scholarly journals But: Do age and working memory influence conventional implicature processing?

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 695-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEEN JANSSENS ◽  
STEPHANIE DROOGHMANS ◽  
WALTER SCHAEKEN
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Sentence Type ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Conventional Implicature ◽  
Developmental Effect ◽  
Research With Children ◽  
Conventional Implicatures ◽  
Shed Light

ABSTRACTConventional implicatures are omnipresent in daily life communication but experimental research on this topic is sparse, especially research with children. The aim of this study was to investigate if eight- to twelve-year-old children spontaneously make the conventional implicature induced by but, so, and nevertheless in ‘p but q’ sentences. Additionally, the study aimed to shed light on the cognitive effort required for these inferences by measuring working memory (WM) capacity. Our results show that children do make these inferences to a certain extent, but are sensitive to the content of the arguments. We found a significant effect of sentence type, but did not observe any developmental effect, nor any effect of WM: a higher age or WM capacity does not result in more pragmatic inferences.

scholarly journals Comprehension and Eye Movements in the Processing of Subject- and Object-Relative Clauses: Evidence from Dyslexia and Individual Differences

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 915
Author(s):  
Marianna Stella ◽  
Paul E. Engelhardt
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Sentence Type ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Processing Difficulty ◽  
Object Relative

In this study, we examined eye movements and comprehension in sentences containing a relative clause. To date, few studies have focused on syntactic processing in dyslexia and so one goal of the study is to contribute to this gap in the experimental literature. A second goal is to contribute to theoretical psycholinguistic debate concerning the cause and the location of the processing difficulty associated with object-relative clauses. We compared dyslexic readers (n = 50) to a group of non-dyslexic controls (n = 50). We also assessed two key individual differences variables (working memory and verbal intelligence), which have been theorised to impact reading times and comprehension of subject- and object-relative clauses. The results showed that dyslexics and controls had similar comprehension accuracy. However, reading times showed participants with dyslexia spent significantly longer reading the sentences compared to controls (i.e., a main effect of dyslexia). In general, sentence type did not interact with dyslexia status. With respect to individual differences and the theoretical debate, we found that processing difficulty between the subject and object relatives was no longer significant when individual differences in working memory were controlled. Thus, our findings support theories, which assume that working memory demands are responsible for the processing difficulty incurred by (1) individuals with dyslexia and (2) object-relative clauses as compared to subject relative clauses.

scholarly journals Acute Intake of a Grape and Blueberry Polyphenol-Rich Extract Ameliorates Cognitive Performance in Healthy Young Adults During a Sustained Cognitive Effort

Antioxidants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Philip ◽  
Patricia Sagaspe ◽  
Jacques Taillard ◽  
Claire Mandon ◽  
Joël Constans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Double Blind Study ◽  
Level Of Evidence ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Safe Alternative ◽  
Memory And Attention

Despite an increasing level of evidence supporting the individual beneficial effect of polyphenols on cognitive performance, information related to the potential synergistic action of these phytonutrients on cognitive performance during a prolonged cognitive effort is currently lacking. This study investigated the acute and sustained action of a polyphenols-rich extract from grape and blueberry (PEGB), on working memory and attention in healthy students during a prolonged and intensive cognitive effort. In this randomised, cross-over, double blind study, 30 healthy students consumed 600 mg of PEGB or a placebo. Ninety minutes after product intake, cognitive functions were assessed for one hour using a cognitive demand battery including serial subtraction tasks, a rapid visual information processing (RVIP) task and a visual analogical scale. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and plasma flavan-3-ols metabolites quantification were also performed. A 2.5-fold increase in serial three subtraction variation net scores was observed following PEGB consumption versus placebo (p < 0.001). A trend towards significance was also observed with RVIP percentage of correct answers (p = 0.058). No treatment effect was observed on FMD. Our findings suggest that consumption of PEGB coupled with a healthy lifestyle may be a safe alternative to acutely improve working memory and attention during a sustained cognitive effort.

scholarly journals Who Did What and When? Using Word- and Clause-Level ERPs to Monitor Working Memory Usage in Reading

1995 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 376-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan W. King ◽  
Marta Kutas
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Sentence Type ◽  
Syntactic Complexity ◽  
Memory Usage ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Word Level ◽  
Poor Comprehenders ◽  
Anterior Negativity ◽  
Object Relative

ERPs were recorded from 24 undergraduates as they read sentences known to differ in syntactic complexity and working memory requirements, namely Object and Subject Relative sentences. Both the single-word and multiword analyses revealed significant differences due to sentence type, while multiword ERPs also showed that sentence type effects differed for Good and Poor comprehenders. At the single-word level, ERPs to both verbs in Object Relative sentences showed a left anterior negativity between 300 and 500 msec postword-onset relative to those to Subject Relative verbs. At the multiword level, a slow frontal positivity characterized Subject Relative sentences, but was absent for Object Relatives. This slow positivity appears to index ease of processing or integration. and was more robust in Good than in Poor comprehenders.

scholarly journals Pengaruh Volume Minyak Sumbawa Sebagai Antibakteri dalam Pembuatan Sabun Mandi Cair

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Muhamad Zaenudin ◽  
Ahmadi Ahmadi ◽  
Hulyadi Hulyadi
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Research ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Antibacterial Properties ◽  
Inhibition Zone ◽  
Liquid Bath ◽  
Staphyloccocus Aureus ◽  
Bacteria And Fungi

Soap is a necessity for daily life, such as for bathing, washing, and cleaning other necessities. Normally various kinds of bacteria and fungi can live permanently on the skin, for example, such as thebacteria Staphyloccocus aureus. Antibacterial soap is used as a solution to this bacterial problem. Sumbawa oil is a natural ingredient that has the potential to be antibacterial in body wash. Sumbawa oil contains geraniol and citronellal, flavonoids, polyphenols and also contains saponins and tannins. The research objective was to find out what volume of Sumbawa oil is used to obtain the quality of liquid bath soap which has antibacterial content and meets SNI standards. This research is an experimental research in a laboratory by varying the volume of Sumbawa oil. The parameters measured in this study were the effect of variations in the volume of Sumbawa oil on antibacterial properties and pH of liquid bath soap. The findings in this study that the best antibacterial properties were found in the addition of 15 ml volume of Sumbawa oil with an average inhibition zone of 19.5-22.3 mm and a pH of 5 ml of Sumbawa oil volume with an average pH of 6.1. Based on the above findings, it can be concluded that the addition of Sumbawa oil has an effect on the antibacterial properties and pH of liquid bath soap. 

scholarly journals For Whom the Mind Wanders, and When, Varies Across Laboratory and Daily-Life Settings

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 1271-1289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Kane ◽  
Georgina M. Gross ◽  
Charlotte A. Chun ◽  
Bridget A. Smeekens ◽  
Matt E. Meier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
Laboratory Findings ◽  
The Mind

Undergraduates ( N = 274) participated in a weeklong daily-life experience-sampling study of mind wandering after being assessed in the lab for executive-control abilities (working memory capacity; attention-restraint ability; attention-constraint ability; and propensity for task-unrelated thoughts, or TUTs) and personality traits. Eight times a day, electronic devices prompted subjects to report on their current thoughts and context. Working memory capacity and attention abilities predicted subjects’ TUT rates in the lab, but predicted the frequency of daily-life mind wandering only as a function of subjects’ momentary attempts to concentrate. This pattern replicates prior daily-life findings but conflicts with laboratory findings. Results for personality factors also revealed different associations in the lab and daily life: Only neuroticism predicted TUT rate in the lab, but only openness predicted mind-wandering rate in daily life (both predicted the content of daily-life mind wandering). Cognitive and personality factors also predicted dimensions of everyday thought other than mind wandering, such as subjective judgments of controllability of thought. Mind wandering in people’s daily environments and TUTs during controlled and artificial laboratory tasks have different correlates (and perhaps causes). Thus, mind-wandering theories based solely on lab phenomena may be incomplete.

Conventional implicature

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-58
Author(s):  
Ash Asudeh ◽  
Gianluca Giorgolo
Keyword(s):  
Multidimensional Analysis ◽  
Standard Approach ◽  
Semantic Representations ◽  
Conventional Implicature ◽  
Dual Nature ◽  
Conventional Implicatures ◽  
Meaning Analysis

This chapter presents a monadic analysis of conventional implicatures. These expressions are compositionally challenging and also seem to challenge the traditional semantics/pragmatics divide by straddling it. This chapter first introduces two main sorts of conventional implicature, appositives and expressives. It reviews one standard approach to capturing the dual nature of conventional implicatures, multidimensional semantic representations. It then reviews some challenges and argues that they do not entail abandoning multidimensionality. The chapter introduces a new multidimensional analysis using monads. Two examples are analysed in detail. The first is an example of a conventional implicature arising from an appositive. The second is an example of a conventional implicature arising from an expressive predicate, which is a more controversial case. The chapter shows that the enriched meaning analysis naturally extends to this case without imperilling the intuition behind multidimensionality. The chapter ends with some exercises to aid understanding.

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