Situation models in language comprehension and memory.

Over the past decade or so, developments in language comprehension research in the domain of cognitive aging have converged on support for resilience in older adults with regard to situation model updating when reading texts. Several studies have shown that even though age-related declines in language comprehension appear at the level of the surface form and text base of the text, these age differences do not apply to the creation and updating of situation models. In fact, older adults seem more sensitive to certain manipulations of situation model updating. This article presents a review of theories on situation model updating as well how they match with research on situation model updating in younger and older adults. Factors that may be responsible for the resilience of language comprehension in older age will be discussed as well as avenues for future research.

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An experimental view of language comprehension

Document Design ◽

10.1075/dd.3.1.07zwa ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 54-64

Author(s):

Rolf A. Zwaan

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Psychology ◽

Empirical Evidence ◽

Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

Language Comprehension ◽

Situation Models ◽

Direct Experience ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Perceptual Representations ◽

The Brain ◽

Referent Object

The consensus view in cognitive psychology is that the construction of situation models is an integral part of language comprehension. A great deal of empirical evidence supports this view. Moreover, recent theorizing and empirical evidence suggest that situation models are best viewed as experiential simulations of the narrated events, actions, people, objects, and places. In this Experiential View, language is a set of cues guiding the simulation processes, by activating perceptual representations stored in the brain areas that are also active during the direct experience of the referent object, person, or event. In this article I discuss the empirical evidence for the Experiential view from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. In addition, I consider some of the implications of this view for the design of instructional documents.

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Conceptual short-term memory (CSTM) supports core claims of Christiansen and Chater

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x15000928 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 39 ◽

Author(s):

Mary C. Potter

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation ◽

Language Comprehension ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Visual Presentation ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Use Of Knowledge

AbstractRapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of words or pictured scenes provides evidence for a large-capacity conceptual short-term memory (CSTM) that momentarily provides rich associated material from long-term memory, permitting rapid chunking (Potter 1993; 2009; 2012). In perception of scenes as well as language comprehension, we make use of knowledge that briefly exceeds the supposed limits of working memory.

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Activation and Persistence of Implicit Causality Information in Spoken Language Comprehension

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000002 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 57 (1) ◽

pp. 5-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

Pirita Pyykkönen ◽

Juhani Järvikivi

Keyword(s):

Eye Tracking ◽

Language Comprehension ◽

Spoken Language ◽

Visual World ◽

Implicit Causality ◽

Causality Information ◽

Spoken Language Comprehension

A visual world eye-tracking study investigated the activation and persistence of implicit causality information in spoken language comprehension. We showed that people infer the implicit causality of verbs as soon as they encounter such verbs in discourse, as is predicted by proponents of the immediate focusing account ( Greene & McKoon, 1995 ; Koornneef & Van Berkum, 2006 ; Van Berkum, Koornneef, Otten, & Nieuwland, 2007 ). Interestingly, we observed activation of implicit causality information even before people encountered the causal conjunction. However, while implicit causality information was persistent as the discourse unfolded, it did not have a privileged role as a focusing cue immediately at the ambiguous pronoun when people were resolving its antecedent. Instead, our study indicated that implicit causality does not affect all referents to the same extent, rather it interacts with other cues in the discourse, especially when one of the referents is already prominently in focus.

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