Can sign language make you better at hand processing?

The languages developed by deaf communities are unique for using visual signs produced by the hand. In the present study, we explored the cognitive effects of employing the hand as articulator. We focused on the arbitrariness of the form-meaning relationship\u2014a fundamental feature of natural languages\u2014and asked whether sign languages change the processing of arbitrary non-linguistic stimulus-response (S-R) associations involving the hand. This was tested using the Simon effect, which specifically requires such type of associations. Differences between signers and speakers (non-signers) only appeared in the Simon task when hand stimuli were shown. Response-time analyses revealed that the distinctiveness of signers\u2019 responses derived from an increased ability to process memory traces of arbitrary S-R pairs related to the hand. These results shed light on the interplay between language and cognition as well as on the effects of sign language acquisition

Retrospective Prime Reliance: A Flexible Retrospective Mechanism for Semantic Priming in Visual Word Recognition

Recent evidences (Balota et al., 2008; Thomas et al., 2012) suggest that the cognitive system can retrospectively (i.e., after target presentation) increase its reliance on prime information when target-word recognition is made more difficult by experimental manipulations such as visual degradation. In fact, response time (RT) distributional analyses have shown that for clearly visible target-words the priming effect has the same size in all the portions of the RT distribution. In contrast, for degraded target-words, priming effects increase across the RT distribution, coherently with the idea of an increased reliance on prime information for degraded targets, which would be particularly beneficial for the most difficult responses (i.e., the slowest ones). The first study (with English-speaking participants), investigated the idea of retrospective prime reliance in the context of an important empirical conundrum within the word recognition literature, produced by the joint effects of stimulus visual quality (SQ), semantic priming and word frequency. The manipulation of these variables, in fact, has traditionally produced constraining results for models of priming (e.g., McNamara, 2005), as well as for visual word recognition models (e.g., Reynolds & Besner, 2004). In Experiment 1, all the three variables have been manipulated within a single speeded pronunciation task, where words and nonwords were randomly appearing as targets. The results indicated that the joint effect of SQ and word frequency on RTs were dependent upon prime relatedness. More specifically, additive effects of SQ and frequency were observed after related primes, while an overadditive interaction was observed after unrelated primes. Distributional analyses showed that this three-way interaction was mediated by slowest RTs and it was hypothesized that the pattern of effects reflects reliance on prime information. To test this hypothesis, in Experiment 2 related primes were eliminated from the list, to produce a context in which there was no reason to rely on prime information. Interactive effects of SQ and frequency found following unrelated primes in Experiment 1 reverted, in Experiment 2, to additive effects for the same unrelated prime conditions. Note that, in English, additive effects of SQ and frequency are found in standard speeded pronunciation tasks (i.e., with no primes), provided that words and nonwords are randomly intermixed in the target set (as was the case in Experiment 2). In a second study, the same experiments as in the first one were tested within a different priming paradigm, namely in zero-lag repetition priming (e.g., Ferguson et al., 2009) and within a different language (Italian). Although distributional analyses provided preliminary evidences that retrospective prime reliance is operative even in this context (Experiment 3), cross-linguistic differences were nonetheless observed. More specifically, in English SQ and frequency produce additive effects in a speeded pronunciation task, provided that nonword targets are intermixed with real words (O’Malley & Besner, 2008) and provided that primes (if present) are all unrelated (Experiment 2). This finding does not seem to be replicated in Italian, where the two variables still produced, in Experiment 4, an overadditive interaction despite the presence of nonwords in the target-set and despite the fact that only unrelated primes were presented (exactly as in Experiment 2). It was hypothesized the discrepancy might stem from the fact that, while in English the system needs to place a functional threshold at an earlier processing level in order to overcome the detrimental effect of visual degradation before lexical representations get activated (thus avoiding lexicalization errors), in a transparent language this might not be the case. It was thus argued that in Italian it is sufficient to increase the reliance on sublexical output, without qualitatively altering the activation-dynamics of the system. The third study explored the possibility that retrospective prime reliance entails episodic retrieval. In a first experiment, English-speaking participants first performed a lexical decision task where SQ and semantic priming were manipulated. After completing the lexical decision and a brief distracter-task, they also performed a recognition memory task on primes presented during the lexical decision. Results showed a trend towards better recognition of those primes that preceded degraded targets, as opposed to clearly visible ones. The result is coherent with the hypothesis that, for those primes that preceded degraded targets, episodic retrieval takes place even in lexical decision, thereby facilitating the recognition of these items in a subsequent memory task. In a second experiment (Italian participants), the effect of SQ in the memory task was not replicated, probably due to specific features of the materials used in the experiment. On the other hand, a strong lexicality effect was found in the memory performance: primes that preceded real words were recognized much better compared to those that preceded nonwords in the previous experimental phase. These results suggest that the interplay between primes and targets, and the cognitive operations required to process them in lexical decision may reflect into the memory traces left by these stimuli. In conclusion, retrospective prime reliance proved to be a useful theoretical tool to understand the joint effect of semantic priming, SQ, and frequency, thereby proposing a new perspective on this issue. Moreover, preliminary evidences suggest that a retrospective component might be involved even in a zero-lag repetition priming paradigm and that the mechanism beside retrospective reliance might entail the episodic retrieval of the prime’s representation. Most importantly, the results highlight the flexibility and the sensitivity of the reading system to the context (i.e., experimental task, characteristics of the stimuli)

Distributional analyses in the picture-word interference paradigm: Exploring the semantic interference and the distractor frequency effects.

he present study explores the distributional features of two important effects within the picture-word interference paradigm: the semantic interference and the distractor frequency effects. These two effects display different and specific distributional profiles. Semantic interference appears greatly reduced in faster response times, while it reaches its full magnitude only in slower responses. This can be interpreted as a sign of fluctuant attentional efficiency in resolving response conflict. In contrast, the distractor frequency effect is mediated mainly by a distributional shift, with low frequency distractors uniformly shifting reaction times distribution towards a slower range of latencies. This finding fits with the idea that distractor frequency exerts its effect by modulating the point in time in which operations required to discard the distractor can start. Taken together, these results are congruent with current theoretical accounts of both the semantic interference and distractor frequency effects. Critically, distributional analyses highlight and further describe the different cognitive dynamics underlying these two effects, suggesting that this analytical tool is able to offer important insights about lexical access during speech productio

A behavioral database for masked form priming

Reading involves a process of matching an orthographic input with stored representations in lexical memory. The masked priming paradigm has become a standard tool for investigating this process. Use of existing results from this paradigm can be limited by the precision of the data and the need for cross-experiment comparisons that lack normal experimental controls. Here, we present a single, large, high-precision, multicondition experiment to address these problems. Over 1,000 participants from 14 sites responded to 840 trials involving 28 different types of orthographically related primes (e.g., castfe–CASTLE) in a lexical decision task, as well as completing measures of spelling and vocabulary. The data were indeed highly sensitive to differences between conditions: After correction for multiple comparisons, prime type condition differences of 2.90 ms and above reached significance at the 5% level. This article presents the method of data collection and preliminary findings from these data, which included replications of the most widely agreed-upon differences between prime types, further evidence for systematic individual differences in susceptibility to priming, and new evidence regarding lexical properties associated with a target word’s susceptibility to priming. These analyses will form a basis for the use of these data in quantitative model fitting and evaluation and for future exploration of these data that will inform and motivate new experiments

Retrospective Prime Reliance: A Flexible Retrospective Mechanism for Semantic Priming in Visual Word Recognition

Recent evidences (Balota et al., 2008; Thomas et al., 2012) suggest that the cognitive system can retrospectively (i.e., after target presentation) increase its reliance on prime information when target-word recognition is made more difficult by experimental manipulations such as visual degradation. In fact, response time (RT) distributional analyses have shown that for clearly visible target-words the priming effect has the same size in all the portions of the RT distribution. In contrast, for degraded target-words, priming effects increase across the RT distribution, coherently with the idea of an increased reliance on prime information for degraded targets, which would be particularly beneficial for the most difficult responses (i.e., the slowest ones). The first study (with English-speaking participants), investigated the idea of retrospective prime reliance in the context of an important empirical conundrum within the word recognition literature, produced by the joint effects of stimulus visual quality (SQ), semantic priming and word frequency. The manipulation of these variables, in fact, has traditionally produced constraining results for models of priming (e.g., McNamara, 2005), as well as for visual word recognition models (e.g., Reynolds & Besner, 2004). In Experiment 1, all the three variables have been manipulated within a single speeded pronunciation task, where words and nonwords were randomly appearing as targets. The results indicated that the joint effect of SQ and word frequency on RTs were dependent upon prime relatedness. More specifically, additive effects of SQ and frequency were observed after related primes, while an overadditive interaction was observed after unrelated primes. Distributional analyses showed that this three-way interaction was mediated by slowest RTs and it was hypothesized that the pattern of effects reflects reliance on prime information. To test this hypothesis, in Experiment 2 related primes were eliminated from the list, to produce a context in which there was no reason to rely on prime information. Interactive effects of SQ and frequency found following unrelated primes in Experiment 1 reverted, in Experiment 2, to additive effects for the same unrelated prime conditions. Note that, in English, additive effects of SQ and frequency are found in standard speeded pronunciation tasks (i.e., with no primes), provided that words and nonwords are randomly intermixed in the target set (as was the case in Experiment 2). In a second study, the same experiments as in the first one were tested within a different priming paradigm, namely in zero-lag repetition priming (e.g., Ferguson et al., 2009) and within a different language (Italian). Although distributional analyses provided preliminary evidences that retrospective prime reliance is operative even in this context (Experiment 3), cross-linguistic differences were nonetheless observed. More specifically, in English SQ and frequency produce additive effects in a speeded pronunciation task, provided that nonword targets are intermixed with real words (O’Malley & Besner, 2008) and provided that primes (if present) are all unrelated (Experiment 2). This finding does not seem to be replicated in Italian, where the two variables still produced, in Experiment 4, an overadditive interaction despite the presence of nonwords in the target-set and despite the fact that only unrelated primes were presented (exactly as in Experiment 2). It was hypothesized the discrepancy might stem from the fact that, while in English the system needs to place a functional threshold at an earlier processing level in order to overcome the detrimental effect of visual degradation before lexical representations get activated (thus avoiding lexicalization errors), in a transparent language this might not be the case. It was thus argued that in Italian it is sufficient to increase the reliance on sublexical output, without qualitatively altering the activation-dynamics of the system. The third study explored the possibility that retrospective prime reliance entails episodic retrieval. In a first experiment, English-speaking participants first performed a lexical decision task where SQ and semantic priming were manipulated. After completing the lexical decision and a brief distracter-task, they also performed a recognition memory task on primes presented during the lexical decision. Results showed a trend towards better recognition of those primes that preceded degraded targets, as opposed to clearly visible ones. The result is coherent with the hypothesis that, for those primes that preceded degraded targets, episodic retrieval takes place even in lexical decision, thereby facilitating the recognition of these items in a subsequent memory task. In a second experiment (Italian participants), the effect of SQ in the memory task was not replicated, probably due to specific features of the materials used in the experiment. On the other hand, a strong lexicality effect was found in the memory performance: primes that preceded real words were recognized much better compared to those that preceded nonwords in the previous experimental phase. These results suggest that the interplay between primes and targets, and the cognitive operations required to process them in lexical decision may reflect into the memory traces left by these stimuli. In conclusion, retrospective prime reliance proved to be a useful theoretical tool to understand the joint effect of semantic priming, SQ, and frequency, thereby proposing a new perspective on this issue. Moreover, preliminary evidences suggest that a retrospective component might be involved even in a zero-lag repetition priming paradigm and that the mechanism beside retrospective reliance might entail the episodic retrieval of the prime’s representation. Most importantly, the results highlight the flexibility and the sensitivity of the reading system to the context (i.e., experimental task, characteristics of the stimuli).Evidenze recenti (Balota et al., 2008; Thomas et al., 2012) suggeriscono che, qualora il riconoscimento delle parole-target sia reso più difficile da manipolazioni sperimentali quali la degradazione visiva, il sistema cognitivo possa incrementare in modo retrospettivo (i.e., dopo la presentazione della parole target) la misura in cui utilizza le informazioni convogliate dal prime semantico. Infatti, analisi della distribuzione dei tempi di reazione (TR) hanno mostrato che, per parole-target chiaramente visibili, l’effetto di priming semantico ha la stessa dimensione in tutte le porzioni della distribuzione dei TR. Diversamente, per parole-target visivamente degradate, l’effetto di priming semantico aumenta drasticamente nei TR più lenti, in accordo con l’ipotesi che il sistema si affidi in misura maggiore all’informazione convogliata dal prime per i targets visivamente degradati e che ciò sia di particolare beneficio per le risposte più difficili (i.e., le più lente). Nel primo studio (condotto con partecipanti di madrelingua Inglese), l’idea di un meccanismo retrospettivo e compensativo all’interno dell’effetto di priming semantico è stata indagata nel contesto degli effetti congiunti di qualità visiva (QV) dei target, frequenza di parole e priming semantico. In letteratura, la manipolazione di queste variabili ha prodotto, infatti, risultati molto rilevanti per i modelli di priming (e.g., McNamara, 2005) e per i modelli di riconoscimento visivo di parole singole (e.g., Reynolds & Besner, 2004). Nell’Esperimento 1, tutte e tre le variabili sono state congiuntamente manipolate all’interno di un singolo compito di lettura ad alta voce, in cui parole e non-parole comparivano in alternanza casuale come targets. I risultati hanno mostrato come gli effetti congiunti di QV e frequenza dipendano dalla relazione semantica tra prime e target. In particolare, le due variabili producono effetti additivi nel caso in cui prime e target siano semanticamente relati, mentre producono un’interazione sovradditiva nel caso in cui prime e target non siano relati. Analizzando la distribuzione dei TR, si è costatato che l’interazione a tre vie precedentemente descritta è mediata, principalmente, dai TR più lenti ed è stato conseguentemente ipotizzato che gli effetti riflettano un incremento retrospettivo della misura in cui il sistema si affida alle informazioni convogliate dal prime. Per testare l’ipotesi, nell’Esperimento 2 i prime semanticamente relati sono stati rimossi, al fine di creare un contesto in cui il sistema non avesse alcuna ragione per affidarsi all’informazione convogliata dal prime. I medesimi stimoli (coppie di prime - target non relati) che nell’Esperimento 1 avevano prodotto un’interazione, hanno prodotto effetti additivi nell’Esperimento 2. Si noti che, in Inglese, si riscontrano effetti additivi di QV e frequenza in compiti di lettura standard (senza primes), nel momento in cui parole e non parole appaiano in alternanza casuale come targets (come avveniva nell’Esperimento 2). In un secondo studio, i due esperimenti precedentemente descritti sono stati replicati utilizzando un paradigma sperimentale diverso, ovvero quello di priming di ripetizione (e.g., Ferguson et al., 2009), con partecipanti di madrelingua Italiana. Nonostante le analisi della distribuzione suggeriscano la presenza di una componente retrospettiva anche in questo secondo contesto (Esperimento 3), i risultati hanno mostrato anche importanti differenze. In Inglese QV e frequenza producono effetti additivi in compiti di lettura nei casi in cui sia parole che non-parole siano presentate come targets (O’Malley & Besner, 2008) e i primes (se presenti) siano tutti non relati (Esperimento 2). In Italiano le due variabili producono effetti sovradditivi (Esperimento 4) nonostante la contemporanea presenza di parole e non parole e nonostante il fatto che i targets fossero preceduti unicamente da primes non relati (esattamente come nell’Esperimento 2). E’ stato ipotizzato che la discrepanza nei risultati sia dovuta alle differenze cross-linguistiche (Inglese vs. Italiano). In Inglese il sistema presenta la necessità di variare la propria architettura funzionale assumendo un funzionamento seriale che confini l’effetto di degradazione visiva negli stadi precoci dell’elaborazione, al fine di evitare che l’attivazione di rappresentazioni lessicali produca errori di lessicalizzazione. In Italiano (un linguaggio trasparente) la situazione potrebbe essere differente. In questo contesto potrebbe essere sufficiente affidarsi in misura maggiore all’output della via sub-lessicale, senza una modificazione qualitativa dell’architettura funzionale. Nel terzo studio è stata esplorata la possibilità che la componente retrospettiva dell’effetto di priming semantico si basi sul recupero episodico della rappresentazione del prime. Nell’esperimento 5 i partecipanti (di madrelingua Inglese) hanno eseguito, durante la prima fase dell’esperimento, una decisione lessicale in cui sono stati manipolati QV e priming semantico. Al termine della prima fase, dopo un breve compito distrattore, i partecipanti eseguivano una prova di memoria di riconoscimento sui primes precedentemente presentati nel compito di decisione lessicale. I risultati hanno mostrato un trend in direzione di un miglior riconoscimento per quei primes che, nel compito di decisione lessicale, precedevano targets visivamente degradati rispetto a quelli che precedevano targets chiaramente visibili. Il risultato è coerente con l’idea che i prime presentati prima di target visivamente degradati siano soggetti a recupero episodico già nella fase di decisione lessicale e che ciò faciliti la prestazione nel compito di memoria. Nell’esperimento 6, analogo al precedente ma condotto con partecipanti di madrelingua Italiana, il tentativo di replicare l’effetto di QV nel compito di memoria non ha avuto successo, probabilmente a cause delle specifiche caratteristiche degli stimoli selezionati. Tuttavia, è stato rilevato, nel compito di memoria, un forte effetto di lessicalità: i partecipanti riconoscevano meglio quei primes che, in decisione lessicale, avevano preceduto parole reali, rispetto a quelli che avevano preceduto non-parole. Questi risultati suggeriscono che le operazioni cognitive condotte in un compito di decisione lessicale, e in particolare l’interazione tra prime e target, modulino le tracce mnesiche lasciate dagli stimoli stessi. In conclusione, la componente retrospettiva e compensativa descritta entro il meccanismo di priming semantico ha dimostrato di essere un utile mezzo teorico per comprendere gli effetti congiunti di priming semantico, QV e frequenza, proponendo pertanto una nuova prospettiva con cui investigare il tema. Inoltre, evidenze preliminari suggeriscono che la componente retrospettiva sia operativa anche in un paradigma di priming di ripetizione e che il meccanismo sottostante il processo retrospettivo possa comprendere il recupero episodico della rappresentazione del prime. Infine, i risultati sottolineano la flessibilità e la sensibilità del sistema di lettura al contesto sperimentale (i.e., compito proposto, caratteristiche degli stimoli)

Exploring the additive effects of stimulus quality and word frequency: the influence of local and list-wide prime relatedness

Stimulus quality and word frequency produce additive effects in lexical decision performance, whereas the semantic priming effect interacts with both stimulus quality and word frequency effects. This pattern places important constraints on models of visual word recognition. In Experiment 1, all three variables were investigated within a single speeded pronunciation study. The results indicated that the joint effects of stimulus quality and word frequency were dependent upon prime relatedness. In particular, an additive effect of stimulus quality and word frequency was found after related primes, and an interactive effect was found after unrelated primes. It was hypothesized that this pattern reflects an adaptive reliance on related prime information within the experimental context. In Experiment 2, related primes were eliminated from the list, and the interactive effects of stimulus quality and word frequency found following unrelated primes in Experiment 1 reverted to additive effects for the same unrelated prime conditions. The results are supportive of a flexible lexical processor that adapts to both local prime information and global list-wide context