Eye movements to pictures reveal transient semantic activation during spoken word recognition.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 32(2) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2007-16796-001). The note to Appendix B (Stimuli Used in Experiment 2) on p. 14 contained errors. The fourth sentence, "For example, for participants receiving List A, lock was the target, key was the semantically related object, deer was the target's control, and apple was the related objects control" should read as follows: "For example, for participants receiving List A, logs was the target, key was the semantic onset competitor, and apple was the competitor's control."] Two experiments explore the activation of semantic information during spoken word recognition. Experiment 1 shows that as the name of an object unfolds (e.g., lock), eye movements are drawn to pictorial representations of both the named object and semantically related objects (e.g., key). Experiment 2 shows that objects semantically related to an uttered word's onset competitors become active enough to draw visual attention (e.g., if the uttered word is logs, participants fixate on key because of partial activation of lock), despite that the onset competitor itself is not present in the visual display. Together, these experiments provide detailed information about the activation of semantic information associated with a spoken word and its phonological competitors and demonstrate that transient semantic activation is sufficient to impact visual attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Eye movements to pictures reveal transient semantic activation during spoken word recognition": Correction to Yee and Sedivy (2006).

Reports an error in "Eye Movements to Pictures Reveal Transient Semantic Activation During Spoken Word Recognition" by Eiling Yee and Julie C. Sedivy (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 2006[Jan], Vol 32[1], 1-14). The note to Appendix B (Stimuli Used in Experiment 2) on p. 14 contained errors. The fourth sentence, "For example, for participants receiving List A, lock was the target, key was the semantically related object, deer was the target's control, and apple was the related objects control" should read as follows: "For example, for participants receiving List A, logs was the target, key was the semantic onset competitor, and apple was the competitor's control." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2006-01955-001.) Two experiments explore the activation of semantic information during spoken word recognition. Experiment 1 shows that as the name of an object unfolds (e.g., lock), eye movements are drawn to pictorial representations of both the named object and semantically related objects (e.g., key). Experiment 2 shows that objects semantically related to an uttered word's onset competitors become active enough to draw visual attention (e.g., if the uttered word is logs, participants fixate on key because of partial activation of lock), despite that the onset competitor itself is not present in the visual display. Together, these experiments provide detailed information about the activation of semantic information associated with a spoken word and its phonological competitors and demonstrate that transient semantic activation is sufficient to impact visual attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinctive features hold a privileged status in the computation of word meaning: Implications for theories of semantic memory.

The authors present data from 2 feature verification experiments designed to determine whether distinctive features have a privileged status in the computation of word meaning. They use an attractor-based connectionist model of semantic memory to derive predictions for the experiments. Contrary to central predictions of the conceptual structure account, but consistent with their own model, the authors present empirical evidence that distinctive features of both living and nonliving things do indeed have a privileged role in the computation of word meaning. The authors explain the mechanism through which these effects are produced in their model by presenting an analysis of the weight structure developed in the network during training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding the function of visual short-term memory: Transsaccadic memory, object correspondence, and gaze correction.

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) has received intensive study over the past decade, with research focused on VSTM capacity and representational format. Yet, the function of VSTM in human cognition is not well understood. Here, the authors demonstrate that VSTM plays an important role in the control of saccadic eye movements. Intelligent human behavior depends on directing the eyes to goal-relevant objects in the world, yet saccades are very often inaccurate and require correction. The authors hypothesized that VSTM is used to remember the features of the current saccade target so that it can be rapidly reacquired after an errant saccade, a task faced by the visual system thousands of times each day. In 4 experiments, memory-based gaze correction was accurate, fast, automatic, and largely unconscious. In addition, a concurrent VSTM load interfered with memory-based gaze correction, but a verbal short-term memory load did not. These findings demonstrate that VSTM plays a direct role in a fundamentally important aspect of visually guided behavior, and they suggest the existence of previously unknown links between VSTM representations and the occulomotor system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tracking the mind during reading: The influence of past, present, and future words on fixation durations.

Reading requires the orchestration of visual, attentional, language-related, and oculomotor processing constraints. This study replicates previous effects of frequency, predictability, and length of fixated words on fixation durations in natural reading and demonstrates new effects of these variables related to 144 sentences. Such evidence for distributed processing of words across fixation durations challenges psycholinguistic immediacy-of-processing and eye-mind assumptions. Most of the time the mind processes several words in parallel at different perceptual and cognitive levels. Eye movements can help to unravel these processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eye movements and word skipping during reading: Effects of word length and predictability.

Eye movements were monitored as subjects read sentences containing high- or low-predictable target words. The extent to which target words were predictable from prior context was varied: Half of the target words were predictable, and the other half were unpredictable. In addition, the length of the target word varied: The target words were short (4–6 letters), medium (7–9 letters), or long (10–12 letters). Length and predictability both yielded strong effects on the probability of skipping the target words and on the amount of time readers fixated the target words (when they were not skipped). However, there was no interaction in any of the measures examined for either skipping or fixation time. The results demonstrate that word predictability (due to contextual constraint) and word length have strong and independent influences on word skipping and fixation durations. Furthermore, because the long words extended beyond the word identification span, the data indicate that skipping can occur on the basis of partial information in relation to word identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mechanisms and neural basis of object and pattern recognition: A study with chess experts.

Comparing experts with novices offers unique insights into the functioning of cognition, based on the maximization of individual differences. Here we used this expertise approach to disentangle the mechanisms and neural basis behind two processes that contribute to everyday expertise: object and pattern recognition. We compared chess experts and novices performing chess-related and -unrelated (visual) search tasks. As expected, the superiority of experts was limited to the chess-specific task, as there were no differences in a control task that used the same chess stimuli but did not require chess-specific recognition. The analysis of eye movements showed that experts immediately and exclusively focused on the relevant aspects in the chess task, whereas novices also examined irrelevant aspects. With random chess positions, when pattern knowledge could not be used to guide perception, experts nevertheless maintained an advantage. Experts' superior domain-specific parafoveal vision, a consequence of their knowledge about individual domain-specific symbols, enabled improved object recognition. Functional magnetic resonance imaging corroborated this differentiation between object and pattern recognition and showed that chess-specific object recognition was accompanied by bilateral activation of the occipitotemporal junction, whereas chess-specific pattern recognition was related to bilateral activations in the middle part of the collateral sulci. Using the expertise approach together with carefully chosen controls and multiple dependent measures, we identified object and pattern recognition as two essential cognitive processes in expert visual cognition, which may also help to explain the mechanisms of everyday perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The time-limited influence of sentential context of function word identification.

Sentential context effects on the identification of the Dutch function words te (to) and de (the) were examined. In Experiment 1, listeners labeled words on a [te]–[de] continuum more often as to when the context was to biased (Ik probeer [?e] schieten [I try to/the shoot]) than when it was de biased (Ik probeer [?e] schoenen [I try to/the shoes]). The effect was weaker in slower responses. In Experiment 2, disambiguation began later, in the second word after [?e]. There was a weak context effect only in the slower responses. In Experiments 3 and 4, disambiguation occurred on the word before [?e]: There was no context effect when one set of sentences was used, but there was an effect (larger in the faster responses) when more sentences were used. Syntactic processing affects word identification only within a limited time frame. It appears to do so not by influencing lexical access processes through feedback but, instead, by biasing decision making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic interference from objects both in and out of a scene context.

Prior studies have found that, despite the intentions of the participants, objects automatically activate their semantic representations; however, this research examined only objects presented in isolation without a background context. The present set of experiments examined the automaticity issue for objects presented in isolation as well as in scenes. In Experiments l and 2, words were categorized more slowly when they were embedded inside incongruent objects (e.g., the word chair in a picture of a duck) than inside neutral nonobjects, suggesting that the meanings of the objects were activated despite participants' intentions. A new interference task was introduced in Experiment 3. When the same objects and words from the first 2 experiments were inserted into scenes in which those objects were probable or improbable, interference occurred from probable pictured objects but not from improbable pictured objects. Implications for theories of automaticity and models of object identification are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Object categorization: Reversals and explanations of the basic-level advantage.

People are generally faster and more accurate to name or categorize objects at the basic level (e.g., dog) relative to more general (animal) or specific (collie) levels, an effect replicated in Experiment 1 for categorization of object pictures. To some, this pattern suggests a dual-process mechanism, in which objects first activate basic-level categories directly and later engage more general or specific categories through the spread of activation in a processing hierarchy. This account is, however, challenged by data from Experiment 2 showing that neuropsychological patients with impairments of conceptual knowledge categorize more accurately at superordinate levels than at the basic level--suggesting that knowledge about an object's general nature does not depend on prior basic-level categorization. The authors consider how a parallel distributed processing theory of conceptual knowledge can reconcile the apparent discrepancy. This theory predicts that if healthy individuals are encouraged to make rapid categorization responses, the usual basic > general advantage should also reverse, a prediction tested and confirmed in Experiment 3. Implications for theories of visual object recognition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eye movement control during reading: Effects of word frequency and orthographic familiarity.

Word frequency and orthographic familiarity were independently manipulated as readers' eye movements were recorded. Word frequency influenced fixation durations and the probability of word skipping when orthographic familiarity was controlled. These results indicate that lexical processing of words can influence saccade programming (as shown by fixation durations and which words are fixated). Orthographic familiarity, but not word frequency, influenced the duration of prior fixations. These results provide evidence for orthographic, but not lexical, parafoveal-on-foveal effects. Overall, the findings have a crucial implication for models of eye movement control in reading: There must be sufficient time for lexical factors to influence saccade programming before saccade metrics and timing are finalized. The conclusions are critical for the fundamental architecture of models of eye movement control in reading- namely, how to reconcile long saccade programming times and complex linguistic influences on saccades during reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of object–context relations: Eye-movement analyses in infants and adults.

Twenty-eight 4-month-olds' and twenty-two 20-year-olds' attention to object–context relations was investigated using a common eye-movement paradigm. Infants and adults scanned both objects and contexts. Infants showed equivalent preferences for animals and vehicles and for congruent and incongruent object–context relations overall, more fixations of objects in congruent object–context relations, more fixations of contexts in incongruent object–context relations, more fixations of objects than contexts in vehicle scenes, and more fixation shifts in incongruent than congruent vehicle scenes. Adults showed more fixations of congruent than incongruent scenes, vehicles than animals, and objects than contexts; equal fixations of animals and their contexts but more fixations of vehicles than their contexts; and more shifts of fixation when inspecting animals in context than vehicles in context. These findings for location, number, and order of eye movements indicate that object–context relations play a dynamic role in the development and allocation of attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Word integration and regression programming during reading: A test of the E-Z reader 10 model.

Participants read sentences with two types of target nouns, one that did and one that did not require a determiner to form a legal verb–noun phrase sequence. Sentences were presented with and without the critical determiner to create a local noun integration difficulty when a required determiner was missing. The absence of a required determiner did not influence 1st-pass reading of the verb, the noun, and the posttarget word. It did, however, have a profound effect on 2nd-pass reading. All three words were a likely target of a regression when a required determiner was missing, and the noun and the posttarget word were likely sources of a regression. These results are consistent with novel E-Z reader model assumptions, according to which identification of the noun should be followed by its integration, and integration difficulties can lead to the initiation of a regression to the noun. However, integration difficulties influenced eye movements earlier and later than predicted by the new model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Talker Variability and Recognition Memory: Instance-Specific and Voice-Specific Effects.

The author investigated voice context effects in recognition memory for words spoken by multiple talkers by comparing performance when studied words were repeated with same, different, or new voices at test. Hits and false alarms increased when words were tested with studied voices compared with unstudied voices. Discrimination increased only when the exact same voice was used. A trend toward conservatism in response bias was observed when test words switched to increasingly unfamiliar voices. Taken together, the overall findings suggest that the voice-specific attributes of individual talkers are preserved in long-term memory. Implications for the role of instance-specific matching and voice-specific familiarity processes and the nature of spoken-word representation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Matching and naming objects by shape or function: Age and context effects in preschool children.

Three experiments tested preschoolers' use of abstract principles to classify and label objects by shape or function. Three- and 4-year-olds were instructed to match objects by shape or function. Four-year-olds readily adopted either rule, but 3-year-olds followed only the shape rule. Without a rule, 4-year-olds tended to match by shape unless object function was shown during matching (Experiment 2). Three-year-olds' ability to use a function rule was tested in several conditions (re-presenting functions; reminders to "use the rule"; repeating rule on every trial). None induced consistent function matching (Experiment 3). Supplemental memory and verbal tasks showed that 3-year-olds have trouble using function as an abstract basis of comparison. Naming data, however, show that preschoolers are learning that object labels are based on function. The results show preschoolers' growing flexibility in adopting abstract generalization rules and growing knowledge of conventions for extending words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactive Activation in Visual Word Recognition: Constraints Imposed by the Joint Effects of Spatial Attention and Semantics.

Two lexical-decision experiments investigated the effects of semantic priming and stimulus intensity when target location varied and was cued by an abrupt onset. In Experiment 1, the spatial cue was a good predictor of target location, and in Experiment 2 it was not. The results indicate that word recognition processes were postponed until spatial attention was focused on the target and that whether attention further affected word recognition depended on cue validity. The joint effects of cue validity and priming interacted when cue validity was high but were additive when cue validity was low. The joint effects of stimulus intensity and semantic priming also varied according to cue validity (i.e., interactive when high and additive when low). The results are discussed in terms of their implications for visual word recognition, the distinction between exogenous and endogenous spatial attention, and how attention is affected by visual word recognition processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Still no phonological typicality effect on word reading time (and no good explanation of one, either): A rejoinder to Farmer, Monaghan, Misyak, and Christiansen.

In this brief rejoinder, we respond to Farmer, Monaghan, Misyak, and Christiansen (2011). We argue that the data still do not support the claim that reading time is affected by the phonological typicality of a word for its part of speech. We also question Farmer et al.'s claim that interleaving syntactic structures in an experiment modifies grammatically based syntactic expectations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)