Two ways of representing the spatial arrangement of letters in letter-strings are distinguished. In part-whole representations, the relationship of a letter to the letter-string as a whole is encoded. In part-part representations, the relationships of a letter to other letters in the string are encoded. Computational models of word perception typically use the former, but part-part representations are a very general feature of some neurocomputational models. Experiments ·are reported that examine for nonword and word wholes the representations used to encode their constituent parts; the first five experiments use measures of facilitation to infer encoding type, the next three primarily use error measures. Experiment 1 shows that when a part of a recently learned letter-string is maintained in a briefly-presented test string, the test string is more accurately reported, showing perceptual transfer of training. No significant difference in the amount of transfer is found between maintaining the part in the same position (fixed-part) in the string and maintaining the part in a different position (moved-part) in the string. It is argued that this confirms part-part theories because transfer was obtained when only inter-letter relationships are maintained. Experiment 1 simulated on two implementations of part-whole theories shows that they fail to produce the obtained pattern of performance. This indicates that part-whole relational encoding is not a major part of the representations mediating these transfer effects. Experiment 2 replicates the fixed-part transfer and shows that it is restricted to parts made of adjacent letters. Experiments 3 and 4 use a prototype-extraction paradigm to show that novel parts made of adjacent letters are easier to learn than parts made of non-adjacent letters. Experiment 5 eplicates the moved-part transfer and shows that it is restricted to parts made of adjacent letters. These results show that the major inter-letter relationships encoded are between neighbouring letters. These first five results are taken as showing that pre-processing of the image to provide position-in-the-string information is not important for the representations that produce transfer. It is suggested that modelling the input to the graphemic input lexicon as the Primal Sketch of the image is more appropriate. In particular, realistic early vision algorithms such as MIRAGE appear to be potentially capable of modelling the results obtained. Experiment 6 shows that reports of letters in nonwords have gradients of positional accuracy, with most positional errors occurring close to the correct position. Experiment 7 finds that migrations into the report of the second of two briefly-presented nonwords from the first nonword do not always maintain position though many do. Experiment 8 involved the presentation of mis-spelled words preceded by non words that either encouraged the detection of the mis-spelling or its lexicalisation. Lexicalisation responses involve the migration of a letter from the preceding string. These occur when primed by the lexicalisation letter in the same, but not in moved, positions in the first string, but only when presented in the context of neighbouring letters. Detection of mis-spelling shows both facilitation and inhibition. Facilitation is obtained with the part in moved positions in the source string but not in the same position, in which case inhibition is found. Facilitation is also obtained by prior presentation of the misspelled word or prior presentation of the correctly spelled word. These results are interpreted as showing that facilitation is obtained when the facilitating part of the preceding string either fully or minimally activates a representation of the word mis-spelled on second presentation. Partial activation of the word produces inhibition. The results suggest that part-whole encoding is used for letters in familiar wholes, while part-part encoding is used for letters in unfamiliar wholes. This conclusion is used to motivate a model of the organisation and access of graphemic representations in which the ~ "» -. concept of scale plays an important role. The model is extended to other tasks involving visually presented words and nonwords and a brief account of the major findings attempted. Finally some extensions of the model to the domain of object perception are outlined.

In the practise of algebra education it is generally assumed that the rules for manipulating symbols are explicitly presented by text and teacher, and that acquisition of skill depends upon successful apprehension and application of these rules. Research into the psychology of algebra generally starts from the assumption that algebraic rules are consciously accessible and rationally employed. The view adopted here is that algebraic symbol skill is based upon procedural rules which are acquired informally (and often unconsciously) through interaction with algebraic symbols and which may be only peripherally related to the rules presented in instruction. The principle purpose of the present research is to describe the procedural knowledge which underlies algebraic symbol skill. Knowledge of algebra is viewed as of-a-kind with the highly structured yet unconscious systems of rules which underlie natural-language competence. Formal methods of generative transformational linguistics are adapted for analysis of algebra. The model of algebraic symbol skill is captured in a 'grammar' which details the various components of skill. In several instances alternative formulations are offered which equally well fulfill the formal requirements of the grammar. For some of these, techniques of psycholinguistics are used to guide selection on the basis of psychological considerations. Many questions remain in need of further elaboration and resolution. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The role of imagery in language processing has received much recent attention. Paivio's two-process theory implies that concrete and abstract material are represented differently in memory. Specifically, concrete language is assumed to be retained in terms of an image which summarizes the meaning of the material in an integrated form. Abstract language, on the other hand, is assumed to be represented in a verbal-sequential form, with little integration of meaning. A review of the evidence on the effects of concreteness on memory for meaning indicates that Paivio's theory does not provide a completely adequate account of the results. In many of the studies which have produced findings consistent with the theory, an explanation in terms of differences in comprehensibility seems as appropriate as one based on different modes of storage. In addition, some studies have shown a substantial degree of semantic integration in abstract language. In an attempt to provide some clarification of this issue, a Levels of Processing model was proposed as an alternative to Paivio's theory. The model is based on the assumption that while abstract and concrete language typically differ in access to semantic processing, memory for meaning may be independent of concreteness under certain conditions. In particular, context may increase semantic processing in abstract language and thereby reduce the superiority of concrete language in memory for meaning which would otherwise be predicted. Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the model. In the first, the effect of concreteness, context, and presentation time on recognition of meaning and wording changes in sentences was investigated. The results supported the model in that memory for meaning relative to wording increased as a function of concreteness only when the sentences were presented in isolation from context. When the sentences were presented in the context of meaningful paragraphs, relative memory for meaning was equal in concrete and abstract material. The second experiment assessed the image-evoking capacity, comprehensibility, and degree of meaning change in test items, for the materials used in the first experiment. The results allowed several alternative interpretations of Experiment I to be discounted. In particular, Paivio's two-process theory was shown to be incapable of accounting for the elimination of the concreteness effect on memory for meaning as a function of context. It was concluded that the Levels of Processing model provides a more viable account of the role of imagery in language processing than Paivio's two-process theory. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of the study was to explore the development of psycho-linguistic ability in three- to five-year-old children, where psycholinguistic ability is defined in terms of seven tests of auditory word segmentation and auditory-visual integration of the symbols of literacy. The study was designed to explore three implicit questions: (a) developmental trends in the abilities of three- to five-year-olds on tasks of letter knowledge (identifying, naming and writing), hearing letter name sounds in spoken words, and hearing phonemes in spoken words; (b) the appropriateness of the tests for the age groups tested; and (c) the relative difficulty of the tests as a basis for suggesting an hierarchical order. A total of 75 preschoolers, including 11 three-year-olds, 33 four-year-olds, and 31 five-year-olds, were tested on the following tasks: (1) identifying letters named; (2) naming letters; (3) writing letters from dictation; (4) hearing letter name sounds in spoken words (oral and marking responses); and, (5) hearing phonemes in words (oral and marking responses). The data were analyzed in terms of the three implicit questions. When scores were analyzed for developmental trends through t-tests, statistically significant differences were found between four- and five-year-olds on all of the tests. Similar comparisons between three- and four-year-olds were not made because of the difficulty of the tests for three-year-olds. When the appropriateness of the tests was explored, only the test of identifying letter names was considered appropriate for the three-year-olds. Although even this test was considered somewhat difficult, results of the testing provided evidence that this psycho linguistic ability was beginning to emerge. For four-year-olds, the test of letter identification was considered appropriate. While the letter naming test did reveal some differentiation in performance for this age group, and so was considered marginally appropriate, the other tests were judged too difficult. All of the tests were considered appropriate for five-year-olds, although the two phonemes tests were clearly difficult. An informal inspection of the data resulted in the following hierarchy for difficulty of the tests, listed from easiest to most difficult: (1) identifying letters named; (2) letter name sounds in spoken words ((orals); (3) naming letters; (4) hearing letter name sounds in spoken words (marking); (5) writing letters from dictation; (6) hearing phonemes in words (marking); and, (7) hearing phonemes in words (oral). The two last named seemed almost equal in difficulty. The following observations were made through an analysis of the data: 1. Most of the children from age 5 years 7 months and up were able to identify most of the letters. 2. The ability to write most of the letters appeared to occur quite consistently from age 5 years 9 months. 3. Also from age 5 years 9 months, most children were able to identify letter name sounds in spoken words and to relate these to the printed symbols. 4. The tasks involving auditory word segmentation were the most difficult for all age levels. However, performance in this area appeared to show some stability from age 5 years 9 months. It was concluded that specific kinds of testing can provide considerable information about preschool children's knowledge in the area of psychol inguistic ability. Some implications and suggestions for further research were stated. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This study tests the hypothesis that frequency and collocational association make independent contributions to the processing time of English multiword collocational, phrases for L1 and L2 English speakers. The results suggest that these constructs do play a role in the processing of 4-word, corpus-extracted phrases. In this sample, L1 speakers demonstrated reduced processing time for both highly frequent and highly associated phrases, while L2 speakers demonstrated reduced processing time for highly frequent phrases. Evidence exists in the data that highly proficient L2 speakers may develop similar patterns of reduced processing time as L1 speakers. Additionally, some L1 speakers did not show the sensitive to higher levels of association typical of this group. Understanding these contributions has the potential to elucidate the most useful targets of phrasal instruction for ESOL students and the psychological mechanisms of associative learning.

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