The
correlation between the cognitive accessibility of an object and the way
of representing this object in the text when retelling a video plot or
stories based on a set of pictures has been investigated. It was shown
(1) that there is no correlation between the cognitive accessibility of
an object and the frequency of mentioning this object in the text; and
(2) that there is a strong correlation between the cognitive
accessibility of the object and the difficulties experienced by the
speaker in naming the object, manifested in the observed symptoms of
speech disfluencies.
History
Research questions / Hypotheses
The cognitive accessibility is understood as a parameter that consists of ontological accessibility (whether the object is accessible to the speaker in direct experience) and lexical accessibility (whether a well-mastered lexicalized way of naming the object is available to the speaker, i.e. a fixed specific word or expression). The following questions were posed: (1) is there a correlation between the cognitive accessibility of an object and the frequency of mentioning this object in the text; and (2) is there is a correlation between the cognitive accessibility of the object and the difficulties experienced by the speaker in naming the object, manifested in the observed symptoms of speech disfluencies.
Participants / Sample description
Two groups of subjects were tested: a group of schoolchildren 15-17 years old (N: 20) and a group of adults 35-40 years old (N: 21).
Apparatus and materials
The key research method involves eliciting and documenting narratives. The subjects were asked to retell a video plot and to produce stories based on a set of pictures.
Data collection procedure
Step 1. After watching the 50 sec short video the subjects were asked to retell the plot.
Step 2. Subjects were exposed to 5 screenshots from the same video and were asked to describe them.
The elicited narratives were handwritten by subjects themselves and annotated by the authors (1) for objects with low cognitive accessibility and objects with high cognitive accessibility mentioned in the story; and (b) for speech disfluencies (inlc. self-corrections, repetitions, grammatical inconsistencies etc.).
Statistical methods
Fisher's test
Results
The first question was answered in the negative in both age groups: no correlation was found between the cognitive accessibility of an object and the frequency of mentioning this object in the text. The second question in both age groups received a convincing positive answer: when mentioning an object with low cognitive accessibility, the subjects significantly more often demonstrated symptoms of speech disfluencies than when mentioning an object with high cognitive accessibility.
Affiliation
Vera I. Podlesskaya
Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia
Maria S. Klokotova
National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia