Sentence Reading Research Articles

PROFILE OF STUDENT'S MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITY BASED ON LINGUISTIC INTELLIGENCE AND MATHEMATICAL LOGICAL INTELLIGENCE

The process of solving problems carried out by students in stages, namely understanding problems, planning solutions, carrying out solutions and checking again. Solving student problems varies according to the basic characteristics of students' interests, talents and potential. Learning will be more optimal if it is adjusted to the intelligence possessed by students. The goal is that teachers can facilitate learning according to the intelligence possessed by students, so the teacher must know the intelligence possessed by students. This research is a qualitative study using two subjects, namely the subject of linguistics and the subject of mathematical logic. The results showed that at the problem-understanding stage, SLM completed using formulas, completed according to plan and checked by recalculating. SL uses more trial-and-error reasoning, understanding information by reading sentences quickly as well as checking again.

Contrasting off-line segmentation decisions with on-line word segmentation during reading.

In two experiments, we investigated the correspondences between off‐line word segmentation and on‐line segmentation processing during Chinese reading. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to read sentences which contained critical four‐character strings, and then, they were required to segment the same sentences into words in a later off‐line word segmentation task. For each item, participants were split into 1‐word segmenters (who segmented four‐character strings as a single word) and 2‐word segmenters (who segmented four‐character strings as 2 two‐character words). Thus, we split participants into two groups (1‐word segmenters and 2‐word segmenters) according to their off‐line segmentation bias. The data analysis showed no reliable group effect on all the measures. In order to avoid the heterogeneity of participants and stimuli in Experiment 1, two groups of participants (1‐word segmenters and 2‐word segmenters) and three types of critical four‐character string (1‐word strings, ambiguous strings, and 2‐word strings) were identified in a norming study in Experiment 2. Participants were required to read sentences containing these critical strings. There was no reliable group effect in Experiment 2, as was the case in Experiment 1. However, in Experiment 2, participants spent less time and made fewer fixations on 1‐word strings compared to ambiguous and 2‐word strings. These results indicate that the off‐line word segmentation preferences do not necessarily reflect on‐line word segmentation processing during Chinese reading and that Chinese readers exhibit flexibility such that word, or multiple constituent, segmentation commitments are made on‐line.

Text type attribution modulates pre-stimulus alpha power in sentence reading

Prior knowledge and context-specific expectations influence the perception of sensory events, e.g., speech, as well as complex higher-order cognitive operations like text reading. Here, we focused on pre-stimulus neural activity during sentence reading to examine text type-dependent attentional bias in anticipation of written stimuli, capitalizing on the functional relevance of brain oscillations in the alpha (8–12 Hz) frequency range. Two sex- and age-matched groups of participants (n = 24 each) read identical sentences on a screen at a fixed per-constituent presentation rate while their electroencephalogram was recorded; the groups were differentially instructed to read “sentences” (genre-neutral condition) or “verses from poems” (poetry condition). Relative alpha power (pre-cue vs. post-cue) in pre-stimulus time windows was greater in the poetry condition than in the genre-neutral condition. This finding constitutes initial evidence for genre-specific cognitive adjustments that precede processing proper, and potentially links current theories of discourse comprehension to current theories of brain function.

The brain network in support of social semantic accumulation.

Some studies have indicated that a specific ‘social semantic network’ represents the social meanings of words. However, studies of the comprehension of complex materials, such as sentences and narratives, have indicated that the same network supports the online accumulation of connected semantic information. In this study, we examined the hypothesis that this network does not simply represent the social meanings of words but also accumulates connected social meanings from texts. We defined the social semantic network by conducting a meta-analysis of previous studies on social semantic processing and then examined the effects of social semantic accumulation using a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) experiment. Two important findings were obtained. First, the social semantic network showed a stronger social semantic effect in sentence and narrative reading than in word list reading, indicating the amplitude of social semantic activation can be accumulated in the network. Second, the activation of the social semantic network in sentence and narrative reading can be better explained by the holistic social-semantic-richness rating scores of the stimuli than by those of the constitutive words, indicating the social semantic contents can be integrated in the network. These two findings convergently indicate that the social semantic network supports the accumulation of connected social meanings.

Regression-based analysis of combined EEG and eye-tracking data: Theory and applications.

Fixation-related potentials (FRPs), neural responses aligned to the end of saccades, are a promising tool for studying the dynamics of attention and cognition under natural viewing conditions. In the past, four methodological problems have complicated the analysis of such combined eye-tracking/electroencephalogram experiments: (1) the synchronization of data streams, (2) the removal of ocular artifacts, (3) the condition-specific temporal overlap between the brain responses evoked by consecutive fixations, and (4) the fact that numerous low-level stimulus and saccade properties also influence the postsaccadic neural responses. Although effective solutions exist for the first two problems, the latter two are only beginning to be addressed. In the current paper, we present and review a unified regression-based framework for FRP analysis that allows us to deconvolve overlapping potentials while also controlling for both linear and nonlinear confounds on the FRP waveform. An open software implementation is provided for all procedures. We then demonstrate the advantages of this proposed (non)linear deconvolution modeling approach for data from three commonly studied paradigms: face perception, scene viewing, and reading. First, for a traditional event-related potential (ERP) face recognition experiment, we show how this technique can separate stimulus ERPs from overlapping muscle and brain potentials produced by small (micro)saccades on the face. Second, in natural scene viewing, we model and isolate multiple nonlinear effects of saccade parameters on the FRP. Finally, for a natural sentence reading experiment using the boundary paradigm, we show how it is possible to study the neural correlates of parafoveal preview after removing spurious overlap effects caused by the associated difference in average fixation time. Our results suggest a principal way of measuring reliable eye movement-related brain activity during natural vision.

Regional variation of HUIS in Achterhoeks

Abstract This research considers the pronunciation of the Standard Dutch vowel /œy/ in the Achterhoek region, where it is typically realised as a monophthong. Previous studies (eg. Kloeke, 1927; Van Reenen, 2005; 2006; Gerritsen and Jansen, 1979) have shown a variable use of [y] and [u] in this area of the Netherlands. However, this research follows on from previous studies by considering the links between rural and non-rural pronunciation, as well as a geographical split between the north and south of the region. During the summer of 2015, 34 Achterhoeks speakers (aged from 26-73) from different towns in the region were recorded completing a picture task and reading sentences designed to elicit marked dialectal pronunciations. F1 and F2 formant frequencies were analysed in Praat (Boersma and Weenink, 2014) and a formant editor developed by Sóskuthy (2014), and then compared in order to arrive at the results. These were then compared with the findings from a 1979 corpus designed by Leendert van Prooije. A system of classifying Dutch vowels into lexical sets (cf. Wells, 1982) was developed in order to more concisely discuss pronunciation differences; under this system, the vowels in question would fall under what has been termed the HUIS vowel.The first result is that variations in the position of the vowel following some rhotics were observed in the speakers. Grouped into age, gender, and location, and measured through normalised formant frequencies, it was found that the more retracted vowel [u] was observed in rural speakers, whereas the fronted vowel [y] was seen in speakers from non-rural areas. Where the vowel appeared in any position other than following the rhotic consonant, it was realised as [y], without any observable differences between speakers. However, further analysis of the FAND II corpus revealed that this effect was not always consistent.In the case of the HUIS vowel, it would appear there is variation based on the status of participants’ locations. The vowel [y] in this area of the Netherlands resulted in a shift from the older [u] of West Germanic dialects (Kloeke, 1927; Van Reenen, 2006), so here the [u] pronunciation after /r/ could be considered a relic of the older dialect of the area. This result was then considered alongside the possibility of a /ru/ isogloss involving more locations within the area of the Achterhoek. Using data from the FAND II database, it was found that there was some evidence for the existence of such an isogloss as a possible alternative explanation.This study therefore presents the conclusion that, based on the HUIS vowel, the style of speakers residing in the north-eastern part of the Achterhoek is likely to be more representative of the traditional dialect. Further exploration of this conclusion could be set up in other aspects of speech, and thus we can consider the implications for the future of the dialect in the southern and western areas.

FREQUÊNCIA E O PROCESSAMENTO DOS CLÍTICOS DE 2SG

Neste estudo, apresento os resultados de um experimento de leitura de frases com rastreador ocular, através do qual analisei o processamento dos clíticos acusativos de 2ª pessoa do singular. Os objetivos desta investigação eram observar como falantes do português brasileiro processam a referência ao interlocutor a partir dos clíticos te, lhe e o/a e verificar se a percepção desses pronomes é influenciada pelas diferenças existentes na frequência de uso. Como referencial teórico, adoto os pressupostos da Linguística Centrada no Uso (BYBEE, 2007; DIVJAK; CALDWELL-HARRIS, 2015). Os resultados sustentam a hipótese de correlação entre uso e cognição: o clítico te, que é o pronome mais frequentemente encontrado nos dados de corpora, foi a forma que demandou menor custo de processamento aos participantes durante a tarefa experimental.

Explicit (Not Implicit) Attitudes Mediate the Focus of Attention During Sentence Processing.

Many studies showed that comprehenders monitor changes in protagonists’ emotions and actions. This article reports two experiments that explored how focusing comprehenders’ attention on a particular property of the protagonist dimension (e.g., emotional or action state) affects the accessibility of information about target objects mentioned in the sentence. Furthermore, the present research examined whether participants’ attitudes toward the issues described in the sentence can modulate comprehension processes. To this end, we asked participants to read sentences about environmental issues that focused comprehenders’ attention on different mental and physical attributes of the same entities (protagonists and objects) and then self-report their own thoughts on the topic of environment by responding to the items assessing their environmental awareness. Importantly, we manipulated the task requirements across two experiments by administering a self-report task (Experiment 1), which required the participants to rate the seriousness and the frequency of the problem mentioned in a sentence; and administering a sentence-picture verification paradigm (Experiment 2), which required the participants to merely indicate if the object depicted in the picture (related to a certain environmental problem) was mentioned in the preceding sentence. The results of these experiments suggest that the focus of a sentence on the environmental problem (rather than the protagonist’s emotion and action) enhances the accessibility of information about environmental issues (e.g., plastic garbage); that the comprehender’s level of environmental awareness influences one’s attention during sentence processing; and that comprehender characteristics significantly modulate comprehension processes only when the measures tap into explicit (and not implicit) processes.

Anomalias de forma e de conteúdo em português brasileiro: um estudo preliminar de rastreamento ocular da leitura e de avaliação de aceitabilidade

O presente estudo usou a metodologia de rastreamento ocular para investigar em que medida a leitura de frases em português brasileiro pode diferir em relação a anomalias gramaticais e semânticas e como essas frases são avaliadas quanto à sua boa formação, tomando-se como controle frases bem formadas gramatical e semanticamente. A partir da análise dos dados on-line, foi possível identificar que as sentenças que apresentam anomalias de traço de concordância de número no sintagma nominal, ainda que melhor aceitas na medida off-line do que as frases com anomalias semânticas pelos falantes escolarizados da língua, são processadas de forma inicialmente mais custosa em termos dos padrões de fixação e de refixação. Avalia-se que os resultados obtidos aduzem evidências em favor dos modelos estruturais de processamento de frases.

Competition and working memory in sentence reading: Evidence from Spanish.

We evaluated the validity, preference, and competition of 2 syntactic cues in Spanish (subject-verb agreement and animacy) and the role of working memory (WM) during cue competition in sentence reading. Spanish participants read noun-verb-noun sentences and performed an agent assignment task. Experiment 1 revealed that readers preferred as agent of the sentence (a) the noun that agreed with the verb and (b) the animate noun over the inanimate noun. The subject-verb agreement cue was preferred over animacy. Cue competition arose in reading: Longer reading times were observed for sentences in which subject-verb agreement and animacy guided toward different interpretations. Experiment 2 revealed that the use of syntactic cues depended on WM. High-WM-span readers made use of lexical-semantic information (animacy) and did not show the interference associated with cue competition. Low WM span readers preferred the favourite cue in Spanish (subject-verb agreement) and showed interference when cues competed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

CORRIGENDUM

Journal of the International AIDS SocietyVolume 23, Issue 12 e25646 CorrigendumOpen Access CORRIGENDUM This article corrects the following: Delays in repeat HIV viral load testing for those with elevated viral loads: a national perspective from South Africa Matthew P Fox, Alana T Brennan, Cornelius Nattey, William B MacLeod, Alyssa Harlow, Koleka Mlisana, Mhairi Maskew, Sergio Carmona, Jacob Bor, Volume 23Issue 7Journal of the International AIDS Society First Published online: July 8, 2020 First published: 05 December 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/jia2.25646AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat In the article [1], there were errors in the Methods section (2.1 Cohort creation) on e25542. The last sentence reads: "The cohort was validated against a set of nearly 60,000 laboratory records matched manually by a team of research assistants who found that the approach had 6.3% overmatching (laboratories that were matched should not have been) and 1.4% undermatching (laboratories that should have been matched were not) [22]." The last sentence should have read: "The cohort was validated against a set of nearly 60,000 laboratory records matched manually by a team of research assistants who found that the approach had 1.4% overmatching (laboratory records that were matched should not have been) and 6.3% undermatching (laboratory records that should have been matched were not) [22]." REFERENCE 1Fox MP, Brennan AT, Nattey C, MacLeod WB, Harlow A, Mlisana K, et al. Delays in repeat HIV viral load testing for those with elevated viral loads: a national perspective from South Africa. J Int AIDS Soc. 2020; 23:e25542. Volume23, Issue12December 2020e25646 ReferencesRelatedInformation

Decoding Brain Activity Associated with Literal and Metaphoric Sentence Comprehension Using Distributional Semantic Models

Recent years have seen a growing interest within the natural language processing (NLP) community in evaluating the ability of semantic models to capture human meaning representation in the brain. Existing research has mainly focused on applying semantic models to decode brain activity patterns associated with the meaning of individual words, and, more recently, this approach has been extended to sentences and larger text fragments. Our work is the first to investigate metaphor processing in the brain in this context. We evaluate a range of semantic models (word embeddings, compositional, and visual models) in their ability to decode brain activity associated with reading of both literal and metaphoric sentences. Our results suggest that compositional models and word embeddings are able to capture differences in the processing of literal and metaphoric sentences, providing support for the idea that the literal meaning is not fully accessible during familiar metaphor comprehension.

켑스트럼 변수와 랜덤포레스트 알고리듬을 이용한 MTD(근긴장성 발성장애) 여성화자 음성과 정상음성 분류*

This study investigated the acoustic characteristics of sustained vowel /a/ and sentence utterance produced by patients with muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) using cepstrum-based acoustic variables. 36 women diagnosed with MTD and the same number of women with normal voice participated in the study and the data were recorded and measured by ADSV™. The results demonstrated that cepstral peak prominence (CPP) and CPP_F0 among all of the variables were statistically significantly lower than those of control group. When it comes to the GRBAS scale, overall severity (G) was most prominent, and roughness (R), breathiness (B), and strain (S) indices followed in order in the voice quality of MTD patients. As these characteristics increased, a statistically significant negative correlation was observed in CPP. We tried to classify MTD and control group using CPP and CPP_F0 variables. As a result of statistic modeling with a Random Forest machine learning algorithm, much higher classification accuracy (100% in training data and 83.3% in test data) was found in the sentence reading task, with CPP being proved to be playing a more crucial role in both vowel and sentence reading tasks.

Friend or foe? Flankers reverse the direction of orthographic neighbourhood effects

ABSTRACT Increasing the neighbourhood density of a word typically facilitates lexical decision responses and interferes in sentence reading. The Multiple Read-Out Model accounts for such variation by postulating that word responses in the lexical decision task can be made via two mechanisms – identifying the word or using the global lexical activity that it generates. Here, we asked whether adding unrelated flanking words to either side of the target would modulate the relative contribution of these two mechanisms. That is, do flankers promote the use of word identification processes that are more characteristic of sentence reading? In line with our hypothesis, in Experiment 1 flanker words increased the inhibitory influence of orthographic neighbours relative to single word presentation. In Experiment 2, flanker neighbourhood density did not affect lexical decisions to central targets. This pattern indicates that the mechanisms used to make a lexical decision can be modulated by a minimal “sentence-like” context.

Effects of socioeconomic status in predicting reading outcomes for children: The mediation of spoken language network

The present longitudinal study investigated the effects of early childhood socioeconomic status on language-related resting-state functional connectivity and reading outcome in adolescence. Seventy-nine children participated in this study. Socioeconomic status was measured via parent questionnaire measuring parental education and family income at 1 month. At age 14, resting-state fMRI data and reading-related behavioral data of the children were collected. Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analysis was performed based on four regions of interest, including the left inferior frontal gyrus (L.IFG), left anterior superior temporal gyrus (L.aSTG), left posterior superior temporal gyrus (L.pSTG) and right anterior superior temporal gyrus (R.aSTG). Significant associations were found between parental education and the language-related RSFC, including the RSFC of L.IFG-L.aSTG and the RSFC of L.aSTG-L.pSTG, while no association was found between family income and language-related RSFC. Furthermore, the parental education-associated functional connectivity patterns (i.e., L.IFG-L.aSTG and L.aSTG-L.pSTG) were found to be positively correlated with children’s reading skills (word list reading and sentence reading fluency). Finally, path analyses indicated that the intrinsic brain connectivity between L.aSTG and L.pSTG influenced the relationship between parental education and children’s reading outcomes.

Testing limits: ERP evidence for word form preactivation during speeded sentence reading.

While it is commonly agreed upon that language comprehenders preactivate information at multiple levels, there is less consensus regarding what and when information is predicted, under which circumstances, and via which mechanism(s). Regarding when, Ito, Corley, Pickering, Martin, & Nieuwland (2016) concluded that during sentence processing, word form-unlike semantic-preactivation crucially relies on the time available to generate late-stage predictions via language production mechanisms, setting this limit between 500 and 700ms/word. The current event-related brain potential (ERP) study tests this proposal at a substantially faster serial visual presentation (SVP) rate of four words/s, on par with normal reading. We utilize the experimental design and replicate the general ERP findings of the two words/s SVP study of DeLong, Chan, & Kutas (2019), with results showing similar N400 reductions to unpredictable sentence continuations whether semantically or orthographically related to contextually predictable words, as well as an increased late posterior positivity to orthographic neighbors. These findings indicate that processing of written word information can be rapidly facilitated through context-based expectancies, establishing that if there is a time constraint for word form preactivation, it must be far less than limits specified by the prediction-by-production comprehension model championed by Ito et al.

Electrophysiological differences in older and younger adults\u2019 anaphoric but not cataphoric pronoun processing in the absence of age-related behavioural slowdown

This study reports on an event-related potentials experiment to uncover whether per-millisecond electrophysiological brain activity and analogous behavioural responses are age-sensitive when comprehending anaphoric (referent-first) and cataphoric (pronoun-first) pronouns. Two groups of French speakers were recruited (young n = 18; aged 19–35 and older adults n = 15; aged 57–88) to read sentences where the anaphoric/cataphoric pronouns and their potential referents either matched or mismatched in gender. Our findings indicate that (1) the older adults were not less accurate or slower in their behavioural responses to the mismatches than the younger adults, (2) both anaphoric and cataphoric conditions evoked a central/parietally distributed P600 component with similar timing and amplitude in both the groups. Importantly, mean amplitudes of the P600 effect were modulated by verbal short-term memory span in the older adults but not in the younger adults, (3) nevertheless, the older but not the younger adults displayed an additional anterior negativity emerging on the frontal regions in response to the anaphoric mismatches. These results suggest that pronoun processing is resilient in healthy ageing individuals, but that functional recruitment of additional brain regions, evidenced with the anterior negativity, compensates for increased processing demands in the older adults’ anaphora processing.

Remedial Writing Composition Module and Achievement of Grade 11 Senior High School Humanities and Social Sciences Students

The Remedial Writing Composition Module is one of the strategies for non-proficient writers and also enhancement strategy among developing writers and poor writers which encourages them to love writing. It was conducted among the Grade 11 Senior High School Students of STI College Tacurong during the School Year 2018-2019.The study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the module, which was evaluated in terms of its content, relevance, acceptability, and instructional quality. The level of the writing achievement of the students was evaluated in terms or reading sentences writing, paragraphs writing, and narrative writing. The significant difference on the students writing achievement and the mean gain scores between the control group and experimental group in the pre-test and in the post-test were tested. Based on the results, the “Remedial Writing Composition Module” was excellent and passed the qualities expected by the target users, which composed of the reading and writing teachers and tutors. Based on the evaluation, the writing composition module met 91% and above quality standards. The experimental group who utilized the writing composition module got the highest mean compared to the control group, after they underwent an intensive intervention strategy. A significant improvement was revealed in the students’ writing achievement after utilizing the module, which contained various activities such as the sentences writing, paragraphs writing, and narratives writing. It is recommended that the “Remedial Writing Composition Module” should be adapted by STI College Tacurong and any other private and public schools and be integrated in their classroom program. Moreover, reading module should be utilized by the teachers during their class especially the reading and writing teachers during regular class or even remedial class.

When the owner of information is unsure: Epistemic uncertainty influences evidentiality processing in Turkish

This study deals with the extent to which epistemic uncertainty influences processing of grammatical evidentiality – the linguistic reference to information source – in Turkish native speakers. Across a series of sentence reading experiments administered to groups of Turkish adult native speakers, this study showed that indirect evidentiality in firsthand witnessing contexts evoked greater post-interpretive disruptions (Experiment 1), and were found largely unfavourable (Experiment 2), suggesting that in Turkish, speaking about one's own information with indirect evidentiality leads to an inherent effect. Furthermore, a first-person's witnessed information marked with direct evidentiality is found to be rather unacceptable or unsettling under low epistemic certainty conditions, where the speaker is unsure of his/her own witnessing (Experiment 3), whilst a non-first-person's information blends well with uncertainty constraints for which, Turkish readers strongly favour the assumption marker (Experiment 4). This study indicates that Turkish speakers’ sensitivity to uses of evidentiality is influenced by the ‘uncertainty of information owner’. There is a semantic overlap and a complex interface between evidentiality and epistemic modality in Turkish, and this interface is mediated by the ownership of information (first-person versus non-first-person) and the owner's uncertainty about his/her information. Further implications are discussed.

An integrated model of word processing and eye-movement control during Chinese reading.

In the Chinese writing system, there are no interword spaces to mark word boundaries. To understand how Chinese readers conquer this challenge, we constructed an integrated model of word processing and eye-movement control during Chinese reading (CRM). The model contains a word-processing module and an eye-movement control module. The word-processing module perceives new information within the perceptual span around a fixation. The model uses the interactive activation framework (McClelland & Rumelhart, 1981) to simulate word processing, but some new assumptions were made to address the word segmentation problem in Chinese reading. All the words supported by characters in the perceptual span are activated and they compete for a winner. When one word wins the competition, it is identified and it is simultaneously segmented from text. The eye-movement control module makes the decision regarding when and where to move the eyes using the activation information of word units and character units provided by the word-processing module. The model estimates how many characters can be processed during a fixation, and then makes a saccade to somewhere beyond this point. The model successfully simulated important findings on the relation between word processing and eye-movement control, how Chinese readers choose saccade targets, how Chinese readers segment words with ambiguous boundaries, and how Chinese readers process information with parafoveal vision during Chinese sentence reading. The current model thus provides insights on how Chinese readers address some important challenges, such as word segmentation and saccade-target selection. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).