Context effects of pictures and words in naming objects, reading words, and generating simple phrases

In five language production experiments it was examined which aspects of words are activated in memory by context pictures and words. Context pictures yielded Stroop-like and semantic effects on response times when participants generated gender-marked noun phrases in response to written words (Experiment 1A). However, pictures yielded no such effects when participants simply read aloud the noun phrases (Experiment 2). Moreover, pictures yielded a gender congruency effect in generating gender-marked noun phrases in response to the written words (Experiments 3A and 3B). These findings suggest that context pictures activate lemmas (i.e., representations of syntactic properties), which leads to effects only when lemmas are needed to generate a response (i.e., in Experiments 1A, 3A, and 3B, but not in Experiment 2). Context words yielded Stroop-like and semantic effects in picture naming (Experiment 1B). Moreover, words yielded Stroop-like but no semantic effects in reading nouns (Experiment 4) and in generating noun phrases (Experiment 5). These findings suggest that context words activate the lemmas and forms of their names, which leads to semantic effects when lemmas are required for responding (Experiment 1B) but not when only the forms are required (Experiment 4). WEAVER++ simulations of the results are presented.     

Context effects of pictures and words in naming objects,reading words,and generating simple phrases

In five language production experiments it was examined which aspects of words are activated in memory by context pictures and words. Context pictures yielded Stroop-like and semantic effects on response times when participants generated gender-marked noun phrases in response to written words (Experiment 1A). However, pictures yielded no such effects when participants simply read aloud the noun phrases (Experiment 2). Moreover, pictures yielded a gender congruency effect in generating gender-marked noun phrases in response to the written words (Experiments 3A and 3B). These findings suggest that context pictures activate lemmas (i.e., representations of syntactic properties), which leads to effects only when lemmas are needed to generate a response (i.e., in Experiments 1A, 3A, and 3B, but not in Experiment 2). Context words yielded Stroop-like and semantic effects in picture naming (Experiment 1B). Moreover, words yielded Stroop-like but no semantic effects in reading nouns (Experiment 4) and in generating noun phrases (Experiment 5). These findings suggest that context words activate the lemmas and forms of their names, which leads to semantic effects when lemmas are required for responding (Experiment 1B) but not when only the forms are required (Experiment 4). WEAVER++ simulations of the results are presented.     

Some effects of color on naming and recognition of objects

In this article, we investigated the role of color in the recognition and naming of everyday objects. In the first experiment we found that color pictures were named faster than black-and-white and that shape information did not facilitate color naming. Experiment 2 was carried out to determine at which stage of object processing the color facilitation occurred. We found that color had no effect on object recognition but did facilitate object naming, even when color was redundant for discrimination. This did not apply to naming abstract shapes. Experiment 3 replicated the findings of Experiment 2 using different objects and colors. The results showed that color could facilitate but not inhibit object naming and did not affect object recognition.     

Competitor effects in naming objects and famous faces

The prior production of an alternative name increases the time taken to name a famous face. For example, naming a picture of the comedy actor “John Cleese” by the name of the character he played in the TV series Fawlty Towers (Basil Fawlty) increases the time required to subsequently produce the name “John Cleese”. This effect has been termed the “nominal competitor effect”. In contrast prior production of a property associated with a famous person has no effect on naming speed. For example, prior production of the name of the TV series Fawlty Towers does not slow subsequent production of “John Cleese”. The experiments reported explored analogous effects in object naming. Experiment 1 examined the effects of prior production of an alternative name (e.g., from American English or British English) and a semantic associate on the time taken to name line drawings of objects. It was found that prior production of an alternative name slowed object naming, but prior production of the name of a semantic associate did not. Experiment 2 demonstrated that cueing a specific name (e.g., the British English name) was not a necessary condition for the nominal competitor effect on object naming. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the nominal competitor effect on naming famous faces was also observed under both cued and uncued naming instructions. The data from both object and face naming are interpreted within the terms of current models of speech production.     

Effect of post-encoding emotion on recollection and familiarity for pictures

Although prior studies have examined the effect of post-encoding emotional arousal on recognition memory for words, it is unknown whether the enhancement effect observed on words generalizes to pictures. Furthermore, prior studies using words have showed that the effect of emotional arousal can be modulated by stimuli valence and delay in emotion induction, but it is unclear whether such modulation can extend to pictures and whether other factors such as encoding method (incidental vs. intentional encoding) can be modulatory. Five experiments were conducted to answer these questions. In Experiment 1, participants encoded a list of neutral and negative pictures and then watched a 3-min neutral or negative video. The delayed test showed that negative arousal impaired recollection regardless of picture valence but had no effect on familiarity. Experiment 2 replicated the above findings. Experiment 3 was similar to Experiment 1 except that participants watched a 3-min neutral, negative, or positive video and conducted free recall before the recognition test. Unlike the prior two experiments, the impairment effect of negative arousal disappeared. Experiment 4, where the free recall task was eliminated, replicated the results from Experiment 3. Experiment 5 replicated Experiments 1 and 2 and further showed that the impairment effects of negative arousal could be modulated by delay in emotion induction but not by encoding method or stimuli valence. Taken together, the current study suggests that the enhancement effect observed on words may not generalize to pictures.     

The effects of plane rotation on the recognition of brief masked pictures of familiar objects

Two experiments examined the effects of plane rotation on the recognition of briefly displayed pictures of familiar objects, using a picture—word verification task. Mirroring the results of earlier picture naming studies (Jolicoeur, 1985; Jolicoeur & Milliken, 1989), plane rotation away from a canonical upright orientation reduced the efficiency of recognition, although in contrast to the results from picture naming studies, the rotation effects were not reduced with experience with the stimuli. However, the rotation effects were influenced by the visual similarity of the distractor objects to the picture of the object presented, with greater orientation sensitivity being observed when visually similar distractors were presented. We suggest that subjects use orientation-sensitive representations to recognize objects in both the present unspeeded verification and in the earlier speeded naming tests of picture identification.     

The effects of task and practice on search for invisibly displaced objects

The ability to successfully search for an invisibly displaced object is frequently assumed to relate to the emergence of mental representation at around 2 years of age. However, little is known about what is actually being measured in the typical “stage 6” object permanence search task. Two studies examined the effects of task factors and practice on invisible displacements and systematic search tasks to show that simple variations in ways of hiding an object change the child's ability to find it. Experiment 1 compared two common methods of presenting invisible displacements items to 36 children, approximately 2 years of age. One task was significantly easier than the other, despite the fact that they contained identical items that varied only in their order of presentation. Experiment 2 tested the effects of short-term practice on 18- and 24-month-olds' success on invisible displacements trials and on two systematic search tasks. Results indicate that too little practice inhibited performance in 18-month-olds, but that practice beyond an optimum level did not further affect their scores. In contrast, 24-month-olds continued to benefit from increased practice until they reached the maximum possible score. The findings are interpreted to mean that invisible displacements tasks may require only sensorimotor search strategies rather than representation. The findings also have implications for (a) research that attempts to relate object permanence to other variables and (b) programs that use object permanence as an assessment or screening measure.     

Imagining and naming rotated natural objects

The present experiment examined whether subjects can form and store imagined objects in various orientations. Subjects in a training phase named line drawings of natural objects shown at six orientations, named objects shown upright, or imagined upright objects at six orientations. Time to imagine an upright object at another orientation increased the farther the designated orientation was from the upright, with faster image formation times at 180° than at 120°. Similar systematic patterns of effects of orientation on identification time were found for rotated objects. During the test phase, all subjects named the previously experienced objects as well as new objects, at six orientations. The orientation effect for old objects seen previously in a variety of orientations was much reduced relative to the orientation effect for new objects. In contrast, substantial effects of orientation on naming time were observed for old objects for subjects who had previously seen the objects upright only or upright but imagined at different orientations. The results suggest that the attenuation of initially large effects of orientation with practice cannot be due to imagining and forming representations of objects at a number of orientations.     

Normative data and naming times for action pictures

The present article provides Spanish norms for name agreement, printed word frequency, word compound frequency, familiarity, imageability, visual complexity, age of acquisition, and word length (measured by syllables and phonemes) for 100 line drawings of actions taken from Druks and Masterson (2000). In addition, through a naming-time experiment carried out with a group of 54 Spanish students in a pool of 63 of these line drawings, we determined the best predictors of naming actions. In the multiple regression analysis, age of acquisition and name agreement emerged as the most important determinants of action-naming reaction time.     

Electrophysiological evidence for colour effects on the naming of colour diagnostic and noncolour diagnostic objects

In this study, we investigated the level of visual processing at which surface colour information improves the naming of colour diagnostic and noncolour diagnostic objects. Continuous electroencephalograms were recorded while participants performed a visual object naming task in which coloured and black-and-white versions of both types of objects were presented. The black-and-white and the colour presentations were compared in two groups of event-related potentials (ERPs): (1) The P1 and N1 components, indexing early visual processing; and (2) the N300 and N400 components, which index late visual processing. A colour effect was observed in the P1 and N1 components, for both colour and noncolour diagnostic objects. In addition, for colour diagnostic objects, a colour effect was observed in the N400 component. These results suggest that colour information is important for the naming of colour and noncolour diagnostic objects at different levels of visual processing. It thus appears that the visual system uses colour information, during naming of both object types, at early visual stages; however, for the colour diagnostic objects naming, colour information is also recruited during the late visual processing stages.     

The naming of objects and symbols by children and aphasic patients

Three studies of naming in children and in aphasic patients were conducted in order to determine the kinds of errors made in the naming of objects, parts of objects, and various kinds of symbols, and to evaluate the contribution of operativity to the ease of naming such elements. Operativity refers to the extent to which elements can be transformed and involved in a variety of sensory and motor schemes. It was found that operativity of depicted elements makes a significant contribution to ease of naming for both groups of subjects. However, children and aphasic patients made different types of naming errors. In the case of naming of symbols, the categories easiest for aphasics to name proved the most difficult for children to name. It is suggested that the partial loss of an acquired ability can produce a different clinical picture than the partial acquisition of that ability in the normal child. The concept of operativity may be a less useful concept in the relatively figurative domain of symbols.The research cited in this report was supported in part by Harvard Project Zero (through Grant No. GB-31064 from the National Science Foundation), the Livingston Fund, and the Milton Fund of Harvard University.     

The effects of familiarity on thought--action fusion

The present study examined whether beliefs about the importance of thoughts (i.e., thought–action fusion; TAF) are related to the target subject of the negative thought. One hundred and seven undergraduate students were randomly assigned to imagine either a beloved relative or a stranger being diagnosed with cancer and provided in vivo ratings of anxiety, likelihood, moral wrongness, urge to neutralize, and how upsetting the event would be if it occurred. Results indicated that thinking of a relative being diagnosed with cancer provoked more distress, urges to neutralize, and higher estimates of likelihood, as well greater use of mental neutralizing behaviors, compared to thinking of a stranger. Contrary to our prediction, the groups did not differ in their ratings of the moral wrongness. These findings broadly support the assertion that the more personally significant a negative intrusive thought, the more it will provoke distress and urges to neutralize. Results are discussed in terms of the cognitive model of obsessions and clinical implications are addressed.     

Priming of plane-rotated objects depends on attention and view familiarity

Three experiments investigated the role of attention in visual priming across rotations in the picture plane. Experiment 1 showed that naming latencies increased with the degree of misorientation for objects commonly seen in an upright view (base objects) but not for objects seen familiarly from many views (no-base objects). In Experiment 2, no-base objects revealed a priming pattern identical to that observed previously for left–right reflections (Stankiewicz, Hummel, & Cooper, 1998 Stankiewicz, B. J., Hummel, J. E. and Cooper, E. E. 1998. The role of attention in priming for left–right reflections of object images: Evidence for a dual representation of object shape. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24(3): 732–744. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]): Attended objects primed themselves in the same and rotated views, whereas ignored images primed themselves only in the same view, with additive effects of attention and orientation. In Experiment 3 ignored base objects only primed themselves in a familiar (upright) view, indicating that priming only obtains when that image makes contact with object memory. These data challenge theories of object recognition that rely on any single representation of shape and contribute to evidence suggesting holistic (view-like) representations for ignored and analytic (view-insensitive) representations for attended objects.     

French normative data and naming times for action pictures

The aim of the present study was to provide French normative data for 112 action line drawings. The set of action pictures consisted of 71 drawings taken from Masterson and Druks (1998) and 41 additional drawings. It was standardized on six psycholinguistic variables—that is, name agreement, image agreement, image variability, visual complexity, conceptual familiarity, and age of acquisition (AoA). Naming latencies to the action pictures were collected, and a regression analysis was performed on the naming latencies, with the standardized variables, as well as with word frequency and length, taken as predictors. A reliable influence of AoA, name agreement, and image agreement on the naming latencies was observed. The findings are consistent with previous published studies in other languages. The full set of these norms may be downloaded fromwww.psychonomic.org/archive/.     

Pigeons discriminate objects on the basis of abstract familiarity

Knowledge of previous encounters with conspecifics is thought to be beneficial as it allows fast and appropriate behavioral responses toward those animals. This level of categorization goes beyond perceptual similarity and requires the individual to refer to a more abstract common referent, namely familiarity. It has been shown that pigeons are able to form functional classes of conspecifics that are based on familiarity. To date, we do not know whether this ability is restricted to the social context (including heterospecifics) or if it can also be used to classify inanimate objects. Furthermore, the factors influencing the formation of this functional class are still unknown. Here, we show that pigeons (Columba livia) are able to use a categorical rule of familiarity to classify previously unseen photographs of objects from their living environment. Pigeons that lacked real-life experience with the objects were not able to do so. This suggests that perceptual features alone were not sufficient for class recognition. To investigate the impact of additional functional properties of the objects, familiar objects were further divided into two subcategories, namely those that were considered functionally relevant to the birds and those that were not. Although the majority of pigeons learned to categorize photographs of objects based on familiarity alone, our results also suggest an unlearned preference for “relevant” familiar objects. The results presented here suggest that pigeons are able to learn to extract the discriminative feature of abstract familiarity from pictures by referring to previous real-life experience but that additional functions of objects lead to a preference of these objects.     

Processing of extrafoveal objects during multiple-object naming

In 3 experiments, the authors investigated the extent to which objects that are about to be named are processed prior to fixation. Participants named pairs or triplets of objects. One of the objects, initially seen extrafoveally (the interloper), was replaced by a different object (the target) during the saccade toward it. The interloper-target pairs were identical or unrelated objects or visually and conceptually unrelated objects with homophonous names (e.g., animal- baseball bat). The mean latencies and gaze durations for the targets were shorter in the identity and homophone conditions than in the unrelated condition. This was true when participants viewed a fixation mark until the interloper appeared and when they fixated on another object and prepared to name it while viewing the interloper. These results imply that objects that are about to be named may undergo far-reaching processing, including access to their names, prior to fixation.     

Where and how morphologically complex words interplay with naming pictures

Two picture-word experiments are reported in which a delay of 7 to 10 was introduced between distractor and picture. Distractor words were either derived words (Experiment 1) or compounds (Experiment 2), morphologically related to the picture name. In both experiments, the position of morphological overlap between distractor (e.g., rosebud vs tea-rose) and picture name (rose) was manipulated. Clear facilitation of picture naming latencies was obtained when pictures were paired with morphological distractors, and effects were independent of distractor type and position of overlap. The results are evaluated against "full listing" and "decomposition" approaches of morphological representation.     

French normative data and naming times for action pictures.

The aim of the present study was to provide French normative data for 112 action line drawings. The set of action pictures consisted of 71 drawings taken from Masterson and Druks (1998) and 41 additional drawings. It was standardized on six psycholinguistic variables--that is, name agreement, image agreement, image variability, visual complexity, conceptual familiarity, and age of acquisition (AoA). Naming latencies to the action pictures were collected, and a regression analysis was performed on the naming latencies, with the standardized variables, as well as with word frequency and length, taken as predictors. A reliable influence of AoA, name agreement, and image agreement on the naming latencies was observed. The findings are consistent with previous published studies in other languages. The full set of these norms may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive/.