Elaborative Inference Research Articles

Predictors of Successful Reading Comprehension in Bilingual Adults: The Role of Reading Strategies and Language Proficiency

The current study investigated the type of strategies that English–French bilingual adults utilize when reading in their dominant and non-dominant languages and which of these strategies are associated with reading comprehension success. Thirty-nine participants read short texts while reporting aloud what they were thinking as they read. Following each passage, readers answered three comprehension questions. Questions either required information found directly in the text (literal question) or required a necessary inference or an elaborative inference. Readers reported more necessary and elaborative inferences and referred to more background knowledge in their dominant language than in their non-dominant language. Engaging in both text analysis strategies and meaning extraction strategies predicted reading comprehension success in both languages, with differences observed depending on the type of question posed. Results are discussed with respect to how strategy use supports the development of text representations.

Comparison of Narrative Comprehension and Inference-Making Ability in Native Tamil Speakers in Monolingual and Bilingual Context

ABSTRACT The present study was carried out with 120 Native Tamil speakers to know the effects of age and instructional language on narrative comprehension and inference-making ability. Children from 3rd to 5th grades (8 to 11 years) were divided into Group A (n = 60; Monolinguals) and Group B (n = 60; Bilinguals). Seven questions were framed to assess literal content (2 questions), coherence inference (2 questions), simile comprehension (2 questions), and elaborative inference (1 question). Written responses were obtained from participants after listening to the audiotape of a narrative passage. Group A provided responses in Tamil after listening to the passage in Tamil, and Group B provided responses in Tamil and English after listening to passages in Tamil and English. The responses were scored by three speech-language pathologists and average scores were statistically analyzed. The scores of the statistical analysis showed a difference of performance only across age. Qualitative analysis of inference types showed literal and coherence inferences were easier to make than simile comprehension and elaborative inferences for all groups. The findings of the study highlight how the comprehension of the narrative macrostructure and inference making is affected by age and instructional language.

Elaborative Inference in Children with Poor Reading Comprehension: Instrument Inference

ë°°ê²½ 및 ëª©ì  ì •êµí™” ì¶”ë¡ ì€ 글을 읽는 ê³¼ì •ì—ì„œ 글의 내용과 읽는 사람의 지식을 통합하는 것으로 이는 글의 표상을 더욱 ì •êµí•˜ê²Œ 함으로써 글의 이해를 ì´‰ì§„í•˜ê³ , ì •ë³´ë¥¼ ê¸°ì–µí•˜ê³ í•™ìŠµí•˜ëŠ” 데 도움을 준다. 본 연구에서는 읽기이해부진 아동을 대상으로 ì •êµí™” ì¶”ë¡ ì¤‘ 도구 ì¶”ë¡ ì„ 중심으로 ê·¸ 처리 특성을 ì•Œì•„ë³´ê³ ìž 하였다. 방법 본 연구는 초등학교 3–6í•™ë „ 읽기이해부진 아동 15ëª ê³¼ 일반 아동 15ëª ì„ 대상으로 í•˜ì˜€ê³ , 아동들에게 íŠ¹ì • 도구가 연상되는 ìœ ë„ 문장을 읽도록 한 후에 ì œì‹œë˜ëŠ” 글자가 단어인지 아닌지를 판단하도록 하였다. 이때 ìœ ë„ 문장 후에 ì œì‹œë˜ëŠ” 글자는 ìœ ë„ 문장과 ê´€ë ¨ëœ 도구 단어가 ì œì‹œë˜ëŠ” ì¡°ê±´ê³¼ ê´€ë ¨ì´ 없는 도구 단어가 ì œì‹œë˜ëŠ” 조건으로 나뉘며 각각의 조건에 대한 반응시간을 ì¸¡ì •í•˜ì˜€ë‹¤. ê²°ê³¼ 읽기이해부진 아동은 ê´€ë ¨ ì¡°ê±´ê³¼ ë¬´ê´€ë ¨ ì¡°ê±´ 간 반응시간에 차이가 없었던 데 반해 일반 아동은 ë¬´ê´€ë ¨ 조건에서보다 ê´€ë ¨ 조건에서 ê·¸ 반응시간이 ë¹ ë¥¸ 것으로 나타났다. ë ¼ì˜ 및 ê²°ë¡ ì½ê¸°ì´í•´ë¶€ì§„ 아동은 일반 아동과 달리 도구가 내현화된 문장을 읽으면서 실시간으로 ê´€ë ¨ 도구를 ì¶”ë¡ í•˜ëŠ” 데 ì–´ë ¤ì›€ì„ 보였다. 이는 읽기이해부진 아동의 경우 글을 읽는 ê³¼ì •ì—ì„œ ì‚¬ì‹¤ì ì¸ ì •ë³´ë¥¼ íŒŒì• í•˜ê¸° 위해 대부분의 자원을 í• ë‹¹í•˜ì—¬ ì§ì ‘ì ìœ¼ë¡œ 언급되어 있지 않은 ì •ë³´ë¥¼ ë¶€ê°€ì ìœ¼ë¡œ 처리하는 데는 ì œí•œì´ 있는 것으로 í•´ì„í• ìˆ˜ 있다. Keywords: 읽기이해부진 아동, 도구 ì¶”ë¡ , ì–´íœ˜íŒë‹¨ê³¼ì œ

Hemispheric asymmetry in event knowledge activation during incremental language comprehension: A visual half-field ERP study

During incremental language comprehension, the brain activates knowledge of described events, including knowledge elements that constitute semantic anomalies in their linguistic context. The present study investigates hemispheric asymmetries in this process, with the aim of advancing our understanding of the neural basis and functional properties of event knowledge activation during incremental comprehension. In a visual half-field event-related brain potential (ERP) experiment, participants read brief discourses in which the third sentence contained a word that was either highly expected, semantically anomalous but related to the described event (Event-Related), or semantically anomalous but unrelated to the described event (Event-Unrelated). For both visual fields of target word presentation, semantically anomalous words elicited N400 ERP components of greater amplitude than did expected words. Crucially, Event-Related anomalous words elicited a reduced N400 relative to Event-Unrelated anomalous words only with left visual field/right hemisphere presentation. This result suggests that right hemisphere processes are critical to the activation of event knowledge elements that violate the linguistic context, and in doing so informs existing theories of hemispheric asymmetries in semantic processing during language comprehension. Additionally, this finding coincides with past research suggesting a crucial role for the right hemisphere in elaborative inference generation, raises interesting questions regarding hemispheric coordination in generating event-specific linguistic expectancies, and more generally highlights the possibility of functional dissociation of event knowledge activation for the generation of elaborative inferences and for linguistic expectancies.

Phantom Recollection of Bridging and Elaborative Inferences

The phantom recollection model is a multiprocess analysis according to which memory judgments are collaboratively supported by one's recollection of an item in its context, a vaguer sense of stimulus familiarity, and the phantom recollection of the substance and even perceptual details of unstudied but related lures. Phantom recollection has previously been documented to support readers’ judgments of certain logical implications of sentences and discourse bridging inferences. This study evaluated the representational status of elaborative inferences in a comparable way. Subjects read blocks of brief passages and then judged explicit, bridging inference, elaborative inference, and control test items. Different subject groups were instructed to make their judgments with (1) a verbatim criterion, or (2) a gist criterion or (3) to accept only items implied but not stated in their passages. Multinomial tree processing analysis was applied to the data. Consistent with numerous other behavioral measures, these procedures provided evidence of phantom recollection support for bridging but not elaborative inferences. This outcome bears on the representational basis of elaborative inferences. The merits but also some hazards of the present methodology are discussed.

Linguistic Markers of Inference Generation While Reading.

Words can be informative linguistic markers of psychological constructs. The purpose of this study is to examine associations between word use and the process of making meaningful connections to a text while reading (i.e., inference generation). To achieve this purpose, think-aloud data from third-fifth grade students ([Formula: see text]) reading narrative texts were hand-coded for inferences. These data were also processed with a computer text analysis tool, Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, for percentages of word use in the following categories: cognitive mechanism words, nonfluencies, and nine types of function words. Findings indicate that cognitive mechanisms were an independent, positive predictor of connections to background knowledge (i.e., elaborative inference generation) and nonfluencies were an independent, negative predictor of connections within the text (i.e., bridging inference generation). Function words did not provide unique variance towards predicting inference generation. These findings are discussed in the context of a cognitive reflection model and the differences between bridging and elaborative inference generation. In addition, potential practical implications for intelligent tutoring systems and computer-based methods of inference identification are presented.

Inference in conversation of adults with traumatic brain injury

Objective: To examine elaborative and automatic linguistic inferences in conversations between adults with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their frequent communication partners.Design and methods: Participants with TBI were four female and three male adults and seven female communication partners. Comparison peers were two males and five females and one male and six female communication partners. Each participant completed 20-minute video-recorded conversation with his or her frequent communication partner. Conversations were transcribed, implicatures were identified and the percentage of correct inferences was determined. Inferences were categorized as automatic or elaborative and as missed or understood.Results: Participants in both groups made significantly more errors on elaborative inferences than automatic inferences and participants with TBI made significantly more elaborative inference errors than comparison peers. There was no significant between-groups difference in error rates for automatic inferences.Conclusions: Individuals with TBI may show impairments in social language skills not only on standardized tests but also in everyday conversations. This may contribute to everyday partners’ perceptions of social communication problems in adults with TBI.

Working Memory Contributions to Reading Comprehension Components in Middle Childhood Children

This study examined working memory contributions to reading comprehension subskills in Greek children (mean age 9 years, 1 month). The phonological loop of the Baddeley and Hitch working memory model was assessed with 3 recall tasks (words, nonwords, and digits) and a word list matching task. The central executive (CE) was assessed with 3 tasks (listening, counting, and backward digit recall). Participants were also given a receptive vocabulary task, a reading fluency task, and written stories accompanied by comprehension questions. Canonical correlation analyses showed that the comprehension variables were related to the CE rather than the phonological loop measures. CE functions were more strongly associated with elaborative inference generation (involving significant offline processing) and comprehension control (involving metacognitive monitoring). Smaller yet significant associations were observed between the CE and the necessary inference and literal comprehension measures, whereas a moderate relationship was found in the case of the simile comprehension variable. Among the CE variables, listening recall demonstrated the highest loading on the canonical function, followed by moderate yet significant counting and backward digit recall loadings. Vocabulary was found to fully mediate several associations between working memory and comprehension measures; however, the relationship between listening recall and elaborative inferences was partly mediated. Reading fluency and, on several occasions, Greek vocabulary knowledge did not mediate the relationships between CE measures and comprehension skills assessed. This study demonstrates the usefulness of CE measures for identifying young children's possible difficulties in carrying out specific reading comprehension processes.

Text comprehension products and processes in young, young-old, and old-old adults.

Aging may be associated with an increase in generalized text processing, particularly in adults older than 75 years. The current study examined text comprehension in young, young-old, and old-old adults. Experiment 1 included a comprehension measure (product) and Experiment 2 examined inferences generated during reading (process). Comprehension scores were lowest in old-old adults. Generalized and elaborative inference scores were highest in old-old adults. Participants over 65 years with the lowest scores on cognitive integrity variables also had significantly lower comprehension scores, but there was no effect of cognitive integrity on inference scores. This dissociation suggests that inferential processes may be maintained even when cognitive integrity and comprehension declines are present. Relevance to cognitive aging theories addressing text processing and self-regulatory processes is addressed.

Learning procedures and goal specificity in learning and problem-solving tasks

This experiment set out to examine the influence of two task variables (instructional procedure and goal specificity) on learning and problem-solving performance. A 2 × 2 between-subjects design was used. Twenty-four undergraduate students were asked to think aloud as they learned eight Word for Windows text editing operations, each implemented as a keyboard shortcut. Two instructional procedures were used, instructions presented either as lists or as paired statements. ''List'' groups required fewer trials than ''pairs'' groups to learn the operations, and relied more extensively upon rehearsal procedures, while ''pairs'' groups tended to use elaborative inference more frequently. Analyses of problem-solving solution times revealed no differences between the groups, although the no-goal groups tended to complete the tasks faster than the goal groups. Verbal protocols indicated that ''list'' groups tended to rely upon phonological cues to recover operation names, and made more phonological errors in recovering operation names. ''Pairs'' groups recalled more about the functions of the operations than the ''list'' groups. We conclude that different instructional procedures may lead to subtle, but important, differences in how information is encoded, represented, and recovered, and that individuals who perform to similar standards may not share the same understanding of the task in question.

Inférences et compréhension de texte

Summary : Inferences and text comprehension. Two types of inferences are produced during text comprehension : inferences that are necessary to construct the coherence of the representation and optional inferences. Optional inferences are elaborative and depend on world knowledge. They are regrouped in three categories : particularization, prediction and superordinate information. Globalist (Singer, Graesser and Trabasso, 1994) and minimalist theories (McKoon and Ratcliff, 1992) predict that optional inferences are rarely generated while comprehending a text. A review of experimental studies shows that their generation is favored by the following factors : the semantic associations provided by the text, the inference's typicality, and the superordinate status of the inference. Other factors do not only favor the generation of optional inferences, but also contribute to building the coherence of the representation : explicit mention of an instrument, text information causally linked to the inference, focalization of readers attention on information related to the inference, causal explanatory status ofthe superordinate inference. Recent studies suggest that the generation process begins with a transitory, and sometimes partial, activation of the inference content and ends with the integration of this activated information at different levels of the representation built from the text. Furthermore, the generation process could only reach the first activation stages for the optional inferences. This partial generation would facilitate complete generation, when additional factors intervene. Thus, beyond the controversy that opposed the globalist and minimalist views of inference generation, a more graduai view of inference processes in text comprehension is proposed. Key words : text comprehension, elaborative inference, prediction, coherence.

Individual Differences in Inference Generation: An ERP Analysis

Readers routinely draw inferences with remarkable efficiency and seemingly little cognitive effort. The present study was designed to explore different types of inferences during the course of reading, and the potential effects of differing levels of working memory capacity on the likelihood that inferences would be made. The electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from five scalp sites while participants read 90 paragraphs, composed of 60 experimental paragraphs and 30 filler paragraphs. Each experimental paragraph was four sentences long, and the final sentence stated explicitly the inference that readers did or did not make. There were four types of experimental paragraphs: (1) Bridging inference, (2) Elaborative inference, (3) Word-Based Priming control, and (4) No Inference control. Participants were tested using the Daneman and Carpenter (1980) Reading Span Task and categorized as having low or high working memory capacity. The average peaks of the N400 component of the event-related brain potential (EM) were used as a measure of semantic priming and integration, such that the lower the N400 was in response to the explicitly stated inference concept, the more likely it was that the reader made the inference. Results indicate that readers with high working memory capacity made both bridging (necessary) and elaborative (optional) inferences during reading, whereas readers with low working memory capacity made only bridging inferences during reading. We interpret the findings within the framework of the Capacity Constrained Comprehension model of Just and Carpenter (1992).

CONCEPTUAL SCAFFOLDING: A SPATIALLY FOUNDED MEANING REPRESENTATION FOR METAPHOR COMPREHENSION

AbstractOnce viewed as a rhetorical and superficial language phenomenon, metaphor is now recognized to serve a fundamental role in our conceptual structuring and language comprehension processes. In particular, it is argued that certain experiential metaphors based upon intuitions of spatial relations are inherent in the conceptual organization of our most abstract thoughts. In this paper we present a two‐stage computational model of metaphor interpretation which employs a spatially founded semantics to broadly characterize the meaning carried by a metaphor in terms of a conceptual scaffolding, an interim meaning structure around which a fuller interpretation is fleshed out over time. We then present a semantics for the construction of conceptual scaffolding which is based upon core metaphors of collocation, containment and orientation. The goal of this scaffolding is to maintain the intended association of ideas even in contexts in which system knowledge is insufficient for a complete interpretation. This two‐stage system of scaffolding and elaboration also models the common time lapse between initial metaphor comprehension and full metaphor appreciation. Several mechanisms for deriving elaborative inference from scaffolding structures, particularly in cases of novel or creative metaphor, are also presented. While the system developed in this paper has significant practical application, it also demonstrates that core spatial metaphors clearly play a central role in metaphor comprehension.

The effect of foregrounding on readers' use of predictive inferences.

This research extends previous attempts to determine whether subjects make predictive inferences during comprehension. For example, when subjects read a passage about someone falling out of a 14th-story window, do they infer that the person is dead? Previous research in which lexical decision, word naming, and recognition tasks have been used for detecting predictive inferences has had mixed results. In experiment 1, a word-stem completion task was used to test for predictive inferences. The word stems were formed from target inferences that followed either priming or control passages. The data revealed that predictive inferences are generated only about concepts that are foregrounded in the passages. In Experiments 2 and 3, lexical decision and naming were used to test for predictive inferences. The lexical decision data replicated the word-stem completion data. A control experiment ruled out a simple context-checking explanation for the lexical decision results. The naming data indicated that this tasks was not sensitive to elaborative inference generation. The results show that readers make predictive inferences, but do so selectively.

Working‐memory capacity and the use of elaborative inferences in text comprehension

The purpose of this research was to determine if individual differences in working‐memory capacity are related to the ways readers use inferences to facilitate text comprehension. Two groups of subjects, who differed in working‐memory span, read difficult narrative passages a few sentences at a time. The subjects furnished “thinking out loud” protocols of their emerging interpretations. Idea units from the subjects’ protocols were categorized with particular attention to those idea units that expressed a general or specific elaborative inference. Several differences between the two groups of subjects emerged. Low‐memory‐span subjects produced significantly more specific elaborations than the high‐span readers. In addition, most of the specific elaborations that were produced by the high‐span readers were toward the end of a passage. Low‐span readers had a more even distribution of specific elaborations throughout their protocols. Thus, readers with adequate working‐memory capacity can keep their interpret...

Semantic associations and elaborative inference.

In this article, a theoretical framework is proposed for the inference processes that occur during reading. According to the framework, inferences can vary in the degree to which they are encoded. This notion is supported by three experiments in this article that show that degree of encoding can depend on the amount of semantic-associative information available to support the inference processes. In the experiments, test words that express possible inferences from texts are presented for recognition. When testing is delayed, with other texts and test items intervening between a text and its test word, performance depends on the amount of semantic-associative information in the text. If the inferences represented by the test words are not supported by semantic associates in the text, they appear to be only minimally encoded (replicating McKoon & Ratcliff, 1986), but if they are supported by semantic associates, they are strongly encoded. With immediate testing, only 250 ms after the text, performance is shown to depend on semantic-associative information, not on textual information. This suggests that it is the fast availability of semantic information that allows it to support inference processes.

Semantic associations and elaborative inference.

Semantic associations and elaborative inference.

Elaborative inferences during reading: do they occur on-line?

Four experiments were conducted to examine the extent to which readers construct elaborative inferences on-line during reading. In Experiment 1, gaze durations were measured while subjects read anaphors to target antecedents that referenced a particular category member either explicitly or implicitly. When the context strongly suggested a particular category member, gaze durations on an anaphor were the same following either an implicit or an explicit antecedent. When the context did not suggest any particular category member, gaze durations were significantly longer following an implicit antecedent. The results confirmed that, with sufficient context, readers will generate a simple elaborative inference on-line. These results were replicated in Experiment 2 in which the materials did not strongly signal the inference but a sentence designed to encourage subjects to infer was included. In Experiment 3, this "demand sentence" was not included, and readers did not appear to construct the targeted inference. The results of Experiment 4 confirmed that once generated, elaborative inferences are stored as part of the long-term-memory representation of a passage.