Predictive Inference Scenarios. A set of 144 two-sentence scenarios for use in studies of predictive inference-making in reading. Each scenario consists of a “framing sentence” that sets up some expectation about an outcome, and an “outcome” sentence that either confirms or disconfirms that expectation. For each Inference scenario, there is a Control scenario that is matched in terms of major lexical content and context, but is phrased so that the expected outcome is much less likely. There are three kinds of scenarios, varying in emotional tone: one third are pleasant situations, a third are unpleasant, and a third emotionally neutral. This is an Excel file that includes affective ratings of each Inference framing sentence (pleasantness and arousal), and “Cloze” continuations for scenarios that were presented up to the point where a single word could confirm or disconfirm the expectation (for example: Your father collapses as he finishes the road race. As you cradle his head, he stops…..).
COGEXP 2.0: A program for implementing a wide range of experiments involving presenting verbal materials on a PC and recording responses and response times. This was developed in 2004 at UF for several research projects, and continues to be debugged and expanded. CogExp 2.0 was written in Visual Basic 2005, using Visual Studio and the .NET framework. To install it, download the zipped file below. Unzip the application and run the setup.exe program on your machine; it will install the CogExp application, and add a shortcut under Start / All Programs / University of Florida.