The language of denial: text analysis reveals differences in language use between climate change proponents and skeptics

We used text analyzers to compare the language used in two recently published reports on the physical science of climate change: one authored by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the other by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC; a group of prominent skeptics, typically with prior scientific training, organized by the Heartland Institute). Although both reports represent summaries of empirical research within the same scientific discipline, our language analyses revealed consistent and substantial differences between them. Most notably, the IPCC authors used more cautious (as opposed to certain) language than the NIPCC authors. This finding (among others) indicates that, contrary to that which is commonly claimed by skeptics, IPCC authors were actually more conservative in terms of language style than their NIPCC counterparts. The political controversy over climate change may cause proponents’ language to be conservative (for fear of being attacked) and opponents’ language to be aggressive (to more effectively attack). This has clear implications for the science communication of climate research

On the Effects of Disfluency in Complex Cognitive Tasks

While much previous research has suggested that decreased transcription fluency has a detrimental effect on writing, there is recent evidence that decreased fluency can actually benefit cognitive processing. Across a series of experiments, I investigated the effects of experimental manipulations of transcription fluency on various aspects of essay writing (e.g., lexical sophistication), but also in the context of a single word generation task. In Chapter 1, I introduced disfluency by asking participants to type essays using one hand (vs. standard typing). The results showed that decreasing transcription fluency resulted in increased lexical sophistication. I proposed the time-based account of disfluency in composition whereby decreasing transcription fluency allows more time for lexical processes to unfold. In Chapter 2 I demonstrated that less fluent typing is not related to increased pause and revision rates. Chapter 3 provides a test between the time-based account and an account that attributes the effects to the disruption of typical finger-to-letter mappings caused by the disfluency. Here I slowed down participants’ typing by introducing a delay between keystrokes. The results presented in Chapter 3 are consistent with the time-based account. In addition, in Chapter 3 I also tested the hypothesis that, unlike in previous studies, the transcription disfluency manipulation in the current study did not introduce large working memory demands. The time-based account of the effects of disfluency in composition was further supported by the results of mediation analyses presented in Chapter 4. In Chapter 5 I investigated whether effects of disfluency on lexical selection extend beyond composition to a single word generation task. I discuss implications for writing implements, and lexical selection in composition

Working memory affects anticipatory behavior during implicit pattern learning

We investigated the relation between implicit sequence learning and individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity. Participants performed an oculomotor version of the serial reaction time (SRT) task and three computerized WM tasks. Implicit learning was measured using anticipation measures only, as they represent strong indicators of learning. Our results demonstrate that anticipatory behavior in the SRT task changes as a function of WM capacity, such that it increases with decreased WM capacity. On the other hand, WM capacity did not affect the overall number of correct anticipations in the task. In addition, we report a positive relation between WM capacity and the number of consecutive correct anticipations (or chunks), and a negative relation between WM capacity and the overall number of errors, indicating different learning strategies during implicit sequence learning. The results of the current study are theoretically important, because they demonstrate that individual differences in WM capacity could account for differences in learning processes, and ultimately change individuals’ anticipatory behavior, even when learning is implicit, without intention and awareness

A systematic review of social identity-based interventions and their active ingredients

How effective are social identity-based interventions at increasing social identity?Which social identity-based interventions are the most effective at increasing social identity

Inhibition of Eye Movements Disrupts Spatial Sequence Learning

Implicit sequence learning is an integral part of human experience, yet the nature of the mechanisms underlying this type of learning remains a matter of debate. In the current study we provide a test for two accounts of implicit sequence learning, i.e., one that highlights sequence learning in the absence of any motor responses (with suppressed eye-movements) and one that highlights the relative contribution of the motor processes (i.e., eye movements) to learning. To adjudicate between these accounts and determine whether a motor response is a requisite process in sequence learning, we used anticipation measures to compare performance on the standard oculomotor serial reaction time (SRT) task and on a version of the SRT task where the eye-movements were restricted during the learning phase. Consistent with the response-based account, our results demonstrated an increased proportion of correct anticipations in the standard SRT task compared to the restricted-movement task

Memory demands in linguistic compensation

Individuals often modify speech characteristics to accommodate their listeners. In the present study, we investigate how speakers modify their speech in a dictation task and what this says about their beliefs with respect to the listener’s information processing limitations. To do so, we asked participants to either read a set of numbers aloud, or dictate numbers so that another person could write them down. Our results suggest that speech modification in this task was not related to individual differences in working memory capacity, and could represent speakers’ attempt to minimize working memory demands of the listener. This account is similar to minimal memory strategies, whereby individuals often try to minimize memory demands in cognitive tasks

A systematic review of social identity-based interventions and their active ingredients

How effective are social identity-based interventions at increasing social identity?Which social identity-based interventions are the most effective at increasing social identity

Disfluency effects on lexical selection

Recent research has suggested that introducing a disfluency in the context of written composition (i.e., typing with one hand) can increase lexical sophistication. In the current study, we provide a strong test between two accounts of this phenomenon, one that attributes it to the delay caused by the disfluency and one that attributes it to the disruption of typical finger-to-letter mappings caused by the disfluency. To test between these accounts, we slowed down participants’ typewriting by introducing a small delay between keystrokes while individuals wrote essays. Critically, this manipulation did not disrupt typical finger-to-letter mappings. Consistent with the delay-based account, our results demonstrate that the essays written in this less fluent condition were more lexically diverse and used less frequent words. Implications for the temporal dynamics of lexical selection in complex cognitive tasks are discussed

Behavioral Signatures of Memory Resources for Language:Looking beyond the Lexicon/Grammar Divide

Although there is a broad consensus that both the procedural and declarative memory systems play a crucial role in language learning, use, and knowledge, the mapping between linguistic types and memory structures remains underspecified: by default, a dual‐route mapping of language systems to memory systems is assumed, with declarative memory handling idiosyncratic lexical knowledge and procedural memory handling rule‐governed knowledge of grammar. We experimentally contrast the processing of morphology (case and aspect), syntax (subordination), and lexical semantics (collocations) in a healthy L1 population of Polish, a language rich in form distinctions. We study the processing of these four types under two conditions: a single task condition in which the grammaticality of stimuli was judged and a concurrent task condition in which grammaticality judgments were combined with a digit span task. Dividing attention impedes access to declarative memory while leaving procedural memory unaffected and hence constitutes a test that dissociates which types of linguistic information each long‐term memory construct subserves. Our findings confirm the existence of a distinction between lexicon and grammar as a generative, dual‐route model would predict, but the distinction is graded, as usage‐based models assume: the hypothesized grammar–lexicon opposition appears as a continuum on which grammatical phenomena can be placed as being more or less “ruly” or “idiosyncratic.” However, usage‐based models, too, need adjusting as not all types of linguistic knowledge are proceduralized to the same extent. This move away from a simple dichotomy fundamentally changes how we think about memory for language, and hence how we design and interpret behavioral and neuroimaging studies that probe into the nature of language cognition

A systematic review of social identity-based interventions and their active ingredients

How effective are social identity-based interventions at increasing social identity?Which social identity-based interventions are the most effective at increasing social identity