Auditory context effects in picture naming investigated with event-related fMRI

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.

Download Full-text

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.

Download Full-text

On the Interpretation of Onsets of Auditory Context Effects in Word Production

Journal of Memory and Language ◽

10.1006/jmla.1999.2693 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 42 (4) ◽

pp. 497-525 ◽

Cited By ~ 56

Author(s):

Peter A. Starreveld

Keyword(s):

Context Effects ◽

Word Production ◽

Auditory Context Effects

Download Full-text

Phonological and auditory context effects in the perception of synthetic liquid-plus-stop clusters

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.5014861 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 142 (4) ◽

pp. 2703-2703

Author(s):

Terrance M. Nearey ◽

Benjamin V. Tucker

Keyword(s):

Context Effects ◽

Auditory Context Effects

Download Full-text

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

Download Full-text

Auditory rhythmic cueing in movement rehabilitation: findings and possible mechanisms

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2013.0402 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 369 (1658) ◽

pp. 20130402 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Rebecca S. Schaefer

Keyword(s):

Movement Disorders ◽

Context Effects ◽

Motor Impairment ◽

Auditory Cues ◽

Musical Rhythm ◽

Temporal Prediction ◽

Intervention Efficacy ◽

Auditory Context Effects ◽

Auditory Cueing ◽

Positive Results

Moving to music is intuitive and spontaneous, and music is widely used to support movement, most commonly during exercise. Auditory cues are increasingly also used in the rehabilitation of disordered movement, by aligning actions to sounds such as a metronome or music. Here, the effect of rhythmic auditory cueing on movement is discussed and representative findings of cued movement rehabilitation are considered for several movement disorders, specifically post-stroke motor impairment, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. There are multiple explanations for the efficacy of cued movement practice. Potentially relevant, non-mutually exclusive mechanisms include the acceleration of learning; qualitatively different motor learning owing to an auditory context; effects of increased temporal skills through rhythmic practices and motivational aspects of musical rhythm. Further considerations of rehabilitation paradigm efficacy focus on specific movement disorders, intervention methods and complexity of the auditory cues. Although clinical interventions using rhythmic auditory cueing do not show consistently positive results, it is argued that internal mechanisms of temporal prediction and tracking are crucial, and further research may inform rehabilitation practice to increase intervention efficacy.

Download Full-text

Cumulative semantic interference in young children's picture naming

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716416000461 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 38 (4) ◽

pp. 835-853 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

MONIQUE CHAREST

Keyword(s):

Response Latency ◽

Incremental Learning ◽

Picture Naming ◽

Context Effects ◽

Interference Effects ◽

Homogeneous Condition ◽

Semantic Interference ◽

Mixed Condition ◽

Preschool Aged Children

ABSTRACTIn children and adults, naming an item sometimes interferes with later attempts to name other items. Adult speakers experience cumulative semantic interference, interpreted as the result of incremental learning. Studies to date have not examined whether incremental learning can also account for interference in children. This study examined context effects on picture naming in 3-year-old children, and investigated whether children, like adults, show interference that is semantically based and cumulative. Children named pictures from semantically homogeneous and mixed sets. Response latency, accuracy, and repetition errors were recorded. The results demonstrated a progressive slowing of responses in the semantically homogeneous condition that was greater than that observed for the mixed condition. There were no significant effects for accuracy. Repetition errors, although infrequent, patterned similarly to previous reports for adults. The results indicate that preschool-aged children experience cumulative semantic interference in naming, and suggest that incremental learning may account for interference effects across development.

Download Full-text