Context effects and selective attention in picture naming and word reading: Competition versus response exclusion

Semantic context modulates precision and speed of language production. Using different experimental designs including the Picture-Word-Interference (PWI) paradigm, it has consistently been shown that categorically related distractor words (e.g., cat) inhibit retrieval of the target picture name (dog). Here we introduce a novel variant of the PWI paradigm in which we present 8 words prior to a to be named target picture. Within this set, the number of words categorically related was varied between 3 and 5, and the picture to be named was either related or unrelated to the respective category. To disentangle interacting effects of semantic context we combined different naming paradigms manipulating the number of competitors, and assessing the effect of repeated naming instances. Evaluating processing of the cohort by eye-tracking provided us with a metric of the (implicit) recognition of the semantic cohort. Results replicate the interference effect in that overall naming of pictures categorically related to the distractor set was slower compared to unrelated pictures. However, interference did not increase with increasing number of distractors. Tracking this effect across naming repetitions, we found that interference is prominent at the first naming instance of every picture only, whereby it is stable across distractor conditions, but dissipates across the experiment. Regarding eye-tracking our data show that participants fixated longer on semantically related items, indicating the identification of the lexico-semantic cohort. Our findings confirm the validity of the novel paradigm and indicate that besides interference during first exposure, repeated exposure to the semantic context may facilitate picture naming and counteract lexical interference.

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Naming pictures and sounds: Stimulus type affects semantic context effects

10.31234/osf.io/vbm3g ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Stefan Wöhner ◽

Andreas Mädebach ◽

Jörg D. Jescheniak

Keyword(s):

Picture Naming ◽

Context Effect ◽

Context Effects ◽

Semantic Category ◽

Naming Task ◽

Semantic Context ◽

Perceptual Processing ◽

Semantic Interference ◽

Lexical Processes ◽

Naming Tasks

Semantic context effects obtained in naming tasks have been most influential in devising and evaluating models of word production. We re-investigated this effect in the frequently used blocked-cyclic naming task in which stimuli are presented repeatedly either sorted by semantic category (homogeneous context) or intermixed (heterogeneous context). Previous blocked-cyclic naming studies have shown slower picture naming responses in the homogeneous context. Our study compared this context effect in two task versions, picture naming and sound naming. Target words were identical across task versions (e.g., participants responded with the word “dog” to either the picture of that animal or to the sound [barking] produced by it). We found semantic interference in the homogeneous context also with sounds and the effect was substantially larger than with pictures (Experiments 1 and 2). This difference is unlikely to result from extended perceptual processing of sounds as compared to pictures (Experiments 3 and 4) or from stronger links between pictures and object names than between sounds and object names (Experiment 5). Overall, our results show that semantic context effects in blocked-cyclic naming generalize to stimulus types other than pictures and – in part – also reflect pre-lexical processes that depend on the nature of the stimuli used for eliciting the naming responses.

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What Are the Nodes? Unitization and Configural Learning vs. Selective Attention

Changing Minds Changing Tools ◽

10.7551/mitpress/9780262037860.003.0004 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 69-98

Author(s):

Vsevolod Kapatsinski

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Language Change ◽

Context Effects ◽

Future Research ◽

Extensive Experience ◽

Configural Learning ◽

Incremental Processing ◽

Promising Area ◽

Dual Route ◽

The Relationship

This chapter introduces the debate between elemental and configural learning models. Configural models represent both a whole pattern and its parts as separate nodes, which are then both associable, i.e. available for wiring with other nodes. This necessitates a kind of hierarchical inference at the timescale of learning and motivates a dual-route approach at the timescale of processing. Some patterns of language change (semanticization and frequency-in-a-favourable-context effects) are argued to be attributable to hierarchical inference. The most prominent configural pattern in language is argued to be a superadditive interaction. However, such interactions are argued to often be unstable in comprehension due to selective attention and incremental processing. Selective attention causes the learner to focus on one part of a configuration over others. Incremental processing favors the initial part, which can then overshadow other parts and drive the recognition decision. Only with extensive experience, can one can learn to integrate multiple cues. When cues are integrated, the weaker cue can cue the outcome directly or can serve as an occasion-setter to the relationship between the outcome and the primary cue. The conditions under which occasion-setting arises in language acquisition is a promising area for future research.

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) modulation of picture naming and word reading: A meta-analysis of single session tDCS applied to healthy participants

Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.07.031 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 104 ◽

pp. 234-249 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Samuel J. Westwood ◽

Cristina Romani

Keyword(s):

Direct Current ◽

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ◽

Picture Naming ◽

Word Reading ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Single Session ◽

Direct Current Stimulation ◽

Healthy Participants

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Cortical activation during word reading and picture naming in dyslexic and non-reading-impaired children

Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/j.clinph.2006.01.012 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 117 (5) ◽

pp. 1085-1097 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

S TRAUZETTELKLOSINSKI ◽

U DURRWACHTER ◽

G KLOSINSKI ◽

C BRAUN

Keyword(s):

Picture Naming ◽

Word Reading ◽

Cortical Activation ◽

Impaired Children

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Semantic context effects on picture naming in aphasia

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2016.68.00024 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 7 ◽

Author(s):

Python Gregoire ◽

Villain Marie ◽

Gay Anne-Carine ◽

Laganaro Marina

Keyword(s):

Picture Naming ◽

Context Effects ◽

Semantic Context

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Considering unique, shared, and dominant brain activation in the Visual Word Form Area and Lateral Occipital Cortex: A comparison of separate and combined word reading and picture naming

10.1101/2021.09.20.461111 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Josh Neudorf ◽

Layla Gould ◽

Marla J. S. Mickleborough ◽

Chelsea Ekstrand ◽

Ron Borowsky

Keyword(s):

Picture Naming ◽

Word Reading ◽

Visual Complexity ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Visual Word ◽

Word Form ◽

Lateral Occipital Complex ◽

Visual Word Form Area ◽

The Right ◽

Lateral Occipital Cortex

Identifying printed words and pictures concurrently is ubiquitous in daily tasks, and so it is important to consider the extent to which reading words and naming pictures may share a cognitive-neurophysiological functional architecture. Two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments examined whether reading along the left ventral occipitotemporal region (vOT; often referred to as a visual word form area, VWFA) has activation that is overlapping with referent pictures (i.e., both conditions significant and shared, or with one significantly more dominant) or unique (i.e., one condition significant, the other not), and whether picture naming along the right lateral occipital complex (LOC) has overlapping or unique activation relative to referent words. Experiment 1 used familiar regular and exception words (to force lexical reading) and their corresponding pictures in separate naming blocks, and showed dominant activation for pictures in the LOC, and shared activation in the VWFA for exception words and their corresponding pictures (regular words did not elicit significant VWFA activation). Experiment 2 controlled for visual complexity by superimposing the words and pictures and instructing participants to either name the word or the picture, and showed primarily shared activation in the VWFA and LOC regions for both word reading and picture naming, with some dominant activation for pictures in the LOC. Overall, these results highlight the importance of including exception words to force lexical reading when comparing to picture naming, and the significant shared activation in VWFA and LOC serves to challenge specialized models of reading or picture naming.

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