Rhyme Cues Research Articles

Rhyme as resonance in poetry comprehension: An expert-novice study.

Previous research has identified alliteration as a powerful device for investigating implicit memory effects. For example, alliterative phrases can provide retrieval cues that extend to a sublexical level and reactivate previous information that shares alliterative content (Lea et al., Psychological Science, 19[7], 709-716, 2008). But it is an open question if other surface forms might provide similar effects in line with these empirical findings, and in accord with writer intuitions. The present study examined whether rhyme produces analogous memory-reactivation effects, given the ubiquity of its use and endorsement of its power in a range of materials and experiences. We also examined whether the surface benefits attributed to rhyme might support anticipatory processes such as those traditionally examined with semantic content. In Experiment 1, participants exhibited faster recognition responses to previous poetic content as a function of rhyming cues. In Experiment 2, we recruited participants identified as experts on the study and use of rhyme, replicating the probe facilitations obtained in Experiment 1, but also revealing anticipations of imminent rhymes. The results are discussed in terms of implications for theories of memory-based text processing and of nonsemantic anticipatory processes during the reading of poetry, and perhaps for discourse experiences more generally.

Are encoding/retrieval interactions in recall driven by remembering, knowing, or both?

Abstract Reinstating encoding conditions at retrieval typically enhances recall and recognition, but are encoding/retrieval interactions driven by remembering, knowing, or both? To address this question, we used the remember/know paradigm in two cued recall experiments that varied the match between encoding and retrieval conditions. Participants studied words with associate or rhyme cues and were tested with associate or rhyme cues, resulting in two match and two mismatch conditions. In both experiments, recall was generally higher in the match conditions relative to the mismatch conditions, especially with associate cues. We assessed retrieval experience by asking participants to judge whether they remembered, knew or guessed each word they recalled. We estimated recollection and familiarity from these responses, and we found that both processes contribute to increased recall when encoding and retrieval conditions match. Thus, both recollection and familiarity contribute to successful retrieval with powerful retrieval cues.

The attenuation of auditory neglect by implicit cues

This study examined implicit semantic and rhyming cues on perception of auditory stimuli among nonaphasic participants who suffered a lesion of the right cerebral hemisphere and auditory neglect of sound perceived by the left ear. Because language represents an elaborate processing of auditory stimuli and the language centers were intact among these patients, it was hypothesized that interactive verbal stimuli presented in a dichotic manner would attenuate neglect. The selected participants were administered an experimental dichotic listening test composed of six types of word pairs: unrelated words, synonyms, antonyms, categorically related words, compound words, and rhyming words. Presentation of word pairs that were semantically related resulted in a dramatic reduction of auditory neglect. Dichotic presentations of rhyming words exacerbated auditory neglect. These findings suggest that the perception of auditory information is strongly affected by the specific content conveyed by the auditory system. Language centers will process a degraded stimulus that contains salient language content. A degraded auditory stimulus is neglected if it is devoid of content that activates the language centers or other cognitive systems. In general, these findings suggest that auditory neglect involves a complex interaction of intact and impaired cerebral processing centers with content that is selectively processed by these centers.

Age-related equivalence and deficit in knowledge updating of cue effectiveness.

Knowledge updating involves learning about cue effectiveness based on task experience. Priorresearch has yielded inconsistent conclusions regarding age and knowledge updating. To resolve this inconsistency, the authors analyzed the effects of aging within a single paradigm. Participants studied cue-target associates during 2 study-test trials. Cues included rhyme cues and highly effective category cues. On each study-test trial, different items were presented, and participants predicted recall performance, received a cued recall test, and postdicted performance. Knowledge updating was operationalized as an improvement in the accuracy of predictive judgments across trials. An age deficit was evident in improvements in absolute accuracy, whereas age equivalence was evident in relative accuracy. Evidence suggested that deficient inferential processes contributed to the age deficit in knowledge updating.

Semantic cues, rhyme cues, and two varieties of recognition memory

The results of two experiments are reported that involved the use of both a recognition and a cued-recall task. In both experiments, the cue-target relationship was based on either mean­ ing or rhyme. The only difference between these experiments was rate of presentation (5.0 or 1.5 sec) during study. The results indicate that targets were more likely to be both recognized and recalled when semantic cues appeared at study and in cued recall. Target items were more likely to be only recognized when rhyme cues appeared at study and in cued recall. The results are discussed with respect to retrieval-based recognition (recognition accompanied by recall) and familiarity-based recognition (recognition only). It is suggested that these two types of recogni­ tion are often inversely related, but they are also reflective of different memory systems. Horton, Pavlick, and Moulin-Julian (in press) have pro­ posed a dual-process account of recognition memory that is quite similar to earlier accounts, such as those of Man­ dler (1980) and Jacoby and Dallas (1981). In the Horton et al. proposal, retrieval-based recognition and familiarity­ based recognition are the two processes involved in rec­ ognition. Familiarity-based recognition relies on sensory­ perceptual information, and retrieval-based recognition relies on processes similar to those that influence recall. To this point, this proposal is in conceptual agreement with Mandler (1980) and Jacoby and Dallas (1981). How­ ever, Horton et al. go on to suggest that retrieval-based recognit ion is an episodic memory process and that in­ creases in the quality of information in the episodic sys­ tem lead to increases in both retrieval-based recognition and recall. In contrast, they propose that familiarity-based recognition operates in terms of sensory-perceptual fea­ tures in semantic memory , much like those involved in pattern recognition. Increases in familiarity-based recog­ nition occur as the quality of information in the episodic memory system declines . In other words, retrieval-based recognition and familiarity -based recognition tend to be inversely related . The experiments reported by Horton et al. involve the use of a paradigm in which both recognition and recall of target words are measured . In this paradigm , four out­ comes are possible . Targets may be remembered (i.e ., recognized and recalled), recognized only, recalled only, or forgotten (i.e. , not recognized and not recalled) . The results of two experiments reported by Horton et al. show that increases in the associative relationship between cue and target members of word pairs presented at study are directly related to performance in the remembered out­ come but are inversely related to performance in the

Semantic processing in the free recall of autistic children: Further evidence for a cognitive deficit

Two memory experiments were conducted with groups of autistic, mentally retarded and normal children, matched on verbal mental age and digit span. In the first experiment free recall of semantically related and semantically unrelated word lists was investigated. Autistic children were found to be comparable to the control groups in recalling the unrelated list; however, they were significantly poorer in recalling words from the related list. The second experiment utilized a cued recall paradigm, comparing the subjects' ability to use semantic and rhyme cues to retrieve unrecalled words from memory. This time the autistic children were no different from the retarded and normal children in using semantic cues. These findings extend earlier work on cognitive deficits specific to autism, suggesting that autistic children cannot make use of linguistic knowledge to facilitate retrieval of stored information. It is speculated that this failure to use memory strategies is related to autistic children's hypothesized deficit in developing a ‘theory of mind’.

The effect of phonological analysis training on naming performance

Children who are poor readers have difficulty naming pictured objects. Previous research has shown that while poor readers have the same amount of tacit phonological knowledge about words they cannot retrieve as good readers, they cannot use this initial phoneme and rhyme information to produce these words. In this study, thirdgrade good and poor readers participated in a training session to explicitly teach them how to manipulate the phonological structure of words as a means of facilitating naming ability. Both groups benefited from training, even though the good readers performed consistently better than poor readers. It is suggested that with more extensive training, poor readers may learn to use their tacit phonological knowledge of words they have difficulty retrieving spontaneously, by generating and using their own phonemic and rhyme cues independently.

Ten pen men: Rhyming skills in two children with callosal agenesis

Cases of callosal agenesis provide unique opportunities to investigate the normal role of the corpus callosum in the development of cognitive functions, including language. The only language impairment which has been consistently observed in three acallosal patients is on the retrieval of words from rhyming cues. Two new cases of callosal agenesis in children of normal intelligence are presented. Their performance on a variety of rhyming tasks involving both production and recognition of rhyme is reported. Both children display deficits and possible explanations are discussed.

Lexical processing in Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) or multiple sclerosis (MS) were categorized as normal in naming (NN) or impaired in naming (IN) based on their performance on the Boston Naming Test. All patients scored at least 23 on the Mini-Mental State Examination. Both PDIN and MSIN patient groups exhibited poor naming performance when target words were elicited with semantic, visual or rhyming cues. They also performed poorly on the vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and had difficulty repeating sentences. PDNN and MSNN patients showed more selective deficits. These findings add to a growing literature demonstrating that language in general, and naming in particular, can be compromised in subcortical diseases even when global mental status is only mildly affected. The clinical implications of these observations are, however, unclear.

Rhyme and reason: Analyses of dual retrieval cues.

If and only if each single cue uniquely defines its target, a independence model based on fragment theory can predict the strength of a combined dual cue from the strengths of its single cue components. If the single cues do not each uniquely define their target, no single monotonic function can predict the strength of the dual cue from its components; rather, what matters is the number of possible targets. The probability of generating a target word was .19 for rhyme cues, .14 for category cues, and .97 for rhyme-plus-category dual cues. Moreover, some pairs of cues had probabilities of producing their targets of .03 when used individually and 1.00 when used together, whereas other pairs had moderate probabilities individually and together. The results, which are interpreted in terms of multiple constraints limiting the number of responses, show why rhymes, which play a minimal role in laboratory studies of memory, are common in real-world mnemonics. The way in which properties of stimuli combine lo predict behavior has been an active area of study. Dual-cue investigations using verbal material have studied associations (Cofer, 1968; Jenkins & Cofer, 1957), tachistoscopic and other forms of word recognition (Morton, 1969; Tulving, Mandler, & Baumal, 1964), context surrounding a missing word (Rubin, 1976), errors (Reason, in press), concepts (Hampton, 1987;Jones, 1982; Osherson & Smith, 1981), recall from very long-term memory (Bruce, 1980), pictures and their captions (Bahrick & Gharrity, 1976; Jones, 1978), autobiographical memories (Reiser, Black, & Kalamarides, 1986; Wagenaar, 1986), recall of words (Le Voi, Ayton, Jonckheere, McClelland, & Rawles, 1983; McLeod, Williams, & Broadbent, 1971; Nelson ABorden, 1977; Nelson & Garland, 1969;Solso & Biersdorff, 1975; Tulving & Watkins, 1975), and recall of sentences (Anderson & Bower, 1972, 1973; Foss & Harwood, 1975). Many studies have also investigated how the perceptual properties of stimuli are combined. Such studies address this issue in terms of gestalt, integral, holistic, or configural processing (Garner, 1978; Kohler, 1947; Lockhead, 1972; Monahan & Lockhead, 1977). Both the memory and the perceptual studies make the same troublesome point: Measures based on independent properties or features can provide adequate descriptions of behavior in some instances but fail in others. This article is an attempt to address this general puzzle for the problem of retrieval from long-term memory.

Lexical retrieval in left and right brain lesioned children

Performance on two measures of lexical retrieval for 19 left and 13 right brain lesioned children was compared to that of control subjects matched by age, sex, race, and social class. On the Word-Finding Test, left lesioned subjects were significantly slower in response time than left controls when given semantic and visual cues and made more errors when given rhyming cues. On the Rapid Automatized Naming Test, left lesioned subjects were significantly slower than left controls in naming all semantic categories, including colors, numbers, objects, and letters. In contrast, right lesioned subjects responded as quickly as or more quickly than did right controls in all access conditions and in naming semantic categories yet tended to produce more errors than their controls, suggesting a speed-accuracy tradeoff. Children sustaining left brain lesions before 1 year of age appeared to be as impaired as those whose lesions occurred after 1 year of age. Diverse lesion sites within the left hemisphere were associated with increased lexical retrieval latencies.

Specific enhancement effects associated with word generation

The generation effect was examined in a series of experiments in which subjects were required to read or generate target words in the presence of cues. Memory was assessed via cued recall tests in which the relationship between the cue and the information present at encoding was varied. When targets were generated in the presence of associatively related cues of rhyme cues, a generation effect was observed when these same, or similar, cues were present at retrieval, but not when the retrieval cues tapped qualitatively different types of information. A generation effect was not obtained with identical cues when the cues were only weakly related to the generated words, but did emerge when cues which tapped general semantic information were used. It is suggested that generation can be guided by different types of information, and that it is the information used to guide the generation process that is enhanced by generation. A generation effect is observed only when this information is tapped at test.

Cued recall in anterograde amnesia

After a single presentation of a word list, normal subjects exhibited better retention when prompted with semantic cues than with rhyme or letter cues. Alcoholic Korsakoff patients, patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and the patient N.A. exhibited impaired retention and, unlike control subjects, did not exhibit an advantage of semantic cues over letter and rhyme cues. Two experimental manipulations designed to equate the level of performance of amnesics and controls indicated that these amnesias could be understood as a reflection of weak memory strength that results from deficiencies in initial learning and retention. In addition, alcoholic Korsakoff patients appeared to have greater difficulty utilizing semantic cues than patients receiving ECT or patient N.A.

Determinants of cued recall

This paper reports two cued recall experiments in which the degree of preexperimental associative strength between rhyming cues and their respective targets is manipulated whilst holding the extent of informational overlap between them constant. Both experiments show that strong rhyming cues are more efficient than weak rhyming cues in eliciting target retrieval in both a short-term and a long-term memory situation. The results are interpreted as consistent with the generationrecognition theory of retrieval and inconsistent with predictions made by the encoding specificity principle. It is therefore suggested that caution must be applied when extending the encoding specificity principle to experimental situations other than that from which it is derived. Implications for the distinction between scanning and reconstructive modes of retrieval are also briefly considered.

Effects of distorted auditory and of rhyming cues on retrieval of tip-of-the-tongue words by poets and nonpoets

Auditory cues (the target word distorted by a low-pass filter) and rhyming cues act as retrieval aids for people who have a word on the tip of their tongue. Parallels between the tip-of-thetongue phenomenon (TOT) and the perception of well-put passages of poetry are also discussed. It is argued that the effects of these poetic passages derive in part from the engagement of TOT-like processes. In support of this hypothesis, poets (poetry appreciators) are shown to be more aware of being helped by TOT retrieval cues than are nonpoets (poetry nonappreciators); however, the retrieval cues do not differentially influence successful recall of TOT words by poets and nonpoets.