Jane Oakhill

One of the most influential developments in the cognitive sciences in the last 20 years is Phil Johnson-Laird's theory of mental models. This theory aims to provide a detailed account of both reasoning and inference, on the one hand, and language processing on the other. Mental models theory can therefore be regarded as a step toward the much-sought-after unified theory of cognition. This book, to be published on the occasion of Phil Johnson-Laird's sixtieth birthday, provides an overview of the current state of mental models research. It also reflects Phil's influence on the development of cognitive science at a more personal level. The authors include some of Phil's most distinguished collaborators and the majority of his former graduate students, many of whom are now eminent psychologists in their own right. The book contains contributions from North America, Britain, and the rest of Europe, and covers all the main strands of mental models theory.

Essays in Honour of Phil Johnson-Laird

Mental Models in Cognitive Science

Carsten Elbro

Kate Cain

The ultimate aim of reading is not the process but to understand what we read and comprehension can take place at many different levels. There has been an increasing emphasis on the importance of reading comprehension in recent years but despite this there is very little written on this vital topic accessible to trainee and practicing teachers. The Handbook of Reading Comprehension presents an overview of recent findings on reading comprehension and comprehension problems in children. It provides a detailed examination of the characteristics of children who have reading comprehension difficulties, and examines ways in which comprehension can be supported and improved. It is accessibly written for students and professionals with no previous background in the psychology of reading or reading problems. This indispensable handbook asks the question ‘what is comprehension?’ The authors consider comprehension of different units of language: understanding single words, sentences, and connected prose and outline what readers (and listeners) have to do to successfully understand an extended text. This book also considers comprehension for different purposes, in particular reading for pleasure and reading to learn and explores how reader characteristics such as interest and motivation can influence the comprehension process. Different skills contribute to successful reading comprehension. These include word reading ability, vocabulary knowledge, syntactic skills, memory, and discourse level skills such as the ability to make inferences, knowledge about text structure, and metacognitive skills. The authors discuss how each one contributes to the development of reading comprehension skill and how the development of these skills (or their precursors) in pre-readers, provides the foundation for reading comprehension development. Areas covered include:- Word reading and comprehension Development of comprehension skills Comprehension difficulties Assessment Teaching for improvement Throughout the text successful experimental and classroom based interventions will be highlighted, practical tips for teachers and summary boxes detailing key points and explaining technical terms will be included in each chapter

A handbook

Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension

Alan Garnham

This textbook covers a broad range of research on the psychology of thinking and reasoning. In particular, the authors focus on the question of when thinking is best characterized as the following of abstract rules and when as the building and manipulation of mental models of concrete situations.

Thinking and Reasoning

Lisa von Stockhausen

Sabine Sczesny

Gender inequality remains an issue of high relevance, and controversy, in society. Previous research shows that language contributes to gender inequality in various ways: Gender-related information is transmitted through formal and semantic features of language, such as the grammatical category of gender, through gender-related connotations of role names (e.g., manager, secretary), and through customs of denoting social groups with derogatory vs. neutral names. Both as a formal system and as a means of communication, language passively reflects culture-specific social conditions. In active use it can also be used to express and, potentially, perpetuate those conditions. The questions addressed in the contributions to this Frontiers Special Topic include: • how languages shape the cognitive representations of gender • how features of languages correspond with gender equality in different societies • how language contributes to social behaviour towards the sexes • how gender equality can be promoted through strategies for gender-fair language use These questions are explored both developmentally (across the life span from childhood to old age) and in adults. The contributions present work conducted across a wide range of languages, including some studies that make cross-linguistic comparisons. Among the contributors are both cognitive and social psychologists and linguists, all with an excellent research standing. The studies employ a wide range of empirical methods: from surveys to electro-physiology. The papers in the Special Topic present a wide range of complimentary studies, which will make a substantial contribution to understanding in this important area.

Language, Cognition and Gender

Phil Johnson-Laird's theory of mental models has proved to be an influential development in the cognitive sciences. This theory aims to provide a detailed account of both reasoning and inference on the one hand, and language on the other. It can therefore be regarded as a step toward the much-sought-after unified theory of cognition.; This book provides an overview of mental models research. Some of the contributors were collaborators or former graduate students of Johnson-Laird, and between them they cover the main strands of mental models theory. After an appreciation of Johnson-Laird, the book covers topics including language Processing, Reasoning, Inference, The Role Of Emotions, And The Impact Of mental illnesses on thought processes.

Jane Oakhill

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