Story understanding as problem-solving

Black, John B.; Bower, Gordon H.

doi:10.1016/0304-422x(80)90021-2

Cited by 330 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Our points complement and in some cases extend other rebuttals Rumelhart, 1980). Black and Bower (1980) present in summary form many of the same arguments given in B & W, and our criticisms therefore apply to that paper as well.…”

supporting

confidence: 86%

A re-evaluation of story grammars

Frisch

PERLIS

1981

Cognitive Science

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Black and Wbnsky (1 979) haw mode serious methodological errors in analyzing story grammars, and in the process they haw committed additional errors in applying formal language thswy. Ow arguments imdw clarifying certain as- Particular criticisms focus on the following shwtcomings of their prosentotiom 1) an error#ouI statement from formal langwga hoary, 2) misapplication of formal language theory to story grammars, 3) unsubstontioted and doubrfvl analogies with English grammar, 4) various llon sequiturs concerning tha Q.cHration of non-stories, 5) a false claim bawd on the artificial distinciion belwoen syntax and semantics, and 6) misinterpretation of the role of story grammors in story understanding.We conclude by suggesting appropriate criteria for the evaluation of story grammars.John Black and Robert Wilensky (1979) (henceforth B & W) argue against story grammars as germane to the study of story understanding. Their arguments strike us as seriously inadequate and in several instances based on a fallacious application of results from the theory of formal languages. It seems to us that lack of a well-defined specification of the story-grammar approach in their article has led to a confused methodological 'outlook which we hope to clarify. Our criticism will be organized into the following parts:1. We review some theory of formal languages and, in particular, show how languages and grammars are related. This is then used to correct a theorem misstated by B & W. 2. We point out several instances where B & W have misapplied the theory of formal languages in attempting to show that certain story grammars are inadequate.

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supporting

confidence: 86%

A re-evaluation of story grammars

Frisch

PERLIS

1981

Cognitive Science

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“…Using a different analytic method, Black and Bower (1980) -21 -theirs, we also analyzed the recall results using their method. We rank ordered the propositions for each story according to the peruenrag , G subjects who recalled each proposition.…”

Section: Recallmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As in the studies of -3-memory for expository prose discussed above, people's memory for narrative prose demonstrates the levels effect. Several studies have st.t that people are more likely to remember propositions that occur high in the structural hierarchy than low in the hierarchy (Rumelhart, 1977; Thorndyke, 1977Thorndyke, , 1978, although this result has recently been challenged (Black & Bower, 1980). The narrative schema concept has been used widely in interpreting comprehension and retrieval of a variety of texts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

An evaluation of alternative functional models of narrative schemata

Yekovich

Thorndyke

1981

Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior

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“…Adults and children organize their event memories around action goals (Newtson & Engquist, 1976;Zacks & Tversky, 2001), information about a protagonist's goals guides narrative construction and interpretation (Black & Bower, 1980;Trabasso, Stein, Rodkin, Munger, & Baugh, 1992), and goals and intentions serve as both explanatory constructs and predictive cues for describing our own and others' behavior (D'Andrade, 1987;Wellman, 1990). Sensitivity to the goal structure of action also plays a powerful role in mediating learning across a variety of domains.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Action experience alters 3-month-old infants' perception of others' actions

2005

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An intervention facilitated 3-month-old infants' apprehension of objects either prior to (reach first), or after (watch first) viewing another person grasp similar objects in a visual habituation procedure. Action experience facilitated action perception: reach-first infants focused on the relation between the actor and her goal, but watch-first infants did not. Infants' sensitivity to the actor's goal was correlated with their engagement in object-directed contact with the toys. These findings indicate that infants can rapidly form goal-based action representations and suggest a developmental link between infants' goal directed actions and their ability to detect goals in the actions of others.

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Story understanding as problem-solving

Cited by 330 publications

References 3 publications

A re-evaluation of story grammars

A re-evaluation of story grammars

An evaluation of alternative functional models of narrative schemata

Action experience alters 3-month-old infants' perception of others' actions

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