Journal of Psycholinguistic Research最新文献

Sonority and its language-universal sonority-sequencing principle (SSP) define an important dimension of phonological grammar which aids in the segmentation of words into syllables (Clements in Pap Lab Phonol 1:283-333, 1990). Studies have yielded contradictory findings on sonority and SSP phonotactics in lexical perception of speech by children with cochlear implants (CI) (Hamza et al. in Ear Hear 39(5):992-1007, 2018; Ear Hear 41(6):1715-1731, 2020). The present study aimed to investigate whether sonority-based and prosodic word aspects guide the lexical preferences of children with CI in comparison with two groups of normally-hearing οnes, who were matched based on chronological and hearing age to children with CI, respectively. A retrospective analysis of real words was undertaken, obtained from a-CYLEX, a parent-reporting tool of receptive and expressive vocabulary which was completed for 17 children with CI, aged from 21 to 71 months (Oktapoti et al. in Deaf Educ Int 18(1):3-12, 2016). The data for each word was re-coded into sonorous-loaded, nonsonorous-loaded and neutral words, and also into five word categories based on number of syllables. Metrical values were obtained following normalization of data. Results indicated similar trends in sonority and prosodic word categories based on normalized scores, in children with CI and NH peers, for both receptive and expressive vocabulary. Yet, differences in vocabulary size among the three groups were noted.

An elementary explanation of Bernard Maskit's mathematical contributions to multiple code theory. The presentation is limited to an exploration of Maskit's use of mathematical smoothing in defining a number of measures that, given a narrative, provide information about the emotional experiences that are conveyed by that narrative.

This study aimed to accurately diagnose a patient with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and explore challenges to symbolization in the early and middle stages of psychotherapy through an analysis of language used by both therapist and patient. The patient was assessed using the Psychodynamic Chart in the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual and the Referential Process language measures, which were applied to the early and middle treatment sessions. At the beginning of treatment, the patient presented with comorbid somatizing and schizoid personality disorders, and strong obsessive and anxiety-avoidant traits. He displayed significant impairments in capacity for mentalization; affective range; communication and understanding; self-esteem regulation; and relational intimacy. The patient met criteria for severe BDD. His speech showed a markedly abstract and intellectualized linguistic style that indicated great difficulty in connecting emotional experience to images and words. The therapist's interventions were adapted to this style and were characterized by continuous prompts and suggestions aimed at linking elements and supporting a symbolizing process in order to integrate emotional activation in narratives. This therapeutic action, which we labeled "aided symbolization" promoted a slow but significant process of change with improvement in overall mental functioning. The clinical implications of these results are discussed.

This note reflects on the accomplishments and teachings of Bernie Maskit. Bernie was an expert problem solver, an incredible teacher, and a person who built bridges to faraway lands that connected different people, cultures, and ideas.

Clinician-researcher collaboration can delineate what clinicians from many theoretical perspectives are actually doing when they perform the specialized communication process called psychotherapy. This paper illustrates the power of connecting clinical data with measures derived from Multiple Code Theory in identifying important clinical processes and presents an invitation to clinicians to offer their own recorded contributions. I trace my journey to the Referential Activity Research Group as a clinician, that culminated with my offering a video recording of a twenty-five session brief psychotherapy to the clinician-researcher collaboration. To illustrate the yield of the collaboration, a brief orientation to the patient and three perspectives on the treatment are presented: an overview trajectory of the case, the flow of themes in a target session, and how the measures identified key moments in the target session that led to further collaboration and new measures.

Differential processing between the grammatical classes, i.e., nouns and verbs, has been studied across various linguistic disciplines in different languages, but not Arabic. The present study explores predictors of bare single nouns and bare single verbs in Gulf Arabic through a picture-naming paradigm. Aspects specific to the morpho-phonology of the language (CV skeleton, vocalic pattern) have been investigated for their roles in noun and verb retrieval. A picture-naming paradigm was carried out with 64 healthy native speakers of Gulf Arabic where participants named 282 line drawings representing nouns, and 154 line drawings representing verbs to generate naming latencies for the nouns and verbs in question. Linear regression models were fitted to analyse the relationship between grammatical class and naming latencies as well as morphological features and naming latencies. Verbs, which are more morphologically complex than nouns, were found to have higher naming latencies. Both CV skeleton and vocalic pattern impacted naming latencies and can account for the difference between verb and noun production. The results are discussed in relation to the non-concatenative morphology framework for Semitic languages.

This summary paper provides a brief review of major contributions in a group of papers that were collected to honor the work of Bernard Maskit, who died in March 2024. Professor Maskit was a mathematician who contributed major theoretical and methodological advances in the study of multiple code theory and the referential process. Each of the papers in this issue incorporate applications of his ideas and the new measures that he developed. The applications include basic epistemological ideas, linguistic findings, and innovative approaches to psychotherapy theory and research. Plans for future theoretical and applied research directions are discussed.

Referential process (RP) refers to how nonverbal experiences are translated into verbal forms, and it has been proposed as a foundational framework for understanding psychotherapeutic change (Bucci, 1993; Bucci, Maskit, & Murphy, 2016; Bucci, 2013). While most of the prior research has examined RP in the context of psychodynamic psychotherapy and single-case designs, the current study examined RP in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) for 40 depressed clients. The Discourse Attributes Analysis Program (DAAP; Maskit, Bucci, & Murphy, 2012) was employed to evaluate discourse attributes within 80 session transcripts. Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) was used to analyze the data. There was a higher occurrence of affect words in EFT transcripts and a higher occurrence of reflection words in CBT transcripts reflecting each approach's theory of change. The results of the study highlighted the therapists' ability to effectively connect to their experiences and articulate themselves clearly to clients. Among the highest client-rated sessions, therapists of good outcome clients used more concrete, imagistic, specific, and clear language compared to therapists of poor outcome clients. Therapists of the good outcome group had higher WRADM (weighted referential activity mean) scores ((β =.018, p =.006) and WRADHP (weighted referential activity high proportion) scores (β =.059, p =.008). Moreover, clients' session ratings increased as therapists' WRADM (β = 15.08, p =.017) and WRADHP (β = 4.12, p =.032) increased. Contrary to the hypotheses, clients' WRADM, WRADHP, and WRAD/WRRL did not differ between highest and lowest-rated sessions, nor did they predict clients' session ratings. Clients in the two outcome groups also did not differ in terms of how much they symbolized and then reflected on their experiences. Clinical, theoretical, and measurement implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.