The role of words and sounds in infants' visual processing: from overshadowing to attentional tuning

Although it is well documented that language plays an important role in cognitive development, there are different views concerning the mechanisms underlying these effects. Some argue that even early in development, effects of words stem from top-down knowledge, whereas others argue that these effects stem from auditory input affecting attention allocated to visual input. Previous research (e.g., Robinson & Sloutsky, 2004a ) demonstrated that non-speech sounds attenuate processing of corresponding visual input at 8, 12, and 16 months of age, whereas the current study demonstrates that words attenuate visual processing at 10 months but not at 16 months (Experiment 1). Furthermore, prefamiliarization with non-speech sounds (Experiment 2) resulted in able processing of visual input by 16-month-olds. These findings suggest that some effects of labels found early in development may stem from familiarity with human speech. The possibility of general-auditory factors underlying the effects of words on cognitive development is discussed.     

视听刺激突显性对视觉主导效应的影响

本研究使用空间任务-转换范式,控制视、听刺激的突显性,探讨自下而上注意对视觉主导效应的影响。结果表明视、听刺激突显性显著地影响视觉主导效应,实验一中当听觉刺激为高突显性时,视觉主导效应显著减弱。实验二中当听觉刺激为高突显性并且视觉刺激为低突显性时,视觉主导效应进一步减弱但依然存在。结果支持偏向竞争理论,在跨通道视听交互过程中视觉刺激更具突显性,在多感觉整合过程中更具加工优势。     

Amodal processing of visual speech as revealed by priming

This study investigated the linguistic processing of visual speech (video of a talker's utterance without audio) by determining if such has the capacity to prime subsequently presented word and nonword targets. The priming procedure is well suited for the investigation of whether speech perception is amodal since visual speech primes can be used with targets presented in different modalities. To this end, a series of priming experiments were conducted using several tasks. It was found that visually spoken words (for which overt identification was poor) acted as reliable primes for repeated target words in the naming, written and auditory lexical decision tasks. These visual speech primes did not produce associative or reliable form priming. The lack of form priming suggests that the repetition priming effect was constrained by lexical level processes. That priming found in all tasks is consistent with the view that similar processes operate in both visual and auditory speech processing.     

The processing of auditory and visual recognition of self-stimuli

This study examined self-recognition processing in both the auditory and visual modalities by determining how comparable hearing a recording of one’s own voice was to seeing photograph of one’s own face. We also investigated whether the simultaneous presentation of auditory and visual self-stimuli would either facilitate or inhibit self-identification. Ninety-one participants completed reaction-time tasks of self-recognition when presented with their own faces, own voices, and combinations of the two. Reaction time and errors made when responding with both the right and left hand were recorded to determine if there were lateralization effects on these tasks. Our findings showed that visual self-recognition for facial photographs appears to be superior to auditory self-recognition for voice recordings. Furthermore, a combined presentation of one’s own face and voice appeared to inhibit rather than facilitate self-recognition and there was a left-hand advantage for reaction time on the combined-presentation tasks.     

Early information processing among infants with and without spina bifida

This study focuses on the development of early visual information processing among infants with spina bifida (SB) compared to typically developing infants using the habituation–dishabituation paradigm. Analyses were conducted in two stages. First infants were evaluated to determine if 18-month old infants (SB = 47; Control = 40) differed in their ability to shift attention and habituate to two female faces, as well as their responses to composite and novel stimuli. Second, relations between these variables and infant motor and mental functioning were evaluated. The results of the study indicated that difficulties with visual attention skills can be detected as early as 18 months of age among infants with SB. Infants with SB differed significantly from controls on attention getting. Although there were no differences found on habituation and composite tasks, infants with SB differed significantly from controls on their ability to dishabituate. Implications are discussed.     

ERP correlates of auditory negative priming

Negative priming refers to slowed down reactions when the distractor on one trial becomes the target on the next. Following two popular accounts, the effect might be due either to inhibitory processes associated with the frontal cortex, or to an ambiguity in the retrieval of episodic information. We used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to identify the processing stage primarily associated with negative priming. In an auditory categorization task, reactions in negative priming trials were compared to reactions in a standard control (unrelated primes and probes) and a repetition control (attended prime=ignored probe) condition. Reactions were slower for negative priming than for standard control (Delta32 ms) and repetition control trials (Delta64 ms). The corresponding ERP effect was reflected in an attenuation of a sustained parietal positivity extending from 300 to 600 ms. Because corresponding ERP components were found to be sensitive to stimulus recognition and familiarity, the results may be interpreted to support an episodic retrieval account of negative priming.     

The contribution of recollection and familiarity to recognition memory performance in chronic pain patients

This study examines the selective impact of chronic pain on memory functioning in a recognition task. Thirty chronic pain patients and 30 healthy control subjects performed a yes-no word recognition test. The contribution of recollection and familiarity to both groups' performance was compared by means of the Remember/Know (R/K) procedure, which distinguishes recognition based on the recollection of the encoding episode (R responses) and recognition accompanied by a feeling of familiarity (K responses). Chronic pain patients showed a decrease in recollection together with an increase in familiarity: indeed, they reported less R and more K responses than control subjects. This pattern of performance was not related to the overall recognition ability. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis of the attentional cost of chronic pain, suggesting a selective impact of chronic pain on the most attention-demanding cognitive processes, such as recollection. This study emphasises the relevance of specific procedures distinguishing the underlying components of memory functioning rather than solely global indicators.     

The effect of visual threat on spatial attention to touch

Viewing a threatening stimulus can bias visual attention toward that location. Such effects have typically been investigated only in the visual modality, despite the fact that many threatening stimuli are most dangerous when close to or in contact with the body. Recent multisensory research indicates that a neutral visual stimulus, such as a light flash, can lead to a tactile attention shift towards a nearby body part. Here, we investigated whether the threat value of a visual stimulus modulates its effect on attention to touch. Participants made speeded discrimination responses about tactile stimuli presented to one or other hand, preceded by a picture cue (snake, spider, flower or mushroom) presented close to the same or the opposite hand. Pictures of snakes led to a significantly greater tactile attentional facilitation effect than did non-threatening pictures of flowers and mushrooms. Furthermore, there was a correlation between self-reported fear of snakes and spiders and the magnitude of early facilitation following cues of that type. These findings demonstrate that the attentional bias towards threat extends to the tactile modality and indicate that perceived threat value can modulate the cross-modal effect that a visual cue has on attention to touch.     

Internal feature saliency as a marker of familiarity and configural processing

Two experiments that explore the internal feature advantage (IFA) in familiar face processing are reported. The IFA involves more efficient processing of internal features for familiar faces over unfamiliar ones. Experiment 1 examined the possibility of a configural basis for this effect through use of a matching task for familiar and unfamiliar faces presented both upright and upside-down. Results revealed the predicted IFA for familiar faces when stimuli were upright, but this was removed when stimuli were inverted. Experiment 2 examined the degree of training required before the IFA was demonstrated. Latency results revealed that whilst 90–180 s of exposure was sufficient to generate an IFA of intermediate magnitude, 180–270 s of exposure was required before the IFA was equivalent to that demonstrated for a familiar face. Taken together, these results offer three conclusions: First, the IFA is reaffirmed as an objective indicator of familiarity; second, the IFA is seen to rest on configural processing; and finally, the development of the IFA with familiarity indicates a development of configural processing with familiarity. As such, insight is gained as to the type of processing changes that occur as familiarity is gradually acquired.     

Effect of an auditory stimulus on the processing of a visual stimulus under single- and dual-tasks conditions

The Sternberg Additive Factor Method was used to draw inferences about the flow of information under single- and dual-tasks conditions which were identical in terms of the stimuli involved but different in terms of response requirements. In both conditions, subjects pressed a left- or right-hand key in response to the onset of an X or O (intact or degraded) which was accompanied by a monaural or binaural tone. In the dual-tasks condition, subjects responded verbally to the tone location while also making the key-press response, whereas, in the single-task condition, no response to the tone was required. The pattern of main effects and interactions suggested that the same model of information flow described both single- and dual-tasks conditions; i.e., visual and auditory stimuli were encoded separately but shared capacity at the response selection stage.     

Behavioral assessment of auditory processing deficits in schizophrenia: Literature review and suggestions for future research

During the last decades, a considerable number of studies about auditory processing deficits in schizophrenia have been published, some of them using the term of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD). Due to heterogeneous methodology and inconsistent results concrete conclusions may not be straightforward. We focused on studies that used at least one behavioral test for the assessment of auditory processing in schizophrenia, in order to identify new evidence on auditory processing deficits in schizophrenia, and to consider fields for future research. 28 studies met inclusion criteria and are presented in this review. The articles were divided into three groups, those that implemented a test battery approach, those that used only Dichotic Listening (DL), those that used DL along with imaging or electrophysiology techniques. Most of the studies that implemented a test battery showed significant performance differences between patients and controls. This indicates APD presence. Due to the limited number of studies implementing a test battery, this is not conclusive. The majority of all studies that used a DL task showed that patients' performance or laterality was significantly lower than that of controls. Age, duration of illness, total and specific positive symptoms seem to affect significantly DL performance and auditory laterality. The results support the existence of various schizophrenia subgroups that differ in their auditory processing performance, and also have structural and functional specificities. Further research in the field is needed, especially studies that implement a test battery, and studies that examine possible correlations between clinical variables and auditory processing deficits.     

The effects of focus of attention on attributional bias in patients experiencing auditory hallucinations

Cognitive models suggest that auditory hallucinations occur as the result of internal events attributed to an external source. The present study represents an attempt to evaluate the source monitoring performance of people who experience auditory hallucinations, specifically in terms of the suggested links between source monitoring, emotionality of stimuli and self-focused attention. The source monitoring performance of a group of 30 patients with a diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder who experience auditory hallucinations was compared following successful experimental manipulation of their attention, designed to increase and decrease their levels of self-focused attention. The inclusion of words previously rated as emotionally salient by schizophrenic patients assessed the effect of emotionality on source monitoring performance. This study demonstrated that participants' ratings of both internality and control of their responses to the word association task were lower in the external focus condition than the internal focus condition. Furthermore, it was found that ratings of internality and control were lower for responses to both positive and negative stimuli compared to responses to neutral stimuli, and the magnitude of these differences was amplified in the internal focus condition relative to the external focus condition. Focus of attention has a significant effect on source monitoring performance in people experiencing auditory hallucinations. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Timing is everything: Changes in presentation rate have opposite effects on auditory and visual implicit statistical learning

Implicit statistical learning (ISL) is exclusive to neither a particular sensory modality nor a single domain of processing. Even so, differences in perceptual processing may substantially affect learning across modalities. In three experiments, statistically equivalent auditory and visual familiarizations were presented under different timing conditions that either facilitated or disrupted temporal processing (fast or slow presentation rates). We find an interaction of rate and modality of presentation: At fast rates, auditory ISL was superior to visual. However, at slow presentation rates, the opposite pattern of results was found: Visual ISL was superior to auditory. Thus, we find that changes to presentation rate differentially affect ISL across sensory modalities. Additional experiments confirmed that this modality-specific effect was not due to cross-modal interference or attentional manipulations. These findings suggest that ISL is rooted in modality-specific, perceptually based processes.     

Task-dependent sensitisation of perceptual and semantic processing during visual search for words

Two experiments examined the impact of task-set on people's use of the visual and semantic features of words during visual search. Participants' eye movements were recorded while the distractor words were manipulated. In both experiments, the target word was either given literally (literal task) or defined by a semantic clue (categorical task). According to Kiefer and Martens, participants should preferentially use either the visual or semantic features of words depending on their relevance for the task. This assumption was partially supported. As expected, orthographic neighbours of the target word attracted participants' attention more and took longer to reject, once fixated, during the literal task. Conversely, semantic associates of the target word took longer to reject during the categorical task. However, they did not attract participants' attention more than in the literal task. This unexpected finding is discussed in relation to the processing of words in the peripheral visual field.     

Effects of visual and tactual stimulus presentation on learning two-choice patterned and semirandom sequences.

Three experiments compared the effects of visual and tactual stimulus presentation in two-choice sequential learning situations requiring a predictive response. In Experiments 1 and 2, subjects received a five- or six-unit repeating pattern; in Experiment 3, they received a semirandom sequence. Tactual as compared to visual stimulus presentation resulted in less trials to criterion in predicting a repearing pattern and in earlier frequency matching in predicting a semirandom sequence. These results suggest an unusual tactual adeptness in binary serial learning. Additionally, a new method of analyzing conditional responding in th brobability learning paradigm is described and applied to the data in Experiment 3.     

Effects of stimulus probability and visual similarity on stimulus encoding

Visual similarity, stimulus probability, and stimulus contrast were manipulated in two memory-scanning experiments to determine how stimulus probability affects encoding. Two hypotheses were tested: The first, a featural facilitation hypothesis, localizes the effect of stimulus probability on feature extraction; the second claims that stimulus probability has its effect on stimulus recognition. In both experiments, visual similarity was found to slow encoding, particularly under low-contrast conditions. This effect was larger for low probability stimuli than for high probability stimuli and increased as the difference in probability between two visually similar stimuli increased. These results are inconsistent with the featural facilitation hypothesis, but can be explained in terms of differential priming of internal recognition responses for members of the stimulus set, such that more probable members are more easily recognized.