scholarly journals Neural correlates of affective contributions to lexical decisions in children and adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Sylvester ◽  
Johanna Liebig ◽  
Arthur M. Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Computational Models ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Superiority Effect ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Network Activation ◽  
Auditory Lexical Decision ◽  
Affective Information

AbstractThe goal of the present study was to investigate whether 6–9-year old children and adults show similar neural responses to affective words. An event-related neuroimaging paradigm was used in which both age cohorts performed the same auditory lexical decision task (LDT). The results show similarities in (auditory) lexico-semantic network activation as well as in areas associated with affective information. In both age cohorts’ activations were stronger for positive than for negative words, thus exhibiting a positivity superiority effect. Children showed less activation in areas associated with affective information in response to all three valence categories than adults. Our results are discussed in the light of computational models of word recognition, and previous findings of affective contributions to LDT in adults.

Digging Deeper: Using Implicit Tests to Define Consumers' Semantic Network

2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierrick Rivière ◽  
Caroline Cuny ◽  
Gaël Allain ◽  
Carel Vereijken
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Market Research ◽  
Functional Foods ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Implicit Measure ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Associated Symptoms ◽  
Broad Complex

Many physiological functions, such as the digestive function, are broad, complex scientific topics. Therefore, to build relevant, accessible claims about functional foods that relate to these functions, marketers need to understand what consumers know about them, in terms of the associated symptoms, diseases and health benefits. Such knowledge cannot be captured effectively through direct questioning; it requires implicit testing that can limit biases and reveal unconscious knowledge. For this study, 240 consumers were invited to participate in an implicit lexical decision task via an online platform, and their responses reveal that the concept of ‘immunity’ is associated in mothers' minds with three symptoms related to their personal experiences with their children. By measuring associations that emerge without pre-existing rational processes, this implicit measure offers a more precise picture of the semantic network for immunity, which consumers could not express explicitly in response to direct questioning. Thus the recommended protocol is not only new to market research but also adds substantial value to the tests that currently serve to dig into consumers' minds.

Don't tell anyone: the importance of no-report paradigms in neuroscience of consciousness

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Del Vecchio
Keyword(s):  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Perceptual Awareness ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Conscious Processing

The neural correlates of perceptual awareness are usually investigated by comparing experimental conditions in which subjects are aware or not aware of the delivered stimulus. This, however implies that subjects report their experience, possibly biasing the neural responses with the post-perceptual processes involved. This Neuro Forum article reviews evidence from an electroencephalography (EEG) study by Cohen and colleagues (Cohen M. et al. Journal of Neuroscience 40 (25) 4925-4935) addressing the importance of no-report paradigms in the neuroscience of consciousness. In particular, authors shows of P3b, one of the proposed canonical "signatures" of the conscious processing, is strongly elicited only when subjects have to report their experience, proposing a reconsideration in the approach to the neuroscience of consciousness.

The Orthographic Consistency Effect in French and Spanish: Phoneme-to-Grapheme Mappings Influence Auditory Word Recognition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Furgoni ◽  
Antje Stoehr ◽  
Clara D. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Auditory Lexical Decision ◽  
Auditory Word ◽  
Consistency Effect ◽  
Auditory Word Recognition ◽  
Phonemic Level ◽  
Phonological Unit ◽  
Orthographic Consistency

PurposeIn languages with alphabetical writing systems, the relationship between phonology and orthography is strong. Phonology-to-orthography mappings can be consistent (i.e., one phonological unit corresponds to one orthographic unit) or inconsistent (i.e., one phonological unit corresponds to multiple orthographic units). This study investigates whether the Orthographic Consistency Effect (OCE) emerges at the phonemic level during auditory word recognition, regardless of the opacity of a language’s writing system.MethodsThirty L1-French (opaque language) and 30 L1-Spanish (transparent language) listeners participated in an L1 auditory lexical decision task which included stimuli with either only consistently-spelled phonemes or both consistently-spelled and a number of inconsistently-spelled phonemes. ResultsThe results revealed that listeners were faster at recognizing consistently-spelled words than inconsistently-spelled words. This implies that consistently-spelled words are recognized more easily than inconsistent ones. As for pseudoword processing, there is a numerical trend that might indicate a higher sensibility of French listeners to phoneme-to-grapheme inconsistencies. ConclusionsThese findings have theoretical implications: inconsistent phoneme-to-grapheme mappings, like inconsistencies at the level of the syllable or rhyme, impact auditory word recognition. Moreover, our results suggest that the OCE should occur in all languages with alphabetical writing systems, regardless of their level of orthographic opacity.

scholarly journals Conceptual Priming and Familiarity: Different Expressions of Memory during Recognition Testing with Distinct Neurophysiological Correlates

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 2638-2651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel L. Voss ◽  
Heather D. Lucas ◽  
Ken A. Paller
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Memory ◽  
Explicit Memory ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Neural Signals ◽  
Conceptual Information ◽  
Conceptual Priming ◽  
Familiarity And Recollection ◽  
Recognition Testing ◽  
Different Characteristics

Familiarity and recollection are qualitatively different explicit-memory phenomena evident during recognition testing. Investigations of the neurocognitive substrates of familiarity and recollection, however, have typically disregarded implicit-memory processes likely to be engaged during recognition tests. We reasoned that differential neural responses to old and new items in a recognition test may reflect either explicit or implicit memory. Putative neural correlates of familiarity in prior experiments, for example, may actually reflect contamination by implicit memory. In two experiments, we used obscure words that subjects could not formally define to tease apart electrophysiological correlates of familiarity and one form of implicit memory, conceptual priming. In Experiment 1, conceptual priming was observed for words only if they elicited meaningful associations. In Experiment 2, two distinct neural signals were observed in conjunction with familiarity-based recognition: late posterior potentials for words that both did and did not elicit meaningful associations and FN400 potentials only for the former. Given that symbolic meaning is a prerequisite for conceptual priming, the combined results specifically link late posterior potentials and FN400 potentials with familiarity and conceptual priming, respectively. These findings contradict previous interpretations of FN400 potentials as generic signals of familiarity and show that repeated stimuli in recognition tests can engender facilitated processing of conceptual information in addition to retrieval processing that leads to the awareness of memory retrieval. The different characteristics of the electrical markers of these two types of process further underscore the biological validity of the distinction between implicit memory and explicit memory.

scholarly journals Distributed Code for Semantic Relations Predicts Neural Similarity

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey N. Chiang ◽  
Yujia Peng ◽  
Hongjing Lu ◽  
Keith J. Holyoak ◽  
Martin M. Monti
Keyword(s):  
Computational Models ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Sequential Presentation ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Distributed Representations ◽  
Relational Similarity ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe ability to generate and process semantic relations is central to many aspects of human cognition. Theorists have long debated whether such relations are coded as atomistic links in a semantic network, or as distributed patterns over some core set of abstract relations. The form and content of the conceptual and neural representations of semantic relations remains to be empirically established. The present study combined computational modeling and neuroimaging to investigate the representation and comparison of abstract semantic relations in the brain. By using sequential presentation of verbal analogies, we decoupled the neural activity associated with encoding the representation of the first-order semantic relation between words in a pair from that associated with the second-order comparison of two relations. We tested alternative computational models of relational similarity in order to distinguish between rival accounts of how semantic relations are coded and compared in the brain. Analyses of neural similarity patterns supported the hypothesis that semantic relations are coded, in the parietal cortex, as distributed representations over a pool of abstract relations specified in a theory-based taxonomy. These representations, in turn, provide the immediate inputs to the process of analogical comparison, which draws on a broad frontoparietal network. This study sheds light not only on the form of relation representations but also on their specific content.SignificanceRelations provide basic building blocks for language and thought. For the past half century, cognitive scientists exploring human semantic memory have sought to identify the code for relations. In a neuroimaging paradigm, we tested alternative computational models of relation processing that predict patterns of neural similarity during distinct phases of analogical reasoning. The findings allowed us to draw inferences not only about the form of relation representations, but also about their specific content. The core of these distributed representations is based on a relatively small number of abstract relation types specified in a theory-based taxonomy. This study helps to resolve a longstanding debate concerning the nature of the conceptual and neural code for semantic relations in the mind and brain.

scholarly journals Electrophysiological correlates of confidence differ across correct and erroneous perceptual decisions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel C Feuerriegel ◽  
Mackenzie Murphy ◽  
Alexandra Konski ◽  
Jie Sun ◽  
Vinay Mepani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Decision Confidence ◽  
Amplitude Measurement ◽  
Error Positivity ◽  
Frontal Activity ◽  
Decision Errors ◽  
Confidence Ratings

Every decision we make is accompanied by an estimate of the likelihood that our decision is accurate or appropriate. This likelihood estimate is termed our degree of decision confidence. Recent work has uncovered event-related potential (ERP) correlates of confidence both during decision formation and after a decision has been made. However, the interpretation of these findings is complicated by methodological issues related to ERP amplitude measurement that are prevalent across existing studies. To more accurately characterise the neural correlates of confidence, we presented participants with a difficult perceptual decision task that elicited a broad range of confidence ratings. We identified a frontal ERP component within an onset prior to the behavioural response, which exhibited more positive-going amplitudes in trials with higher confidence ratings. This frontal effect also biased measures of the centro-parietal positivity (CPP) component at parietal electrodes via volume conduction. Amplitudes of the error positivity (Pe) component that followed each decision were negatively associated with confidence for trials with decision errors, but not for trials with correct decisions. We provide evidence for both pre- and post- decisional neural correlates of decision confidence that are observed in trials with correct and erroneous decisions, respectively. Our findings suggest that certainty in having made a correct response is associated with frontal activity during decision formation, whereas certainty in having committed an error is instead associated with the post-decisional Pe component. We additionally show that some previously reported associations between decision confidence and CPP/Pe component amplitudes are (at least partly) a consequence of ERP amplitude measurement-related confounds.

scholarly journals Distinct Neural Correlates of Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Demand

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Ian A. Quillen ◽  
Melodie Yen ◽  
Stephen M. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Normal Individuals ◽  
Linguistic Demand ◽  
Neurologically Normal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Temporal Language

In this study, we investigated how the brain responds to task difficulty in linguistic and non-linguistic contexts. This is important for the interpretation of functional imaging studies of neuroplasticity in post-stroke aphasia, because of the inherent difficulty of matching or controlling task difficulty in studies with neurological populations. Twenty neurologically normal individuals were scanned with fMRI as they performed a linguistic task and a non-linguistic task, each of which had two levels of difficulty. Critically, the tasks were matched across domains (linguistic, non-linguistic) for accuracy and reaction time, such that the differences between the easy and difficult conditions were equivalent across domains. We found that non-linguistic demand modulated the same set of multiple demand (MD) regions that have been identified in many prior studies. In contrast, linguistic demand modulated MD regions to a much lesser extent, especially nodes belonging to the dorsal attention network. Linguistic demand modulated a subset of language regions, with the left inferior frontal gyrus most strongly modulated. The right hemisphere region homotopic to Broca’s area was also modulated by linguistic but not non-linguistic demand. When linguistic demand was mapped relative to non-linguistic demand, we also observed domain by difficulty interactions in temporal language regions as well as a widespread bilateral semantic network. In sum, linguistic and non-linguistic demand have strikingly different neural correlates. These findings can be used to better interpret studies of patients recovering from aphasia. Some reported activations in these studies may reflect task performance differences, while others can be more confidently attributed to neuroplasticity.

scholarly journals Olfaction Modulates Early Neural Responses to Matching Visual Objects

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 832-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda K. Robinson ◽  
Judith Reinhard ◽  
Jason B. Mattingley
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Visual Objects ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Early Visual Processing ◽  
Considerable Research ◽  
Matter Concentration

Sensory information is initially registered within anatomically and functionally segregated brain networks but is also integrated across modalities in higher cortical areas. Although considerable research has focused on uncovering the neural correlates of multisensory integration for the modalities of vision, audition, and touch, much less attention has been devoted to understanding interactions between vision and olfaction in humans. In this study, we asked how odors affect neural activity evoked by images of familiar visual objects associated with characteristic smells. We employed scalp-recorded EEG to measure visual ERPs evoked by briefly presented pictures of familiar objects, such as an orange, mint leaves, or a rose. During presentation of each visual stimulus, participants inhaled either a matching odor, a nonmatching odor, or plain air. The N1 component of the visual ERP was significantly enhanced for matching odors in women, but not in men. This is consistent with evidence that women are superior in detecting, discriminating, and identifying odors and that they have a higher gray matter concentration in olfactory areas of the OFC. We conclude that early visual processing is influenced by olfactory cues because of associations between odors and the objects that emit them, and that these associations are stronger in women than in men.

scholarly journals Lack of Noradrenergic Modulation of Indirect Semantic Priming

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 137-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacquelyne S. Cios ◽  
Regan F. Miller ◽  
Ashleigh Hillier ◽  
Madalina E. Tivarus ◽  
David Q. Beversdorf
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Semantic Priming ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Semantic Networks ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Dopaminergic Drugs ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Noradrenergic Modulation

Norepinephrine and dopamine are both believed to affect signal-to-noise in the cerebral cortex. Dopaminergic agents appear to modulate semantic networks during indirect semantic priming, but do not appear to affect problem solving dependent on access to semantic networks. Noradrenergic agents, though, do affect semantic network dependent problem solving. We wished to examine whether noradrenergic agents affect indirect semantic priming. Subjects attended three sessions: one each after propranolol (40 mg) (noradrenergic antagonist), ephedrine (25 mg) (noradrenergic agonist), and placebo. During each session, closely related, distantly related, and unrelated pairs were presented. Reaction times for a lexical decision task on the target words (second word in the pair) were recorded. No decrease in indirect semantic priming occurred with ephedrine. Furthermore, across all three drugs, a main effect of semantic relatedness was found, but no main effect of drug, and no drug/semantic relatedness interaction effect. These findings suggest that noradrenergic agents, with these drugs and at these doses, do not affect indirect semantic priming with the potency of dopaminergic drugs at the doses previously studied. In the context of this previous work, this suggests that more automatic processes such as priming and more controlled searches of the lexical and semantic networks such as problem solving may be mediated, at least in part, by distinct mechanisms with differing effects of pharmacological modulation.

Distributed Code for Semantic Relations Predicts Neural Similarity during Analogical Reasoning

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey N. Chiang ◽  
Yujia Peng ◽  
Hongjing Lu ◽  
Keith J. Holyoak ◽  
Martin M. Monti
Keyword(s):  
Analogical Reasoning ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
Semantic Relations ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Sequential Presentation ◽  
Frontoparietal Network ◽  
Neural Activities ◽  
Core Set ◽  
Superior Parietal Cortex

The ability to generate and process semantic relations is central to many aspects of human cognition. Theorists have long debated whether such relations are coarsely coded as links in a semantic network or finely coded as distributed patterns over some core set of abstract relations. The form and content of the conceptual and neural representations of semantic relations are yet to be empirically established. Using sequential presentation of verbal analogies, we compared neural activities in making analogy judgments with predictions derived from alternative computational models of relational dissimilarity to adjudicate among rival accounts of how semantic relations are coded and compared in the brain. We found that a frontoparietal network encodes the three relation types included in the design. A computational model based on semantic relations coded as distributed representations over a pool of abstract relations predicted neural activities for individual relations within the left superior parietal cortex and for second-order comparisons of relations within a broader left-lateralized network.

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