This study examined effects of synonym generation on second language (L2) vocabulary learning during reading in both incidental and intentional vocabulary learning contexts. Spanish-speaking adult learners of L2 English (N = 114) at low- and high-intermediate proficiency levels read an English passage containing 10 target words translated in the…

Positive teacher attitudes toward computers are widely recognized as a necessary condition for effective use of information technology in the classroom (Woodrow, 1992). To measure attitudes toward technology, it is important to have valid and reliable instruments. In this study, the authors used confirmatory factor analysis to verify construct…

Cognitive neuroscientific research proposes complementary hemispheric asymmetries in naming and recognising visual objects, with a left temporal lobe advantage for object naming and a right temporal lobe advantage for object recognition. Specifically, it has been proposed that the left inferior temporal lobe plays a mediational role linking…

The factors influencing the degree of separation or overlap in the neuronal networks responsible for the processing of first and second language are still subject to investigation. This longitudinal study investigates how increasing second language proficiency influences activation differences during lexico-semantic processing of first and second…

Previous studies have found that proficiency in a second language affects how the meanings of words are accessed. Support for this hypothesis is based on data from explicit memory tasks with bilingual participants who know two languages that are relatively similar phonologically and orthographically (e.g., Dutch-English, French-English). The…

ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN IN EACH OF THE GRADES 2 THROUGH 6 WERE INCLUDED IN THIS STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEANING IN CHILDREN. BASED ON STUDIES WITH ADULTS BY OSGOOD ET AL, THIS RESEARCH EXAMINED THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE "EVALUATIVE" SYSTEM OF AFFECTIVE MEANING DEVELOPS FIRST, FOLLOWED BY INCREASED USE OF THE "POTENCY" AND…

A series of eleven concepts, eight of which were presented in a teacher training course, were rated by 252 undergraduate education majors on 15 semantic differential scales at the beginning and end of the course in an attempt to assess changes in the factor structure of semantic space and changes in the connotative meanings of the concepts. Scales…

Results indicate that the troublesome scale/concept interaction which in past studies has lowered the internal validity of many investigations can be reduced by the simple expedient of controlling for homogeneity of domain of scales and concepts employed. (Authors)

This paper is intended as an introduction to a number of problems connected with the description of algorithms and algorithmic languages, particularly the syntaxes and semantics of algorithmic languages. The terms "letter, word, alphabet" are defined and described. The concept of the algorithm is defined and the relation between the algorithm and…

Visual masking studies are reviewed, and three new masking experiments (N=41) are described. Results indicate the presence of semantic activation at short target-mask stimulus onset asynchrony levels. For performance levels close to chance, semantic information extracted from briefly presented targets may be used to detect those targets. (TJH)

Addresses concerns about the kind and nature of the language used in curricula that determines what meanings our children develop during their schooling experiences. (JOW)

Discusses the definition of collocation, demonstrates that associative word combinations do form a continuum, and proposes some parameters to help delimit the scope of collocations in everyday contemporary French. (Author/VWL)

The "but you are free to accept or to refuse" technique is a compliance procedure in which someone is approached with a request by simply telling him/her that he/she is free to accept or to refuse the request. This semantic evocation leads to increased compliance with the request. Furthermore, in most of the studies in which this technique was…

In this paper, we discuss the construct of episodic future thinking. We have previously defined episodic future thinking as the ability to project oneself into the future to pre-experience an event (Atance & O'Neill, 2001). We distinguish this type of thinking about the future from that which is largely based on a script of how an event routinely…

In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott false-memory illusion, forward associative strength (FAS) is unrelated to the strength of the illusion; this is puzzling, because high-FAS lists ought to share more semantic features with critical unpresented words than should low-FAS lists. The authors show that this null result is probably a truncated range…