Two conflicting findings characterize cognitive processing accompanying bilingualism. The “bilingual advantage” refers to improved cognitive performance for bilingual compared to monolingual participants. Most bilingual advantages fall under the umbrella of cognitive control mechanisms, most frequently demonstrated using the Stroop task and the Simon task (e.g., Bialystok, 2008; Coderre, Van Heuven, & Conklin, 2013). The “bilingual disadvantage,” on the other hand, refers to bilinguals’ diminished performance on tasks that require word retrieval or switching between languages. This study examined the intersection of the bilingual advantage and the bilingual disadvantage to investigate whether they stem from a single cognitive control process. The bilingual advantage was measured as speech onset time differences between monolingual and bilingual participants in the Stroop task after being primed in the same language (i.e., English prime and English Stroop for monolinguals, and either English prime and English Stroop or Spanish prime and Spanish Stroop for bilinguals). The bilingual disadvantage was measured as differences in bilingual participants’ speech onset times between the same-language conditions described above and cross-language conditions (i.e., either English prime and Spanish Stroop or Spanish prime and English Stroop). Monolinguals performed better than bilinguals did on the same-language Stroop [F(3,1) = 83.5, p < 0.001, MSE = 15415], so a bilingual advantage was not demonstrated. However, bilinguals did perform better in same-language blocks than cross-language blocks [F(7,3) = 24.6, p < 0.001, MSE = 22648]. This suggests that the current protocol successfully elicits the bilingual disadvantage. Further research is needed to evaluate whether the same cognitive control processes are responsible for the two effects. Possible extensions of this work include observing a larger number of participants to rule out between-subjects effects and using a button press rather than spoken response during the Stroop task.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The following study focuses on communication problems which arise during medical consultation in Germany between immigrants with an inadequate language proficiency level and physicians, and on the negative effects of such miscommunication on the quality of health care. The study proposes the application of alternative teaching methods in integration courses – in particular suggestopaedia – to resolve these problems. As immigrants often suffer from acculturative stress suggestopaedic methods seem particularly appropriate because they help reducing negative mental attitudes (negative “suggestions”) by a multi-sensory preparation of learning materials. A didactised concept aiming to improve the overall ability of immigrants lacking language proficiency to interact in “Physician-Patient-Communication” is put forward in this study for the use in integration courses. It is assumed that enhancing the ability to ex-press oneself in the field of healthcare provision will reduce communication hindrances by reducing the fear of speaking during medical consultation and thus will lead to a better overall state of health among immigrants with an inadequate language proficiency level. The sug-gestopaedic methods implemented in the didactisation range from a suggestopaedic language text to a wide variety of exercises, which take into account the different channels of learning. A critical examination of the “can do” statements developed by the German “Goethe-Institut”, within the Framework “Curriculum for Integration Courses – German as a Second Language”, forms an important background for the didactisation presented in this study. The section on “Physician-Patient-Conversation” and its practical application in the textbook “Menschen” published by Hueber Verlag and used in integration courses are also closely considered. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie fokus op kommunikasieprobleme wat tydens mediese konsultasies in Duitsland ontstaan tussen immigrante met ontoereikende taalvaardigheid in Duits en doktors, en op die negatiewe gevolge van sulke wankommunikasie op die kwaliteit van gesondheidsorg. Die studie stel voor dat alternatiew onderrigmetodes in integrasiekursusse ingespan word, veral suggestopedagogiek, om dié problem die hoof te bied. Aangsien immigrante dikwels aan akkulturasiestres lei, word metodes wat op die suggesopedagogiek basseer as uiters toepaslik gesien deurdat negatiewe ingesteldhede met `n multisensoriese toepassing van leermateriaal bekamp kan word. `n Gedidaktiseerde konsep wat daarop gemik is om immigrante se algemene taalvaardighede te verbeter met betrekking tot dokter-pasient-kommunikasie word voorgestel vir gebruik in integrasiekursusse. Dit word veronderstel dat as die uitdrukvermoeë op die gebied van gesondheidsorg verbeter word, sal kommunikasiestruikelblokke verminder terwyl die die vrees om tydens `n mediese ondersoek te praat tot `n algemene verbetering in die gesondheidstoestand van immigrante met onvoldoiende taalvaardighede sal lei. Die metodes uit die suggestopedagogiek wat geïmplementeer word, strek van `n suggestopediese teks tot `n wye verskeidenheid oefeninge wat met verskillende leerstyle rekening hou. `n Kritiese ondersoek van die "kan“ beskrywings wat vir die "Kurrikulum vir Integrasiekursusse – Duits as Tweede Taal“ deur die Goethe Instituut ontwikkel is, maak deel uit van die belangrike agtergrond vir die didaktiese implementeringsvoorstelle van hierdie studie. Die afdeling "Dokter-Pasient-Gesprek“ en die praktiese toepassing daarvan in die teksboek "Menschen" wat deur die Hueber Verlag uitgegee is en in integrasiekursusse gebruik word, is ook onder die loep geneem.

This thesis investigates a subset of the lexical items which appear to be involved in the phenomenon of conversion in English. In its most canonical form, conversion involves pairs or sets of word forms which share both their phonological (and orthographic) form as well as some element of meaning, but which seem to belong to di↵erent word classes. In this study, the focus is on the relationships (or lack thereof) between monosyllabic verbal and nominal forms in conversion pairs. The investigation takes as a starting point the patterns of linguistic behaviour within and across these pairs. The situation which is revealed is complex, but not unsystematic. Instead, it is shown that in many cases, the relationship between the nominal and verbal forms is clearly asymmetrical. In contrast to these clearer patterns, however, there are also a number of cases wherein the relationship appears to be more symmetrical in nature. In view of the complexity of the situation, the question of how to best model the linguistic behaviour of such forms has been a subject of some debate in the literature. A variety of theoretical explanations for these relationships have been proposed, though none has managed to account for the wide range of data. This study therefore suggests a mixed model, in which asymmetrically-related forms are involved in a derivational morphological process, while symmetrical forms represent inflected forms of a single lexeme which lacks a specification of word class. However, given the fertile – and in no way settled – research background, the primary contribution of this study is an experimental exploration of how these forms and the relationships between them might be synchronically represented in the mental grammar of current speakers. To that end, three behavioural experiments are conducted with a view to uncovering how di↵erent types of conversion items are processed, and how information about their processing might inform our theoretical understanding. The results of these experiments suggest that the processing of these forms is indeed in line with the patterns of symmetry and asymmetry found in their linguistic behaviour, and suggests that some conversion pairs may be involved in a derivational process, while others may not be pairs at all but rather a single, underspecified lexical entry. However, in addition to the results concerning the forms which display clearer patterns of behaviour, it is suggested that the patterns across the phenomenon of conversion as a whole may best be understood as a continuum, rather than all suggesting a single underlying pattern of mental representation.

M.A. / The study aims to determine whether statistically significant differences exist between boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and boys without ADHD with regard to hemispheric language lateralization and the laterality of various modalities (handedness, eyedness and footedness). According to the literature, a possible connection exists between abnormal lateralization patterns and various developmental disorders (Corballis, 1983; Geschwind & Behan, 1982; Hiscock, 1988, McFarland, 1981; Turkewitz, 1988). Lateralization in the current study refers to hemispheric language specialisation, hand dominance, foot dominance and eye dominance. In most people these functions are lateralized to the one side of the body by the age of seven (Kalat, 1995; Kolb & Whishaw, 1996). They typically manifest a dominant left hemisphere for language and a right-sided dominance for handedness, footedness and eyedness. The result is a dominant left hemisphere, due to the left side of the brain controlling the right side of the body. Some children however manifest insufficient or poor lateralization of these functions. For purposes of this study, it would imply that the functions of language specialisation, handedness, footedness and eyedness are not all lateralized to one side of the body. A possible connection between this poor or insufficient lateralization and ADHD might exist. According to the DSM IV (1997) the essential feature of ADHD is a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity that is more frequent and severe than is typically observed in individuals at a comparable level of development. Some of these symptoms causing impairment must have been present before age seven, although many individuals are only diagnosed after the symptoms have been present for a number of years. Impairment resulting from the symptoms should be present in at least two settings, for example, at school and at home. Clear evidence must exist of interference with developmentally appropriate social, academic, or occupational functioning. An empirical study was conducted in order to compare the hemispheric language specialisation, handedness, eyedness and footedness of the various subjects. The subjects consisted of 20 ADHD boys (8 -12 years) who met the criteria of the DSM IV and 20 Non-ADHD boys (8-12 years) without any learning problems. Various interference variables were controlled in the selection of the subjects (see section 5.2.3) Kimura's dichotic listening technique was used to measure hemispheric language specialisation and the Harris-test for Lateral Dominance was used to measure handedness, eyedness and footedness. Wilks's lambda, Pearson's chi-quadrant and Student's t-tests were used during statistical analysis of data. Results indicated statistically significant differences between ADHD boys and non-ADHD boys with regard to hemispheric language specialisation, handedness and footedness. Overall, the results indicated that the ADHD boys are not as strongly lateralized as the non-ADHD boys. The non-ADHD boys showed a stronger left hemispheric language specialisation, right hand dominance and right foot dominance. No statistical differences were recorded with regard to eyedness. The current study provides possible theoretical support for the theory that a connection exists between poor or insufficient lateralization patterns and children with ADHD. However, the study only focused on white boys between the ages of 8-12 years. Further studies involving different age groups, cultures and gender are recommended.

This research investigated the relationship between students’ approaches to second language learning and a specific personality variable. The main research instruments were two questionnaires. One was the Language Learning Orientation Questionnaire (LLOQ), which measures two orientations to language learning, Structure Orientation (SO) and Communication Orientation (CO). The other instrument was the Regulatory Focus Theory Questionnaire (RFTQ), which was extensively modified from the USdesigned Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT: Higgins, 1997) for application in the Chinese cultural background, or Confucian Heritage Cultures (CHC), of Taiwan. The study involved 360 students in four high schools in Taiwan. The quantitative data from the questionnaires were supplemented by qualitative data from interviews and non-participant classroom observations. The analysis of LLOQ results demonstrated a clear distinction between SO and CO among the participants. The results of the CHC RFTQ identified three forms of Regulatory Focus: Obligation-Adherence, Social-Security (which are conflated in standard RFT as PRE) and Goal-Achievement (a specific form of PRO). The analysis of the relationship between the LLOQ and RFTQ data indicates there is a correlation between RF and LLO.

Producing speech is a highly complex task, involving the integration of sensory and linguistic information, with the precise, high-speed, co-ordination of muscles controlling breathing and the movement of the vocal folds and articulators. In spite of this complexity, producing fluent speech - moving smoothly from one speech sound to the next - can appear effortless. Speech fluency is highly socially valued, and the personal and societal costs of living with a disorder of fluency, such as developmental stuttering, are considerable. The outcomes of behavioural therapies to increase fluency are limited, however, especially for those seeking treatment in adulthood. The overarching aim of this thesis was to investigate how anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (A-TDCS) can be used to increase speech fluency, with a particular focus on the potential application to developmental stuttering. A-TDCS is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that can enhance the effects of motor, speech, and language training. First, in a series of single-session experiments in typically fluent speakers, I demonstrated that applying A-TDCS over the left IFC increased speech motor learning relative to a sham control, but did not improve consolidation of this learning (chapter 2). Furthermore, I found that neither increasing stimulation intensity from 1 mA to 2 mA, nor changing from a unihemispheric to a bihemispheric configuration, had an additional effect on learning. Next, in single-session study with adults who stutter, I assessed the feasibility of using A-TDCS to improve fluency (chapter 3). Fluency was temporarily induced, by speaking in unison with another person, but the concurrent application of 1-mA unihemispheric A-TDCS over left inferior frontal cortex did not significantly prolong this fluency. Nevertheless, a trend towards stuttering reduction gave some indication that fluency might be increased using a multiple-session approach. Furthermore, I gained a number of important insights from these single-session studies, which I used to inform the design of the final multiple-session trial. In this final study, I completed a randomised controlled trial in 30 adult males with moderate to severe stuttering. Participants were randomized to receive either 1-mA A-TDCS or sham stimulation over left inferior frontal cortex combined with temporary fluency inducing behavioural techniques, for 20 minutes a day over 5 days (chapter 4). A-TDCS significantly reduced disfluency for at least 5 weeks following this intervention. The effect was specific to the speech impairment of development stuttering, as measures of the psycho-social consequences of stuttering were not modulated by A-TDCS. The findings of these studies offer significant promise for the future application of non-invasive stimulation as an adjunctive therapy for adults who stutter. In the concluding chapter, I discuss the important implications of my findings for the future use of this technique.

Contemporary models of declarative memory state that when initially learned, all novel information is encoded by the hippocampal system before being consolidated or transformed to depend on neocortical structures subserving semantic memory. Based on observations with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this thesis presents evidence that novel associations may be directly encoded by the semantic system in humans. While the hippocampus is often involved in information processing at the early stages of learning, the semantic system is seen to encode associative memory traces in the first instance (chapter 2). Furthermore, it is proposed that the hippocampus is not involved in learning when associative information is gradually accumulated across a series of ambiguous events. This is characteristic of cross-situational learning (xSL) which allows for the acquisition of word-object associations (i.e. nouns) during infancy. It is shown that xSL is not well accounted for by a prominent model of contextual learning - the temporal context model (chapter 3). Additionally, fMRI data suggest that neocortical structures rather than components of the hippocampal system are preferentially involved in xSL compared to traditional methods of training (chapter 4). Finally, it is suggested that rapid hippocampal learning mechanisms rely on specialised neuronal-microglial interactions. The administration of a microglial inhibitor (minocycline) was found to modulate hippocampal function and bias its use when other learning systems would have been more advantageous (chapter 5). Collectively, these findings suggest that the hippocampal system is specialised for rapidly encoding information that is explicitly provided, yet may not be recruited when associative information is collated across ambiguous events. At the same time, the neocortical semantic system may be able to learn new information at faster rates than previously thought. As such, it is hypothesised that amnestic patients may be able to acquire some forms of declarative material if presented in an appropriate manner.

The human brain is highly sensitive to social information and so is our language production system: people adjust not just what they say but also how they say it in response to the social context. For instance, we are sensitive to the presence of others, and our interactional expectations and goals affect how we individually choose to talk about and refer to things. This thesis is an investigation of the social factors that might lead speakers to adapt linguistically to others. The question of linguistic adaptation is conceived and addressed at two levels: as lexical convergence (i.e., interlocutors coordinating their lexical choices with each other), and as spatial perspective taking in language use (i.e., speakers abandoning their self perspective in favour of another's when verbally locating objects in space). What motivated my research was two-fold. First, I aimed to contribute to the understanding of the interplay between the automatic cognitive accounts and the strategic social accounts of linguistic convergence. At the same time, I wanted to explore new analytical tools for the investigation of interpersonal coordination in conversation (cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA)). Second, there are conflicting explanations as to why people often abandon their self spatial perspective when another person is present in the environment. I aimed to clarify this by bringing together insights from different research fields: spatial language production, spatial cognition, joint attention and joint action. A first set of experiments investigated the effects of speakers' deceptive goals on lexical convergence. Given the extensive evidence that one interlocutor's choices of words shapes another's during collaborative interaction, would we still observe this coordination of linguistic behaviour under conditions of no coordination of intents? In two novel interactive priming paradigms, half of the participants deceived their naïve partner in a detective game (Experiment 1) or a picture naming/matching task (Experiment 2-3) in order to jeopardise their partner's performance in resolving the crime or in a related memory task. Crucially, participants were primed by their partner with suitable-yet-unusual names for objects. I did not find any consistent evidence that deceiving led to a different degree of lexical convergence between deceivers and deceived than between truthful interlocutors. I then explored possibilities and challenges of the use of cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) (a new analytical tool borrowed from dynamical systems) for the study of lexical convergence in conversation. I applied CRQA in Experiment 4, where I focused on the strategic social accounts of linguistic convergence and investigated whether speakers' tendency to match their interlocutors' lexical choices depended on the social impression that they formed of each other in a previous interaction, and whether this tendency was further modulated by the interactional goal. I developed a novel two-stage paradigm: pairs of participants first experienced a collectivist or an individualistic co-player in an economic decision game (in reality, a pre-set computer programme) and then engaged in a discussion of a survival scenario (this time with the real other) divided in an open-ended vs. joint-goal driven part. I found no evidence that the social impression of their interlocutor affected speakers' degree of lexical convergence. Greater convergence was observed in the joint-goal dialogues, replicating previous findings at syntactic level. Experiments 5-7 left the interactive framework of the previous two sets of experiments and explored spatial perspective taking in a non-interactive language task. I investigated why the presence of a person in the environment can induce speakers to abandon their self perspective to locate objects: Do speakers adapt their spatial descriptions to the vantage point of the person out of intentionality-mediated simulation or of general attention-orienting mechanisms? In an online paradigm, participants located objects in photographs that sometimes contained a person or a plant in various positions with respect to the to-be-located object. Findings were consistent with the simulated intentional accounts and linked non-self spatial perspective in language to the apprehension of another person’s visual affordance. Experiments 8-9 investigated the role of shared experience on perspective taking in spatial language. Prior to any communicative and interactional demand, do speakers adapt their spatial descriptions to the presumed perspective of someone who is attending to the same environment at the same time as them? And is this tendency further affected by the number of co-attendees? I expanded the previous online paradigm and induced participants into thinking that someone else was doing the task at the same time as them. I found that shared experience reinforced self perspective (via shared perspective) rather than reinforcing non-self perspective (via unshared perspective). I did not find any crowd effect.

Age-related decline in cognitive performance and brain structure can be offset by increased exercise. Little is known, however, about the cognitive and brain structural consequences of long-term high-effort endurance exercise. In a cross-sectional design, we recruited older adults who had been engaging in high-effort endurance exercise over at least twenty years, and compared their cognitive performance and brain structure with a non-sedentary control group similar in age, sex, education, IQ, depression levels, and other lifestyle factors. We hypothesized that long-term high-effort endurance exercise would protect against the age-related decline in memory, attention, and brain structure. Our findings, in contrast to previous studies, indicated that those participating in long-term high-effort endurance exercise, when compared without confounds to non-sedentary control volunteers, showed no differences on measures of speed of processing, executive function, incidental memory, episodic memory, working memory, or visual search. On measures of prospective memory, long-term exercisers performance suggested a self-imposed increase in effort, which did not impact on ability to complete the PM task. In complex attention tasks, they displayed a differential strategy to controls. Structurally, long-term exercisers only displayed higher diffuse axial diffusivity, an index of axonal integrity, than controls, but this did not correlate with any cognitive differences.

Cognitive process accounts of the advantages conferred by diagrams in problem solving and reasoning have typically attempted to explain an idealised user or a reasoning system that has equivalent to practised knowledge of the task with the target representation. The thesis investigates the question of how diagrams support users in the process of solving unpractised problems in the domain of probability. The research question is addressed by the design and analysis of an empirical study and cognitive model. The main experiment required participants (N=8) to solve a set of unpractised probability problems presented by combined text and diagram. Think-aloud and eye-movement protocols together with given solutions were used to infer the content and process of problem interpretation, solution interpretation and task execution strategies employed by participants. The data suggested that the diagram was used to facilitate problem solving in three different ways by: (a) supporting sub-problem identification, (b) supporting prior knowledge of diagrammatic sub-schemes used for interpreting a solution and (c) supporting the process of interpreting and testing the specific meaning of given problem instructions and self-generated solution instructions. These empirical data were used to develop cognitive models of canonical strategies of the three identified phenomena: • Sub-problem identification advantages are accounted for by proposing that the spatial semantics of diagrams coupled with competences of the visual-spatial processing system and opportunities for demonstrative interpretation strategies increase the probability of goal-relevant data being made available to central cognition for further processing. • Framing advantages are accounted for by proposing that represented diagrammatic sub-schemes (e.g. part-whole portions, icon-arrays, 2D containers etc.) facilitate access to existing prior knowledge used to frame, derive, and reason about information analogically within that scheme. • Advantages in instruction interpretation are related to the specificity of diagrams which support the opportunity to demonstratively test and evaluate the referential meaning of an instruction. The cognitive model also investigates and evaluates assumptions about the prior knowledge for solving unpractised probability problems; a representational scheme for addressing the co-ordination of sub-goals; a deictic problem representation to support online processing of environmental information, a meta-cognitive processing scheme to address self-argumentation and intention tracking and visual and spatial competences to address the requirements of diagrammatic reasoning. The implications of the cognitive model are discussed with regard to existing accounts of diagrammatic reasoning, probability problem solving (PPS), and unpractised problem solving.