Robert F. Lorch

Regression analyses of repeated measures data in cognitive research.

Repeated measures designs involving nonorthogonal variables are being used with increasing frequency in cognitive psychology. Researchers usually analyze the data from such designs inappropriately, probably because the designs are not discussed in standard textbooks on regression. Two commonly used approaches to analyzing repeated measures designs are considered in this article. It is argued that both approaches use inappropriate error terms for testing the effects of independent variables. A more appropriate analysis is presented, and two alternative computational procedures for the analysis are illustrated.

The effects of readers' goals on inference generation and memory for texts

We investigated the effects of readers’ goals on inference generation and memory for expository text. College students (N = 82) read texts for the purpose of either study or entertainment. On-line inference generation was recorded via think-aloud procedures, and off-line memory was assessed via free recall. Reading goal strongly influenced inferential activity: Readers with a study goal produced more coherence-building (i.e., backward/explanatory and forward/predictive) inferences, whereas readers with an entertainment goal produced more associations and evaluations. These differences were associated with superior memory for the texts in the study condition. The results indicate that inference generation during reading is partly strategic and is influenced systematically by reading purpose. We propose that reading goals influence readers’standards of coherence, which in turn influence the types of inferences that they draw and the final memory representations that they construct.

Individual Differences in Reading To Summarize Expository Text: Evidence from Eye Fixation Patterns.

Eye fixation patterns were used to identify reading strategies of adults as they read multiple-topic expository texts. A clustering technique distinguished 4 strategies that differed with respect to the ways in which readers reprocessed text. The processing of fast linear readers was characterized by the absence of fixations returning to previous text. Slow linear readers made lots of forward fixations and reinspected each sentence before moving to the next. The reading of nonselective reviewers was characterized by look backs to previous sentences. The distinctive feature of topic structure processors was that they paid close attention to headings. They also had the largest working-memory capacity and wrote the most accurate text summaries. Thus, qualitatively distinct reading strategies are observable among competent, adult readers.

Locus of inhibition effects in the priming of lexical decisions: pre- or postlexical access?

The lexical decision task has been employed to investigate the effects of semantic context on word recognition. A frequent finding from the task is that “word” responses are slower when the target is preceded by an unrelated word than when it is preceded by a neutral stimulus. This inhibition effect has been interpreted as indicating that the unrelated prime interferes with word-recognition processes operating on the target. In three experiments, the effects of unrelated primes were compared for a lexical decision and word naming task. Although large inhibition effects were found for the lexical decision task in all experiments, no inhibition effects were observed for the naming task. The results are interpreted as demonstrating that inhibition effects in the lexical decision task are not on recognition processes; rather they are located at processes operating after recognition of the target has occurred.

Effects of Signaling Topic Structure on Text Recall.

Two experiments studied effects of signaling devices (headings, overviews, and summaries) on text memory. In Experiment 1, subjects read a text with or without signals, then recalled the topics of the text. Signaling produced better memory for the topics and their organization. In Experiment 2, subjects recalled the content of the text they read, and recalls were scored for the number of accurately recalled ideas. Signals produced recalls that were better organized by text topics. Signals also influenced the distribution of recall of ideas: Subjects remembered more topics but recalled less about each accessed topic if the text they read contained signals than if it did not

On-line processing of the topic structure of a text

Abstract Subjects in two experiments read two texts while their sentence reading times were recorded. Each text discussed 12 related topics. Across the two experiments, reading times on the sentences introducing the topics were affected by three manipulations: (1) Reading times were shorter if the new topic was directly related to the immediately preceding topic than if it was not directly related. (2) Reading times were shorter if an introductory paragraph was informative rather than uninformative about the topic structure of the text. (3) Reading times were longer if subjects outlined the introductory paragraph than if they did not outline. The results suggest that readers construct a representation of the topic structure of the text as they read.

Chapter 16 – Eye Movement Measures to Study Global Text Processing

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the applicability of the eye-tracking method in studying global text processing. Eye tracking is used to study basic reading processes and syntactic parsing, but there are few studies where eye tracking is employed to examine global text processing. As one moves from the study of lexical processing to syntactic processing, the potential units of analysis increase in both number and size. There are four relevant levels of processing in the study of syntactic processing: (1) the word at which a parsing choice is expected to be made or a syntactic ambiguity to reveal itself, (2) the phrase, (3) the clause, and (4) the whole sentence. Related to the increase in the number and size of potentially interesting units of analysis, the mental processing associated with syntactic processes is more complex and varied than the mental processing associated with lexical processing. Thus, syntactic effects on eye movements are correspondingly more complex than lexical effects on eye movements.

DISTRACTIBIU7Y AND VOCABULARY DEFICITS IN CHILDREN WITH SPINA BIFIDA AND HYDROCEPHALUS

This experiment tested the hypothesis that children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus (SBH) are more distractible than normal children, and that the distractibility partially accounts for the language deficits of these children. In Part 1, 15 of these children of primary‐school age were compared with controls matched for mental age on a non‐verbal task during which irrelevant stimuli were present or absent. Interference effects of the irrelevant stimuli were larger and more persistent for the SBH children. In Part 2, the children and their controls were tested for comprehension of relational words, with and without irrelevant information. The two groups performed similarly when there was no irrelevant information, but the SBH children exhibited vocabulary deficiencies when irrelevant items were present. These findings support the original hypothesis of a relationship between distractibility and language deficits.

Effects of Causal Structure on Immediate and Delayed Story Recall by Children with Mild Mental Retardation, Children with Learning Disabilities, and Children without Disabilities

Children with mild mental retardation, children with learning disabilities, and children without disabilities read and recalled a story immediately and after a delay of 4 or 5 days. The effects of the storys causal structure on recall were compared for the three groups. Although children with mild mental retardation recalled less than the other groups, the effects of causal structure were similar across the three groups. At both retention intervals, all groups recalled content better if it was on the storys causal chain than if it was off the causal chain, and statements with many causal connections better than statements with few causal connections. All groups were sensitive to the causal structure of the story. The only notable difference was that the children with mild retardation forgot content on the causal chain somewhat faster than content off the causal chain, whereas the other two groups showed the reverse pattern.

Integration of topic and subordinate information during reading.

Four experiments examined how readers integrate subordinate information with relevant context as they read. Ss read texts a sentence at a time with occasional interruptions lasting 30 s. Following a distractor task, they resumed reading after being reminded of the topic sentence of the last paragraph they had read (topic cue condition), or being reminded of the last sentence they had read (local cue condition), or receiving no reminder of what they had been reading (no cue condition). Reading times on the first sentence following interruption were faster in the topic and local cue conditions than in the no cue condition (a) when the topic and local cues supplied missing referents for the target sentences, (b) when the target sentences were written to be understood as independent statements, and (c) whether the target sentences were embedded in short or long texts