The research in this thesis examines the influence that both geometric and extrageometric factors have on children's spatial language production. Over the years it has widely been assumed that spatial prepositions identif' where objects are in the world (geometric factors) and that this is reflected in the semantic representations of these words. More recently, researchers investigating the lexical semantics of spatial prepositions have begun to question this assumption by demonstrating that what objects are and how they are interacting can also affect the way we describe where they are in the world (extra-geometric factors). Following on from research conducted with adults that has demonstrated the importance of both of these factors on spatial language, the main aim of this thesis was to ascertain for the first time whether these factors also influenced children's spatial language production, and if so, when they became important in children's development of spatial expressions. Additionally, due to the paucity of research investigating the production of spatial terms, the Experiments reported in this theis set out to redress the balance. The research in this thesis demonstrated for the first time that both geometric and extra geometric factors influence the production of children's spatial expressions from an early age. In doing so, however, the Experiments reported here were not necessarily revealing as to the nature of the semantic representation of spatial terms, rather they highlighted a different issue; how people make distinctions during a verbal interaction. Evidence is presented that suggests a level of agreement between people regarding the nonconventional use of words. In order to distinguish between functional and non-functional situations, both adults and children used different types of spatial terms to locate an object even when they had a limited number of words in their lexicon. An approach to the whole process of prepositional production is suggested rather than concentrating on what is represented in an individual's lexicon.

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Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii, 1968. / Bibliography: leaves [121]-124. / x, 139 l tables

Parkinson�s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder, which is typically characterised in terms of its debilitating effects on motor function. However, ubiquitous neuropsychological deficits are also an integral feature of the progression of this disease. This thesis investigated these cognitive deficits as they manifest in language, with the overarching goal being to elucidate the word-finding problems that are associated with Parkinson�s disease. Making semantic judgements and identifying semantic relations are two processes that are particularly germane to word-finding. Therefore, the present thesis examined: 1) the ability of people with Parkinson�s disease to make judgements about semantic categories, and 2) the integrity of associative semantic networks in Parkinson�s disease. In the first series of studies, Cups and Bowls, a novel semantic categorisation task was used to investigate the ability of people with Parkinson�s disease to consistently categorise common kitchen items across a number of trials. The Parkinson�s group was impaired relative to an age-matched control group on this task. This inconsistent categorisation was particularly apparent for the less typical category exemplars at the category boundaries, suggesting that the Parkinson�s group had less salient or less elaborated semantic categories, which particularly compromised categorisation of the less typical category exemplars. This finding is discussed in terms of selective attention deficits and inappropriate weightings of semantic features. In the second series of studies, Verbal Memory, the structure of the semantic network and access to the semantic system were further investigated using a verbal memory task, which required participants to recall word lists. These word lists consisted of semantically associated words and were designed to elicit false recall of another, non-presented, close semantic associate (the critical lure). The results of this second series of studies, particularly the fact that the Parkinson�s group recalled more of the false critical lures than the control group, suggested an intact semantic network in Parkinson�s disease and normal saliency of semantic categories. The potentiated false recall effect in the Parkinson�s group is discussed in terms of poor modulation of attention in Parkinson�s disease, both as the result of an executive deficit leading to poor controlled processing and in terms of a dopamine-modulated decrease in the signal-to-noise ratio leading to impaired automatic processing. Taken together, the results reported in the present thesis suggest that basal ganglia pathology and striatofrontal deafferentation in Parkinson�s disease do not diminish the integrity of semantic memory, but do compromise operation of semantic memory due to impaired modulation of activation/inhibition mechanisms. This finding of a selective attention deficit has implications for word-finding, suggesting that the word-finding difficulties associated with Parkinson�s disease are the result of impaired lexical access. In particular, retrieval of specific lexical items from semantic memory is impeded because of failure to modulate activation/inhibition mechanisms effectively for the target word to be distinguished from close semantic associates. An intact semantic checking mechanism in anterior language cortex prevents the production of semantic paraphasias, and results in the tip-of-the-tongue word-finding problems displayed by some people with Parkinson�s disease.

Contrary to common folk and expert theory, the human self is not unitary. There is no Cartesian theatre or homunculus functioning as a metaphorical overlord. Rather, it is an abstractum gleaned from a person�s experiences-a centre of narrative gravity (Dennett 1991). Experiences are a person�s cognisance of her ventures in life from a particular unique perspective. In perspectivising her experiences, the person imputes a certain structure, order, and significance to them. Events are seen as unfolding in a certain inherently and internally coherent way characterised by causality, temporality, or intentionality, etc. In other words, a person�s self emerges out of her innumerable narrativisations of experience, as well as the different protagonist roles she plays in them. Her behaviours in different situations can be understood as different life-narratives being foregrounded, when she is faced with different stimuli different experiences/events present. In real life, self-reflective discourse frequently alludes to a divided, partitive self, and the experiences/behaviours that it can engage in. In academic study, this concept of the divided and narrative-constructivist self is well-represented in disciplines ranging from philosophy (e.g., Dennett 1991, 2005), developmental psychology (e.g., Markus & Nurius 1986; Bruner 1990, 2001; Stern 1994), cognitive psychology (e.g., Hermans & Kempen 1993; Hermans 2002), neuropsychology (e.g. Damasio 1999), psychiatry (e.g., Feinberg 2001), to linguistics (e.g., McNeil 1996; Ochs & Capps 1996; Nair 2003). Depending on the particular theory, however, emphasis is often placed either on its divided or its narrative-constructivist nature. This thesis argues, however, that the two are coexistent and interdependent, and both are essential to the self�s ontology. Its objectives are therefore: (i) to propose a partitioned-narrative model of the self which unifies the two perspectives by positing that the partitioned-representational (Dinsmore 1991) nature of narratives entails the partitioned structure of the self; and (ii) to propose that the partitioned-narrative ontology of the self is what enables and motivates much of our self-reflective discourse and the grammatical resources for constructing that discourse. Partitioning guarantees that a part of the self, i.e., one of its narratives, can be selectively attended to, foregrounded, objectified, and hence talked about. Narrativity provides the contextual guidance and constraints for meaning-construction in such discourse. This claim is substantiated with three application cases: the use of anaphoric reflexives (I found myself smiling); various usages of proper names, including eponyms (the Shakespeare of architecture), eponymic denominal adjectives (a Herculean effort), etc.; and partitive-self constructions which explicitly profile partitioned and selectively focal narratives (That�s his hormones talking). When analysed using the proposed model, these apparently disparate behaviours turn out to share a common basis: the partitioned-narrative self.

This thesis draws on post-Foucauldian theories of governmental power and technologies of the self to critically examine the deployment of post-structuralist, psychoanalytic, sociological and cultural studies' paradigms for theorising and researching masculinities. It is argued that a particular dialectical mode of rationality and a project of cultural completion inform these approaches which are based on a requirement to reconcile oppositional categories such as freedom and determination, subject-determining state and self-determining subject, social structure and social actor. The limits are outlined of theorising subjectivity in terms of the restoration of consciousness to the individual and as the means by which 'culture' is mediated via repressive andlor ideological mechanisms. An alternative theorisation of subjectivity, conceiving of masculinities as enacted within regimes of historically contingent nomalising practices, is applied to an investigation of how specific groups of boys learn to relate as gendered subjects in a particular school. Surveys, observational methods and semi-structured interviews are used to trace the specific effects of practices implicated in the formation of masculinities for the boys. Attention is also drawn to the relationship of specific models of masculinity to the boys' literacy practices. On the basis of this research, important implications for practice at policy and pedagogical levels are identified.

Thesis (B.A. (Hons.)), Department of Psychology, University of Adelaide, 1973.

Thesis (B.A. Hons.))--University of Adelaide, Dept.of Psychology, 1978. / Bibliography: p. 32-34.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 2003? / Bibliography: p. 249-261.