O priming semântico é um tipo de memória implícita que se caracteriza pelo efeito facilitador de um estímulo precedente no processamento de um estímulo posterior, causado pela relação semântica existente entre os dois. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar relações entre os efeitos de priming semânt..

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the psychosocial functioning of children and families. It is important to consider adversity in relation to processes of positive adaptation. To date, there are no empirically validated multi-item scales measuring COVID-related positive adaptation within families. The aim of the current study was to develop and validate a new measure: the Family Positive Adaptation during COVID-19 Scale. The sample included 372 female and 158 male caregivers of children ages 5–18 years old from the United Kingdom, (...) the United States, Canada, and Australia, who completed measures in May 2020. Participants responded to a 14-item survey indexing a range of perceived coping and adaptation behaviors at the beginning of the pandemic. An exploratory factor analysis yielded an optimal one-factor solution comprised of seven items related to family cohesion, flexibility, routines, and meaning-making. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated measurement invariance across female and male caregivers, demonstrating that the factor structure, loadings, and thresholds did not vary by caregiver sex. There was evidence for concurrent validity with significant bivariate correlations between the Family PACS scores and measures of caregiver positive coping, parenting practices, couple satisfaction, and family functioning, but not negatively-valenced constructs. Findings inform our conceptualization of how families have adapted to adverse pandemic-related conditions. Further, we provide preliminary support for the Family PACS as a practical tool for evaluating positive family adaptation during this global crisis, with implications for future widespread crises. (shrink)

Conceptual primitives and semantic universals are the cornerstones of a semantic theory which Anna Wierzbicka has been developing for many years. Semantics: Primes and Universals is a major synthesis of her work, presenting a full and systematic exposition of that theory in a non-technical and readable way. It delineates a full set of universal concepts, as they have emerged from large-scale investigations across a wide range of languages undertaken by the author and her colleagues. On the basis of empirical cross-linguistic (...) studies it vindicates the old notion of the "psychic unity of mankind", while at the same time offering a framework for the rigorous description of different languages and cultures. (shrink)

Distinct from nominal metaphors, predicate metaphors entail metaphorical abstraction from concrete verbs, which generally involve more action and stronger motor simulation than nouns. It remains unclear whether and how the concrete, embodied aspects of verbs are connected with abstract, disembodied thinking in the brains of L2 learners. Since English predicate metaphors are unfamiliar to Chinese L2 learners, the study of embodiment effect on English predicate metaphor processing may provide new evidence for embodied cognition and categorization models that remain controversial, and (...) offer practical insights into L2 metaphor processing and pedagogy. Hence, we aim to investigate whether the embodiment of verbs, via the activation of sensorimotor information, influences two groups of L2 learners during their comprehension of conventional and novel predicate metaphors. The results show a significant effect of embodiment: a stronger facilitation for novel predicate metaphors in both higher-level and lower-level groups, and a weaker facilitation for conventional predicate metaphors in the lower-level group. The findings demonstrate preliminary evidence for a graded effect of embodiment on predicate metaphors processing, modulated by L2 proficiency and metaphor novelty. The study supports a hybrid view of embodied cognition and reveals that sensorimotor aspects of verbs may be the intermediate entity involved in the indirect categorization. (shrink)

L’étude formalisée sémantico-pragmatique des discours que nous soumettons à la communauté linguistique dégage une démarche générale pour rendre intelligible, grâce à la systématisation de contenus sémantiques prédéterminés, l’interprétation différentielle de discours. Nous suggérons, à partir de l’étude de cas d’élèves suivis en lycée professionnel, ayant produit des discours singuliers insérés dans dix-huit discussions philosophiques tenues en classe, une réflexion sur l’utilisation d’une grille, perfectible et discutable. Si le développement psychologique d’élèves en grave échec scolaire emprunte un parcours de résilience, l’étude (...) de leurs discours devrait faire la preuve d’une transformation de leurs représentations psychiques à partir des facteurs fondamentaux de la loi, du sens, du lien et de la honte, répertoriés dans la littérature. Notre étude suivie des discours propose un décryptage des changements de posture au fil des discussions tenues sur ces quatre aspects : loi, sens, lien, honte. Éloigné d’une analyse classique de contenu, notre codage propose une échelle pour situer chaque élève sur son parcours résilient à partir de l’étude sémantico-pragmatique de ce qui est dit. Notre contribution, à caractère méthodologique, vise à terme une application au champ de l’éducation. Nous discutons du caractère singulier versus transférable de notre travail en conclusion. (shrink)

Secondo l’eliminativismo semantico [ME] (Recanati 2004), non è necessario postulare l'esistenza di significati o potenziali semantici stabili per spiegare le nostre prestazioni lessicali; il senso di una parola in una particolare occasione d’uso viene calcolato dal parlante sulla base della relazione di somiglianza che sussiste tra l’uso attuale e tutti gli usi passati di quella parola, senza la mediazione di una rappresentazione astratta del suo significato convenzionale. Se viene intesa come un'ipotesi sulla struttura e sull'acquisizione della nostra competenza lessicale, una (...) delle implicazioni più immediate di questa posizione sembra essere la negazione dell'esistenza, nella nostra architettura cognitiva, della cosiddetta «memoria semantica», ovvero di un magazzino di memoria specificamente dedicato allo stoccaggio delle informazioni semantiche su un dato termine o parola. Più specificatamente, ME sembra implicare la tesi secondo cui tutte le prestazioni che sono state tradizionalmente ascritte alla memoria semantica potrebbero essere sorrette dai meccanismi cognitivi che si occupano della ritenzione e della gestione delle tracce mnestiche episodiche. In questo saggio, discuterò criticamente una serie di dati neuropsicologici, ovvero dati provenienti da pazienti cerebrolesi, che sembrano costituire una falsificazione empirica decisiva di questa posizione. (shrink)