When words collide: Bayesian meta-analyses of distractor and target properties in the picture-word interference paradigm

In the picture-word interference paradigm, participants name pictures while ignoring a written or spoken distractor word. Naming times to the pictures are slowed down by the presence of the distractor word. Various properties of the distractor modulate this slow down, for example naming times are shorter with frequent vs. infrequent distractors. Building on this line of research, the present study investigates in more detail the impact of distractor and target word properties on picture naming times. We report the results of several Bayesian meta-analyses, based on 35 datasets. The aim of the first analysis was to obtain an estimation of the size of the distractor frequency effect, and of its precision, in typical picture-word interference experiments where this variable is not manipulated. The analysis shows that a one-unit increase in log frequency results in response times to the pictures decreasing by about 4ms (95% Credible Interval: [-6, -2]). With the second and third analyses, we show that after accounting for the effect of frequency, two variables known to influence processing times in visual word processing tasks also influence picture naming times: distractor length and orthographic neighborhood. Finally, we found that distractor word frequency and target word frequency interact; the effect of distractor frequency decreases as the frequency of the target word increases. We discuss the theoretical and methodological implications of these findings, as well as the importance of obtaining high-precision estimates of experimental effects

Inter-individual variability in morphological processing: An ERP study on German plurals

Previous studies on the neuro-cognition of language have provided a strong case for systematic inter-individual variability in event-related potentials (ERPs) evoked during language processing. In the present study, we aimed at extending this evidence to the processing of morphologically complex words. We focused on German plural forms and tested two types of morphological violations: overapplications of regular plural morphemes (‘regularizations’) and of irregular plural morphemes (‘irregularizations’). The group-level results showed a biphasic LAN-P600 response for regularizations, and a P600 for irregularizations. In line with previous reports, our analyses of inter-individual variability suggested that biphasic responses consisting of a negativity followed by a positivity are unlikely to exist at the individual level. Importantly, when analyzing the scalp distribution of ERPs elicited in participants supposed to show negativity-dominant responses, we found this to vary as a function of the type of morphological form: regularizations elicited a left-hemisphere response (LAN), while irregularizations a more widespread negativity (N400). Our results are consistent with dual-route accounts of morphological processing that distinguish between rule-based processing for regular inflection and memory retrieval for irregular inflection. At a more general level, our study shows that complementing group-level results with analyses of inter-individual variability can crucially contribute to a more detailed understanding of brain signatures of language

The role of oral vocabulary when L2 speakers read novel words : A complex word training study

The present study asked whether oral vocabulary training can facilitate reading in a second language (L2). Fifty L2 speakers of English received oral training over three days on complex novel words, with predictable and unpredictable spellings, composed of novel stems and existing suffixes (i.e., vishing, vishes, vished). After training, participants read the novel word stems for the first time (i.e., trained and untrained), embedded in sentences, and their eye movements were monitored. The eye-tracking data revealed shorter looking times for trained than untrained stems, and for stems with predictable than unpredictable spellings. In contrast to monolingual speakers of English, the interaction between training and spelling predictability was not significant, suggesting that L2 speakers did not generate orthographic skeletons that were robust enough to affect their eye-movement behaviour when seeing the trained novel words for the first time in print

Are Faster Participants Always Faster? Assessing Reliability of Participants’ Mean Response Speed in Picture Naming

Studies of language production often make use of picture naming tasks to investigate the cognitive processes involved in speaking, and many of these studies report a wide range of individual variability in how long speakers need to prepare the name of a picture. It has been assumed that this variability can be linked to inter-individual differences in cognitive skills or abilities (e.g., attention or working memory); therefore, several studies have tried to explain variability in language production tasks by correlating production measures with scores on cognitive tests. This approach, however, relies on the assumption that participants are reliable over time in their picture naming speed (i.e., that faster speakers are consistently fast). The current study explicitly tested this assumption by asking participants to complete a simple picture naming task twice with one to two weeks in between sessions. In one experiment, we show that picture naming speed has excellent within-task reliability and good test-retest reliability, at least when participants perform the same task in both sessions. In a second experiment with slight task variations across sessions (a speeded and non-speeded picture naming task), we replicated the high split-half reliability and found moderate consistency over tasks. These findings are as predicted under the assumption that the speed of initiating responses for speech production is an intrinsic property or capacity of an individual. We additionally discuss the consequences of these results for the statistical power of correlational designs

RETRATO DE PRIMERA COMUNIÓN [Material gráfico]

Copia digital. Madrid : Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, 201

Differences in processing times for distractors and pictures modulate the influence of distractors in picture–word interference tasks

<p>In the picture–word interference paradigm, participants name pictures while ignoring a distractor word. When targets and distractors share phonemic and/or graphemic content, naming latencies are shorter than when there is no overlap between the two words. This study examines the hypothesis that the facilitation effect is modulated by differences in the time it takes participants to encode the picture name and process the distractor. Participants named pictures while ignoring distractors that either shared a phonological/orthographical syllable with the target word or were unrelated to that word. Response latencies during the naming of the distractors were collected and used as a measure of distractor processing time. The facilitation effect in picture naming was modulated by differences in response times between the picture and word naming tasks. This finding complements previous studies in showing that picture naming processes in the picture–word interference paradigm are influenced by the time course of distractor processing.</p