Testing a word is not a test of word learning

Although vocabulary acquisition requires children learn names for multiple things, many investigations of word learning mechanisms teach children the name for only one of the objects presented. This is problematic because it is unclear whether children's performance reflects recall of the correct name–object association or simply selection of the only object that was singled out by being the only object named. Children introduced to one novel name may perform at ceiling as they are not required to discriminate on the basis of the name per se, and appear to rapidly learn words following minimal exposure to a single word. We introduced children to four novel objects. For half the children, only one of the objects was named and for the other children, all four objects were named. Only children introduced to one word reliably selected the target object at test. This demonstration highlights the over-simplicity of one-word learning paradigms and the need for a shift in word learning paradigms where more than one word is taught to ensure children disambiguate objects on the basis of their names rather than their degree of salience.     

Immediate and delayed effects of word frequency and word length on eye movements in reading: a reversed delayed effect of word length

Three experiments examined the effects in sentence reading of varying the frequency and length of an adjective on (a) fixations on the adjective and (b) fixations on the following noun. The gaze duration on the adjective was longer for low frequency than for high frequency adjectives and longer for long adjectives than for short adjectives. This contrasted with the spillover effects: Gaze durations on the noun were longer when adjectives were low frequency but were actually shorter when the adjectives were long. The latter effect, which seems anomalous, can be explained by three mechanisms: (a) Fixations on the noun are less optimal after short adjectives because of less optimal targeting; (b) shorter adjectives are more difficult to process because they have more neighbors; and (c) prior fixations before skips are less advantageous places to extract parafoveal information. The viability of these hypotheses as explanations of this reverse length effect on the noun was examined in simulations using an updated version of the E-Z Reader model (A. Pollatsek, K. Reichle, & E. D. Rayner, 2006c; E. D. Reichle, A. Pollatsek, D. L. Fisher, & K. Rayner, 1998).     

Native language influences on word recognition in a second language: a megastudy

Many studies have reported that word recognition in a second language (L2) is affected by the native language (L1). However, little is known about the role of the specific language combination of the bilinguals. To investigate this issue, the authors administered a word identification task (progressive demasking) on 1,025 monosyllabic English (L2) words to native speakers of French, German, and Dutch. A regression approach was adopted, including a large number of within- and between-language variables as predictors. A substantial overlap of reaction time patterns was found across the groups of bilinguals, showing that word recognition results obtained for one group of bilinguals generalize to bilinguals with different mother tongues. Moreover, among the set of significant predictors, only one between-language variable was present (cognate status); all others reflected characteristics of the target language. Thus, although influences across languages exist, word recognition in L2 by proficient bilinguals is primarily determined by within-language factors, whereas cross-language effects appear to be limited. An additional comparison of the bilingual data with a native control group showed that there are subtle but significant differences between L1 and L2 processing.     

Abstract noun classification: using a neural network to match word context and word meaning

Psychologists have used artificial neural networks for a few decades to simulate perception, language acquisition, and other cognitive processes. This paper discusses the use of artificial neural networks in research on semantics—in particular, in the investigation of abstract noun meanings. It is widely acknowledged that a word’s meaning varies with its contexts of use, but it is a complex task to identify which context elements are relevant to a word’s meaning. The present study illustrates how connectionist networks can be used to examine this problem. A simple feedforward network learned to distinguish among six abstract nouns, on the basis of characteristics of their contexts, in a corpus of randomly selected naturalistic sentences.     

Accent modulates access to word meaning: Evidence for a speaker-model account of spoken word recognition

Speech carries accent information relevant to determining the speaker’s linguistic and social background. A series of web-based experiments demonstrate that accent cues can modulate access to word meaning. In Experiments 1–3, British participants were more likely to retrieve the American dominant meaning (e.g., hat meaning of “bonnet”) in a word association task if they heard the words in an American than a British accent. In addition, results from a speeded semantic decision task (Experiment 4) and sentence comprehension task (Experiment 5) confirm that accent modulates on-line meaning retrieval such that comprehension of ambiguous words is easier when the relevant word meaning is dominant in the speaker’s dialect. Critically, neutral-accent speech items, created by morphing British- and American-accented recordings, were interpreted in a similar way to accented words when embedded in a context of accented words (Experiment 2). This finding indicates that listeners do not use accent to guide meaning retrieval on a word-by-word basis; instead they use accent information to determine the dialectic identity of a speaker and then use their experience of that dialect to guide meaning access for all words spoken by that person. These results motivate a speaker-model account of spoken word recognition in which comprehenders determine key characteristics of their interlocutor and use this knowledge to guide word meaning access.     

Analysis of word comprehension in a case of pure word deafness

A case of pure word deafness due to a left temporal infarct is reported. The results of dichotic tests suggest that auditory verbal material may be processed in the right hemisphere. The inability to repeat nonsense words, the frequent semantic paraphasias in real-word repetition tasks, and the capacity to give a partial account of the meaning of a word that the patient cannot repeat show that despite the impairment of the phonological analysis, lexical semantic processing is possible. An attempt is made to demonstrate that the patient resorts to this semantic processing and that this reflects the linguistic competence of the right hemisphere.     

Processing negative valence of word pairs that include a positive word

Previous research has suggested that cognitive performance is interrupted by negative relative to neutral or positive stimuli. We examined whether negative valence affects performance at the word or phrase level. Participants performed a semantic decision task on word pairs that included either a negative or a positive target word. In Experiment 1, the valence of the target word was congruent with the overall valence conveyed by the word pair (e.g., fat kid). As expected, response times were slower in the negative condition relative to the positive condition. Experiment 2 included target words that were incongruent with the overall valence of the word pair (e.g., fat salary). Response times were longer for word pairs whose overall valence was negative relative to positive, even though these word pairs included a positive word. Our findings support the Cognitive Primacy Hypothesis, according to which emotional valence is extracted after conceptual processing is complete.     

Aphasic performance on a lexical decision task: multiple meanings and word frequency

The lexical access of words varying in the number of meanings and frequency of occurrence was examined in fluent and nonfluent aphasic individuals and a control group of non-brain-damaged adults, using a lexical decision task. Fluent aphasic subjects performed similarly to nonfluent aphasic and normal subjects, showing that words with a high number of meanings and with a high frequency of occurrence were recognized as real words faster than words with few meanings or a low frequency of occurrence. While previous research has demonstrated that the number of meanings associated with a word exerts a powerful influence on the internal lexicon of normals, the results of this study suggest that brain damage resulting in aphasia does not disrupt this semantic organization.     

Magnifying effects on visual word recognition: a dynamic display for internet-based experiments

A visual presentation procedure is introduced that presents target words followed by a dynamic mask until recognition. This form of stimulus degradation prolongs the word recognition process. Differences in word recognition latencies—which are usually quite small—are magnified, and thus can be more easily observed. The results of two experiments on the Internet with a total of 141 participants establish the task’s ability to magnify differences in word recognition latencies stemming from word familiarity (Experiment 1) and word prototypicality (Experiment 2). Both factors interact with stimulus degradation, but at different presentation intervals; these results are discussed as evidence for comparing models of word recognition. The new procedure can be used for assessing individual differences, such as implicit motives and self-focused attention. Further applications are discussed.     

Getting a word in group-wise: Effects of racial diversity on gender dynamics

In three studies, we examined the effects of racial diversity on gender dynamics in small mixed-sex groups. In all-White groups in Study 1, White men spoke significantly more than White women and were rated as more persuasive; however, in racially-diverse groups, White women and White men spent equal amounts of time speaking and were rated as equally persuasive. Video clips of the group members were rated for confidence and anxiety in Study 2, and Study 3 explored more directly how group composition shapes individuals' perceptual and cognitive tendencies. Members of diverse groups were perceived as more anxious than members of all-White groups, and White women were perceived as more anxious than White men. However, White women in diverse groups showed increasing confidence over time. These results suggest that racial diversity has benefits beyond just racial inclusion: it may also promote greater gender equality.     

Disorder in sequential speech perception: a case study on pure word deafness

We described disorders of a patient which were uniquely restricted to speech perception of syllable sequences after brain damage. The results of series of experiments using syllable sequences showed "negative recency effect," in which the subject's repetition performance at the latter syllable position was remarkably poor. Experimental analyses suggested that the "negative recency effect" could be due to dual factors: the lower rate of processing of speech sounds and the memory load of holding processes of preceding syllables imposed on the succeeding phonological processing. The results also suggested that the holding processes which imposed the memory load on the succeeding auditory phonological coding processing were modality nonspecific.