the P3b ERP component was greater in the aloud than in the silent/control conditions, suggesting that reading aloud increases attention or preparatory processing during the intention phase. At test, the recollection-based LPC old/new effect was largest in the aloud condition; however, the familiarity-based FN400 old/new effect was equivalent between the aloud condition and the silent/control conditions. Only the LPC effect correlated with the behavioral effect. Moreover, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) showed that accurate classification of items as ‘aloud’ versus ‘new’ mainly occurred in the later period of the recognition response, consistent with the LPC old/new effect. Our findings suggest that the within-subject PE in recognition memory reflects enhanced attention and distinctiveness, rather than increased memory strength. More broadly, our findings suggest that encoding strategies such as production enhance recollection more than familiarity.

Factors Affecting Pronunciation Accuracy in English as a Foreign Language: The Case of Spanish-Catalan Intermediate Learners

In the present study, we investigate the factors that influence pronunciation accuracy by Spanish-Catalan bilinguals learning English as a foreign language (EFL). A group of intermediate EFL learners were recorded producing a series of cognate and non-cognate words in two different conditions: a reading aloud task and a delayed repetition task. In the reading aloud task, the target words were presented as visual prompts in a carrier phrase. In the delayed repetition, words were presented aurally and participants repeated them after a two-second delay followed by an audio prompt. The words were phonemically transcribed using PHON. As expected, task condition and cognate-status influenced the percentage of correct vowels and consonants. The number of errors was significantly higher in the reading aloud condition than in the delayed repetition condition. Cognates exhibited more pronunciation errors than non-cognates. In contrast, learners’ vocabulary-size and lexical frequency did not have a clear impact on the results. These findings suggest that focusing on spelling might interfere with the way EFL learners process the phonological forms of words.

The online management of writing processes and their contribution to text quality in upper-primary students.

The online management of writing processes is an important factor related to the composition of high-quality texts. In the present study we analysed the time that upper-primary students devoted to writing processes, the distribution of those processes during composition and the contribution of both aspects to text quality. 120 upper-primary students were asked to write an argumentative text in pairs under thinking aloud conditions. Verbalizations were analysed considering different writing processes and sub-processes. Upper-primary students rarely used planning and revising processes. Planning, which basically involved content generation, was mostly activated at the beginning of the writing task. Revision, which mainly included reading, appeared at the end. The time devoted to writing processes or the time at which they were activated had no effect on text quality. Not only did upper-primary students make little use of planning and revising processes, it was also ineffective. Thus, there is a need to provide them with high-quality instruction in school from early on.

Writing Hypertexts: Proposed effects on writing processes and knowledge acquisition

In this paper we propose that hypertext writing at school could have beneficial effects on the acquisition of content knowledge and the acquisition of writing skills compared to linear writing. We view the effects of hypertext writing on writing skills from the perspective of “shared” cognitive activities in writing linear texts and hypertexts. In a pilot study we examined the effects of hypertext writing on writing processes and we related the occurrence of writing processes to the quality of the resulting writing products. We set up this study to identify students’ cognitive activities during hypertext and linear writing. We also tried to determine whether hypertext writing could facilitate linear writing. We focused on the most central, distinctive features of linear and hypertext writing. For linear writing, this is a linearization process: i.e., transforming elements of content into linear text. For hypertext writing, this is a hierarchicalization process: converting a linearly presented line of thought into a hierarchical structure. Students (N=123) from Grades 8 and 9 performed two linearization tasks and two hierarchicalization tasks under think aloud conditions. Results showed that Planning and Analyzing activities contributed to the final quality of hypertexts and linear texts, and that these activities were more often elicited in hypertext tasks than in linear writing. We argue that writing hypertexts stimulates the use of writing activities that are positively related to writing proficiency. Moreover, we speculate that creating hypertext writing conditions and optimizing these conditions for different writer/learner styles might be a theoretical and practical challenge for mother tongue teaching.

Understanding Teachers’ Cognitive Processes during Online Professional Learning: A Methodological Comparison

This study examined the effectiveness of three types of think aloud methods for understanding elementary teachers’ cognitive processes as they used a professional development website. A methodology combining a retrospective think aloud procedure with screen capture technology (referred to as the virtual revisit) was compared with concurrent and retrospective think aloud procedures. Elementary teachers from a large metropolitan area were assigned to one of the three think aloud conditions (N = 45). Participants in the concurrent condition verbalized their thoughts while simultaneously navigating a professional development website for 20 minutes. Participants in the retrospective condition verbalized their thoughts following their 20-minute website navigation without any aids. Finally, participants in the virtual revisit condition verbalized their thoughts while viewing a screen recording of their website navigation. Think aloud protocols were analyzed to determine the frequency of cognitive processes verbalized by participants in each condition. The findings of this study indicated significant differences in the types of verbalizations produced by participants across the three think aloud conditions. In addition, findings reveal benefits and limitations of employing each type of think aloud method in the context of a professional development website.

A Study of L2 Composing Task: An Analysis of Conceptual and Linguistic Activities and Text Quality

This study aimed to investigate the proportion of L1 and L2 use while writing in L2 and also the way the language use is related to conceptual and linguistic activities. Furthermore, it focused on the effects of the language use and conceptual and linguistic activities on L2 text quality. To carry out the research, twelve Iranian L2 (English) learners were instructed to write an argumentative composition under think aloud condition. The results indicated that L1 is used quite frequently and predominantly for performing conceptual activities rather than linguistic ones. It was also concluded that L1 use and conceptual activities contribute to the better text quality.

Differential levels of speech and manual dysfluency in adults who stutter during simultaneous drawing and speaking tasks

We examined the disruptive effects of stuttering on manual performance during simultaneous speaking and drawing tasks. Fifteen stuttering and fifteen non-stuttering participants drew continuous circles with a pen on a digitizer tablet under three conditions: silent (i.e., neither reading nor speaking), reading aloud, and choral reading (i.e., reading aloud in unison with another reader). We counted the frequency of stuttering events in the speaking tasks and measured pen stroke duration and pen stroke dysfluency (normalized jerk) in all three tasks. The control group was stutter-free and did not increase manual dysfluency in any condition. In the silent condition, the stuttering group performed pen movements without evidence of dysfluency, similar to the control group. However, in the reading aloud condition, the stuttering group stuttered on 12% of the syllables and showed increased manual dysfluency. In the choral reading condition stuttering was virtually eliminated (reduced by 97%), but manual dysfluency was reduced by only 47% relative to the reading aloud condition. Trials where more stuttered events were generally positively correlated with higher manual dysfluency. The results are consistent with a model in which episodes of stuttering and motor dysfluency are related to neural interconnectivity between manual and speech processes.

The influence of articulation, self‐monitoring ability, and sensitivity to others on creativity

AbstractAlthough it is often recommended to think aloud to solve problems and to become more creative, cognitive and social psychological research suggests thinking aloud may actually produce less creative ideas than thinking in silence. The results of two experiments indeed showed that thinking aloud hinders creativity—although people produced the same amount of new uses for an object, these were judged to be less original in the thinking aloud condition. Experiment 2 further showed that this effect was particularly pronounced for individuals with high sensitivity to what other's think of them and low ability to adapt to these expectations. From this, we conclude that the felt presence of an actual or implied audience when thinking aloud, reduces creative idea generation especially among those having difficulty adapting to others. Implications for creativity research, and for promoting creativity in applied settings such as organizational teams are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The role of phonological recoding in orthographic learning

The objective of this research was to explore whether orthographic learning occurs as a result of phonological recoding, as expected from the self-teaching hypothesis. The participants were 32 fourth- and fifth-graders (mean age = 10 years 0 months, SD = 7 months) who performed lexical decisions for monosyllabic real words and pseudowords under two matched experimental conditions: a read aloud condition, wherein items were named prior to lexical decision to promote phonological recoding, and a concurrent articulation condition, presumed to attenuate phonological recoding. Later, orthographic learning of the pseudowords was evaluated using orthographic choice, spelling, and naming tasks. Consistent with the self-teaching hypothesis, targets learned with phonological recoding in the read aloud condition yielded greater orthographic learning than those learned with concurrent articulation. The research confirms the critical nature of phonological recoding in the development of visual word recognition skills and an orthographic lexicon.

The role of orthographic analogies in reading for meaning: evidence from readers with dyslexia

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the use of orthographic analogies in conditions that involved making sense of print (picture‐word matching) and pronouncing print (reading aloud) for readers with dyslexia. An adapted version of the classic clue‐word paradigm developed by Goswami was used. Participants were 40 readers with dyslexia and 40 reading‐age‐matched comparison readers. Based on previous theory and research in this area, we predicted that readers with dyslexia would read significantly fewer analogous words than their reading‐age‐matched counterparts. In light of the supposition that word‐picture matching does not require the synthesised pronunciation of a word, we also predicted that readers with dyslexia might be less impaired at analogy use in the picture‐word matching than in the reading aloud condition. However, we found that the dyslexic group read significantly fewer analogous words at post‐test than their reading‐age‐matched peers in both conditions. Also, performance in overall word reading was better for both groups in the word‐picture matching condition. The implications of these results for theory and practice in reading development are discussed, and methodological limitations are noted.

Short-term sentence recall: evidence for the contribution of acoustic-sensory information

To demonstrate that short-term sentence recall is based on conceptual and lexico-semantic information, Potter and Lombardi [J. Memory Lang. 29 (1990) 633] conducted a series of experiments using the intrusion paradigm, which combines short-term sentence recall and lexical priming. In the present paper, we employed the intrusion paradigm to demonstrate that acoustic-sensory information is involved in sentence regeneration as well. For this purpose, we presented sentences visually for silent reading (conceptual and phonological information) and reading aloud (conceptual, phonological, and––in addition––acoustic-sensory information). We demonstrated that less intrusions appeared in the reading aloud condition. This effect supports the assumption that, if available, acoustic-sensory information contributes to the regeneration process.

Finger-Tapping Interference as Produced by Concurrent Verbal and Nonverbal Tasks: An Analysis of Individual Differences in Left-Handers

Verbal cerebral asymmetry was examined in 96 right- and left-handed college students using dual-task methods. The manual task was finger-tapping; verbal tasks were anagram-solution in silent and aloud conditions; nonverbal tasks were solution of Raven′s Progressive Matrices and forms memory. Both handedness groups were sensitive to the task manipulation, i.e., verbal tasks produced a significant change in tapping rate from a no-change rate of zero; nonverbal tasks produced no significant change in tapping rate. Right-handers experienced the expected asymmetric manual performance indicative of left-hemisphere language laterality. Left-handers as a group experienced no asymmetric pattern but rather a percentage decrease in both hands which suggested bilateralization of language functions. Only when examining manual performance patterns within specific left-handed subpopulations (composed of a complete crossing of handwriting posture, familial sinistrality, and sex) did laterality patterns emerge. Specifically, asymmetric manual performance was found only in familial sinistral inverted posture females. Results demonstrate the advantage of controlling for subject characteristics when assessing cerebral laterality in left-handers.

提示文に対する付加処理が記憶検索に及ぼす効果

This study examined effects of intentional modifications on the retrieval of target sentence. In Experiment I, the subjects were allocated to one of three processing task conditions, i.e., they were required to (1) modify presented sentences with a phrase, (2) read aloud, or (3) memorize presented sentences. Following the aquisition phase, the subjects of each condition were allocated to two recall conditions: immediate recall and delayed recall. Recall conditions were in the order of free recall and cued recall. The results indicated that both free recall and cued recall in modifying sentence condition were better than those in reading aloud condition, and that it affected free recall and cued recall differently, when compared with memorizing condition. In Experiment II, the subjects under reading aloud or memorizing condition were presented with the sentences together with a phrase made by subjects in the Experiment I. Comparing modifying sentences condition in Experiment I with two conditions in Experiment II, the results indicated that phrase-generating process could have more beneficial effects on retrieval of target sentence.

The effect of thinking aloud on the problem-solving performance of bright, average, learning disabled, and developmentally handicapped students

This research was designed to examine the relationship between intelligence and problem-solving ability among bright, average, learning disabled, and developmentally handicapped fifth graders under two conditions. Ninety-four students completed the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, 22 analogies in a silent condition and 22 analogies in a think aloud condition. All children did better on verbal and spatial analogies while thinking aloud, with learning disabled children profiting more on verbal than on spatial problems. Average and bright children profited the most and developmentally handicapped children profited the least from thinking aloud. Differences in analogical performance were found between the IQ-matched average group and the IQ-matched learning disabled group. Protocols resulting from thinking aloud were assessed for evidence of self-regulation, lexical diversity, and motivational style. Bright and average students were more self-regulated than their handicapped counterparts. Learning disabled students were superior to developmentally handicapped students in strategic awareness only. Lexical diversity and motivational style did not strongly differentiate the groups. Strategic awareness proved to be the best predictor of problem-solving performance.

Pitch alterations in British motherese: some preliminary acoustic data

Speech samples from eight British female adults addressing young children and another adult were analysed in terms of vocal pitch. Increases in vocal pitch when addressing young children were observed but were smaller than the increases noted by North American researchers, and variability across speakers was marked. Some adults only slightly raised their vocal pitch to young children. Pitch increases were generally more marked for mean as against modal pitch measures, and for free speech as against reading aloud conditions.

Recall of Prose As a Function of Age and Input Modality

Three short paragraphs were presented to 18 young (means = 27.6 years) and 18 old (means = 67.2 years) female volunteers to evaluate the effects of three types of input conditions on recall. In the Aloud (combined auditory-visual) condition subjects read the paragraphs aloud, without review, four times (trials), and, after each reading, verbally recalled as much as possible. In the Silent (visual) condition the task was identical except that the paragraph was read silently. In the Review condition subjects also read silently, but were allowed to review the material. The results indicated that, for both age groups, opportunity for review required more reading time and led to significantly better recall than either the silent or aloud conditions, which did not differ. There were no age-related differences in the time used for reading the paragraphs. Further, an Age X Trial interaction indicated that age-related differences in recall were not significant until Trial 3, with the young subjects showing greater increases across trials than the old.

Information, Similarity and Vocalization in Serial Learning of Digits

32 Ss were given a serial learning task involving either quinary or decimal numbers. The reading of items was silent for one half and aloud for the other half of the Ss in a 2 × 2 factorial design. As evidenced by trials-to-criterion, quinary numbers were significantly more difficult to learn. Vocalization resulted in slower learning, but the difference was not significant. There was no interaction between the two factors. Additional analysis revealed a strong difference in the serial position curve between the two vocalization conditions, the aloud condition resulting in a stronger recency and weaker primacy effect. In learning numerically coded information, the decimal code was interpreted as superior to the quinary code because of higher information per item and lower intralist similarity.

A method for observing rehearsal and natural language mediation in short-term memory

In a short-term memory (STM) study a modified “think aloud” method, using automated operant conditioning with points as reinforcers, effectively suppressed covert rehearsal but permitted overt rehearsal. Recall efficiency under modified think aloud conditions, with rehearsal and natural language mediators observable, did not differ significantly from recall efficiency under the silent condition. The new method may make possible observation of verbal mediation in STM and other verbal learning experiments.