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IntroductionThe Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire-Revised (VISQ-R) is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure characteristics of inner speech. In the current study, we adapted and validated a Hebrew version of VISQ-R. Our first hypothesis was that Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of the Hebrew VISQ-R would confirm the five subscales replicating the factor structure of the original questionnaire. In addition, building on previous findings that inner speech is involved in tasks that require the executive functions we examined the relationship between VISQ-R and self-reported executive functions questionnaire (BRIEF-A). We hypothesized that correlations between subscales of the Hebrew VISQ-R would reveal covariance between BRIEF-A and some but not all inner speech subscales.Methods406 participants completed the Hebrew VISQ-R and 280 of them also completed the BRIEF-A.ResultsAs hypothesized, CFA confirmed the factor structure revealing the same 5 subscales reported in the original English version, with acceptable internal reliability. Partial support was found for the hypothesized correlations between VISQ-R and BRIEF-A, with covariance of executive functions with some subscales of inner speech (Evaluative, Other-People and Dialogic), and distinct variance with others (Condensed and Positive).DiscussionThese results indicate that the Hebrew version of the VISQ-R has good psychometric properties and that it can be used in future research. The implications concerning the contribution of inner speech for people with difficulties in executive functions are discussed.

Abstract Objective Cognitive interventions may be effective in weight loss. The purpose of this study was to assess if cognitive reappraisal (CR; reframing the meaning of a stimulus in order to change the resulting emotional response), can reduce food attentional bias (FAB) using the Visual Dot Probe (VDP) paradigm. Method 126 participants (age 27 ± 5.8) were randomly assigned either to a CR or to a control (CN) group. After assessing baseline VDP levels for FAB, participants either wrote sentences that discourage eating fattening food or neutral sentences. Next, all participants performed the VDP post intervention. Participants also self-reported on disordered eating behaviors and their height and weight were charted. We hypothesized that CR would reduce FAB and that disordered eating would moderate the association between group and FAB. Results FAB decreased post intervention, specifically in the CR group. The bulimia sub-scale showed an interaction between bulimic eating, time and group. Among those who were high on the bulimia scale, the CR group showed lower FAB post-intervention compared to the CN group. Discussion This study suggests that CR may decrease the attentional bias toward high-calorie food compared to other strategies in the general population and among people with high bulimia measures, in particular. Plain English summary Obesity has a negative impact on many aspects of life and much research is dedicated to trying to better understand behaviors concerning obesity. People are prone to focus their attention on things that are of importance to them, such as food. When people focus their attention on food, we call this Food Attention Bias (FAB). Cognitive reappraisal (CR) interventions involve the person's conscious cognitive change of the meaning of the situation aiming to consequently change the emotional response to it, such as saying to yourself “I shouldn’t eat this because I don’t want to get fat”. CR has been found to be helpful in lowering FAB using brain imagining techniques but has not yet been studied in cognitive processes. Our study used a Visual dot probe paradigm (VDP) to assess the efficacy of CR on lowering FAB. Two groups, one using CR and a control group were assessed twice on FAB, using the VDP paradigm. Compared to the normal condition, the CR intervention helped reduce FAB. This reduction was especially significant for people with a higher tendency for bulimic behavior. The VDP paradigm, utilizing CR. can be expanded to help build an intervention aimed at reducing FAB over time. This, in turn might bring to weight reduction. People with bulimic tendencies might especially benefit from CR interventions when dealing with weight loss.

This review aims at clarifying the concept of first language attrition by tracing its limits, identifying its phenomenological and contextual constraints, discussing controversies associated with its definition, and suggesting potential directions for future research. We start by reviewing different definitions of attrition as well as associated inconsistencies. We then discuss the underlying mechanisms of first language attrition and review available evidence supporting different background hypotheses. Finally, we attempt to provide the groundwork to build a unified theoretical framework allowing for generalizable results. To this end, we suggest the deployment of a rigorous neuroscientific approach, in search of neural markers of first language attrition in different linguistic domains, putting forward hypothetical experimental ways to identify attrition’s neural traces and formulating predictions for each of the proposed experimental paradigms.

The decay in the proficiency of the native language (L1), known as first language attrition, is one of the least understood phenomena associated with the acquisition of a second language (L2). Indeed, the exact cause for the deterioration in L1 performance, be that either the interference from L2 acquisition or the less frequent use of L1, still remains elusive. In this opinion paper, we focus on one largely understudied aspect of L1 attrition—namely, the erosion of the L1 orthographic knowledge under the influence of L2 orthography. In particular, we propose to study differences in orthographic processing between mono- and bilingual populations as an approach, which, in turn, will allow to address both cognitive and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying L1 attrition. We discuss relevant experimental paradigms, variable manipulations and appropriate research methods that may help disentangle the largely debated question of L2 interference vs. L1 disuse, clarifying the nature of the L1 orthographic attrition.

Objectives An object presented positively is often judged more favourably than the same object described negatively even when the descriptions are logically equivalent. This difference, termed the attribute‐framing bias, has been shown to be affected by numeracy, such that less numerate individuals are more susceptible to the bias than highly numerate individuals. This article examines the hypothesis that less numerate individuals are less attentive to numerical information than highly numerate individuals; hence, their judgements rely more heavily on positive and negative words that elicit the bias. Method In two experiments, participants’ numeracy was measured, and they were asked to rate different scenarios while attribute framing was manipulated by presenting logically equivalent scenarios described with either positive or negative outcomes in three different proportions. Results Significant attribute‐framing effects were found in both experiments. Critically, less numerate participants were as sensitive to different outcome proportions as highly numerate participants. Nevertheless, numeracy affected attribute framing as hypothesised: Less numerate participants were typically more susceptible to attribute‐framing bias than highly numerate individuals. Conclusions Individual differences in sensitivity to numerical information did not modulate the effect of numeracy on attribute framing. We discuss the implications of these findings to understanding the cognitive processes underlying attribute‐framing bias.

This study aims to shed light on the contribution of universal versus language specific factors on reading. We examined eye movements of Arabic readers and analyzed effects specific to Arabic such as perceptual complexity, diglossia and morphology, in addition to universal factors such as word length and frequency. Twenty native Arabic speakers read continuous texts in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) while their eye movements were monitored. A corpus-based analyses was carried to test effects specific to Arabic and effects of the benchmark eye movement factors. We found that perceptually more complex words received longer fixation durations, moreover, differences in processing words unique in MSA versus words shared between MSA and spoken Arabic Vernacular were found. This is the first indication for these effects during an eye movement reading task. However, the effect of morphological length was not significant when included in the model with all predictors. Lastly, the benchmark factors were significant showing effects for word length, word frequency and part of speech. Short and frequent words are processed faster than longer and less frequent words. Function words are often skipped. We conclude that eye movement of Arabic readers reflect proficient reading, yet they also exhibit an on-going challenge in processing the written language.

Most previous research on self-disclosure (SD) focused on its perceived retrospective aspects using self-report questionnaires. Few studies investigated actual SD as reflected in interpersonal interaction. We propose a comprehensive approach that combines new objective and dynamic measures of SD that evaluate situated SD with the traditional measures that evaluate stable SD properties. As SD is essentially verbal, we build on linguistic parameters for assessing actual SD, including acoustic features such as intonation and fluency, and verbal features such as the particular choice of words. Critically, the new measures highlight SD here and now and may reveal transient situational factors that affect it, such as the dynamics of interpersonal interaction. Based on these measures, we propose a three-dimensional evaluation that can portray different profiles of SD and offer a better prediction of SD behavior in different situations. The theoretical and clinical implications of the proposed approach are discussed.

Purpose: We compare right-to-left and left-to-right orthographies to test the theory, derived from studying the latter, that small temporal asynchronies between the two eyes at the beginning and end of every fixation favor ocular prevalence for the left eye in the left hemifield and the right eye in the right hemifield. Ocular prevalence is the prioritizing of one eye's input in the conscious, fused binocular percept. Method: We analyze binocular eye-tracking data from the reading of multiline Arabic and Hebrew text by 28 Arabic (M = 28.7, SD = 7.2 years, 71% female) and 16 Hebrew (M = 30.1, SD = 7.9 years, 50% female) native speakers, respectively. Results: Critically, the complex pattern of asynchronies in Arabic and Hebrew resembles that reported for the left-to-right orthographies, English and Chinese, but with some particular differences that we attribute to left hemisphere specialization in word recognition. Conclusion: We conclude, first, that the oculomotor musculature plays an "embodied" role in the perception and cognition associated with reading. We further discuss how the evident hemispheric asymmetries in parafoveal lookahead may be reflected in the nature of the conventions of right-to-left scripts. We articulate the claim that the orthographic conventions of a language tend to reflect reading direction and hemispheric differences.

The attribute framing bias is a well-established phenomenon, in which an object or an event is evaluated more favorably when presented in a positive frame such as “the half full glass” than when presented in the complementary negative framing. Given that previous research showed that visual aids can attenuate this bias, the current research explores the factors underlying the attenuating effect of visual aids. In a series of three experiments, we examined how attribute framing bias is affected by two factors: (a) The display mode—verbal versus visual; and (b) the representation of the critical attribute—whether one outcome, either the positive or the negative, is represented or both outcomes are represented. In Experiment 1 a marginal attenuation of attribute framing bias was obtained when verbal description of either positive or negative information was accompanied by corresponding visual representation. In Experiment 2 similar marginal attenuation was obtained when both positive and negative outcomes were verbally represented. In Experiment 3, where the verbal description represented both positive and negative outcomes, significant attenuation was obtained when it was accompanied by a visual display that represented a single outcome, and complete attenuation, totally eliminating the framing bias, was obtained when it was accompanied by a visual display that represented both outcomes. Thus, our findings showed that interaction between the display mode and the representation of the critical attribute attenuated the framing bias. Theoretical and practical implications of the interaction between verbal description, visual aids and representation of the critical attribute are discussed, and future research is suggested.

Healy (1994) and Koriat and Greenberg (1994) offered different theoretical accounts of the missingletter effect (MLE) in the letter-detection task, whereby a disproportionate number of letter-detection errors occur in frequent function words. Healy emphasized identification processes, whereas Koriat and Greenberg viewed the structural role of the embedding word to be crucial. Recent research suggests that neither position alone can account for the complete set of observations pertaining to the MLE. The present paper offers a theoretical integration of these competing explanations of letter detection in terms of a GO (guidance-organization) model of reading. This model specifies how structural processing of connected text helps guide eye movements to semantically informative parts of the text, enabling readers to achieve on-line fluency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]