Maj-Britt Isberner

Lexical Quality and Reading Comprehension in Primary School Children

In a cross-sectional study, we examined the relationship between the quality of lexical representations and text comprehension skill in German primary school children (Grades 1–4). We measured the efficiency and accuracy of orthographical, phonological, and meaning representations by means of computerized tests. Text comprehension skill was assessed with a standardized reading test with questions requiring recognition of text information and inferencing. Both the accuracy of and the efficiency of access to the three types of lexical representations contributed to explaining interindividual variation in text comprehension skill. Results from a path-analytic model suggest a specific causal order of the three components of lexical quality with the quality of meaning representations partly mediating the effects of form representations.

Can readers ignore implausibility? Evidence for nonstrategic monitoring of event-based plausibility in language comprehension.

We present evidence for a nonstrategic monitoring of event-based plausibility during language comprehension by showing that readers cannot ignore the implausibility of information even if it is detrimental to the task at hand. In two experiments using a Stroop-like paradigm, participants were required to provide positive and negative responses independent of plausibility in an orthographical task (Experiment 1) or a nonlinguistic color judgment task (Experiment 2) to target words that were either plausible or implausible in their context. We expected a nonstrategic assessment of plausibility to interfere with positive responses to implausible words. ANOVAs and linear mixed models analyses of the response latencies revealed a significant interaction of plausibility and required response that supported this prediction in both experiments, despite the use of two very different tasks. Moreover, it could be shown that the effect was not driven by the differential predictability of plausible and implausible words. These results suggest that plausibility monitoring is an inherent component of information processing.

Does Validation during Language Comprehension Depend on an Evaluative Mindset

Whether information is routinely and nonstrategically evaluated for truth during comprehension is still a point of contention. Previous studies supporting the assumption of nonstrategic validation have used a Stroop-like paradigm in which participants provided yes/no judgments in tasks unrelated to the truth or plausibility of the experimental sentences. Other studies using a nonevaluative task failed to support this assumption. This leaves open the possibility that validation is conditional on an evaluative mindset of the reader. In the present study, we investigated this question directly by using a nonevaluative probe task. Participants responded to the probe words “true” or “false” with two different keys after reading true or false sentences for comprehension. Results provide evidence for routine validation even when it is not encouraged by the task, but they also suggest that semantic processing is critical for validation to occur. These results can be taken as evidence for a close connection between validation and comprehension rather than validation being a goal-dependent process.

Processing of positive-causal and negative-causal coherence relations in primary school children and adults: a test of the cumulative cognitive complexity approach in German

Establishing local coherence relations is central to text comprehension. Positive-causal coherence relations link a cause and its consequence, whereas negative-causal coherence relations add a contrastive meaning (negation) to the causal link. According to the cumulative cognitive complexity approach, negative-causal coherence relations are cognitively more complex than positive-causal ones. Therefore, they require greater cognitive effort during text comprehension and are acquired later in language development. The present cross-sectional study tested these predictions for German primary school children from Grades 1 to 4 and adults in reading and listening comprehension. Accuracy data in a semantic verification task support the predictions of the cumulative cognitive complexity approach. Negative-causal coherence relations are cognitively more demanding than positive-causal ones. Moreover, our findings indicate that childrens comprehension of negative-causal coherence relations continues to develop throughout the course of primary school. Findings are discussed with respect to the generalizability of the cumulative cognitive complexity approach to German.

Argument Strength and the Persuasiveness of Stories.

ABSTRACT Stories are a powerful means to change people’s attitudes and beliefs. The aim of the current work was to shed light on the role of argument strength (argument quality) in narrative persuasion. The present study examined the influence of strong versus weak arguments on attitudes in a low or high narrative context. Moreover, baseline attitudes, interindividual differences in working memory capacity, and recipients’ transportation were examined. Stories with strong arguments were more persuasive than stories with weak arguments. This main effect was qualified by a two-way interaction with baseline attitude, revealing that argument strength had a greater impact on individuals who initially were particularly doubtful toward the story claim. Furthermore, we identified a three-way interaction showing that argument strength mattered most for recipients who were deeply transported into the story world in stories that followed a typical narrative structure. These findings provide an important specification of narrative persuasion theory.

Don’t believe everything you hear: Routine validation of audiovisual information in children and adults

Previous research has shown that the validation of incoming information during language comprehension is a fast, efficient, and routine process (epistemic monitoring). Previous research on this topic has focused on epistemic monitoring during reading. The present study extended this research by investigating epistemic monitoring of audiovisual information. In a Stroop-like paradigm, participants (Experiment 1: adults; Experiment 2: 10-year-old children) responded to the probe words correct and false by keypress after the presentation of auditory assertions that could be either true or false with respect to concurrently presented pictures. Results provide evidence for routine validation of audiovisual information. Moreover, the results show a stronger and more stable interference effect for children compared with adults.

Construct Validity of a Process-Oriented Test Assessing Syntactic Skills in German Primary Schoolchildren.

ABSTRACT Reading comprehension is based on the efficient accomplishment of several cognitive processes at the word, sentence, and text level. To the extent that each of these processes contributes to reading comprehension, it can cause reading difficulties if it is deficient. To identify individual sources of reading difficulties, tools are required that allow for a reliable and valid assessment of individual differences in specific cognitive processes of reading comprehension. The present study shows the usefulness of this process-oriented approach to assessing reading comprehension skills by using the example of a test for assessing syntactic skills in German primary schoolchildren. The test comprises a grammaticality judgment task that contains items with carefully varied features that are known to facilitate or impede syntactic processes. By means of explanatory item response models, we demonstrate that empirical item difficulties vary as a function of experimentally varied item features, indicating that the test indeed assesses syntactic skills. Moreover, the test measures individual differences in syntactic skills across the whole range of skill levels and is sensitive to developmental changes. We conclude that the test is a valid tool to assess individual differences and to detect deficits in this component process of reading comprehension.

Plausible reasoning and plausibility monitoring in language comprehension

Abstract In psychological research on language comprehension, so-called epistemic Stroop effects illustrate how implausible information can interfere with human action decisions, i.e., actions with positive goals can be delayed after implausible information, and vice versa. The basic assumption here is that humans reason from suitable situation models that are built upon background beliefs. In this paper, we present formal models that are apt to simulate cognitive processes that are relevant for language comprehension and these epistemic Stroop effects. Since background knowledge is crucial for the situation model, we use the inductive methods of c-representation and c-revision that are capable of processing explicit (conditional) knowledge bases to make plausible reasoning in the experimental tasks transparent. We argue that the delays in response time are partially caused by belief revision processes which are necessary to overcome the mismatch between plausible context (or background resp. world) knowledge and implausible target words. We also present first tentative results that different types of knowledge may induce different processing patterns.