TY - THES A1 - Gendt, Anja T1 - Eye movements under the control of working memory : the challenge of a reading-span task T1 - Blickbewegungen unter Arbeitsgedächtniskontrolle : Die Herausforderungen einer Lesespannenaufgabe N2 - During reading oculomotor processes guide the eyes over the text. The visual information recorded is accessed, evaluated and processed. Only by retrieving the meaning of a word from the long-term memory, as well as through the connection and storage of the information about each individual word, is it possible to access the semantic meaning of a sentence. Therefore memory, and here in particular working memory, plays a pivotal role in the basic processes of reading. The following dissertation investigates to what extent different demands on memory and memory capacity have an effect on eye movement behavior while reading. The frequently used paradigm of the reading span task, in which test subjects read and evaluate individual sentences, was used for the experimental review of the research questions. The results speak for the fact that working memory processes have a direct effect on various eye movement measurements. Thus a high working memory load, for example, reduced the perceptual span while reading. The lower the individual working memory capacity of the reader was, the stronger was the influence of the working memory load on the processing of the sentence. N2 - Beim Lesen steuern okulomotorische Prozesse die Blickbewegungen über den Text. Die aufgenommenen visuellen Informationen werden erschlossen, beurteilt und verarbeitet. Erst durch den Abruf der Wortbedeutung aus dem Langzeitgedächtnis, und die Verknüpfung sowie Speicherung der einzelnen Wortinformationen erschließt sich die semantische Bedeutung eines Satzes. Somit stellt das Gedächtnis und hier insbesondere das Arbeitsgedächtnis eines der grundlegenden Prozesse für das Lesen dar. Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht inwieweit sich unterschiedliche Gedächtnisanforderungen und Gedächtniskapazitäten auf das Blickverhalten während des Lesens auswirken. Für die experimentelle Überprüfung der Forschungsfragen wurde das in der Arbeitsgedächtnisforschung sehr häufig genutzte Paradigma der Lesespannenaufgabe verwendet, bei dem Probanden einzelne Sätze lesen und beurteilen. Die Ergebnisse sprechen für einen direkten Einfluss von Arbeitsgedächtnisprozessen auf verschiedene Blickbewegungsmaße. So reduzierte eine hohe Arbeitsgedächtnisbelastung beispielsweise die perzeptuelle Spanne während des Lesens. Je geringer die individuelle Arbeitsgedächtniskapazität des Lesers war, desto stärker war der Einfluss der Arbeitsgedächtnisbelastung auf die Satzverarbeitung. KW - Blickbewegungen KW - Arbeitsgedächtnis KW - Lesen KW - Lesespanne KW - eye movements KW - working memory KW - reading KW - reading-span Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-69224 ER - TY - THES A1 - Jäger, Lena Ann T1 - Working memory and prediction in human sentence parsing T1 - Arbeitsgedächtnis und Vorhersagbarkeit in der menschlichen Satzverarbeitung BT - cross-linguistic evidence from anaphoric dependencies and relative clauses BT - neue Erkenntnisse durch cross-linguistische Untersuchungen zu anaphorischen Dependenzen und Relativsätzen N2 - This dissertation investigates the working memory mechanism subserving human sentence processing and its relative contribution to processing difficulty as compared to syntactic prediction. Within the last decades, evidence for a content-addressable memory system underlying human cognition in general has accumulated (e.g., Anderson et al., 2004). In sentence processing research, it has been proposed that this general content-addressable architecture is also used for language processing (e.g., McElree, 2000). Although there is a growing body of evidence from various kinds of linguistic dependencies that is consistent with a general content-addressable memory subserving sentence processing (e.g., McElree et al., 2003; VanDyke2006), the case of reflexive-antecedent dependencies has challenged this view. It has been proposed that in the processing of reflexive-antecedent dependencies, a syntactic-structure based memory access is used rather than cue-based retrieval within a content-addressable framework (e.g., Sturt, 2003). Two eye-tracking experiments on Chinese reflexives were designed to tease apart accounts assuming a syntactic-structure based memory access mechanism from cue-based retrieval (implemented in ACT-R as proposed by Lewis and Vasishth (2005). In both experiments, interference effects were observed from noun phrases which syntactically do not qualify as the reflexive's antecedent but match the animacy requirement the reflexive imposes on its antecedent. These results are interpreted as evidence against a purely syntactic-structure based memory access. However, the exact pattern of effects observed in the data is only partially compatible with the Lewis and Vasishth cue-based parsing model. Therefore, an extension of the Lewis and Vasishth model is proposed. Two principles are added to the original model, namely 'cue confusion' and 'distractor prominence'. Although interference effects are generally interpreted in favor of a content-addressable memory architecture, an alternative explanation for interference effects in reflexive processing has been proposed which, crucially, might reconcile interference effects with a structure-based account. It has been argued that interference effects do not necessarily reflect cue-based retrieval interference in a content-addressable memory but might equally well be accounted for by interference effects which have already occurred at the moment of encoding the antecedent in memory (Dillon, 2011). Three experiments (eye-tracking and self-paced reading) on German reflexives and Swedish possessives were designed to tease apart cue-based retrieval interference from encoding interference. The results of all three experiments suggest that there is no evidence that encoding interference affects the retrieval of a reflexive's antecedent. Taken together, these findings suggest that the processing of reflexives can be explained with the same cue-based retrieval mechanism that has been invoked to explain syntactic dependency resolution in a range of other structures. This supports the view that the language processing system is located within a general cognitive architecture, with a general-purpose content-addressable working memory system operating on linguistic expressions. Finally, two experiments (self-paced reading and eye-tracking) using Chinese relative clauses were conducted to determine the relative contribution to sentence processing difficulty of working-memory processes as compared to syntactic prediction during incremental parsing. Chinese has the cross-linguistically rare property of being a language with subject-verb-object word order and pre-nominal relative clauses. This property leads to opposing predictions of expectation-based accounts and memory-based accounts with respect to the relative processing difficulty of subject vs. object relatives. Previous studies showed contradictory results, which has been attributed to different kinds local ambiguities confounding the materials (Lin and Bever, 2011). The two experiments presented are the first to compare Chinese relatives clauses in syntactically unambiguous contexts. The results of both experiments were consistent with the predictions of the expectation-based account of sentence processing but not with the memory-based account. From these findings, I conclude that any theory of human sentence processing needs to take into account the power of predictive processes unfolding in the human mind. N2 - Diese Dissertation untersucht die der menschlichen Satzverarbeitung zugrunde liegenden Mechanismen des Arbeitsgedächtnisses sowie deren Bedeutung für die Verarbeitungskomplexität im Vergleich zu dem Einfluss syntaktischer Erwartung. Vor dem Hintergrund der in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten angewachsenen empirischen Evidenz für ein assoziatives Gedächtnissystem als Grundlage der menschlichen Kognition im Allgemeinen (z.B. Anderson et al., 2004) wurde u.a. von McElree (2000) vorgeschlagen, dass dieses assoziative Gedächtnissystem auch der Sprachverarbeitung im Besonderen dient (z.B. McElree, 2000) und die Sprachverarbeitung folglich nicht etwa als ein von anderen kognitiven Fähigkeiten weitgehend losgelöstes Modul (z.B. Frazier, 1979) zu begreifen ist. Obwohl sich die Evidenz für ein assoziatives Gedächtnis in der Sprachverarbeitung stetig mehrt (z.B. McElree et al., 2003; VanDyke2006), werden Daten zur Verarbeitung von Reflexivpronomen als Argument gegen ein assoziatives Gedächtnis herangezogen. So schlug beispielsweise Sturt (2003) vor, dass der Gedächtniszugriff in der Verarbeitung von Reflexivpronomen-Antezedens-Dependenzen nicht assoziativer Natur ist, sondern rein syntaktisch gesteuert ist (z.B., Sturt, 2003). Im ersten Teil der vorliegenden Arbeit werden zwei Leseexperimente (Eyetracking) vorgestellt, welche die Verarbeitung des chinesischen Reflexivpronomens 'ziji' testen und die darauf ausgelegt sind, Theorien, die einen syntaktisch gesteuerten Gedächtniszugriff annehmen, von Theorien, die einen assoziativen Gedächtniszugriff, wie er beispielsweise in dem ACTR-basierten Modell von Lewis and Vasishth (2005) implementiert wurde, zu unterscheiden. In beiden Experimenten wurden Interferenzeffekte von Nominalphrasen beobachtet, die syntaktisch nicht als Antezedens des Reflexivpronomens in Frage kommen, aber das Belebtheitskriterium, das 'ziji' an seinen Antezedens stellt, erfüllen. Diese Ergebnisse werden als Evidenz gegen einen rein syntaktisch gesteuerten Gedächtniszugriff interpretiert. Jedoch sind diese Ergebnisse auch mit dem assoziativen Modell von Lewis und Vasishth (2005) nicht vollkommen vereinbar. Daher wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit eine Erweiterung des Modells von Lewis und Vasishth entwickelt. Zwei neue Prinzipien, 'cue confusion' und 'distractor prominence’, werden dem Originalmodell hinzugefügt und deren Auswirkungen auf die Vorhersagen des Modells diskutiert. Wenngleich Interferenzeffekte im Allgemeinen als Evidenz für ein assoziatives Gedächtnis herangezogen werden, argumentierte Dillon (2011), dass die empirisch beobachteten Interferenzeffekte nicht notwendigerweise Interferenzen im Moment eines assoziativen Gedächtniszugriffs reflektieren, sondern gleichermaßen Interferenzen widerspiegeln können, die bereits bei der Abspeicherung des entsprechenden Elements (z.B. des Antezedens in Reflexiv-Antezedens-Dependenzen) im Gedächtnis stattgefunden haben. Dies würde Interferenzeffekte mit einem nicht-assoziativen Gedächtnismodell vereinbar machen. Im zweiten Teil dieser Dissertation werden drei Experimente (selbst-gesteuertes Lesen und Eyetracking) vorgestellt, die deutsche Reflexivpronomen sowie schwedische Possessivpronomen testen und darauf abzielen, Rückschlüsse über den Moment der Interferenz (Interferenz beim Gedächtniszugriff im Gegensatz zu Interferenz bei der Speicherung) zu ziehen. Die Ergebnisse aller drei Experimente zeigen, dass etwaige Interferenzen beim Abspeichern eines Nomens keinen Einfluss auf dessen späteren Zugriff haben. Zusammengefasst zeigen die Ergebnisse dieser Experimente zum Chinesischen, Deutschen und Schwedischen, dass die Verarbeitung von Reflexivpronomen mit demselben assoziativen Gedächtniszugriff erklärt werden kann, von dem angenommen wird, dass er der Verarbeitung einer Reihe anderer syntaktischer Dependenzen zugrunde liegt. Darüber hinaus sind die hier vorgestellten Ergebnisse im Einklang mit einer generellen Theorie über die menschliche Kognition, die das Sprachverarbeitungssystem als Bestandteil einer allgemeinen kognitiven Architektur begreift, in welcher ein allgemeines assoziatives Gedächtnissystem auf sprachlichen Repräsentationen operiert. Im dritten Teil dieser Dissertation werden zwei weitere Leseexperimente (selbst-gesteuertes Lesen und Eyetracking) vorgestellt, in denen anhand chinesischer Relativsätze die Wirkung von Arbeitsgedächtnisprozessen im Vergleich zu der Wirkung syntaktischer Erwartung auf die Komplexität der inkrementellen Satzverarbeitung untersucht wird. Chinesisch ist cross-linguistisch insofern eine außergewöhnliche Sprache, als dass es eine Subjekt-Verb-Objekt-Wortstellung mit pränominalen Relativsätzen vereint. Die Kombination dieser Eigenschaften führt dazu, dass Theorien, die Satzverarbeitungskomplexität primär Arbeitsgedächtnisprozessen zuschreiben (z.B. Gibson, 2000), und erwartungsbasierte Theorien, welche die Satzverarbeitungskomplexität dem Erfüllen bzw. dem Brechen syntaktischer oder lexikalischer Erwartungen zuschreiben (z.B. Hale, 2001; Levy, 2008), gegensätzliche Vorhersagen machen. Bisherige Studien zu chinesischen Relativsätzen zeigten widersprüchliche Ergebnisse, was mit dem Vorhandensein konfundierender lokaler syntaktischer Ambiguitäten in den Stimuli erklärt wurde (Lin und Bever, 2011). Die beiden in dieser Arbeit vorgestellten Experimente testen erstmals chinesische Relativsätze anhand von Materialien, die frei von syntaktischen Ambiguitäten sind. Die Ergebnisse beider Experimente sind vereinbar mit erwartungsbasierten Theorien, aber nicht mit Theorien, die Satzverarbeitungskomplexität allein mit Arbeitsgedächtnisprozessen erklären. Diese Ergebnisse zeigen, dass jede umfassende Theorie der Satzverarbeitung erwartungsgesteuerten kognitiven Prozessen einen wichtigen Stellenwert einräumen muss. KW - working memory KW - Arbeitsgedächtnis KW - sentence processing KW - Satzverarbeitung KW - cognitive modeling KW - kognitive Modellierung KW - psycholinguistics KW - Psycholinguistik KW - ACT-R KW - Chinese KW - Chinesisch KW - reflexives KW - Reflexivpronomen KW - relative clauses KW - Relativsätze KW - linguistics KW - Linguistik KW - German KW - Deutsch KW - prediction KW - syntactic expectation KW - content-addressable memory Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-82517 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kuschpel, Maxim S. A1 - Liu, Shuyan A1 - Schad, Daniel A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Heinz, Andreas A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin T1 - Differential effects of wakeful rest, music and video game playing on working memory performance in the n-back task N2 - The interruption of learning processes by breaks filled with diverse activities is common in everyday life. We investigated the effects of active computer gaming and passive relaxation (rest and music) breaks on working memory performance. Young adults were exposed to breaks involving (i) eyes-open resting, (ii) listening to music and (iii) playing the video game “Angry Birds” before performing the n-back working memory task. Based on linear mixed-effects modeling, we found that playing the “Angry Birds” video game during a short learning break led to a decline in task performance over the course of the task as compared to eyes-open resting and listening to music, although overall task performance was not impaired. This effect was associated with high levels of daily mind wandering and low self-reported ability to concentrate. These findings indicate that video games can negatively affect working memory performance over time when played in between learning tasks. We suggest further investigation of these effects because of their relevance to everyday activity. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 280 KW - attention KW - break interventions KW - cognitive resources KW - computer games KW - mind wandering KW - mozart effect KW - working memory Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-85151 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Höhle, Barbara A1 - Fritzsche, Tom A1 - Müller, Anja T1 - Children’s Comprehension of Sentences with Focus Particles and the Role of Cognitive Control BT - An Eye Tracking Study with German-Learning 4-Year-Olds N2 - Children’s interpretations of sentences containing focus particles do not seem adult-like until school age. This study investigates how German 4-year-old children comprehend sentences with the focus particle ‘nur’ (only) by using different tasks and controlling for the impact of general cognitive abilities on performance measures. Two sentence types with ‘only’ in either pre-subject or pre-object position were presented. Eye gaze data and verbal responses were collected via the visual world paradigm combined with a sentence-picture verification task. While the eye tracking data revealed an adult-like pattern of focus particle processing, the sentence-picture verification replicated previous findings of poor comprehension, especially for ‘only’ in pre-subject position. A second study focused on the impact of general cognitive abilities on the outcomes of the verification task. Working memory was related to children’s performance in both sentence types whereas inhibitory control was selectively related to the number of errors for sentences with ‘only’ in pre-subject position. These results suggest that children at the age of 4 years have the linguistic competence to correctly interpret sentences with focus particles, which–depending on specific task demands–may be masked by immature general cognitive abilities. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 287 KW - cognition KW - cognitive linguistics KW - cognitive psychology KW - eyes KW - human performance KW - sentence processing KW - syntax KW - working memory Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-90524 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Rimpel, Jérôme A1 - Stelzel, Christine A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin T1 - Transfer Effects to a Multimodal Dual-Task after Working Memory Training and Associated Neural Correlates in Older Adults BT - A Pilot Study N2 - Working memory (WM) performance declines with age. However, several studies have shown that WM training may lead to performance increases not only in the trained task, but also in untrained cognitive transfer tasks. It has been suggested that transfer effects occur if training task and transfer task share specific processing components that are supposedly processed in the same brain areas. In the current study, we investigated whether single-task WM training and training-related alterations in neural activity might support performance in a dual-task setting, thus assessing transfer effects to higher-order control processes in the context of dual-task coordination. A sample of older adults (age 60–72) was assigned to either a training or control group. The training group participated in 12 sessions of an adaptive n-back training. At pre and post-measurement, a multimodal dual-task was performed in all participants to assess transfer effects. This task consisted of two simultaneous delayed match to sample WM tasks using two different stimulus modalities (visual and auditory) that were performed either in isolation (single-task) or in conjunction (dual-task). A subgroup also participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the performance of the n-back task before and after training. While no transfer to single-task performance was found, dual-task costs in both the visual modality (p < 0.05) and the auditory modality (p < 0.05) decreased at post-measurement in the training but not in the control group. In the fMRI subgroup of the training participants, neural activity changes in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during one-back predicted post-training auditory dual-task costs, while neural activity changes in right DLPFC during three-back predicted visual dual-task costs. Results might indicate an improvement in central executive processing that could facilitate both WM and dual-task coordination. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 343 KW - aging KW - cognitive training KW - dual-task KW - fMRI KW - modality KW - neuroimaging KW - transfer KW - working memory Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-401921 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Stelzel, Christine A1 - Schauenburg, Gesche A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Heinzel, Stephan A1 - Granacher, Urs T1 - Age-Related Interference between the Selection of Input-Output Modality Mappings and Postural Control BT - a Pilot Study N2 - Age-related decline in executive functions and postural control due to degenerative processes in the central nervous system have been related to increased fall-risk in old age. Many studies have shown cognitive-postural dual-task interference in old adults, but research on the role of specific executive functions in this context has just begun. In this study, we addressed the question whether postural control is impaired depending on the coordination of concurrent response-selection processes related to the compatibility of input and output modality mappings as compared to impairments related to working-memory load in the comparison of cognitive dual and single tasks. Specifically, we measured total center of pressure (CoP) displacements in healthy female participants aged 19–30 and 66–84 years while they performed different versions of a spatial one-back working memory task during semi-tandem stance on an unstable surface (i.e., balance pad) while standing on a force plate. The specific working-memory tasks comprised: (i) modality compatible single tasks (i.e., visual-manual or auditory-vocal tasks), (ii) modality compatible dual tasks (i.e., visual-manual and auditory-vocal tasks), (iii) modality incompatible single tasks (i.e., visual-vocal or auditory-manual tasks), and (iv) modality incompatible dual tasks (i.e., visual-vocal and auditory-manual tasks). In addition, participants performed the same tasks while sitting. As expected from previous research, old adults showed generally impaired performance under high working-memory load (i.e., dual vs. single one-back task). In addition, modality compatibility affected one-back performance in dual-task but not in single-task conditions with strikingly pronounced impairments in old adults. Notably, the modality incompatible dual task also resulted in a selective increase in total CoP displacements compared to the modality compatible dual task in the old but not in the young participants. These results suggest that in addition to effects of working-memory load, processes related to simultaneously overcoming special linkages between input- and output modalities interfere with postural control in old but not in young female adults. Our preliminary data provide further evidence for the involvement of cognitive control processes in postural tasks. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 322 KW - aging KW - cognitive-postural dual task KW - modality compatibility KW - postural stability KW - working memory Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-395733 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Stelzel, Christine A1 - Bohle, Hannah A1 - Schauenburg, Gesche A1 - Walter, Henrik A1 - Granacher, Urs A1 - Rapp, Michael Armin A1 - Heinzel, Stephan T1 - Contribution of the Lateral Prefrontal Cortex to Cognitive-Postural Multitasking T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - There is evidence for cortical contribution to the regulation of human postural control. Interference from concurrently performed cognitive tasks supports this notion, and the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) has been suggested to play a prominent role in the processing of purely cognitive as well as cognitive-postural dual tasks. The degree of cognitive-motor interference varies greatly between individuals, but it is unresolved whether individual differences in the recruitment of specific lPFC regions during cognitive dual tasking are associated with individual differences in cognitive-motor interference. Here, we investigated inter-individual variability in a cognitive-postural multitasking situation in healthy young adults (n = 29) in order to relate these to inter-individual variability in lPFC recruitment during cognitive multitasking. For this purpose, a oneback working memory task was performed either as single task or as dual task in order to vary cognitive load. Participants performed these cognitive single and dual tasks either during upright stance on a balance pad that was placed on top of a force plate or during fMRI measurement with little to no postural demands. We hypothesized dual one-back task performance to be associated with lPFC recruitment when compared to single one-back task performance. In addition, we expected individual variability in lPFC recruitment to be associated with postural performance costs during concurrent dual one-back performance. As expected, behavioral performance costs in postural sway during dual-one back performance largely varied between individuals and so did lPFC recruitment during dual one-back performance. Most importantly, individuals who recruited the right mid-lPFC to a larger degree during dual one-back performance also showed greater postural sway as measured by larger performance costs in total center of pressure displacements. This effect was selective to the high-load dual one-back task and suggests a crucial role of the right lPFC in allocating resources during cognitivemotor interference. Our study provides further insight into the mechanisms underlying cognitive-motor multitasking and its impairments. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 489 KW - balance KW - dual task KW - fMRI KW - postural control KW - working memory Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-421140 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 489 ER -