语言心理学ppt课件复习课程

1、语言心理学ppt课件Introductionv This chapter deals with the ways we comprehend and remember units of language longer than the sentencethat is, connected discourse.v Research on discourse has grown significantly in recent decades, for several reasons. We rarely speak in isolated sentence, discourse seems to

2、be a more natural unit of language to investigate. Sentences are ambiguous or obscure apart from their discourse context. Discourse provides a rich source of material for those interested in the cognitive processes used in language.Comprehension of discourseTitleLocal and global discourse structureS

3、trategies used to establish coherenceCohesionSummaryRole of working memoryLocal and global discourse structurev Comprehension of connected discourse depends less on the meaning of the individual sentences than on their arrange-ment. Indeed, it is entirely possible for a group of mean-ingful sentence

4、s to be thrown together in a way that makes no sense at all. e.g. Carlos arranged to take golf lessons from the local pro-fessional. His dog, a cocker spaniel, was expecting pups again. Andrea had the car washed for the big wedding. She expected Carlos to help her move into her new apartment.Local a

5、nd global discourse structurev John bought a cake at the bake shop. The cake was chocolate with white frosting and it was read “Happy birthday, Joan” in red letters. John was particularly pleased with the lettering. He brought it over to Gregs house, and together they worked on the rest of details.v

6、 John bought a cake at the bake shop. The birthday card was signed by all of the employees. The party went on until after midnight. Local and global discourse structureThe contrast between the last two passages illustrates an important point that we must look beneath the surface to understand discou

7、rse structure. Superficially, the last passage is incomplete, but the overall result in readers minds may be quite complete. The three passages discussed illustrate two levels of dis-course structure.v Local structure: in the relationships between individual sentences in the discourse.v Global struc

8、ture: it is our knowledge of the structure corresponding to the topic that enables us to comprehend and remember the shorter passage about the topic.Cohesion v At the local level, a discourse is coherent if there are semantic relationships between successive sentences. Halliday and Hason define cohe

9、sion as referring to “the range of possibilities that exist for linking something with what has gone before”. 1. Categories of cohesion 2. Anaphoric and cataphoric referenceCategories of cohesionPronominal DemonstrativeComparative SubstitutionEllipsisConjunction Lexical ReiterationSynonymHyponymAnap

10、horic and cataphoric referencev Cohesion consists of relating some current expression to one encountered earlier. This is called anaphoric refer-ence. When we use an expression to refer back to some-thing previously mentioned in discourse, the referring expression is called an anaphor, and the previ

11、ous refer-ent is called an antecedent.v One of these forms of cohesion anaphoric reference has commanded the great interest among psychologists. There are two reasons in it. One reason is that anaphoric reference enables us to explore the role of working memory in discourse com-prehension. The other

12、 reason is that anaphoric reference illuminates the role of communicative conventions in discourse.Strategies used to establish coherencev Given information It refers to information that an author or speaker assumes the reader or listener already knows, whereas new infor-mation is information that t

13、he comprehender is assumed to not know. e.g. It was Steve who robbed the bank. It was the bank that Steve robbed.Strategies used to establish coherencev Given / New strategy Clark and Haviland suggest that readers expect authors to use given information to refer to information the readers already kn

14、ow or can identify and to use new information to refer to concepts with which they are not already familiar. Three stages about this strategy 1) Identifying the given and new information in the current sentence. 2) Finding an antecedent in memory for the given information 3) attaching the new inform

15、ation to this spot in memory.Strategies used to establish coherencev Directing matching The simplest case is surely study that in which the given information in the target sentence directly matches an antecedent in the context sentence. And in comprehending the target sentence, we first divide it in

16、to given and new information. Even though direct matches are the simple case of sentence relations, they are not so simple that they can be reduced to merely searching for a specific word. Find an antecedent for given information in a target sentence resembles sear-ching for a concept more than sear

17、ching for a word. So when we speak of direct speeches, we are talking of match-es of underlying concepts previously introduced into the discourse.Strategies used to establish coherencev Bridging In some cases, we dont have a direct antecedent for the given information but can still tie the sentences

18、 together. The contrast between bridging and direct matching 1) Last Christmas Eugene went to a lot of parties. This Christmas he got very drunk again. 2) Last Christmas Eugene got absolutely smashed. This Christmas he got very drunk again. Haviland and Clark have shown that require bridges take lon

19、ger to comprehend than those for which there is a direct match of antecedents. Strategies used to establish coherencev Reinstating old information I am trying to find a black dog. He is a short and has a dog tag on his neck that says Fred. Yesterday that dog bit a little girl. She was scared, but sh

20、e wasnt really hurt. Yesterday a black dog bit a little girl. It got away, and we are still trying to find it. He is short and a dog tag on his neck that says Fred. She was scared, but she wasnt really hurt. When a sentence refers to some-thing or someone already intro-duced but no longer in the for

21、e-ground the comprehender must reinstate information that is to be matched with the target in-formation.Strategies used to establish coherencev Identifying new topics of discourse All of these strategies share the implicit assumption that part of a target sentence should relate to earlier infor-mati

22、on, but sometimes the information is all new and the target is meant to establish a new topic of discourse. The new information is generally taken as an elaboration, sometimes a small detail, of the given information. Once introduced, this new information may itself serve as an antecedent for later

23、sentences, which are subordinated to it. The natural result of this integration process is a hier-archical structure in episodic memory.Role of working memoryv As with other aspects of language, individual experiences and abilities vary. Because the process we have been des-cribing in this section d

24、eals with the operation of working memory, it would be reasonable to expect that individual differences in working memory might influence how we comprehend discourse.v Daneman and Carpenter distinguish between the storage and processing function of working memory. The limited resources of working me

25、mory are allocated to processing certain tasks as well as to temporarily storing the results of these tasks. Role of working memoryv Working memory capacity, of course, is not the only individual characteristics that influences discourse com-prehension. Another is the background knowledge that the i

26、ndividual may have of the subject matter in the passage.v When we encounter unfamiliar passages, it is more diffi-cult to draw appropriate inferences. In contrast, when we have the information in permanent memory that helps us interpret the information, its easier to draw inferences.Summary v A disc

27、ourse is coherent if its elements are easily related to one another. At the local or microstructural, coherence is achieved primarily through the appropriate use of cohesive ties between sentences.v The given / new strategy specifies a three-stage process of comprehending sentences in discourse. And

28、 comprehen-sion is impeded when there is no antecedent, forcing us to form a bridging inference, or when the antecedent was not recent, forcing us to reinstate the antecedent.Memory for discoursePropositional representations Summary Simultaneous investigation of all three levelsSituational modelsSur

29、face representationsSurface representations v Surface representation: we remember the exact words that we encountered. v One early study that suggested that surface represen-tations of discourse are very short-lived presented indi-viduals with a long oral passage that was interrupted at irregular in

30、tervals. And some researchers found that the surface or verbatim form of a sentence is stored in working memory only until its meaning is understood, then purged to make room for the next sentence. Propositional representationsv Propositional representation: It specifies the meaning apart from the e

31、xact words used. v If we indeed purge working memory of the exact wording. What is left is the propositional structure of a sentence.v Evidence for the psychological reality of propositions comes from Kintsch and Keenan (1973), who showed that the number of propositions influences the time required

32、to read a passage when preparing to recall it.v The most interesting aspect of Mckoon and Ratcliffs study is their two definitions of close: the number of intervening words in the surface structure versus the number of intervening propositions in the discourse structure.Propositional representations

33、v Interferences and propositional representations Inferences are not mere recall errors, nor are they random, spurious contributions by imaginative readers. Inferences are intrinsic to discourse structure. Authors leave out information that they think readers will be able to figure out. Mckoon and R

34、atcliff conclude, on the basis of a number of studies, that we automatically draw inferences during reading only when two conditions are present. One con-dition is the one we have been discussing: The inference must be necessary to make a context locally coherent. Their second condition is that the

35、information on which the inference is must easily activated. Propositional representationsv Kintsch explains the results by appealing the two levels of representation we have discussed: a short-term surface representation that decays is otherwise lost very quickly and a long-term propositional repre

36、sentation. Implicit propositions have only a propositional representation, and it is assumed that consulting a surface representation is quicker than retrieving a propositional representation.Situational modelsv Situational models represent the state affairs that a text refers to. That is, the assum

37、ption is that as comprehend the propositions of a text, we construct a mental or situational model of the world as described by the text.v Furthermore, the construction of a situational model influences the accessibility of previous information in discourse.Simultaneous investigations of all three l

38、evelsv Most of the studies we have discussed to this point have attempt to isolate one of these levels. However, its also helpful to set up a study that attempts to investigate how each of the levels operates in the same experiment. v In Kintschs study, we see that surface memory is strong only in t

39、he immediate test and falls to chance level shortly after that propositional recognition starts stronger, and falls over time. But memory for situations is initially very strong and shows little loss over retention intervals studied.Summaryv We store discourse in three wayssurface representations, p

40、ropositional representations, and situational modelsand each appears to be influenced by different variables and subject to different decay rates. Surface representations are short-lived except when the wording is pragmatically significant. Propositional representations are much better retained and

41、include the meaning of presented information along with any inferences we have drawn. Situational models are retained the best and are based on spatial or casual relations between parts of text.Schemata and discourse processingTitleschemataGenres SummaryNarrative discourse processingInaccessibility

42、of knowledgeSchemata and discourse processingv A schema (plural: schemata) is a structure in a semantic memory that specifies the general or expected arrange-ment of a body of information. It is generally associated with the early work on the story recall by Barlett. Barlett attempted to show that r

43、emembering is not a rote or repro-ductive process but rather a process in which we retain the overall gist of an event and then reconstruct the details from this overall impression.Activation of appropriate schematav Some researchers show that comprehension and memory are poor when we do not have a

44、schema that corresponds to the story that is unfolding, because it is nearly im-possible to see the significance of the events being described.v But in other instances, we may have an appropriate schema in memory but fail to activate it for one reason or another. Some researchers have convincingly d

45、emonstrat-ed that comprehension and memory will be poor when the passage is written so obscurely that we cant determine what might be the right schema.Reconstruction of schema-specific detailsv One of Barletts notions was the activated schema served as a retrieval plan, summoning up certain details

46、rather than others by virtue of their centrality to the schema.v Some researchers made some tests. Through these tests, they provide evidence of the directive function of schema in discourse processing. It is clear that the schema that is in effect during comprehension has a powerful organizing effe

47、ct on recall. Moreover, information central to the schema is well remembered, but other details seem to be misplaced, although they can be revived with a shift perspective. All told, the evidence that schemata influence discourse processing is quite impressive. Genres v Genres are important because

48、they provide us with general expectations regarding the way information in a discourse will be arranged. v One genre that has been studied a great deal in discourse research has been narrative discourse. Typically, stories begin with the introduction of characters and setting.v Narrative discourse c

49、an be contrasted with expository discourse, in which the goal of the writer is not to tell a story but rather to convey information about the subject matter. Narrative discourse processingv Story grammars A story grammar is a schema in semantic memory that identifies the typical or expected arrangem

50、ent of events in a story. In general, story grammars view narratives as consisting of a setting, one or more episodes, and then an ending.Episodes have a characteristic structure: some initiating event occurs, leading to some internal response on the part of the protagonist. Narrative discourse proc

51、essingv Psychological validity of story grammars A fair amount of evidence indicates that story grammars correspond to several aspects of how comprehenders process simple stories. Haberlandt and colleagues found that reading times were longer at the beginnings and the ends of episodes. And they also

52、 studied the recall of stories and found that some story constituents are recalled better than others.v Cross-cultural investigations As Mandler has said, “At this point, the best evidence we have is that the human mind and its limitations on memory are such that certain forms of storytelling regula

53、rly emerged in various cultures around the world”. Inaccessibility of knowledgev Anomalous suspense: When knowledge was not activated, comprehension was severely impaired. Yet, it is also possible to comprehend a passage and still not activate the relevant body of language. Subjectively, a reader ex

54、periences anomalous suspense when continuing to experience suspense in a story despite having experience it earlier. Gerrig calls this situation anomalous suspense. Summaryv Our processing of discourse is governed by some conventional notions of how passages are typically organized. The general noti

55、on that schemata direct and guide discourse processing is well established: We have difficulty understanding messages when we do not have or cant activate the appropriate schemata, and we tend to pay greater attention to parts of a story that are central to the schema under which we are operating.v

56、Different genres are associated with different types of schemata, which are structures in semantic memory that specify the usual arrangement of information in a text. Studies of comprehension and recall of stories provide support for a specify type of schema, the story grammar. We tend to store epis

57、odes of story in separate chunks in memory, and we use the ends of episodes as cues to summarize the episode as a whole.Educational implicationsSummaryConnecting propositions in discourseBuilding global structuresIdentifying the main pointsActively processing discourseTailoring comprehension activit

58、ies to testsEducational implicationsv Active processing discourse Active processing discourse refers to a collection of ac-tivities that includes relating new information to infor-mation we have in permanent memory, asking questions of material, and writing summaries or outlines of the material. A c

59、oncept closely related to deep processing is the self-reference effect, which is the tendency to remember information better when we relate it to ourselves. Rogers et al. contrasted four ways of processing a list of words: attending to attend to the words visual characteristics, their sound characte

60、ristics, their meaning, and deciding if the word applied to themselves.Educational implicationsv Connecting propositions in discourse As we have seen, an intrinsic characteristics of discourse is that sentences overlap in content and that given information is used to introduce new information. We wo