Sarcasm detection in native English and English as a second language speakers.

Sarcastic speech is ubiquitous in most languages, though understanding sarcasm is highly dependent upon cultural and social contextual factors (Campbell & Katz, Discourse Processes, 2012, 49, 459). It is therefore surprising that little research has examined the ability of nonnative speakers to understand the sarcastic cues of a second language. In the current study, native English speakers and English as a second language (ESL) speakers were tested in each of four different conditions. Three of the conditions presented isolated cues involved in the detection of sarcasm (prosody, written context, and facial expression) and asked participants to identify the emotional intent of the cue (sarcasm or sincerity). The fourth condition combined spoken context, prosody, and facial expressions into each trial and asked the participant to identify sarcasm or sincerity. Participants also indicated their experience with sarcasm through the completion of three questionnaires: Sarcasm Self-Report Scale (Ivanko et al., Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 2004, 23, 244), the Conversational Indirectness Scale (Holtgraves, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1997, 73, 624), and an Exposure to Sarcasm Scale. Results indicated that there were no differences in the ability of the ESL group to understand sarcasm based on facial expression; however, they were less accurate in identifying the sarcastic written context or prosody than the native English speakers. Taken together with the correlations on the questionnaires, findings suggest that experience plays a key role in the ability of ESL speakers to identify sarcastic cues. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Spatial abilities and aging: a meta-analysis.

UNLABELLED: BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Age-related effects in performance on spatial tasks have been well documented, with results suggesting a negative effect on performance in older samples. Although meta-analyses have been conducted examining performance on specific spatial tasks, it appears that data incorporating a variety of tasks have not yet been integrated into a single meta-analyses. METHODS: The present study examined age-related effects on spatial abilities in a multilevel meta-analysis of 137 effect sizes, drawn from 80 samples dated between 1958 and 2011. In addition to sample characteristics (education, year of publication, and age range), procedural factors (spatial ability category, spatial task, dependent variable, task setting, and medium of administration) were also considered. The standardized mean difference (Cohen's d) was used as the effect size measure in meta-analytic calculations. RESULTS: RESULTS revealed a large (mean d = 1.01) age-related decrease in spatial performance on psychometric tests. Specifically, older adults (mean age range = 63-79.5 years) performed worse on psychometric tests than younger adults (mean age range = 17-28.6 years). Interestingly, this age effect was unaffected by factors such as specific test, test category (mental rotation, spatial perception, or spatial visualization), timing conditions, and group or individual administration. However, measures of response time produced significantly larger effects of age than measures of accuracy on spatial performance. CONCLUSION: The present analysis demonstrates a clear pattern of negative age effects in spatial ability across the literature. Although these effects are unaffected by the specific spatial component under investigation or testing conditions, speed of processing was shown to be an important factor in spatial performance. The need to report more thoroughly on characteristics of young and old participants in future studies is also emphasized.

Word frequency, familiarity, and laterality effects in a dichotic listening task.

Although word frequency and familiarity effects are a well-established finding in visual research (Marlsen-Wilson, 1990), these variables are often overshadowed in the selection of words used in dichotic listening tasks in favour of choosing words that fuse together (Connine, Mullenix, Shernoff, & Yenn, 1990). The present study investigates the influence of word frequency and word familiarity on the right ear advantage typically found in dichotic listening. A task using words that did not fuse, and manipulating word frequency and word familiarity was developed. In the task participants were presented with dichotic pairs of words and asked to select the word that they heard the clearest. This task showed that the right ear advantage (REA) was larger when the frequency of the words presented to each ear was the same than when it was different. In addition, the magnitude of the REA was modulated independently by the familiarity of the word presented to the left and to the right ear. Overall, the results of the present study support the notion that word frequency and familiarity should be considered in dichotic tasks. The findings are interpreted in terms of their implications for models of dichotic listening.

Between- and within-ear congruency and laterality effects in an auditory semantic/emotional prosody conflict task.

The present study investigated the influence of within- and between-ear congruency on interference and laterality effects in an auditory semantic/prosodic conflict task. Participants were presented dichotically with words (e.g., mad, sad, glad) pronounced in either congruent or incongruent emotional tones (e.g., angry, happy, or sad) and identified a target word or emotion under one of two conditions. In the within-ear condition, the congruent or incongruent dimensions were bound within a single stimulus and therefore, presented to the same ear. In the between-ear condition, the two dimensions were split between two stimuli and, therefore, presented in separate ears. Findings indicated interference in both conditions. However, the expected right ear advantage (EA) for words and left EA for emotions were obtained only in the between-ear condition. Factors involved in producing interference and laterality effects in dichotic listening tasks are discussed.

On the perception of sarcasm in dichotic listening.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the processing of sincere and sarcastic statements by the cerebral hemispheres. Forty right-handed students were asked to localize sincere and sarcastic statements presented dichotically. Participants either indicated the ear that perceived the sarcastic statement or the ear that perceived the sincere statement in counterbalanced blocks of trials. As expected, results revealed a left ear advantage for sarcastic statements and a right ear advantage for sincere statements. In addition, participants showed faster response time when localizing targets (both sarcastic and sincere) to the left ear compared to the right. Finally, a significant negative correlation between laterality effects in the two tasks provided support for causal hemispheric complementarity. Results are discussed with reference to the contribution of the right and left hemispheres to language processing. Their implications for models of sarcasm perception are also discussed.

Congruency, attentional set, and laterality effects with emotional words.

The present study investigated the influence of attention and word-emotion congruency on auditory asymmetries with stimuli that include verbal and emotional components. Words were presented dichotically to 80 participants and were pronounced in either congruent or incongruent emotional tones. Participants were asked to identify the presence of a target word or emotion under 1 of 2 conditions. The blocked condition required detection of a word or emotional target in separate blocks. In the randomized condition, the target was changed across trials by means of a postcue. A right-ear advantage (REA) and a left-ear advantage (LEA) were found for word and emotion targets, respectively. However, the finding of a Condition x Stimulus Type x Ear x Congruency interaction indicated that in the randomized condition, a REA was obtained for words when the stimuli were congruent and a LEA was observed for emotions when the stimuli were incongruent. The findings suggest that randomizing the target reduced the influence of the attentional set established by blocking the target. It is likely that this promoted the detection of hemispheric interference in the randomized condition.

Material type and attention control in dichotic listening.

The present study investigated the effects of semantic and emotional content on laterality effects found in focused attention dichotic listening tasks. A total of 80 right-handed participants completed one of four conditions. They were presented either with dichotic pairs of consonant-vowel (CV) syllables (ba, da, ga, ka, pa, or ta) or words (bower, dower, power, or tower), pronounced in either a neutral tone or one of four emotional tones (happy, sad, angry, neutral). In all conditions, participants were instructed to circle the stimulus presented to the attended ear on each trial. The attended ear was randomised between blocks of trials for each participant. A significant condition by ear attended by ear of presentation interaction emerged. The typical right ear advantage (REA) was found in the neutral conditions, regardless of ear attended. In contrast, the emotional conditions revealed an REA when participants focused on the right ear, whereas a left ear advantage was found when they focused on the left ear. These findings suggest that the emotional component resulted in a shift in ear advantage coinciding with instructions possibly because of the influence of this component on attention and task difficulty. The role of semantic processing in words versus syllables is also discussed.