scholarly journals Training the Interpretation of Ambiguity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jessica Clifton
Keyword(s):  
Ambiguity Resolution ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Ambiguous Sentence ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Interpretive Bias ◽  
Ambiguous Words ◽  
Target Stimulus Onset Asynchrony ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Selection Of

<p>The interpretation of emotionally ambiguous words, sentences, or scenarios can be biased through training procedures that are collectively called Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I). Little CBM-I research has examined the underlying mechanisms responsible for the induction of emotional interpretive biases, or the potential for this line of enquiry to inform psycholinguistic models of meaning activation and selection. In this thesis a novel CBM-I paradigm was developed and then systematically manipulated in order to discriminate between two mechanistic accounts of changes in interpretive bias – the Emotional Priming Account and the Ambiguity Resolution Account. In Experiment 1 participants completed word fragments that were consistently related to either a negative or benign interpretation of an ambiguous sentence. In a subsequent semantic priming task they demonstrated an interpretation bias, in that they were faster to judge the relatedness of targets that were associated with the training-congruent than the training-incongruent meaning of an emotionally ambiguous homograph. In Experiment 2 the time between the presentation of the prime and the target (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony; SOA) at test was shortened. Interpretive biases were not observed at a short SOA suggesting that training did not induce biases at an early lexical activation stage. Interpretive bias was then eliminated when participants simply completed valenced word fragments (Experiment 3) or completed fragments related to emotional but unambiguous sentences (Experiment 4) during training. Only when participants were required to actively resolve emotionally ambiguous sentences during training did changes in interpretation emerge at test. These findings suggest that CBM-I achieves its effects by altering a production rule that aids the selection of a single meaning from alternatives, in line with an Ambiguity Resolution account. Finally, no interpretive biases were observed when the task in the test phase was substituted with a lexical decision task (Experiment 5). Participants only showed biases in the selection of meanings when the test phase encouraged them to interpret the prime. This pattern of results suggests that the alteration of selection patterns in word recognition depend on the strategies employed by participants in the test phase. Overall the findings are discussed with regards to the Ambiguity Resolution and Emotional Priming accounts of modified interpretive biases. Implications for current psycholinguistic models of meaning activation and selection are considered.</p>

scholarly journals Training the Interpretation of Ambiguity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jessica Clifton
Keyword(s):  
Ambiguity Resolution ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Ambiguous Sentence ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Interpretive Bias ◽  
Ambiguous Words ◽  
Target Stimulus Onset Asynchrony ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Selection Of

<p>The interpretation of emotionally ambiguous words, sentences, or scenarios can be biased through training procedures that are collectively called Cognitive Bias Modification for Interpretation (CBM-I). Little CBM-I research has examined the underlying mechanisms responsible for the induction of emotional interpretive biases, or the potential for this line of enquiry to inform psycholinguistic models of meaning activation and selection. In this thesis a novel CBM-I paradigm was developed and then systematically manipulated in order to discriminate between two mechanistic accounts of changes in interpretive bias – the Emotional Priming Account and the Ambiguity Resolution Account. In Experiment 1 participants completed word fragments that were consistently related to either a negative or benign interpretation of an ambiguous sentence. In a subsequent semantic priming task they demonstrated an interpretation bias, in that they were faster to judge the relatedness of targets that were associated with the training-congruent than the training-incongruent meaning of an emotionally ambiguous homograph. In Experiment 2 the time between the presentation of the prime and the target (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony; SOA) at test was shortened. Interpretive biases were not observed at a short SOA suggesting that training did not induce biases at an early lexical activation stage. Interpretive bias was then eliminated when participants simply completed valenced word fragments (Experiment 3) or completed fragments related to emotional but unambiguous sentences (Experiment 4) during training. Only when participants were required to actively resolve emotionally ambiguous sentences during training did changes in interpretation emerge at test. These findings suggest that CBM-I achieves its effects by altering a production rule that aids the selection of a single meaning from alternatives, in line with an Ambiguity Resolution account. Finally, no interpretive biases were observed when the task in the test phase was substituted with a lexical decision task (Experiment 5). Participants only showed biases in the selection of meanings when the test phase encouraged them to interpret the prime. This pattern of results suggests that the alteration of selection patterns in word recognition depend on the strategies employed by participants in the test phase. Overall the findings are discussed with regards to the Ambiguity Resolution and Emotional Priming accounts of modified interpretive biases. Implications for current psycholinguistic models of meaning activation and selection are considered.</p>

Semantic Processing of Foveally and Parafoveally Presented Words in a Lexical Decision Task

1992 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis J. Fuentes ◽  
Pío Tudela
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Inhibitory Effects ◽  
Target Stimulus Onset Asynchrony ◽  
Onset Asynchrony ◽  
Prime Target

Using a lexical decision task in which two primes appeared simultaneously in the visual field for 150 msec followed by a target word, two experiments examined semantic priming from attended and unattended primes as a function of both the separation between the primes in the visual field and the prime-target stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA). In the first experiment significant priming effects were found for both the attended and unattended prime words, though the effect was much greater for the attended words. In addition, and also for both attention conditions, priming showed a tendency to increase with increasing eccentricity (2.3°, 3.3°, and 4.3°) between the prime words in the visual field at the long (550 and 850 msec) but not at the short (250 msec) prime-target SOA. In the second experiment the prime stimuli were either two words (W-W) or one word and five Xs (W-X). We manipulated the degree of eccentricity (2° and 3.6°) between the prime stimuli and used a prime-target SOA of 850 msec. Again significant priming was found for both the attended and unattended words but only the W-W condition showed a decrement in priming as a function of the separation between the primes; this decrement came to produce negative priming for the unattended word at the narrow (2°) separation. These results are discussed in relation to the semantic processing of parafoveal words and the inhibitory effects of focused attention.

Orienting and Focusing in Voluntary and Involuntary Visuospatial Attention Conditions

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 198-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Wang ◽  
Jianhui Wu ◽  
Shimin Fu ◽  
Yuejia Luo
Keyword(s):  
Gain Control ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Orientation Discrimination ◽  
Involuntary Attention ◽  
Attention Condition ◽  
Voluntary Attention ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

In the present study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral measurements in a peripherally cued line-orientation discrimination task to investigate the underlying mechanisms of orienting and focusing in voluntary and involuntary attention conditions. Informative peripheral cue (75% valid) with long stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was used in the voluntary attention condition; uninformative peripheral cue (50% valid) with short SOA was used in the involuntary attention condition. Both orienting and focusing were affected by attention type. Results for attention orienting in the voluntary attention condition confirmed the “sensory gain control theory,” as attention enhanced the amplitude of the early ERP components, P1 and N1, without latency changes. In the involuntary attention condition, compared with invalid trials, targets in the valid trials elicited larger and later contralateral P1 components, and smaller and later contralateral N1 components. Furthermore, but only in the voluntary attention condition, targets in the valid trials elicited larger N2 and P3 components than in the invalid trials. Attention focusing in the involuntary attention condition resulted in larger P1 components elicited by targets in small-cue trials compared to large-cue trials, whereas in the voluntary attention condition, larger P1 components were elicited by targets in large-cue trials than in small-cue trials. There was no interaction between orienting and focusing. These results suggest that orienting and focusing of visual-spatial attention are deployed independently regardless of attention type. In addition, the present results provide evidence of dissociation between voluntary and involuntary attention during the same task.

scholarly journals Sound-identity processing in early areas of the auditory ventral stream in the macaque

2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (4) ◽  
pp. 1123-1141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Kuśmierek ◽  
Michael Ortiz ◽  
Josef P. Rauschecker
Keyword(s):  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Population Analysis ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Dorsal Stream ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Ventral Stream ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Rostral Region ◽  
Identity Processing

Auditory cortical processing is thought to be accomplished along two processing streams. The existence of a posterior/dorsal stream dealing, among others, with the processing of spatial aspects of sound has been corroborated by numerous studies in several species. An anterior/ventral stream for the processing of nonspatial sound qualities, including the identification of sounds such as species-specific vocalizations, has also received much support. Originally discovered in anterolateral belt cortex, most recent work on the anterior/ventral pathway has been performed on far anterior superior temporal (ST) areas and on ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). Regions of the anterior/ventral stream near its origin in early auditory areas have been less explored. In the present study, we examined three early auditory regions with different anteroposterior locations (caudal, middle, and rostral) in awake rhesus macaques. We analyzed how well classification based on sound-evoked activity patterns of neuronal populations replicates the original stimulus categories. Of the three regions, the rostral region (rR), which included core area R and medial belt area RM, yielded the greatest classification success across all stimulus classes or between classes of natural sounds. Starting from ∼80 ms past stimulus onset, clustering based on the population response in rR became clearly more successful than clustering based on responses from any other region. Our study demonstrates that specialization for sound-identity processing can be found very early in the auditory ventral stream. Furthermore, the fact that this processing develops over time can shed light on underlying mechanisms. Finally, we show that population analysis is a more sensitive method for revealing functional specialization than conventional types of analysis.

Priming Effects of Violence on Infrahumanization

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 699-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naira Delgado ◽  
Armando Rodríguez-Pérez ◽  
Jeroen Vaes ◽  
Jacques-Philippe Leyens ◽  
Verónica Betancor
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Lexical Decision Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Contextual Dependency ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Effects Of Violence

Two experiments examine whether exposure to generic violence can display infrahumanization towards out-groups. In Study 1, participants had to solve a lexical decision task after viewing animal or human violent scenes. In Study 2, participants were exposed to either human violent or human suffering pictures before doing a lexical decision task. In both studies, the infrahumanization bias appeared after viewing the human violent pictures but not in the other experimental conditions. These two experiments support the idea of contextual dependency of infrahumanization, and suggest that violence can prime an infrahuman perception of the out-group. Theoretical implications for infrahumanization and potential underlying mechanisms are discussed.

Лексическая неоднозначность в экспериментальных исследованиях: метаанализ

2020 ◽  
pp. 43-51
Author(s):  
Анжелика Дубасова
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Ambiguity Resolution ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Lexical Ambiguity ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Lexical Ambiguity Resolution ◽  
Ambiguous Words ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Right

The article analyses experimental studies of lexical ambiguity (polysemy and homonymy). In total, 42 papers published between 1981 and 2017 were selected for analysis. Selected works were analyzed from the point of view of a) interaction of the main factors of lexical ambiguity resolution (meaning dominance and context), b) modularity/interactivity of language systems. The choice of these issues was caused by the fact that, despite a significant number of papers addressing them, a common theoretical model of lexical ambiguity resolution is still missing. The analysis concluded that none of the existing models could be chosen as the only true one. I believe that it is more promising to combine all models into one; in this case, we should not talk about “models” but about “algorithms” or “strategies”. This merge is compatible with the results of studies of hemispheric asymmetry, which showed that the right and left hemispheres differently process ambiguous words. This difference is projected on the difference between the two main points of view on language processing, interactive and modular. Also, as a result of the analysis, the properties of meaning dominance and context as the main factors influencing the perception of ambiguity are summarized, and the ways and possibilities of their interaction are determined. These factors can participate in the process of resolving ambiguity autonomously or together, with different functions, speed, and levels of perception.

scholarly journals To stay or not to stay: The stability of choice perseveration in value-based decision making

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-217
Author(s):  
Ulrike Senftleben ◽  
Martin Schoemann ◽  
Matthias Rudolf ◽  
Stefan Scherbaum
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Stimulus Onset Asynchrony ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Cognitive Stability ◽  
Inter Trial Interval ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Onset Asynchrony

In real life, decisions are often naturally embedded in decision sequences. In contrast, in the laboratory, decisions are oftentimes analysed in isolation. Here, we investigated the influence of decision sequences in value-based decision making and whether the stability of such effects can be modulated. In our decision task, participants needed to collect rewards in a virtual two-dimensional world. We presented a series of two reward options that were either quick to collect but were smaller in value or took longer to collect but were larger in value. The subjective value of each option was driven by the options’ value and how quickly they could be reached. We manipulated the subjective values of the options so that one option became gradually less valuable over the course of a sequence, which allowed us to measure choice perseveration (i.e., how long participants stick to this option). In two experiments, we further manipulated the time interval between two trials (inter-trial interval), and the time delay between the onsets of both reward options (stimulus onset asynchrony). We predicted how these manipulations would affect choice perseveration using a computational attractor model. Our results indicate that both the inter-trial interval and the stimulus onset asynchrony modulate choice perseveration as predicted by the model. We discuss how our findings extend to research on cognitive stability and flexibility.

scholarly journals The use and nature of grapheme coding during sub-lexical processing and lexical access

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 1324-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Commissaire ◽  
Séverine Casalis
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Access ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Single Letter ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Letter Detection ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Lexical Route

This work aimed to investigate grapheme coding during sub-lexical processing and lexical access. Using the letter detection task in Experiment 1, we compared letter pairs that could be considered as a grapheme unit or not depending on context (referred to as weakly cohesive complex, e.g., an in chant vs cane) to real two-letter graphemes (highly cohesive complex, e.g., au in chaud) and single-letter graphemes (simple, e.g., a in place). Three experimental conditions were used, one of which was designed to prevent phonological influences. Data revealed that only highly cohesive complex graphemes were processed as units, not the weakly cohesive ones. The same pattern was found across experimental conditions in favor of an orthographic mechanism. In Experiments 2 and 3, a primed lexical decision task was used with two stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) and two different ranges of lexical frequency. We manipulated the number of graphemes removed from partial primes ( d**che vs do**he-DOUCHE) and relatedness. In contrast to Experiment 1, no evidence was provided in favor of a role of graphemes during lexical access. We suggest that graphemes can be conceived as sub-lexical orthographic units per se but can only be captured within a sub-lexical route to reading.

Different Brain Activities Predict Retrieval Success during Emotional and Semantic Encoding

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 4008-4021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tullia Padovani ◽  
Thomas Koenig ◽  
Daniel Brandeis ◽  
Walter J. Perrig
Keyword(s):  
Electric Fields ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Stimulus Presentation ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Memory Formation ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Incidental Encoding

There is an increasing line of evidence supporting the idea that the formation of lasting memories involves neural activity preceding stimulus presentation. Following this line, we presented words in an incidental learning setting and manipulated the prestimulus state by asking the participants to perform either an emotional (neutral or emotional) or a semantic (animate or inanimate) decision task. Later, we tested the retrieval of each previously presented word with a recognition memory test. For both conditions, the subsequent memory effect (SME) was defined as ERP difference between subsequently remembered and forgotten words. Comparing the prestimulus SME between and within the two conditions yielded topographic differences in the time interval from −1300 to −700 msec before stimulus onset. This indicates that the activity of brain areas involved in incidental encoding of semantic information varied in the spatial distribution of ERPs, depending on the emotional and semantic requirements of the task. These findings provide evidence that there is a difference in semantic and emotional preparatory processes, which modulates successful encoding into episodic memory. This difference suggests that there are multiple task-specific functional neural systems that support memory formation. These systems differ in location and/or relative contribution of some of the brain structures that generate the measured scalp electric fields. Consequently, the cognitive processes that enable memory formation depend on the differential semantic nature of the study task and reflect differences in the preparatory processing of the multiple semantic components of a word's meaning.

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