Cohesive Devices - Anaphoric Nouns
Using nouns to refer to previous parts of a text
Anaphoric nouns are nouns which are used to refer back to some object or idea already presented in a text. They are usually very general words and often abstract nouns because they refer to ideas, arguments, theories and so on. When they are used to refer to ideas found elsewhere in a text they are sometimes known as shell nouns. They constitute an important class of words in academic discourse.
The text below contains examples of nouns used anaphorically to refer to previous items. It also contains other reference items, some of which are highlighted and explained. The text is taken from an article, How memories are formed and retrieved by the brain revealed in a new study, in "The Conversation" by Benjamin J. Griffiths and Simon Hanslmayr from the University of Birmingham and you can access the full article here.
You can also view the complete text by clicking in the top right hand corner of the first section below. Click in each paragraph to view these items. You can pause the animations with a mouse down or touch down action. The full text contains many examples of nouns used anaphorically including these little details, the experience, that meal, the meal, the process, this phenomenon, these details, the experiment, these associations, this pattern, the event, the memory. You can see that the nouns are all preceded by words like the, this, that, those - determiners and demonstrative pronouns indicating that a reference is to be found somewhere in the text. Other examples are such, former, latter, other, same, another. Examples of their use are given below.
Undoubtedly, our ability to create and retrieve long-term memories is a fundamental part of the human experience – but we still have lots to learn about the process. For instance, we lack a clear understanding of how different brain regions interact in order to form and retrieve memories. But our recent study sheds new light on this phenomenon by showing how neural activity in two distinct brain regions interact during memory retrieval.
Try to remember that last dinner you went out for. Perhaps you can remember the taste of that delicious pasta, the sounds of the jazz pianist in the corner, or that boisterous laugh from the portly gentleman three tables over. What you probably can’t remember is putting any effort into remembering any of these little details.
Somehow, your brain has rapidly processed the experience and turned it into a robust, long-term memory without any serious effort from yourself. And, as you reflect on that meal today, your brain has generated a high-definition movie of the meal from memory, for your mental viewing pleasure, in a matter of seconds.
But the hippocampus is simply too small to store every little detail of a memory. This has lead researchers to theorise that the hippocampus calls upon the neocortex – a region which processes complex sensory details such as sound and sight – to help fill in the details of a memory.
"the process refers to the ability to create and retrieve long-tem memories. "process" is a noun which is often used anaphorically, compressing a concept which was explained in a longer stretch of text into one word.
The neocortex does this by doing the exact opposite of what the hippocampus does – it ensures that neurons do not fire together. This is often referred to as “neural desynchronisation”. Imagine asking an audience of 100 people for their names. If they synchronise their response (that is, they all scream out at the same time), you’re probably not going to understand anything. But if they desynchronise their response (that is, they take turns speaking their names), you’re probably going to gather a lot more information from them. The same is true for neocortical neurons – if they synchronise, they struggle to get their message across, but if they desynchronise, the information comes across easily.
Our research found that the hippocampus and neocortex do in fact work together when recalling a memory. This happens when the hippocampus synchronises its activity to glue parts of the memory together, and later help to recall the memory. Meanwhile, the neocortex desynchronises its activity to help process information about the event and later help process information about the memory.
"This" is simple pronoun reference and it refers to the whole of the previous sentence.
"The same” refers to the explanation in the previous sentence (in fact, it’s a substitution: it substitutes for the fact that if they synchronise their response, you’re not going to understand anything but if they desynchronise you’re going to gather a lot more information).
"phenomenon" is another noun often used to refer back to a complex process. In this case it refers to "how different brain regions interact in order to form and retrieve memories".
"experience" is a typical anaphoric noun. In this case it refers back to the whole event of the dinner (and the pasta, the jazz, the laugh) at the very beginning of the text.
"This happens" refers to the hippocampus and neocortex working together.
"This" is a simple pronoun reference but it refers to a complex procedure - glueing the parts of the memory together by making sure the "where" and the "when" neurons fire together. Luckily, it's in the previous sentence so it's easy to identify. We are also given a name for this procedure: "neural synchronisation". As a reader you should take note of this as it may be mentioned later in the text.
"does this" refers to the theory in the the previous paragraph - the theory that the neocortex helps to fill in the details of a memory.
"these little details" refers to taste of the delicious pasta, the sounds of the jazz pianist and the laugh from the portly gentleman. "details" is a noun often used to refer back (anaphorically) to particular items in a text.
"This" means ensuring that neurons do not fire together, at the end of the previous sentence.
small
"these details" refers to the neurons that code for the "where" and the "when”. As we’ve already seen, “details" is a noun often used to refer back to previously mentioned events or procedures.
The hippocampus, a structure located deep within the brain, has long been seen as a hub for memory. The hippocampus helps “glue” parts of the memory together (the “where” with the “when”) by ensuring that neurons fire together. This is often referred to as “neural synchronisation”. When the neurons that code for the “where” synchronise with the neurons that code for the “when”, these details become associated through a phenomenon known as “Hebbian learning”.
“the event” refers to "recalling a memory" in the first sentence. The word “event” is often used to refer to events or processes described earlier in a text.
But the hippocampus is simply too small to store every little detail of a memory. This has lead researchers to theorise that the hippocampus calls upon the neocortex – a region which processes complex sensory details such as sound and sight – to help fill in the details of a memory.
The neocortex does this by doing the exact opposite of what the hippocampus does – it ensures that neurons do not fire together. This is often referred to as “neural desynchronisation”. Imagine asking an audience of 100 people for their names. If they synchronise their response (that is, they all scream out at the same time), you’re probably not going to understand anything. But if they desynchronise their response (that is, they take turns speaking their names), you’re probably going to gather a lot more information from them. The same is true for neocortical neurons – if they synchronise, they struggle to get their message across, but if they desynchronise, the information comes across easily.
The neocortex does this by doing the exact opposite of what the hippocampus does – it ensures that neurons do not fire together. This is often referred to as “neural desynchronisation”. Imagine asking an audience of 100 people for their names. If they synchronise their response (that is, they all scream out at the same time), you’re probably not going to understand anything. But if they desynchronise their response (that is, they take turns speaking their names), you’re probably going to gather a lot more information from them. The same is true for neocortical neurons – if they synchronise, they struggle to get their message across, but if they desynchronise, the information comes across easily.
The neocortex does this by doing the exact opposite of what the hippocampus does – it ensures that neurons do not fire together. This is often referred to as “neural desynchronisation”. Imagine asking an audience of 100 people for their names. If they synchronise their response (that is, they all scream out at the same time), you’re probably not going to understand anything. But if they desynchronise their response (that is, they take turns speaking their names), you’re probably going to gather a lot more information from them. The same is true for neocortical neurons – if they synchronise, they struggle to get their message across, but if they desynchronise, the information comes across easily.
How memories are formed and retrieved by the brain revealed in a new study
Forming and recalling memories is a complex system of synchronisation and desynchronisation in different parts the brain. decade3s- anatomy online/ Shutterstock Benjamin J. Griffiths, University of Birmingham and Simon Hanslmayr, University of BirminghamTry to remember that last dinner you went out for. Perhaps you can remember the taste of that delicious pasta, the sounds of the jazz pianist in the corner, or that boisterous laugh from the portly gentleman three tables over. What you probably can’t remember is putting any effort into remembering any of these little details.
Somehow, your brain has rapidly processed the experience and turned it into a robust, long-term memory without any serious effort from yourself. And, as you reflect on that meal today, your brain has generated a high-definition movie of the meal from memory, for your mental viewing pleasure, in a matter of seconds.
Undoubtedly, our ability to create and retrieve long-term memories is a fundamental part of the human experience – but we still have lots to learn about the process. For instance, we lack a clear understanding of how different brain regions interact in order to form and retrieve memories. But our recent study sheds new light on this phenomenon by showing how neural activity in two distinct brain regions interact during memory retrieval.
The hippocampus, a structure located deep within the brain, has long been seen as a hub for memory. The hippocampus helps “glue” parts of the memory together (the “where” with the “when”) by ensuring that neurons fire together. This is often referred to as “neural synchronisation”. When the neurons that code for the “where” synchronise with the neurons that code for the “when”, these details become associated through a phenomenon known as “Hebbian learning”.
But the hippocampus is simply too small to store every little detail of a memory. This has lead researchers to theorise that the hippocampus calls upon the neocortex – a region which processes complex sensory details such as sound and sight – to help fill in the details of a memory.
The neocortex does this by doing the exact opposite of what the hippocampus does – it ensures that neurons do not fire together. This is often referred to as “neural desynchronisation”. Imagine asking an audience of 100 people for their names. If they synchronise their response (that is, they all scream out at the same time), you’re probably not going to understand anything. But if they desynchronise their response (that is, they take turns speaking their names), you’re probably going to gather a lot more information from them. The same is true for neocortical neurons – if they synchronise, they struggle to get their message across, but if they desynchronise, the information comes across easily.
Our research found that the hippocampus and neocortex do in fact work together when recalling a memory. This happens when the hippocampus synchronises its activity to glue parts of the memory together, and later help to recall the memory. Meanwhile, the neocortex desynchronises its activity to help process information about the event and later help process information about the memory.
Of cats and bicycles
We tested 12 epilepsy patients between 24 and 53 years of age. All had electrodes place directly within the brain tissue of their hippocampus and neocortex as part of the treatment for their epilepsy. During the experiment, patients learned associations between different stimuli (such as words, sounds and videos), and later recalled these associations. For example, a patient may be shown the word “cat” followed by a video of a bike cycling down a street.
The patient would then try and create a vivid link between the two (perhaps the cat riding the bike) to help them remember the association between the two items. Later, they would be presented with one of the items and asked to recall the other. The researchers then examined how the hippocampus interacted with the neocortex when the patients were learning and recalling these associations.
During learning, neural activity in the neocortex desynchronised and then, around 150 milliseconds later, neural activity in the hippocampus synchronised. Seemingly, information about the sensory details of the stimuli was first being processed by the neocortex, before being passed to the hippocampus to be glued together.
We found that the hippocampus and neocortex work closely together when forming and retrieving memories. Orawan Pattarawimonchai/ ShutterstockFascinatingly, this pattern reversed during retrieval – neural activity in the hippocampus first synchronised and then, around 250 milliseconds later, neural activity in the neocortex desynchronised. This time, it appeared that the hippocampus first recalled a gist of the memory and then began to ask the neocortex for the specifics.
Our findings support a recent theory which suggests that a desynchronised neocortex and synchronised hippocampus need to interact to form and recall memories.
Read more: Are memories reliable? Expert explains how they change more than we realise
While brain stimulation has become a promising method for boosting our cognitive facilities, it has proved difficult to stimulate the hippocampus to improve long-term memory. The key problem has been that the hippocampus is located deep within the brain and is difficult to reach with brain stimulation that is applied from the scalp. But the findings from this study present a new possibility. By stimulating the regions in the neocortex that communicate with the hippocampus, perhaps the hippocampus can be indirectly pushed to create new memories or recall old ones.
Understanding more about the way the hippocampus and neocortex work together when forming and recalling memories could be important for further developing new technologies that could help improve memory for those suffering from cognitive impairments such as dementia, as well as boosting memory in the population at large. Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines
Benjamin J. Griffiths, Doctoral Researcher, University of Birmingham and Simon Hanslmayr, , University of BirminghamThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
"this" refers to the theory in the the previous paragraph - the theory that the neocortex helps to fill in the details of a memory.
"these little details" refers to taste of the delicious pasta, the sounds of the jazz pianist and the laugh from the portly gentleman. "details" is a noun often used to refer back (anaphorically) to particular items in a text.
"phenomenon" is another noun often used to refer back to a complex process. In this case it refers to "how different brain regions interact in order to form and retrieve memories".
"experience" is a typical anaphoric noun. In this case it refers back to the whole event of the dinner (and the pasta, the jazz, the laugh) at the very beginning of the text.
"the process refers to the ability to create and retrieve long-tem memories. "process" is a noun which is often used anaphorically, compressing a concept which was explained in a longer stretch of text into one word.
How memories are formed and retrieved by the brain revealed in a new study
Forming and recalling memories is a complex system of synchronisation and desynchronisation in different parts the brain. decade3s- anatomy online/ Shutterstock Benjamin J. Griffiths, University of Birmingham and Simon Hanslmayr, University of BirminghamTry to remember that last dinner you went out for. Perhaps you can remember the taste of that delicious pasta, the sounds of the jazz pianist in the corner, or that boisterous laugh from the portly gentleman three tables over. What you probably can’t remember is putting any effort into remembering any of these little details.
Somehow, your brain has rapidly processed the experience and turned it into a robust, long-term memory without any serious effort from yourself. And, as you reflect on that meal today, your brain has generated a high-definition movie of the meal from memory, for your mental viewing pleasure, in a matter of seconds.
Undoubtedly, our ability to create and retrieve long-term memories is a fundamental part of the human experience – but we still have lots to learn about the process. For instance, we lack a clear understanding of how different brain regions interact in order to form and retrieve memories. But our recent study sheds new light on this phenomenon by showing how neural activity in two distinct brain regions interact during memory retrieval.
The hippocampus, a structure located deep within the brain, has long been seen as a hub for memory. The hippocampus helps “glue” parts of the memory together (the “where” with the “when”) by ensuring that neurons fire together. This is often referred to as “neural synchronisation”. When the neurons that code for the “where” synchronise with the neurons that code for the “when”, these details become associated through a phenomenon known as “Hebbian learning”.
But the hippocampus is simply too small to store every little detail of a memory. This has lead researchers to theorise that the hippocampus calls upon the neocortex – a region which processes complex sensory details such as sound and sight – to help fill in the details of a memory.
The neocortex does this by doing the exact opposite of what the hippocampus does – it ensures that neurons do not fire together. This is often referred to as “neural desynchronisation”. Imagine asking an audience of 100 people for their names. If they synchronise their response (that is, they all scream out at the same time), you’re probably not going to understand anything. But if they desynchronise their response (that is, they take turns speaking their names), you’re probably going to gather a lot more information from them. The same is true for neocortical neurons – if they synchronise, they struggle to get their message across, but if they desynchronise, the information comes across easily.
Our research found that the hippocampus and neocortex do in fact work together when recalling a memory. This happens when the hippocampus synchronises its activity to glue parts of the memory together, and later help to recall the memory. Meanwhile, the neocortex desynchronises its activity to help process information about the event and later help process information about the memory.
Of cats and bicycles
We tested 12 epilepsy patients between 24 and 53 years of age. All had electrodes place directly within the brain tissue of their hippocampus and neocortex as part of the treatment for their epilepsy. During the experiment, patients learned associations between different stimuli (such as words, sounds and videos), and later recalled these associations. For example, a patient may be shown the word “cat” followed by a video of a bike cycling down a street.
The patient would then try and create a vivid link between the two (perhaps the cat riding the bike) to help them remember the association between the two items. Later, they would be presented with one of the items and asked to recall the other. The researchers then examined how the hippocampus interacted with the neocortex when the patients were learning and recalling these associations.
During learning, neural activity in the neocortex desynchronised and then, around 150 milliseconds later, neural activity in the hippocampus synchronised. Seemingly, information about the sensory details of the stimuli was first being processed by the neocortex, before being passed to the hippocampus to be glued together.
We found that the hippocampus and neocortex work closely together when forming and retrieving memories. Orawan Pattarawimonchai/ ShutterstockFascinatingly, this pattern reversed during retrieval – neural activity in the hippocampus first synchronised and then, around 250 milliseconds later, neural activity in the neocortex desynchronised. This time, it appeared that the hippocampus first recalled a gist of the memory and then began to ask the neocortex for the specifics.
Our findings support a recent theory which suggests that a desynchronised neocortex and synchronised hippocampus need to interact to form and recall memories.
Try to remember that last dinner you went out for. Perhaps you can remember the taste of that delicious pasta, the sounds of the jazz pianist in the corner, or that boisterous laugh from the portly gentleman three tables over. What you probably can’t remember is putting any effort into remembering any of these little details.
Somehow, your brain has rapidly processed the experience and turned it into a robust, long-term memory without any serious effort from yourself. And, as you reflect on that meal today, your brain has generated a high-definition movie of the meal from memory, for your mental viewing pleasure, in a matter of seconds.
"experience" is a typical anaphoric noun. In this case it refers back to the whole event of the dinner (and the pasta, the jazz, the laugh) at the very beginning of the text.
Further Examples of Noun Reference
Anaphoric nouns are often preceded by determiners such as the, this, that, these, those, such, former, latter ... The whole noun phrase (e.g. "This issue" in the first example) refers, anaphorically, to something in the previous sentence or sometimes even earlier in the text. In the examples below the reference item and the antecedent are highlighted in red.
this
So the important question of whether periodontal disease causes heart disease has yet to be determined. This issue was recently addressed in a statement by the American Heart Association. (Roberts-Thomson 2012)
case
point
stage
area
period
study
process
approach
problem
issue
view
situation
reason
group
place
information
question
project
method
part
these
There are then two chief duties of roots, to absorb water from the soil for the whole plant, and to hold it firmly in the ground. The fine fibres of the root, which are so much divided and run in the soil, serve both these purposes, as they expose a large area to contact with the soil, and so can absorb much from it, as well as getting a good hold of it. (Stopes 1906)
changes
people
problems
areas
circumstances
questions
cases
factors
matters
issues
view
figures
results
conditions
words
groups
findings
points
terms
ideas
such
Very often you may find plants of the same species as those that grow so tall in the hedge, growing in the shorter turf away from it, and there only reaching their usual height.
This shows us not only that different species are specialised to grow under different conditions, but that even two individual plants of the same species may be growing within a few feet of each other, and yet have quite a different appearance owing to the influence of their immediate surroundings. There are many such cases to be seen in the hedgerows. (Stopes 1906)
cases
matters
circumstances
people
information
questions
changes
areas
problems
systems
work
conditions
behaviour
issues
groups
action
schemes
studies
evidence
terms
activities
situations
measures
factors
places
items
such a
" ..the squids of our coasts vary in length from eight inches to one foot; and the giant Architeuthis of the North Atlantic measures, often, fifty feet from the end of its arms to the tip of its tail. Such a creature, with its long arms provided with suckers, its powerful jaws, and its rapid, alert movements, is a formidable foe". (Foote Arnold, 1901)
thing
case
system
situation
policy
move
view
state
person
scheme
change
man
place
position
time
manner
strategy
statement
decision
theory
success
claim
clause
such an
Sometimes the leaves are arranged in a circle all round the stem at the same level; this is the case in the horsetail, and such an arrangement is called a whorl, but it is not very common in plants. (Stopes 1906)
event
arrangement
agreement
analysis
interpretation
argument
exercise
attitude
effect
idea
application
act
action
undertaking
environment
outcome
opportunity
assumption
organisation
offence
effort
incident
enterprise
offer
increase
former
This eclipse settled for ever the doubt as to whether the Red Flames belonged to the Sun or the Moon, and in favour of the former view.
president
member
director
minister
latter
[Bailey's beads] are observed to form before the total phase, and often also after the total phase has passed. Under the latter circumstances, the beads of light eventually run one into another, like so many small drops of water merging into one big one.
same
If you were asked to give the signs of life in an animal, it is likely that you would think at once of its power of breathing, eating, growing, and moving. Now when we ask the same question about plants the answer does not appear to be quite so easy to find, because at first sight plants do not seem to do any of these things except the growing. (Stopes 1906)
thing
day
period
year
amount
age
size
place
reason
number
direction
level
effect
position
problem
point
area
rate
side
pattern
colour
group
price
principle
manner
moment
degree
question
class
species
situation
result
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