Automatic versus controlled semantic priming in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenic individuals (n?=?31), including paranoid and nonparanoid diagnostic subgroups, and normal controls (n?=?20) participated in a semantic priming experiment involving a single-choice lexical decision task. For the automatic priming blocks, a 260-ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was used; for the controlled priming blocks, a 1,000-ms SOA was used. The paranoid subgroup showed significantly less priming than did the control group. The nonparanoid subgroup showed a decrease in priming compared with the control group that approached significance. There was an increased priming effect for the controlled compared with the automatic priming condition; this difference was not modulated by participant group. Nonsignificant semantic priming (equal to 0) occurred only for schizophrenic subgroups and only in automatic priming conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facilitation of word recognition by semantic priming in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenic (n?=?21), bipolar (n?=?18), and normal control subjects (n?=?21) were compared on a word recognition measure of semantic priming. The task involved the presentation of related, neutral, and unrelated word pairs; the second word (target word) in each pair was presented in a degraded form. Facilitation was defined as the accuracy of target word recognition for the related word pairs minus accuracy for the neutral word pairs. Titration, achieved by manipulating the degradation of the target word, was used to maintain each subject's overall accuracy for related and neutral items at approximately 50%. This procedure minimized the artifactual effects of overall accuracy on the difference score. Schizophrenics exceeded both normal control subjects and bipolar subjects on facilitation. Bipolar subjects did not differ from control subjects. The results support Maher's hypothesis that semantic priming effects are heightened in schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of semantic priming on visual encoding of pictures.

We investigated the effects of semantic priming on initial encoding of briefly presented pictures of objects and scenes. Pictures in 4 experiments were presented for varying durations and were followed immediately by a mask. In Exps 1 and 2, pictures of simple objects were either preceded or not preceded by the object's category name (e.g., dog). In Exp 1 we measured immediate object identification; in Exp 2 we measured delayed old/new recognition in which targets and distractors were from the same categories. In Exp 3 naturalistic scenes were either preceded or not preceded by the scene's category name (e.g., supermarket). We measured delayed recognition in which targets and distractors were described by the same category names. In Exps 1–3, performance was better for primed than for unprimed pictures. Exp 4 was similar to Exp 2 in that we measured delayed recognition for simple objects. As in Exps 1–3, a prime that preceded the object improved subsequent memory performance for the object. However, a prime that followed the object did not affect subsequent performance. Together, these results imply that priming leads to more efficient information acquisition. We offer a picture-processing model that accounts for these results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increased semantic and repetition priming in schizophrenic patients.

Positive and negative priming (PP and NP) in schizophrenia were studied with a lexical-decision task. Probe words, presented 800 ms after the response to the prime (containing a word and a nonword), were either identical to, semantically related to, or unrelated to the prime target word (PP) or to the prime distractor word (NP). Schizophrenic patients displayed stronger semantic and repetition PP than controls after controlling for their slower responses. Significant NP was observed in both groups for word repetition only. The PP findings contrast with results from studies with similar prime-probe intervals but without prime responses. It is proposed that schizophrenic patients, because of impaired (controlled) processes of response selection, strongly benefit from (or rely on) the automatic retrieval of processing episodes containing response information. Related findings indicating automatic response facilitation in schizophrenia are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Masked repetition priming and proportion effects under cognitive load.

The authors used a cognitive load manipulation (rehearsing a string of digits during the trial) to test the automaticity of (a) masked repetition priming and (b) the masked repetition proportion (RP) effect (i.e., greater priming when the proportion of repetition-prime trials is higher) in the lexical decision task. The RP (.2 vs. .8) was varied across blocks. Masked priming was not reduced under load compared with a no-load group. Surprisingly, only the load group showed an RP effect in response latencies, although the no-load group showed an RP effect in the error rates. Our results show that masked priming is automatic, yet the influence of masked primes can nonetheless be adjusted at an unconscious level. Implications for accounts of masked priming are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic semantic similarity priming.

Words similar in meaning but not associated may not automatically prime one another (J. R. Shelton & R. C. Martin, 1992). This contradicts a central prediction of distributed models, necessitates questionable revisions of spreading activation and compound cue theories, and has led to the claim that automatic priming does not tap word meaning. Low item similarity was hypothesized to be the primary factor responsible for the previous null effects. Experiment 1 obtained priming with highly similar items using single and paired presentation with lexical and semantic decision tasks. Experiment 2 replicated Shelton and Martin to show that the results of Experiment 1 were not due to methodological factors. Experiment 3 showed priming for highly similar items for short and long SOAs, but for less similar items for a long SOA only. Thus, semantic similarity is an important aspect of semantic relatedness, and automatic priming does tap word meaning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of semantic space in patients with schizophrenia

There has been increasing interest in the semantic cognitive system in schizophrenia. Recent findings suggest a possible breakdown of semantic information processing in this disorder. The current study attempts to further examine semantic organization in schizophrenia. Twenty-eight chronic, early-onset schizophrenic patients and 32 controls were matched for premorbid intelligence and compared in their ability to spontaneously cluster exemplars from a specific category during a fluency task. Using multidimensional scaling and clustering techniques, 11 exemplars occurring most frequently in both groups were chosen for examination of their relative "proximity" during word generation. Patients with schizophrenia showed a less stable two-dimensional organization of exemplars and were less likely to group exemplars into subordinate clusters than were normals. These results suggest that semantic networks are disorganized in these patients. These findings may have some implications for the debate over the origin of "thought disorder" in schizophrenia.     

Context-dependent semantic priming in number naming.

Previous research has shown that time to name single-digit Arabic numbers is about 15 ms slower when naming trials are interleaved with simple multiplication (e.g., state product of 2 × 3) than when naming digits is interleaved with magnitude comparison (e.g., state larger; 2 ↑ 3). To explain this phenomenon, J. I. D. Campbell and A. W. S. Metcalfe (2008) proposed that the comparison context enables both semantic and asemantic pathways for digit naming but that number-fact retrieval inhibits the semantic route and slows digit naming relative to the comparison context. To test this hypothesis, the authors modified the naming context paradigm by introducing a semantic priming manipulation. They replicated the digit-naming response time advantage for comparison relative to the multiplication context and observed semantic priming only in the comparison context. In comparison blocks, digit naming was 8 ms faster immediately after naming near digit primes (±1) compared to far primes (≥3), but in multiplication blocks there was no priming. The results reinforce the theory that number-fact retrieval can inhibit the semantic route for digit naming (L. Cohen & S. Dehaene, 1995) and thereby reconfigure the cognitive architecture for naming digits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prime identification and semantic priming.

Many theorists claimed that semantic priming can occur in the absence of prime identification. Although many researchers presented studies that seem to support this claim, these studies have been extensively criticized on methodological grounds. The primary criticism is that the threshold-setting procedures used have not been adequate to ensure the absence of prime identification during all phases of the experiment. This article presents an alternative method for investigating the relationship between semantic priming and prime identification. Motivated by the suggestions of D. Holender (1986) and I. H. Bernstein et al (see record 1989-28228-001), a precuing paradigm is used to examine this issue. The precuing paradigm interleaves trials that test for prime identification and semantic priming throughout the experimental session. The results of 2 studies using the precuing paradigm indicate that semantic priming is not completely dependent on prime identification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nature of priming effects in semantic matching.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 12(4) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2008-10970-001). The Appendix table was constructed incorrectly. The correct table appears in the erratum.] Studied priming effects in a semantic matching task that distinguished visually based matching processes from nominally and semantically based matching processes, using 24 undergraduates. Ss judged semantic matches for 3 types of word pairs: identical (e.g., robin–robin), same category (e.g., robin–sparrow), and different category (e.g., robin–truck). Visual matching was isolated by comparing performance between physical identity (e.g., robin–robin) and nominal identity (e.g., robin–ROBIN) pairs. Physical identity pairs, which allowed visually based matching, exhibited an interaction between priming and the typicality of category exemplars that was absent in nominal identity and same-category pairs. Priming had no effect on nominal identity pairs. For same-category pairs, which required semantically based matching, priming produced facilitation at all levels of typicality. The results bring the semantic matching paradigm into agreement with other procedures that show that priming facilitates processing for all related targets. Categories and exemplars used as stimulus materials are appended. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term semantic priming of word meaning.

Three experiments investigated facilitation in synonym decisions as a function of prior synonym decision trials that were either identical or semantically related. Experiment 1 demonstrated that semantically related prime trials produced less facilitation than identical prime trials, but facilitation from both persisted over 14 intervening trials. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that word meaning retrieval without meaning comparison in prime trials was sufficient for persistent facilitation in semantically related targets, and meaning comparison was necessary for repetition priming to show greater facilitation than semantic priming. Results suggest that semantic priming in this task may solely reflect strength changes in abstract semantic representations, whereas repetition priming may reflect additional nondeclarative memory for operations performed in prime events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of extraversion and self-report arousal on semantic priming: A connectionist approach.

Simulation and experimental data were used to test the hypothesis that extraversion and self-report arousal affect the spread of activation in a connectionist semantic network, assessed by priming of lexical decision. A simulation of network activation processes showed that individual differences in different network parameters predict different patterns of observable individual differences in response time. Two experiments using undergraduate Ss showed that extraversion and arousal interactively affect priming magnitude, irrespective of the time lag between prime and target word and of prime stimulus quality. The simulation data suggest that the personality effects obtained experimentally may be governed by a specific network parameter: individual differences in the level of random noise. Connectionist models may provide a general framework for explaining arousal-dependent effects of extraversion on cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nicotine effects on general semantic priming in Parkinson's disease.

In young healthy nonsmokers, effects of nicotine on semantic processing have been observed under strategy-based priming procedures but not under more general priming procedures (Holmes, Chenery, & Copland, 2008; Holmes, Chenery, & Copland, 2010). Effects of nicotine under general priming procedures, however, may be mediated by baseline priming levels that are below optimum such as when compromised by disease. Nicotinic mechanisms may be involved in the cognitive sequalae of Parkinson's disease (PD). Evidence suggests that semantic processing may be compromised in PD but the potential benefit of nicotinic stimulation is unknown. This study investigated the effects of nicotine on semantic processing in nonsmokers with PD (n = 12) and nonsmoking matched controls (n = 17) using general priming procedures. Specifically, an automatic priming task (0.15 relatedness proportion, RP, and 200 ms stimulus onset asynchrony, SOA) and a controlled priming task (0.8 RP and 1000 ms SOA) were used. Prime-target category relation (category related, noncategory related) was also manipulated. Transdermal nicotine patches (7 mg/24 h) were administered in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design. For the automatic task, nicotine did not influence priming effects for PD. Unexpectedly, compromised automatic priming for controls was ameliorated. For the controlled task, nicotine influenced priming effects for PD but not controls. The patterns of priming and nicotine effects across the tasks suggest an age-related slowing of the rate of semantic activation for controls, which may be exacerbated in PD. Overall, the findings indicate that nicotine can improve compromised semantic processing in PD, and also influence semantic processing in healthy older individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of distinctiveness, repetition and semantic priming on the recognition of face familiarity.

Examined the independence of effects of repetition from those of distinctiveness and semantic priming in the recognition of familiar faces. In Exp 1 (16 undergraduate Ss), repetition priming was shown to be additive with face distinctiveness in a face familiarity decision task, in which Ss made speeded familiarity decisions to a sequence of famous and unfamiliar faces. Exp 2 (16 undergraduate and postgraduate Ss) examined the combined effects of distinctiveness and semantic priming. The effect of distinctiveness was additive with that of semantic priming. Exp 3 (32 undergraduates and postgraduates) used a more powerful design in which effects of distinctiveness and semantic priming were assessed while all items were repeated 3 times during the course of the experiment. Effects of repetition and distinctiveness were again additive, as were effects of repetition and semantic priming. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methodological control of semantic priming in Alzheimer's disease.

We conducted a lexical-decision, semantic priming experiment that included 250- and 1000-ms stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) with 32 probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 40 older normal persons. Attention-based, controlled processes are assumed to occur only at the longer of the 2 SOAs. The AD group showed greater than normal priming in the long-SOA but not the short-SOA condition. We conclude that greater than normal AD priming is a function of controlled processing rather than semantic network degradation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of operand order and problem repetition on error priming in cognitive arithmetic.

Tested the predictions of the network interference model (J. I. D. Campbell and M. Oliphant, 1992) that error priming effects would be sensitive to operand-relatedness and operand-position between the error problem and the matched problem. For positive error priming, the predictions of the model were partially supported: Positive error priming was strongest for problems sharing a common operand in the same problem position. Negative error priming was sensitive to operand-relatedness as predicted. The study also investigated the role of intention in negative error priming by manipulating the probability of immediate problem repetition. Negative error priming was not eliminated by repetition, suggesting that intention to prevent consecutive answer repetition is not a necessary condition of negative error priming. Perseveration errors were, however, increased for trials most similar to repetition trials suggesting that repetition elicited a repetition-detection process that had some cost to general performance. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A distributed memory model of semantic priming.

An alternative to semantic network models of lexical knowledge representation and access is described, in which knowledge about a word is represented as a pattern of activation across a collection of processing units. In this distributed memory model, semantic priming effects arise naturally from the similarity of the patterns of activation that represent a related prime and target. Priming effects can be reduced by an intervening stimulus that modifies the pattern of activation before the target appears. This process is demonstrated empirically with a word naming task. An implemented version of the distributed memory model is used to simulate these results, and results from previous research in which participants overtly responded to the item that intervened between a prime and target are also simulated. Comparisons with semantic network and compound cue models of priming are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic and phonological priming in schizophrenia.

This study of 70 schizophrenic patients used a lexical decision task involving the recognition of words that were preceded (primed) either by meaningfully or phonologically associated or by nonassociated words to study the intrusion of contextually inappropriate associations in thought disorder (TD). The patients were split into subgroups of TD and non-TD patients, and the data from these two groups were compared with data from 44 normal control participants. TD schizophrenic patients exhibited more semantic priming than non-TD patients and controls, and differences in phonological priming dependent on stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) were obtained. Results support the hypotheses of an increase in activation or a decrease in inhibition in the spreading of semantic and phonological associations in TD schizophrenic patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

General slowing in semantic priming and word recognition.

Analyses of lexical decision studies revealed that (1) older (O) adults' mean semantic priming effect was 1.44 times that of younger (Y) adults, (2) regression lines describing the relations between O and Y adults' latencies in related (O?=?1.54 Y?–?112) and unrelated conditions (O?=?1.50 Y?–?93) were not significantly different, and (3) that there was a proportional relation between O and Y adults' priming effects (O?=?1.48 Y?–?2). Analyses of word-naming studies yielded similar results. Analyses of delayed pronunciation data (D. A. Balota & J. M. Duchek, 1988) revealed that word recognition was 1.47 times slower in O adults, whereas O adults' output processes were only 1.26 times slower. Overall, analyses of whole latencies and durations of component processes provide converging evidence for a general slowing factor of approximately 1.5 for lexical information processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical semantic and associative priming in Alzheimer's disease.

Semantic memory impairment was investigated in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) using a threshold oral word reading task to assess priming of different lexical relationships. Healthy elderly controls showed significant priming for associatively related nouns (tempest-teapot) and also for nouns semantically related either because both designate basic-level exemplars of a common superordinate category (cousin-nephew) or because the target names the superordinate category of the prime (daughter-relative). AD patients, in contrast, showed preserved priming of lexical associates but impaired priming of certain semantic relationships. They showed no priming between words designating coordinate exemplars within a category, despite preserved priming of the superordinate category label. Findings are consistent with the view that at least part of the semantic deficit in AD is due to disruption of semantic knowledge that affects relationships among basic-level concepts, more than the relationships between these concepts and their corresponding superordinate category of membership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)