The characterization of actions at the superordinate, basic and subordinate level

Objects can be categorized at different levels of abstraction, ranging from the superordinate (e.g., fruit) and the basic (e.g., apple) to the subordinate level (e.g., golden delicious). The basic level is assumed to play a key role in categorization, e.g., in terms of the number of features used to describe these actions and the speed of processing. To which degree do these principles also apply to the categorization of observed actions? To address this question, we first selected a range of actions at the superordinate (e.g., locomotion), basic (e.g., to swim) and subordinate level (e.g., to swim breaststroke), using verbal material (Experiments 1–3). Experiments 4–6 aimed to determine the characteristics of these actions across the three taxonomic levels. Using a feature listing paradigm (Experiment 4), we determined the number of features that were provided by at least six out of twenty participants (common features), separately for the three different levels. In addition, we examined the number of shared (i.e., provided for more than one category) and distinct (i.e., provided for one category only) features. Participants produced the highest number of common features for actions at the basic level. Actions at the subordinate level shared more features with other actions at the same level than those at the superordinate level. Actions at the superordinate and basic level were described with more distinct features compared to those provided at the subordinate level. Using an auditory priming paradigm (Experiment 5), we observed that participants responded faster to action images preceded by a matching auditory cue corresponding to the basic and subordinate level, but not for superordinate level cues, suggesting that the basic level is the most abstract level at which verbal cues facilitate the processing of an upcoming action. Using a category verification task (Experiment 6), we found that participants were faster and more accurate to verify action categories (depicted as images) at the basic and subordinate level in comparison to the superordinate level. Together, in line with the object categorization literature, our results suggest that information about action categories is maximized at the basic level.

Neurolinguistic Approaches in Morphology

Neurolinguistic approaches to morphology include the main theories of morphological representation and processing in the human mind, such as full-listing, full-parsing, and hybrid dual-route models, and how the experimental evidence that has been acquired to support these theories uses different neurolinguistic paradigms (visual and auditory priming, violation, long-lag priming, picture-word interference, etc.) and methods (electroencephalography [EEG]/event-related brain potential [ERP], functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI], neuropsychology, and so forth).

Orthographic Priming in Braille Reading as Evidence for Task-specific Reorganization in the Ventral Visual Cortex of the Congenitally Blind

The task-specific principle asserts that, following deafness or blindness, the deprived cortex is reorganized in a manner such that the task of a given area is preserved even though its input modality has been switched. Accordingly, tactile reading engages the ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT) in the blind in a similar way to regular reading in the sighted. Others, however, show that the vOT of the blind processes spoken sentence structure, which suggests that the task-specific principle might not apply to vOT. The strongest evidence for the vOT's engagement in sighted reading comes from orthographic repetition–suppression studies. Here, congenitally blind adults were tested in an fMRI repetition–suppression paradigm. Results reveal a double dissociation, with tactile orthographic priming in the vOT and auditory priming in general language areas. Reconciling our finding with other evidence, we propose that the vOT in the blind serves multiple functions, one of which, orthographic processing, overlaps with its function in the sighted.

Priming the Representation of Left-Dominant Sandhi Words: A Shanghai Dialect Case Study

The paper aims to examine how the acoustic input (the surface form) and the abstract linguistic representation (the underlying representation) interact during spoken word recognition by investigating left-dominant tone sandhi, a tonal alternation in which the underlying tone of the first syllable spreads to the sandhi domain. We conducted two auditory-auditory priming lexical decision experiments on Shanghai left-dominant sandhi words with less-frequent and frequent Shanghai users, in which each disyllabic target was preceded by monosyllabic primes either sharing the same underlying tone, surface tone, or being unrelated to the tone of the first syllable of the sandhi targets. Results showed a surface priming effect but not an underlying priming effect in younger speakers who used Shanghai less frequently, but no surface or underlying priming effect in older speakers who used Shanghai more often. Moreover, the surface priming did not interact with speakers’ familiarity ratings to the sandhi targets. These patterns suggest that left-dominant Shanghai sandhi words may be represented in the sandhi form in the mental lexicon. The results are discussed in the context of how phonological opacity, productivity, the non-structure-preserving nature of tone spreading, and speakers’ semantic knowledge influence the representation and processing of tone sandhi words.