Abstract

Previous research into predictive inferences making showed that textual constraint influenced hemispheric processing of the inferences. However, the relationship between metacomprehension monitoring competence (MMC) and hemispheric processing of predictive inferences has rarely been investigated. The present study employed a divided visual field (DVF) paradigm to examine the effects of textual constraint and MMC on hemispheric processing of predictive inferences with Chinese native speakers during Chinese text reading. Results showed that neither response time nor facilitation effects indicated any significant interaction for our MMC groups. MMC was unlikely to play a role in hemispheric processing of predictive inferences. The results were consistent with those of the very rare relevant previous research, in which readers’ judgments of learning failed to have significant effects on inference making performance while judgments of inferencing had. Future investigation could focus more on the study of an inference-specific dimension of metacomprehension monitoring that might be more closely related to inference making. Results also indicated that the left hemisphere (LH) showed greater facilitation for strongly constrained predictive inferences than for weakly constrained predictive inferences, and that the right hemisphere (RH) showed greater levels of facilitation for weakly constrained predictive inferences. Taken together, MMC did not seem to have a positive impact on hemispheric predictive inference making. There was a RH facilitation advantage for weakly constrained texts and an LH advantage for strongly constrained texts.

摘要

先前对预测推理的研究表明，文本约束影响了推理的半球处理。然而，元理解监测能力 (MMC) 与预测推理的半球处理之间的关系很少被研究。本研究采用分割视野 (DVF) 范式来检查文本约束和 MMC 对中文母语者在中文文本阅读过程中预测推理的半球处理的影响。结果表明，响应时间和促进效应均未表明我们的 MMC 组有任何显着的相互作用。MMC 不太可能在预测推理的半球处理中发挥作用。结果与之前非常罕见的相关研究的结果一致，其中读者的学习判断未能对推理性能产生显着影响，而推理判断则具有显着影响。未来的调查可以更多地集中在元理解监测的推理特定维度的研究上，该维度可能与推理更密切相关。结果还表明，与弱约束预测推理相比，左半球 (LH) 对强约束预测推理显示出更大的促进作用，而右半球 (RH) 对弱约束预测推理显示出更高水平的促进作用。综上所述，MMC 似乎没有对半球预测推理产生积极影响。弱约束文本有 RH 促进优势，强约束文本有 LH 优势。