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Dissertation Information for Robert John Bracewell

NAME:
- Robert John Bracewell

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Education

SCHOOL:
- University of Toronto (Canada) (1977)

ADVISORS:
- None

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: A STUDY OF LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION PROCESSES

Abstract: Two types of inference used in understanding proverbs were investigated. The first, abstraction, examined how people understand a proverb in more general terms. The second involved negation: It was argued that a syntactically negative proverb specified a possible inference towards a positive interpretation of the proverb. This analysis produced a conversion model which was compared with other recent models for negation processing. Finally, the role of sentence phrase structure in comprehension was examined.
A child group (age 10-11 years) and an adult group (age > 21 years) of subjects were tested.
As an operational definition of understanding, judgements of whether a sentence paraphrased a proverb were used. Language items were based on 48 concrete proverbs. For each proverb, four sentences were constructed: a concrete paraphrase, a concrete distractor, an abstract paraphrase, and an abstract distractor. Half the proverbs were syntactically positive and half were syntactically negative. All paraphrases and distractors were syntactically positive. Items were recorded on tape and presented aurally. Word counts and presentation times for all sentences, and phrase structure complexity for the paraphrases were controlled.
A trial presented a proverb followed by a sentence. The subject controlled presentation of the sentence. After the proverb presentation, pressing a response key started the sentence presentation. The subject then made the paraphrase judgement and pressed one of two keys labelled 'same' and 'difference'. Two reaction times were taken for each trial, one for the proverb and one for the sentence.
Children responded better to concrete than to abstract sentences (85% and 80% correct respectively). No difference was found for adults (90% correct overall). For children on the paraphrase judgement, reaction time to abstract sentences exceeded that to concrete sentences. No difference was found for adults. Concrete and abstract sentences were presented in two conditions: For the firs, called Mixed, both concrete and abstract sentences followed proverbs in a fixed random order. For the second, called Massed, only one language level, either concrete or abstract, followed proverbs. For children, an initial Massed abstract presentation produced longer reaction time than a Mixed abstract presentation. This result was discussed in terms of sensitization which interfered with efficient processing of abstract sentences. For adults, no effect of the presentation condition was found.
For children, reaction time for negative items exceeded that for positive items. No interaction of negation with response was found. Negation affected only the sentence reaction time. These results supported the conversion model and were discussed in terms of interdependent processing of proverb and sentence. Adults negation data yielded no reaction time difference. For children and adults, error score produced uninterpretable interactions of negation with other treatments.
Post hoc analysis of distractor sentences revealed that reaction time to distractors opposite in meaning to the proverb equalled that for paragraphses; whereas reaction time for distractors neutral in meaning to the proverb exceeded that for paraphrase. Fewer correct responses were made to neutral than to opposite distractors. For both dependent measures, these patterns were stronger for adults than for children. The results were discussed in terms of the proverb meaning facilitating understanding of opposite distractors.
Results for abstraction and negation were discussed in terms of the early ability of children to understand abstract language, and in terms of automatic versus conscious processing of language. Methodologies for the assessment of figurative language also were considered.
Positive correlations between average Yngve depth and reaction time were found, although the effect was statistically significant only for adults. This result was discussed in terms of the use of phrase structure information in comprehension and was contrasted with results from memory studies.

MPACT Scores for Robert John Bracewell

A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-07-07 11:28:40

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