Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Semantic Priming'

In the current work, the distinction between priming for associatively-related (AR) and unassociated semantically-related (SR) words is examined. Specifically, whereas associatively-related words demonstrate strong and robust priming effects when presented within the context of lexical-level tasks, generation of significant SR priming appears to require execution of an explicitly semantic task. This apparent levels-of-processing effect, if reflected in the neural-level implementation, would suggest that the mechanisms underlying priming may be localized to spatially and functionally distinct cerebral regions. In the first part of the thesis, an artifactual decision task (ADT) is developed and refined, which proved capable of producing strong immediate SR priming for auditorily presented words. Insertion of unrelated items between prime and target produced differential effects on priming, with AR targets exhibiting an interference effect that slowly diminished as more unrelated items were inserted. The nature of the underlying difference at the neural substrate level was subsequently examined in a PET imaging study, in which subjects performed an auditory ADT using both AR and SR words. Analysis of the cerebral blood flow patterns (CBF) using both simple contrasts, as well as partial least squares (PLS) analysis, found priming-related rCBF decreases in the left frontal regions, primarily within the inferior prefrontal cortex, and left-sided priming-related increases, localized primarily to the superior temporal gyrus, and the ventral temporal surface. Priming-related modulations were reflected by SR words, but not AR words. A behavioral PLS analysis demonstrated that an increase in both SR priming and AR interference effects was associated with increased activity with the extrastriate cortical regions, particularly on the left, suggesting a contribution of visual areas to both facilitatory and interference effects. The imaging findings are

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.
"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, June 30, 2005." Also available in print.

Recently Burton, Bruce and Johnston (1990) have presented an interactive activation and competition model of face recognition. They have shown that this IAC model presents a parsimonious account of semantic and repetition priming effects with faces. In addition, a number of new predictions are evident from the model's structure. One such prediction is highlighted by Burton et al. themselves - that for short prime-target stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) a face should prime the recognition of a target name (or vice versa), 'self priming'. This thesis examined this prediction and found that it held for a design in which items were repeated across prime type conditions (same, associated, neutral and unrelated). Further, cross (face prime/name target) and within-domain (name prime/name target) designs were found to produce equivalent degrees of self and semantic priming (Experiments 1 and 2). Closer examination of the Burton et al. model suggested that the effect of domain equivalence for self priming should not hold for a design in which the stimulus items are not repeated across prime type conditions (i.e. subjects are presented with each item only once). This prediction was confirmed in Experiments 3, 4, 5 and 6.The time courses of self and semantic priming were investigated in two experiments where the interstimulus interval (ISI) between prime and target, and prime presentation times were varied. The results proved difficult to accommodate within the Burton et al. model, but it is argued that they did not provide a sufficient basis on which to reject the model. Finally, the self priming paradigm was applied to the study of distinctiveness effects. Faces judged to be distinctive in appearance were found to produce more facilitation than faces judged to be typical in appearance. Similarly, caricatured representation of faces were found to produce more facilitation than veridical or anticaricatured representations. The results of the distinctiveness studies are discussed in terms of the Valentine's (1991a; 1991b) exemplar-based coding model and Burton, Bruce and Johnston's (1990) IAC implementation. It is concluded that the results of these experiments lend support to the Burton et al. model.

There are now extensive behavioral and neuropsychological evidence to indicate that semantic information of a word can be activated without conscious awareness. However, semantic activation alone may not be sufficient for observing semantic priming effects in masked lexical decision task. In the following study, two tasks were used: lexical decision and semantic categorization. Conscious awareness of the prime was systematically manipulated by varying the duration of the prime and by varying the placement of the mask in the prime-target presentation sequence. Priming effects were observed in the semantic categorization task at prime durations of 42 milliseconds but no semantic priming was observed for the same prime duration in the lexical decision task. However, semantic priming effects began to emerge in lexical decision at the longer prime durations (55 & 69 ms) and under the least effective prime-mask presentation sequences. It is proposed that semantic activation alone is not sufficient for semantic priming effects in the lexical decision task but that central executive involvement is necessary, if only at the lowest level, for facilitatory effects to be observed. Furthermore, no such central executive involvement appears to be required for the semantic categorization task. The priming effects obtained in this task is interpreted in terms of a "decision priming" effect.

A number of studies have shown that speed and accuracy of word retrieval may be affected by the previous retrieval of a word with similar semantic meaning. This phenomenon is called semantic priming and includes both semantic interference or and facilitation. While there is a clear evidence for the presence of semantic priming, the mechanisms causing this effect are still under debate. Therefore, the goal of this PhD was to provide evidence regarding these mechanisms by systematically evaluating the effect of primes with different semantic relations on the speed and accuracy of spoken word retrieval in healthy subjects and people with aphasia. Five experiments were implemented with healthy participants focusing on the effects in priming of semantic coordination, association and part-whole relations on spoken word retrieval with zero or four intervening items between prime and target (lags 0 and 4). Chapter Two reports two experiments using an alternating word reading and picture naming paradigm and Chapter Three, three experiments using a continuous picture naming paradigm. Chapter Four reports two experiments with people with aphasia examining the effects of identity, semantic coordination, association and their interaction on facilitation of picture naming. The results of these two experiments were analysed at both individual subject and group levels. In Chapter Five, these experiments are placed in the context of the previous literature on semantic priming and theories of semantic representation. In this regard, the experimental results are taken to imply that semantic coordination, association, and part-whole relations can be attributed to different types of semantic relations that have different representation and organisation. Further implications of the experiments for our understanding of the mechanisms of lexical access and the nature of lexical representation are discussed.

The nature of semantic impairment in people with aphasia (PWA) provides the background to the current study, which examines whether different methods of semantic assessment can account for such deficits. Cognitive ability, which has previously been linked to language ability in PWA, may impact on test performance and was therefore also examined. The aims of the current study were to compare performance of control participants and PWA on implicit and explicit assessment of semantics, and to relate it to performance on tests of cognition. The impact of semantically similar versus associative relationship types between test stimuli was also considered. Three experimental semantic tasks were developed, including one implicit measure of semantic processing (Semantic Priming) and two explicit measures (Word to Picture Verification and Word to Picture Matching). Test stimuli were matched in terms of key psycholinguistic variables of frequency, imageability and length, and other factors including visual similarity, semantic similarity, and association. Performance of 40 control participants and 20 PWA was investigated within and between participant groups. The relationship between semantic task performance and existing semantic and cognitive assessments was also explored in PWA. An important finding related to a subgroup of PWA who were impaired on the explicit experimental semantic tasks but demonstrated intact semantic processing via the implicit method. Within tasks some differences were found in the effects of semantically related or associated stimuli. No relationships were found between experimental semantic task performance and cognitive task accuracy. The research offers insights into the role of implicit language testing, the impact of stimuli relationship type, and the complex relationship between semantic processing and cognition. The findings underline the need for valid and accurate measures of semantic processing to be in place to enable accurate diagnosis for PWA, in order to direct appropriate intervention choice and facilitate successful rehabilitation.

The present study sought to investigate the extent to which masked semantic priming is an automatic process and whether its effects vary depending upon the type of stimuli used. Recent studies have shown that there is a differential priming effect for prime-target pairs with different types of semantic relationships. Here, using a semantic categorization task with masked priming, we compared the effects of synonym, antonym,and associatively related non-exemplar prime-target pairs when presented at different stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Participants took a prime visibility posttest in conjunction with the categorization task which served as a measure of "partial awareness" of the prime. The results here indicate that differences in perceptual awareness may produce differential semantic priming patterns across the semantic relationships and SOAs considered. Potential mechanisms for this divergence are proposed.

The central aim of the studies presented in my thesis was to investigate the modulation of semantic memory function and its neural correlates in relation to schizophrenia. Semantic information is stored information that is impersonal, and includes knowledge of words and their meaning, and general knowledge about the world. Semantic memory deficits are thought to underlie core symptoms of schizophrenia, including delusions, thought disorder and alogia. The semantic priming (SP) paradigm has been used extensively to assess semantic memory function. In SP experiments, healthy individuals usually respond faster to target words (e.g. atlas) when these are preceded by semantically related prime words (e.g. map) than when preceded by unrelated prime words (e.g. chess)—referred to as the SP effect. My thesis combined several approaches, using SP as the main tool. First, a behavioural study was conducted with patients with schizophrenia. Second, two neuroimaging experiments investigated modulation of neural correlates of SP in schizophrenia. Last, two studies utilised the ketamine model of psychosis in healthy volunteers to investigate: (i) the effects of acute ketamine administration on semantic memory function in drug‐naïve participants, and (ii) the effects of repeated ketamine administration, seen in those who use ketamine recreationally. In summary, three key findings indicate that the employment of conscious strategies during semantic processing is impaired (i) by acute ketamine administration to healthy volunteers, and (ii) in schizophrenia patients as indicated firstly by behavioural results, and (iii) secondly by altered prefrontal haemodynamic activation. None of my studies found any modulation of SP when strategic influences were limited i.e. under automatic conditions. My findings suggest that the disrupted semantic processing in schizophrenia is associated with the modulation of the so‐called ‘executive functions’ and prefrontal haemodynamic responses. Future research should explore whether or not this impairment is specific to semantic memory processing.

Three experiments were conducted to examine whether semantic association contributes to unconscious priming. Experiment 1 used exclusion instructions in which participants were told to avoid completing the stem (e.g. mo---) with a word related to a masked prime (e.g. cash) flashed for 0, 38, or 212 ms. Significant semantic priming was found only in the items analysis when data was averaged across participants. In the subjects analysis, this performance was moderated by participants' ability to report the prime. Experiment 2 used a free association task to examine unconscious semantic priming. Participants were instructed to respond to a target homograph (e.g. pupil) with the first word that came to mind that is not related to the meaning of the flashed word (e.g. student). No significant unconscious semantic priming was found. Experiment 3 replicated the conditions previously used to demonstrate unconscious semantic priming and show that such priming is due to methodological problems. The same methodology as Experiment 2 was used except participants were given inclusion instead of exclusion instructions. Significant priming was found across all trials; however, this priming dissolved when only the trials where participants failed to report the prime were examined. The results of all experiments suggest that unconscious semantic priming from word stimuli is a result of residual conscious awareness of the prime.

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2004.
Thesis research directed by: Psychology. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

Psychologists interested in the study of language find that people are faster at making decisions about words that are related than they are at making decisions about words that are not related – an effect called semantic priming. This phenomenon has largely only been document in laboratory settings using natural languages as contest and real words as stimuli. The current study explores the relation between the semantic priming effect and a laboratory procedure designed to give rise to performances that can be described as linguistic. Six adult participants learned to partition a collection of eight stimuli into two sets of four stimuli. Following this, the subjects showed the semantic priming effect within a set of stimuli but not across sets. These data suggest that it may be possible to study linguistic phenomenon in laboratory-based procedures allowing better control and the ability to ask very precise questions about linguistic functioning.

We report a series of experiments using a new methodology to investigate the relationships between visual and verbal representations and the process of acquiring new semantic associations. Transfer of associative information between stimulus modalities was investigated by training paired associations between novel pictures and novel words. Our results showed that the transfer of associations is a symbolic process, occurring only when participants are aware of the correspondence between the visual and the verbal items afforded by the name relations. We also obtained evidence to suggest that symbolic associations develop more readily from picture associations than from word associations. We argue that this is evidence that semantic knowledge is grounded in perceptual experience. Our most striking result, replicated across experiments, is that transfer of associations between modalities only occurs when subjects have specific conscious awareness about the relationships among associations. This should have implications for cognitive theories of symbolic representation. The methods we developed to expose this phenomenon can be extended to examine those implications more thoroughly. We discuss some of these implications in the terms of competing and complementary cognitive and behavioural theories relating representation to perception and symbols. Dual coding models fit our modality-transfer results more readily than single semantic store models, but neither is well suited for interpreting our awareness results, or for iv discussing perceptual grounding of representation. The models of Deacon and Barsalou both focus on systems of distributed representations grounded in perception; the role of awareness in symbol acquisition in their models is discussed and contrasted with theories from the stimulus equivalence tradition of behaviourist research. From these considerations, we argue that implicit associations underpin symbolic associations, but that semantic knowledge is conscious knowledge about the patterns of association which link representations.

Semantisk mättnad beskrivs som en tillfällig meningsförlust efter hög upprepning av ett ord. Denna mättnad kan mätas med hjälp av N400, en differensvåg som beräknas utifrån elektroencefalografi (EEG) och uppnås när ett ord avviker från en semantisk kontext. N400 uppnås därför inte vid ord från samma semantiska kontext. En tidigare studie visade N400 vid 3 repetitioner av ett ord men ingen vid 30. Detta tyder på semantisk mättnad efter 30 repetitioner. Syftet med denna studie var att mäta om semantisk mättnad kan uppnås redan vid 15 repetitioner. Detta mättes genom att olika ord repeterades 3, 15 eller 30 gånger för 8 deltagare för att etablera en kontext. På grund av det låga antalet deltagare simulerades data för ytterligare 20 deltagare. Därefter visades ett målord som antingen var relaterat eller orelaterat till det första ordet. Ett t-test på stickprovsmedelvärdet gav inget stöd för N400 vid 3 eller 30 repetitioner, endast vid 15 repetitioner. Med hjälp av beroende t-tester kunde vi fastställa en signifikant minskning av N400 från 15 till 30 repetitioner. Resultaten pekar på att semantisk mättnad sker gradvis och fortsätter även efter 15 repetitioner. Dock bör resultatet tolkas med viss reservation eftersom ingen N400 visades vid 3 repetitioner, trots att N400 bör ha varit störst där.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2002.
"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 10, 2002." Also available in print.

Thèse (Ph. D.)--Université de Montréal, 2003.
"NQ-82731." "Thèse présentée à la faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de philosophiae doctor (Ph. D.) en psychologie, option neuropsychologie expérimentale." Version électronique également disponible sur Internet.

Figure assignment entails competition between object properties on opposite sides of borders. The figure is perceived on the side of the border that wins the competition. Ample evidence indicates that configural familiarity is among the competing object properties. We investigated whether priming the semantics of a familiar object suggested along one side of a border can increase its likelihood of winning the competition. To prime the semantics, we presented brief masked exposures of object names before brief masked exposures of displays where a portion of a familiar object was suggested on one side of a central border separating two equal-area, black-and-white regions. Participants reported whether the figure lay on the left or right side of the central border and were unaware of the presence of the word prime. These experimental primes named either the Same Object (SO) or a Different Object (DO) as the familiar object suggested in the display. In the DO condition, the word named an object either in the Same Category (DO-SC) or a Different Category (DO-DC) as the familiar object suggested in the display, where superordinate category was defined as natural versus artificial objects. We also used non-words as control primes. We hypothesized that, if semantic activation influences figure assignment, participants in the SO and DO-SC conditions should be more likely than participants in the DO-DC condition to perceive the figure on the side where the familiar object lies following experimental primes than control primes. We did not observe differences between experimental and control prime in any condition. However, we did obtain a Prime Context Effect, in that participants were more likely to perceive the figure on the familiar side of the border in the SO and DO-SC conditions than in the DO-DC condition. The Prime Context Effect shows that participants discerned the relationship between the masked word prime and the semantics of the familiar object suggested in the display, and this led them to change their strategy on both experimental and control trials. We also found that behavior changed over the course of the experiment: Participants in the DO-DC condition perceived the figure on the familiar side of the border more often in the second half of the experiment, on both experimental and control trials. This pattern suggests that over the course of the experiment, they learned to rely more on information from the display than from the prime, perhaps by restricting their attention to the time when the figure-ground display appeared. Participants in the DO-SC condition perceived the figure on the familiar side of the border more often on experimental trials in the second half of the experiment, whereas their performance on control trials did not differ in the first and second half. We hypothesize that participants in the DO-SC condition learned to match the superordinate semantics of the experimental prime and the display, leading to semantic priming. Taken together, these results show that (1) participants can quickly learn the relationship between experimental primes and target displays and can change their strategy accordingly, and (2) semantic activation can affect figure assignment.

The majority of research on the organisation of bilinguals’ lexical memory has focused on alphabetic languages with shared etymological roots and scripts. Theories based on such evidence may not generalise to noncognate languages with different scripts, such as Chinese and English. This thesis reports a systematic series of experiments designed to investigate the organisation of lexical and conceptual knowledge for bilinguals’ first (L1) and second (L2) language in late L1-dominant Chinese-English bilinguals using the classical cross-language priming paradigm. It aims to investigate how such bilinguals store the meanings of Chinese and English words. It also aims to identify the similarities and discrepancies in the conceptual organisation between noncognate languages with different scripts, i.e., Chinese and English, and to investigate how the lexical representations of a bilingual’s two languages interact with each other and with the conceptual representation. The introductory chapter reviews early theoretical formulations of bilingualism, and evaluates more recent models of bilingual memory. The empirical chapters present three series comprising eight experiments which directly compared cross-language translation priming and semantic priming in both L1-L2 and L2-L1 language directions under conditions designed to tap automatic semantic processes using the same relatively short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 200 ms but different priming paradigms and task contexts. Series 1 (Experiments 1A and 1B) compared repetition/translation priming and semantic priming within and between languages for various semantic relations using an unmasked priming paradigm in lexical decision and word naming tasks. Both tasks produced similar patterns of unmasked translation priming in both L1-L2 and L2-L1 directions, although the priming effects in naming were of a smaller magnitude. Both tasks also showed significant unmasked semantic priming effects for English word targets in the L1-L2 and L2-L2 conditions, but there was little evidence of semantic priming for L1 word targets in the L1-L1 and L2-L1 conditions. Neither task yielded any semantic priming in the within-language L1-L1 condition. Series 2 (Experiments 2A, 2B and 3A, 3B) reported two pairs of semantic categorisation and lexical decision tasks designed to test the predictions of the Sense Model (Finkbeiner, Forster, Nicol, & Nakamura, 2004). The experiments replicated Finkbeiner et al.’s finding that L2-L1 priming is somewhat stronger in semantic categorisation than lexical decision, selectively for category exemplars. However, the direct comparison of L1-L2 and L2-L1 translation priming failed to confirm the Sense Model’s central prediction that translation priming asymmetry is significantly reduced in semantic categorisation. The findings therefore did not support the category filtering account of translation priming asymmetry proposed by the Sense Model but were consistent with semantic feedback (e.g., Hoshino, Midgley, Holcomb, & Grainger, 2010; Midgley, Holcomb, & Grainger, 2009) accounts of cross-script L2-L1 translation priming and suggested that pre-activation of relevant semantic features by a category cue compensates for the weak connections between L2 lexical forms and their conceptual referents. Series 3 (Experiments 4A and 4B) directly compared masked translation and cross-language semantic priming for moderately semantically related pairs with no associative relationships, in semantic categorisation and lexical decision tasks. Both tasks showed similar asymmetrical patterns of masked translation and cross-language semantic priming, characterised by larger priming effects from L1 to L2 than from the reverse. The masked translation priming data fully replicated the findings obtained in Series 2. Masked semantic priming was significant in the L1-L2 but not in the L2-L1 direction, and of smaller magnitude than masked translation priming in both directions. Neither experiment found masked L2-L1 semantic priming. These data can be accommodated by a modified version of the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM, Kroll & Stewart, 1994) based on Duyck and Brysbaert’s (2004) proposal for alphabetic languages in combination with the semantic feedback account. The data are also consistent with the DevLex-II model (Li & Zhao, 2013; Li, Zhao, & MacWhinney, 2007; Zhao & Li, 2010, 2013) regarding the graded relationships between translation and cross-language semantic priming. The findings of this research clearly demonstrated both shared and independent aspects of L1 and L2 semantic representations in unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals. They are compatible with the cognitive architecture of the RHM combined with the representational assumptions of the Distributed Conceptual Feature Model (De Groot, 1992a, 1992b, 1995; Van Hell & De Groot, 1998).

Eye movements in reading are sensitive to foveal and parafoveal word features. Whereas the influence of orthographic or phonological parafoveal information on gaze control is undisputed, there has been no reliable evidence for early parafoveal extraction of semantic information in alphabetic script. Using a novel combination of the gaze-contingent fast-priming and boundary paradigms, we demonstrate semantic preview benefit when a semantically related parafoveal word was available during the initial 125 ms of a fixation on the pre-target word (Experiments 1 and 2). When the target location was made more salient, significant parafoveal semantic priming occurred only at 80 ms (Experiment 3). Finally, with short primes only (20, 40, 60 ms) effects were not significant but numerically in the expected direction for 40 and 60 ms (Experiment 4). In all experiments, fixation durations on the target word increased with prime durations under all conditions. The evidence for extraction of semantic information from the parafoveal word favors an explanation in terms of parallel word processing in reading.

The theme linking the various empirical and theoretical components of this thesis is the impact of semantic knowledge on representations and processes that are typically considered to precede access to the semantic system. The focus is on orthographic representations that are activated by presentation of a written word. The opening three chapters of this dissertation are theoretical. Chapter 1 describes the dominant view that repetition priming of visual words – facilitation in responding to a word that has been encountered recently – is mediated predominantly by orthographic form. The second chapter outlines why brain-damaged patients with a selective impairment to semantic knowledge can be used to address the question of whether repetition priming is influenced by conceptual factors. Other variables can modulate priming effects, and some of these are outlined in Chapter 3. Theoretical predictions arising from the research surveyed in the first three chapters were tested in the empirical Chapters 4, 5 and 6. Chapters 4 and 5 present results from semantic dementia (SD) patients in repetition priming experiments that employed perceptual identification and lexical decision tasks. Findings from three repetition priming experiments with normal controls are presented in Chapter 6. A striking finding from the priming studies was that SD patients demonstrated consistent baseline slowing effects, especially for ‘degraded’ words. Chapter 7 is a theoretical chapter that expands on this observation. Relative to controls, SD patients were slower both to report words in perceptual identification, and to make lexical decisions. A major reason for this was the slowness of their reading; indeed several SD patients showed signs of letter-by-letter (LBL) reading. Chapters 8 and 9 were aimed at resolving the question of whether LBL reading in SD can be attributed to the visual deficit that has been used to explain the phenomenon in pure alexia. Word length effects were calculated for word reading and for a non-visual identification from oral spelling task in SD and pure alexic patients. Performance on a set of visual tasks, incorporating linguistic and non-linguistic stimuli, was also assessed. A final experiment assessed the impact of lexicality on the length effect in the two patient groups. Reading RTs were compared for words and nonwords of different lengths, and indicated whether top-down lexico-semantic support moderated LBL reading. It is argued that semantic factors can influence both the initial activation of a written word and the subsequent pattern of repetition priming.

This thesis concerns how memory processes and biases may be implicated in substance dependence. The literature review begins by outlining different models of drug dependence and research into cognitive function in addiction. It then outlines the structure of long-term memory, before reviewing and discussing the implications of the limited evidence available for cognitive biases operating in semantic and episodic memory of individuals who are addicted. The review ends by discussing implications for future research and by suggesting additional paradigms that could be used to further investigate the role of memory in addiction. The empirical paper describes a study which investigated semantic priming and verbal learning in current opiate users on a methadone maintenance programme, ex opiate-users in rehabilitation and healthy non-using controls. It is one part of a joint project, the other part having been carried out by a fellow clinical psychology trainee who investigated response inhibition in the same sample population. Both current and ex-users showed preserved semantic priming. Ex-users showed a verbal learning impairment compared with controls, whilst both current and ex-users showed impairment in recalling semantically unrelated words, but intact recall of semantically related words. This may suggest a relative impairment in the ability of opiate users and ex-users to impose structure to unstructured information (e.g. use of mnemonic strategies) and a greater reliance on semantic memory when encoding new information. Providing opiate using clients with highly structured information may be beneficial to intervention. The critical appraisal gives a reflective account of the research process, the study and the treatment implications of the findings.

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2000.
"A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 10, 2000." Also available in print.

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).

Esta dissertação teve como objetivo investigar as relações entre reconhecimento de palavras e compreensão de leitura textual e o processamento léxico. A dissertação é constituída de dois estudos. No primeiro estudo, são revisados modelos de leitura de palavras e de texto com o objetivo de examinar o papel do processamento léxico-semântico no reconhecimento visual de palavras e na compreensão de leitura textual. O paradigma de priming semântico é apresentado como uma ferramenta para a investigação da relação entre processamento léxico-semântico e ambos os componentes de leitura examinados. São apresentados os principais modelos teóricos de priming semântico, juntamente com uma revisão dos estudos empíricos que relacionam priming semântico e leitura, e algumas conclusões e perspectivas de investigação são apresentadas. No segundo estudo, foram investigadas empiricamente as relações entre processamento léxico-semântico e leitura (reconhecimento visual de palavras e compreensão de leitura textual) em uma amostra de 68 crianças, de 7 a 12 anos, de escolas particulares de Porto Alegre. O processamento léxico-semântico foi avaliado através de uma tarefa de decisão lexical no paradigma de priming semântico, enquanto as habilidades de leitura foram medidas por uma tarefa de leitura de palavras/pseudopalavras isoladas e uma tarefa de compreensão de leitura textual (resposta a questões e reconto de história). Foram investigadas correlações entre efeitos de priming semântico e desempenho em tarefas de leitura de palavras e compreensão de leitura textual e se o priming semântico prediz o desempenho dos participantes nas tarefas de leitura. Os resultados mostraram que o priming semântico se correlaciona com ambas as medidas de leitura, e que o reconhecimento de palavras medeia parcialmente a relação entre processamento léxico-semântico e compreensão de leitura textual.
The aim of this dissertation was to investigate the relationships between word recognition and reading comprehension with lexical-semantic processing. The dissertation is composed of two studies. In the first study, models of word reading and reading comprehension are reviewed in order to examine the role of lexical-semantic processing in visual word recognition and in reading comprehension. The semantic priming paradigm is presented as an instrument for the investigation of relationships between lexical-semantic processing and the components of reading examined. The main theoretical models of semantic priming are presented and a review of studies which relate semantic priming and reading is conducted, and some conclusions and perspectives for investigation are presented. In the second study, relations between lexical-semantic processing and reading (visual word recognition and reading comprehension) were investigated empirically in a sample of 68 children, aged seven to twelve years, from private schools in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Lexical-semantic processing was evaluated by a lexical decision task in the semantic priming paradigm and reading abilities were assessed with a word/nonword reading task and a reading comprehension task (questionnaire and story retelling). Correlations between semantic priming effects and word reading and reading comprehension were investigated, as well as if semantic priming effects predict performance on the reading task. Results showed that semantic priming correlates with both groups of reading measures, and that word reading partially mediates the relation between lexical-semantic processing and reading comprehension.

Stimuli that cannot be perceived (i.e., that are subliminal) can still elicit neural responses in an observer, but can such stimuli influence behavior and higher-order cognition? Empirical evidence for such effects has periodically been accepted and rejected over the last six decades. Today, many psychologists seem to consider such effects well-established and recent studies have extended the power of subliminal processing to new limits. In this thesis, I examine whether this shift in zeitgeist is matched by a shift in evidential strength for the phenomenon. This thesis consists of three empirical studies involving more than 250 participants, a simulation study, and a quantitative review. The conclusion based on these efforts is that several methodological, statistical, and theoretical issues remain in studies of subliminal processing. These issues mean that claimed subliminal effects might be caused by occasional or weak percepts (given the experimenters’ own definitions of perception) and that it is still unclear what evidence there is for the cognitive processing of subliminal stimuli. New data are presented suggesting that even in conditions traditionally claimed as “subliminal”, occasional or weak percepts may in fact influence cognitive processing more strongly than do the physical stimuli, possibly leading to reversed priming effects. I also summarize and provide methodological, statistical, and theoretical recommendations that could benefit future research aspiring to provide solid evidence for subliminal cognitive processing.

At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript.

 

Investigations of the anticipated effects of alcohol indicate that cognitive frameworks are highly correlated with drinking and other variables associated with alcohol use, explaining up to 50% of the variance in drinking outcomes (Goldman, Darkes, & Del Boca, 1999; Goldman, 2002; Goldman et al., 2006; Goldman, Reich, & Darkes, 2006). Furthermore, alcohol expectancies appear to mediate the relationship between a variety of risk factors, such as sensation seeking, and alcohol outcomes (Darkes, Greenbaum, & Goldman, 2004). The current study examined the relationship of these cognitive networks with a physiological index of expectancy violation Participants were presented with statements reflecting a wide range of alcohol outcome effects, which either violated or confirmed the participant’s own set of alcohol expectancies, while the ERPs evoked by these stimuli were recorded. As predicted, the P300 amplitude elicited by negative alcohol expectancy stimuli was positively correlated with the degree of endorsement of positive/arousing expectancies on the self-report measure. That is, the higher the individual’s positive/arousing expectancies, the larger the P300 elicited by stimuli asserting the negative effects of alcohol. There was no significant correlation, however, between P300 amplitude elicited by positive alcohol expectancy stimuli and the degree of endorsement of negative/sedating expectancies on the selfreport measure. In addition, individual differences relating to alcohol expectancies were examined as well. These results were able to identify specific stimuli that violated expectancies for each individual, as well as those that tended to violate expectancies in systematic ways across subjects. These findings provide a way forward for more precise assessment and prediction based on the well developed cognitive model of Alcohol Expectancies. In sum, variations in the amplitude of the P300 were consistent with the model of Alcohol Expectancies. Words imputing negative/sedating effects of alcohol elicited a large P300 in individuals with higher positive alcohol expectancies. By indexing the brain’s electrophysiological response sensitive to expectancy violations, these findings demonstrate concordance between verbal measures of alcohol expectancies, which by their very nature are introspective, and a psychophysiological index of expectancy thought to operate automatically and to be independent of overt responding.

It is recognised that individuals do not always respond honestly when completing psychological tests. One of the foremost issues for research in this area is the inability to detect individuals attempting to fake. While a number of strategies have been identified in faking, a commonality of these strategies is the latent role of long term memory. Seven studies were conducted in order to examine whether it is possible to detect the activation of faking related cognitions using a lexical decision task. Study 1 found that engagement with experiential processing styles predicted the ability to fake successfully, confirming the role of associative processing styles in faking. After identifying appropriate stimuli for the lexical decision task (Studies 2A and 2B), Studies 3 to 5 examined whether a cognitive state of faking could be primed and subsequently identified, using a lexical decision task. Throughout the course of these studies, the experimental methodology was increasingly refined in an attempt to successfully identify the relevant priming mechanisms. The results were consistent and robust throughout the three priming studies: faking good on a personality test primed positive faking related words in the lexical decision tasks. Faking bad, however, did not result in reliable priming of negative faking related cognitions. To more completely address potential issues with the stimuli and the possible role of affective priming, two additional studies were conducted. Studies 6A and 6B revealed that negative faking related words were more arousing than positive faking related words, and that positive faking related words were more abstract than negative faking related words and neutral words. Study 7 examined whether the priming effects evident in the lexical decision tasks occurred as a result of an unintentional mood induction while faking the psychological tests. Results were equivocal in this regard. This program of research aligned the fields of psychological assessment and cognition to inform the preliminary development and validation of a new tool to detect faking. Consequently, an implicit technique to identify attempts to fake good on a psychological test has been identified, using long established and robust cognitive theories in a novel and innovative way. This approach represents a new paradigm for the detection of individuals responding strategically to psychological testing. With continuing development and validation, this technique may have immense utility in the field of psychological assessment.

Esta dissertação buscou analisar o efeito de priming semântico em uma tarefa de decisão lexical. No estudo 1, comparou-se o efeito de priming semântico entre crianças e universitários em dois SOAs (250ms e 500ms). Os resultados mostraram que no SOA de 250ms, apenas as crianças tiveram efeito de priming semântico. Quando o SOA foi de 500ms, ambos grupos apresentaram efeito de priming semântico, no entanto, este foi maior nas crianças. No estudo 2 foi investigada a relação entre o efeito de priming semântico nas crianças do estudo 1 e as variáveis força de associação e freqüência do alvo. Foram encontradas algumas fracas correlações entre estas variáveis. Conclui-se que variáveis como idade/escolaridade, SOA e força de associação são determinantes no efeito de priming semântico.
The aim of this study was to analyze the semantic priming effect in a lexical decision task. In study 1, the semantic priming effect in third graders and college students was compared. It was used two SOAs, 250ms and 500ms. The results showed that when SOA was 250ms, only third graders had semantic priming effects. When SOA was 500ms, both groups had semantic priming effects; however, the magnitude of it was bigger in children. In study 2, it was investigated the relation between semantic priming effects of third graders and the variables associative strength and frequency. Data demonstrated some weak correlations between these variables. We concluded that variables such age/educational group, SOA and associative strength are related to the semantic priming effect.