Automatic and attentional processes in the comprehension of unfamiliar metaphors

The present study employed priming techniques to investigate whether unfamiliar metaphors are understood automatically, or whether controlled processes are required for comprehension. Priming sentences were presented to 76 participants in a naming task and vocal RT (reaction time) to target words was recorded. Target words were associates of the 120 metaphors used in the stimulus set. SOA (stimulus onset asynchrony) was manipulated in order to permit the measurement of both automatic and attentional priming (375ms, 750ms, and 1,500ms). Four priming conditions enabled a comparison between metaphoric, literal, and neutral contexts, and an unrelated (baseline) condition. The data revealed a strong priming effect for metaphors at an SOA of 1,500ms, but no effects at either of the shorter SOAs. These results indicate that, in the absence of supporting context, unfamiliar metaphors are not processed automatically. Comprehension of such linguistic phenomena apparently requires attentional processing. The findings have implications for direct processing theories of metaphor comprehension.     

Automatic and attentional processes in the comprehension of unfamiliar metaphors

The present study employed priming techniques to investigate whether unfamiliar metaphors are understood automatically, or whether controlled processes are required for comprehension. Priming sentences were presented to 76 participants in a naming task and vocal RT (reaction time) to target words was recorded. Target words were associates of the 120 metaphors used in the stimulus set. SOA (stimulus onset asynchrony) was manipulated in order to permit the measurement of both automatic and attentional priming (375ms, 750ms, and 1,500ms). Four priming conditions enabled a comparison between metaphoric, literal, and neutral contexts, and an unrelated (baseline) condition. The data revealed a strong priming effect for metaphors at an SOA of 1,500ms, but no effects at either of the shorter SOAs. These results indicate that, in the absence of supporting context, unfamiliar metaphors are not processed automatically. Comprehension of such linguistic phenomena apparently requires attentional processing. The findings have implications for direct processing theories of metaphor comprehension.     

Semantic priming in Alzheimer's dementia: evidence for dissociation of automatic and attentional processes

The nature of the semantic memory deficit in dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) was investigated in a semantic priming task which was designed to assess both automatic and attention-induced priming effects. Ten DAT patients and 10 age-matched control subjects completed a word naming semantic priming task in which both relatedness proportion (RP) and stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) were varied. A clear dissociation between automatic and attentional priming effects in both groups was demonstrated; however, the DAT subjects' pattern of priming deviated significantly from that of the normal controls. The DAT patients failed to produce any priming under conditions which encouraged automatic semantic processing and produced facilitation only when the RP was high. In addition, the DAT group produced hyperpriming, with significantly larger facilitation effects than the control group. These results suggest an impairment of automatic spreading activation in DAT and have implications for theories of semantic memory impairment in DAT as well as models of normal priming.     

Controlling the unconscious: attentional task sets modulate subliminal semantic and visuomotor processes differentially

Are unconscious processes susceptible to attentional influences? In two subliminal priming experiments, we investigated whether task sets differentially modulate the sensitivity of unconscious processing pathways. We developed a novel procedure for masked semantic priming of words (Experiment 1) and masked visuomotor priming of geometrical shapes (Experiment 2). Before presentation of the masked prime, participants performed an induction task in which they attended to either semantic or perceptual object features designed to activate a semantic or perceptual task set, respectively. Behavioral and electrophysiological effects showed that the induction tasks differentially modulated subliminal priming: Semantic priming, which involves access to conceptual meaning, was found after the semantic induction task but not after the perceptual induction task. Visuomotor priming was observed after the perceptual induction task but not after the semantic induction task. These results demonstrate that unconscious cognition is influenced by attentional control. Unconscious processes in perceptual and semantic processing streams are coordinated congruently with higher-level action goals.     

Repetition priming effects from attended vs. ignored single words in a semantic categorization task

The present research examines priming effects from a centrally presented single-prime word to which participants were instructed to either attend or ignore. The prime word was followed by a single central target word to which participants made a semantic categorization (animate vs. inanimate) task. The main variables manipulated across experiments were attentional instructions (attend vs. ignore the prime word), presentation duration of the prime word (20, 50, 80 or 100 ms), prime-target stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA; 300 vs. 800 ms), and temporal presentation of instructions (before vs. after the prime word). The results showed (a) a consistent interaction between attentional instructions and repetition priming and (b) a qualitatively different ignored priming pattern as a function of prime duration: reduced positive priming (relative to the attend instruction) for prime exposures of 80 and 100 ms, and reliable negative priming for the shorter prime exposures of 20 and 50 ms. In addition (c), the differential priming pattern for attend and ignore trials was observed at a prime-target SOA of 800 ms (but not at a shorter 300-ms SOA) and only when instructions were presented before the prime word. Methodological and theoretical implications of the present findings for the extant negative priming literature are discussed.     

Code-switching effects in bilingual word recognition: a masked priming study with event-related potentials

Two experiments tested language switching effects with bilingual participants in a priming paradigm with masked primes (duration of 50 ms in Experiment 1 and 100 ms in Experiment 2). Participants had to monitor target words for animal names, and ERPs were recorded to critical (non-animal) words in L1 and L2 primed by unrelated words from the same or the other language. Both experiments revealed language priming (switching) effects that depended on target language. For target words in L1, most of the language switch effect appeared in the N400 ERP component, with L2 primes generating a more negative going wave than L1 primes. For L2 target words, on the other hand, the effects of a language switch appeared mainly in an earlier ERP component (N250) peaking at approximately 250 ms post-target onset, and showing greater negativity following an L1 prime than an L2 prime. This is the first evidence for fast-acting language-switching effects occurring in the absence of overt task switching.     

阈下启动情绪控制目标对恐惧刺激注意分配的影响

本研究采用阈下启动范式来操纵情绪控制目标,并结合点探测范式来考察无意识情绪控制目标的启动对注意分配的影响。结果发现,情绪控制目标启动组在线索刺激呈现100ms和500ms的条件下,对负性刺激产生了注意回避,控制组在100ms对负性刺激产生了警觉。结果说明通过阈下启动情绪调节目标能够促进个体对负性刺激的注意回避。     

Fast trial pacing in a lexical decision task reveals a decay of automatic semantic activation

We report an experiment showing that reducing attentional resources by presenting trials with a short, 400 ms intertrial interval (ITI) (a) did not affect semantic priming at a 160 ms prime-to-target stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA), relative to a 2500 ms ITI, and (b) eliminated the priming that occurred at a 1200 ms SOA when the ITI was 2500 ms. However, the elimination of priming at the 1200 ms SOA occurred only when the relatedness proportion (RP, proportion of related primes and targets) was .25 and not when it was .75. We interpret these results as showing that attentional/strategic priming occurs with an RP as low as .25, but only when sufficient attentional resources are available. Equally important, this is the first direct evidence that automatic semantic activation decays within 1200 ms in the standard semantic-priming/lexical-decision paradigm when attentional resources are not being used to maintain the goal of sustaining prime activation. We further argue that the frequent occurrences of related primes and targets with a high RP serve as reminders to maintain that goal such that cognitive load does not reduce long-SOA priming when the RP is high.     

Spatial cueing by social versus nonsocial directional signals

A cost-benefit analysis was used to investigate whether reflexive effects in a spatial cueing task are stronger when target location is cued by another person's gaze rather than arrows because the relative contribution of attentional shifts versus automatic priming is greater in the case of gaze cues. Across four experiments, nonpredictive arrows triggered rapid facilitatory, inhibition-less priming that peaked at 300-500ms SOA and then died away; across three experiments, nonpredictive gaze cues triggered facilitation-plus-costs at SOAs of 300-400ms or more, suggesting that gaze cues trigger stronger (and longer) attentional effects. At 200 ms SOA, gaze cues triggered facilitation-without-cost, consistent with the view that facilitatory effects accrue more rapidly due to earlier automatic priming, whereas costs are manifest slightly later, when attentional effects come online. There was some evidence that nonpredictive gaze cues trigger long-lasting congruency effects so long as observers maintain their preparedness to respond. Findings support the view that gaze is a unique symbolic directional cue.     

自动情绪调节对负性情绪面孔注意偏向的影响

本研究通过成语匹配任务启动情绪调节目标,在情绪flanker任务中考察了自动情绪调节启动对注意偏向的影响。结果表明,中性启动条件下,被试表现出对负性情绪面孔的注意偏向,而情绪调节启动条件下,被试对正性、负性情绪面孔的注意分配不存在显著差异。这一结果说明自动情绪调节可以有效地减弱被试的负性情绪面孔注意偏向。     

高度模糊靶字下的N400语义启动效应：词汇加工理论的证据

本研究基于不可识别模糊字词仍能诱发N400的词汇加工理论的假设,让被试对模糊字进行同一字延迟判断,利用脑电技术记录不同模糊程度靶字的认知过程,来探讨N400出现的条件,以阐明N400反映的是词汇加工,还是词汇后加工。实验结果表明：与可识别、轻度模糊汉字一样,不可识别、高度模糊汉字仍然可以诱发N400;这种N400语义启动效应反映了词汇加工过程。     

Tracking the first two seconds: three stages of visual information processing?

We compared visual priming and comparison tasks to assess information processing of a stimulus during the first 2 s after its onset. In both tasks, a 13-ms prime was followed at varying SOAs by a 40-ms probe. In the priming task, observers identified the probe as rapidly and accurately as possible; in the comparison task, observers determined as rapidly and accurately as possible whether or not the probe and prime were identical. Priming effects attained a maximum at an SOA of 133 ms and then declined monotonically to zero by 700 ms, indicating reliance on relatively brief visuosensory (iconic) memory. In contrast, the comparison effects yielded a multiphasic function, showing a maximum at 0 ms followed by a minimum at 133 ms, followed in turn by a maximum at 240 ms and another minimum at 720 ms, and finally a third maximum at 1,200 ms before declining thereafter. The results indicate three stages of prime processing that we take to correspond to iconic visible persistence, iconic informational persistence, and visual working memory, with the first two used in the priming task and all three in the comparison task. These stages are related to stages presumed to underlie stimulus processing in other tasks, such as those giving rise to the attentional blink.     

Word frequency effect on repetition priming as a function of prime duration and delay between the prime and the target

Two experiments studied the necessary conditions for the occurrence of repetition priming and word frequency effect on priming in a lexical decision task. To examine the role of prime processing duration, the prime was presented either for 50 ms or for 700 ms, and an interfering task was introduced between the prime and the target in order to restrict the time during which the prime was effectively processed and to limit it to exactly 50 ms or 700 ms. The interstimulus interval (ISI) between the prime and the target was 1500 ms or 3000 ms in Expt 1, and 600 ms in Expt 2. With primes presented for 50 ms, repetition priming effects were not dependent on target frequency, decreased with an increase of the ISI, and were no longer significant with an ISI of 3000 ms. With primes presented for 700 ms, repetition priming was systematically larger for low‐frequency words than for high‐frequency words, and remained reliable even with an ISI of 3000 ms. Thus, a minimum of prime duration was required both for maintaining repetition priming effects over more than some hundreds of milliseconds and for the occurrence of frequency effect on repetition priming. Theoretical interpretations of these results are discussed.     

A controlled-attention view of working-memory capacity.

In 2 experiments the authors examined whether individual differences in working-memory (WM) capacity are related to attentional control. Experiment 1 tested high- and low-WM-span (high-span and low-span) participants in a prosaccade task, in which a visual cue appeared in the same location as a subsequent to-be-identified target letter, and in an antisaccade task, in which a target appeared opposite the cued location. Span groups identified targets equally well in the prosaccade task, reflecting equivalence in automatic orienting. However, low-span participants were slower and less accurate than high-span participants in the antisaccade task, reflecting differences in attentional control. Experiment 2 measured eye movements across a long antisaccade session. Low-span participants made slower and more erroneous saccades than did high-span participants. In both experiments, low-span participants performed poorly when task switching from antisaccade to prosaccade blocks. The findings support a controlled-attention view of WM capacity.     

时间任务需求对无关情绪面孔注意捕获的影响

注意捕获是指与任务无关的刺激能够不自觉地吸引注意的现象。实验一采用视觉搜索任务，考察与主任务无关的情绪面孔的注意捕获水平及其机制，实验二进一步探究时间任务需求对无关情绪面孔注意捕获的影响。结果发现:与其他情绪面孔相比，愤怒的情绪面孔捕获了更多的注意，且受到整体情绪加工的影响；时间任务需求影响了目标刺激的注意选择，但愤怒优势效应不受到时间任务需求的影响，因此可能是一种较为自动化的加工过程。     

Unintentional processing of motivational valence

Recent motivational affective priming studies (Moors & De Houwer, 2001; Moors, De Houwer, & Eelen, 2004) showed that primes that indicate success on a goal-inducing task facilitate positive target responses whereas primes that indicate failure on that task facilitate negative target responses. In the current studies, we examined whether these priming effects depend on consciously intentional processing of the motivational valence of the primes. In Experiment 1, the outcome of success or failure was presented not only immediately before the target (i.e., the prime) but also a second time after the target response. This should encourage participants to ignore the prime. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to respond to the targets within 600 ms after target onset. As a result, participants had little opportunity to process the motivational prime valence in a consciously intentional way. Nevertheless, strong affective priming effects were found in both studies. These results provide additional support for the claim that motivational valence can be processed without the conscious intention to do so.     

The locus of semantic priming in RSVP target search

At what stage does semantic priming affect accuracy in target search? In two experiments, participants viewed two streams of stimuli, each including a target word among distractors. Stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) between the targets (T1 and T2) ranged from 53 to 213 msec. A word semantically related to one or neither of the targets preceded each trial. In Experiment 1, participants were instructed to report both targets. Although more primed than unprimed targets were reported, there was no cost for unprimed words. A strong interaction between SOA and T1 versus T2 was found, but priming did not interact with either variable. In Experiment 2, only related targets were reported. Performance was similar to that for primed targets in Experiment 1. Semantic priming does not seem to modulate how attentional resources are initially allocated between targets, but instead affects a later stage of processing, the point at which a target word reaches lexical identification.     

Capacity demands of automatic processes in semantic priming

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel In three experiments, we examined the effects of prime-target stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) and the proportion of related primes and targets (relatedness proportion, or RP) on semantic priming when the prime was either named or was searched for a specific letter. In Experiment 1, with an RP of. 50, priming occurred at SOAs of 240 and 840 msec when the prime was named, but no priming was found at either SOA when the prime was searched for a letter. In Experiment 2 the RP was either. 20 or. 80, and the SOA was set at 1, 700 msec; priming again was found in both conditions when the prime was named, but only in the RP.80 condition when a letter search task was performed on the prime. In Experiment 3, both the proportion of related trials and SOA were varied; as in the previous experiments, no priming effects were found with the letter search task for either SOA in the RP.20 condition, but the priming effect was reinstated in the RP.80 condition. These results are discussed with respect to how limited capacity resources are allocated and how they influence semantic priming effects.     

Excitatory and inhibitory priming by attended and ignored non-recycled words with monolinguals and bilinguals

Experiments examining identity priming from attended and ignored novel words (words that are used only once except when repetition is required due to experimental manipulation) in a lexical decision task are reported. Experiment 1 tested English monolinguals whereas Experiment 2 tested Twi (a native language of Ghana, Africa)-English bilinguals. Participants were presented with sequential pairs of stimuli composed of a prime followed by a probe, with each containing two items. The participants were required to name the target word in the prime display, and to make a lexical decision to the target item in the probe display. On attended repetition (AR) trials the probe target item was identical to the target word on the preceding attentional display. On ignored repetition (IR) trials the probe target item was the same as the distractor word in the preceding attentional display. The experiments produced facilitated (positive) priming in the AR trials and delayed (negative) priming in the IR trials. Significantly, the positive and negative priming effects also replicated across both monolingual and bilingual groups of participants, despite the fact that the bilinguals were responding to the task in their non-dominant language.     

颜色字词的识别真的无需注意力资源的参与?——来自Stroop范式的证据

3个实验采用颜色词、颜色词同音词以及颜色语义联想词作为启动词,使启动词的语义和颜色实现时空分离、启动词处于非空间注意焦点位置、降低启动词可视度的情境下,考察具有自动化加工特征的启动词是否受到注意力资源的制约以及启动词在获得不同数量的注意力资源时其自动化程度是否存在显著的差异。结果发现:(1)注意力资源实质性地决定着自动化加工能否顺利进行,具有自动激活特征的刺激在无法获得注意力资源时,自动化加工过程终止。(2)可用的注意力资源数量调控着自动化加工的效率和语义提取的效果,可用的注意力资源数量越多,对启动刺激的语义加工越完善,对目标刺激的促进效果也越有效。本研究结果支持注意力敏感模型关于自动化加工受认知系统的支持和配置才能完成的假设。