Synonym and antonym pairs in the detection of dichotically and monaurally presented targets: Competing monaural stimulation can generate a substantial right ear advantage

Aligned pairs of spoken words were presented, and the subject timed in detecting the presence or absence of a prespecified target. The target, if present, was paired with either its synonym or its antonym or an unrelated word. If the target was absent, mutually synonymous, antonymous or unrelated word pairs occured. In experiment 1, presentation of the word pairs was dichotic, and in experiment 2 the same stimuli were now systematically presented to a single ear (competing monaural stimulation). In both cases a strategy of divided attention was imposed with respect to the words. A powerful REA was obtained in the second experiment, demonstrating that this phenomenon does not depend upon occlusion of the ipsilateral by the contralateral auditory pathways (Kimura 1961), but that competition within ears is sufficient. Secondly, the nature of the effect (facilitatory or interfering) from a co-present synonym or antonym of the target depends markedly upon how the ears are stimulated, in partial contrast to and extending the results of Lewis (1970).     

Evidence for a developmental shift in the basis for memory organization

Using a false recognition procedure, either with or without instructions to facilitate Synonym or Antonym encoding, 128 second- and sixth-grade boys and girls were tested. The results indicated that there were no grade or sex differences in generalization errors to synonyms or antonyms under neurtral learning instructions, but that facilitative instructions interacted with grade level. Under instructions to facilitate synonym encoding, second graders showed a marked increase in synonym errors. On the other hand, under instructions to facilitate antonym encoding, sixth graders showed an increase in antonym errors. In addition, association strength was directly related to the magnitude of the generalization errors in both grades. The results are discussed in terms of age-related shifts in the basis underlying the organization of verbal memories.     

Recall of logical and pragmatic implications in sentences with dichotomous and continuous antonyms

Thirty-six subjects recalled sentences containing dichotomous or continuous antonyms in affirmative or negative form. The subjects made a considerable number of meaning-preserving recall errors for both dichotomous antonyms (not alive recalled asdead) and continuous antonyms (not hot recalled ascold). The negation of a dichotomous antonym logically implies its antonym, whereas the negation of a continuous antonym only pragmatically implies its antonym. Thus, the results suggest that subjects hearing sentences containing a logical or pragmatic implication tend to make the logical or pragmatic inference involved. Then, in recall, they do not remember that this was an inference and make the error of recalling the logical or pragmatic implication in place of the presented sentence.     

The prediction of semantic consistency in self-descriptions: characteristics of persons and of terms that affect the consistency of responses to synonym and antonym pairs

Subjects described themselves, using an alphabetically ordered list of 191 trait adjectives, which included sets of synonyms and antonyms, half of each type more difficult than the other half. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions. In one condition, each adjective was listed with its dictionary definition; in the other condition, only the adjectives were listed. All subjects were administered a battery of demographic, cognitive, and personality measures. We analyzed both the relative consistency elicited by different pairs of terms and the individual differences in semantic consistency displayed by different sorts of subjects. Although the provision of definitions served to increase consistency (especially for the difficult antonyms), it did not decrease the range of consistency values across either synonym or antonym pairs. And, although interpair differences in semantic consistency were as difficult to predict in this study as in previous ones, individual differences were highly predictable. The implications of our many findings are discussed in the context of various hypotheses about semantic inconsistency in self-reports.     

Problems with a false recognition paradigm for developmental memory research

Developmental changes in memory organization based on synonym and antonym relationships were examined in three experiments. Although Cramer (1973) claimed that second-grade children organized their memory for words based on synonym relationships while sixth-graders used antonyms, no support for this interaction was found. The present studies employed additional procedures in an attempt to replicate and extend Cramer's finding. Some inadequacies of a false recognition paradigm for developmental research are identified and some alternative analyses are proposed.     

Semantic activation due to synonym, antonym, and rhyme production

Semantic activation due to priming, and the time course of its dissipation, were examined. Following a word presentation, the subject performed one of three tasks: synonym, antonym, or rhyme production. The first presentation of a word together with the task was the primer. The second presentation of the same word occurred after 0 to 4 intervening words. Effects of priming were looked for in the speed of the first response to the second presentation of the word. A production facilitation occurred when synonym production was primed by antonym production to the same word, the primed word immediately following the primer. Facilitation decreased with increasing number of interpolated tasks. No effect was found when antonym production was primed by synonym production to the same word. The results are discussed in terms of spreading-activation due to active use of the associative link between the concept and its antonyms.     

Event-related potentials, semantic processes, and expectancy factors in word recognition

Electrophysiological activity was recorded at 16 scalp locations during a word recognition task in order to investigate the effect of expectancy factors on ERPs. In each of 160 trials two stimuli (S1 and S2) were presented with a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 1500 msec. There were four experimental conditions. In the word-antonym (W-A) and the word-nonantonym (W-NA) conditions, both S1 and S2 were words. The subjects' task was to think of the antonym to S1 and respond as fast as possible after the presentation of S2 by pressing a "YES" button if S2 was an antonym to S1 (in the W-A trials), or a "NO" button if S2 was not an antonym to S1 (in the W-NA trials). In the nonword-word (NW-W) and nonword-nonword (NW-NW) conditions S1 was a nonword, while S2 was either a word (in NW-W trials) or a nonword (in NW-NW trials). If S1 was not a word, the subjects were instructed to wait for S2, and respond as fast as possible by pressing the "YES" button if it was a word an the "NO" button if it was not a word. EEG was sampled during a time epoch that started 100 msec before the onset of S1 and continued for another 2560 msec. The ERPs were analyzed separately for each experimental condition and for time epochs related to S1, to S2, and to the SOA. Expected antonyms were recognized significantly faster than any other words or nonwords. The RTs to words in the W-NA and NW-W condition, and to nonwords in the NW-NW condition did not differ significantly from each other. The ERP difference between the four conditions following S2 was interpreted in terms of a negative-going potential which appeared prior to the P300, during a time period which started 200 msec and ended 550 msec from stimulus onset. The negativity related to nonwords was significantly larger than the negativity related to words. The negativity related to the expected antonym was almost nonexistent. It is speculated that this negativity has the same origin as N400, and that it might be related to the process of lexical access.     

Instrumental learning in preschool children as a function of type of task, type of reward, and some organismic variables

The effects on instrumental behavior of differences in type of task, type of reward and three organismic variables were investigated in preschool children. The main results were that: (a) an imitative task was acquired in fewer trials than a nonimitative task; (b) social reward in acquisition led to greater resistance to extinction; (c) a history of frequent social reinforcement from peers led to persistence in responding during extinction for boys only; (d) extraversion was found to interact with the variables of task and reward in errors made during extinction; and (e) intelligence was not found to be a reliable predictor of main acquisition and extinction measures or related errors. Detailed analysis of the different types of errors contributed directly to the interpretation of these findings.     

Semantic differential studies of children's language development: Some methodological problems

A semantic differential study of development of antonym meanings revealed methodological problems (e.g., concept-scale interaction and developmental changes in scale-checking style) not fully considered in previous semantic differential investigations of child language development. Twenty adjectives were rated on 10 scales by subjects from grades K to 5 (approximately 6 through 11 years old) and adults. Analyses by means, polarity ratings, and average sums of squared differences failed to yield consistent developmental trends. Subjects' choices of scale ratings did show clear age-related differences: Grades K and 1 chose extreme ratings almost exclusively; grades 2 through 4 showed an increase in neutral choices and decreases in extreme ratings; grades 4 and 5 and adults chose extreme ratings least often, neutral choices most often, and more intermediate ratings than any younger subjects. Results show that scale choice is a crucial factor in designing semantic differential studies with children, there is a low correlation between mean scores and ratings given by individual children, and shifts in scale-checking style should be considered when interpreting apparent developmental changes in children's semantic differential ratings.     

Phonetic symbolism and feeling of knowing

American subjects matched English antonym pairs with antonym pairs from Thai, Kannada, and Yoruba. For each match they also,indicated their degree of feeling of knowing (FOK). Although translation accuracy was in general better than chance, suggesting universal phonetic symbolism, it was found to vary considerably with the subject’s FOK ratings: Translations evoking stronger FOK were more likely to be correct than translations evoking weaker FOK, and matches which proved correct were assigned higher FOK ratings than matches which proved incorrect. Several implications of the finding that subjects can monitor their success in guessing the meaning of words from foreign languages are outlined.     

Tone of voice guides word learning in informative referential contexts

Listeners infer which object in a visual scene a speaker refers to from the systematic variation of the speaker's tone of voice (ToV). We examined whether ToV also guides word learning. During exposure, participants heard novel adjectives (e.g., “daxen”) spoken with a ToV representing hot, cold, strong, weak, big, or small while viewing picture pairs representing the meaning of the adjective and its antonym (e.g., elephant–ant for big–small). Eye fixations were recorded to monitor referent detection and learning. During test, participants heard the adjectives spoken with a neutral ToV, while selecting referents from familiar and unfamiliar picture pairs. Participants were able to learn the adjectives' meanings, and, even in the absence of informative ToV, generalize them to new referents. A second experiment addressed whether ToV provides sufficient information to infer the adjectival meaning or needs to operate within a referential context providing information about the relevant semantic dimension. Participants who saw printed versions of the novel words during exposure performed at chance during test. ToV, in conjunction with the referential context, thus serves as a cue to word meaning. ToV establishes relations between labels and referents for listeners to exploit in word learning.     

Yes-no answering systems in young children

Across the world's languages two quite different systems are used in answering negative questions such as Aren't you going? In English the speaker answers yes or no depending on the speaker's intention about the matter (e.g., Yes, I am going, if the speaker intends to go). In Japanese, the speaker answers yes or no in agreement or disagreement with the literal statement of the question (e.g., No, I am going, if the speaker is going and thus disagrees with the literal form of the question). One purpose of this study was to see which of these linguistic systems is acquired earlier. The other was to see whether the two systems work independently in bilingual children. The data on positive and negative questions from English and Japanese monolingual children showed that the English system is easier to acquire and the data from Japanese-English bilingual children showed that they used the English system to answer Japanese negative questions. The results suggest that the English system is acquired earlier than the Japanese system and that the two systems interact in bilingual children. These results were discussed in terms of sentence verification models.     

Developmental inter-relationships among concrete operational tasks: An investigation of Piaget's stage concept

One hundred and one primary school children were tested on eight concrete operational tasks. Each child's performance on each task was classified as either preoperational, transitional, or fully operational. Cross-classification tables were constructed showing the joint classification of children's performance on all possible pairs of the eight tasks. Two models of intertask relations, Wohlwill's (The study of behavioral development. New York: Academic Press, 1973) divergent-decalage and reciprocal-interaction patterns, were evaluated for their fit to the cross-classification data using χ² goodness-of-fit procedures. Instances of both these patterns were identified in the data. The findings give some support to Flavell and Wohlwill's modification of Piaget's stage concept, in which individual groupings (e.g., seriation) are the structural basis of the interrelationships among concrete operational tasks. Tasks based on the same rule showed a degree of developmental interdependence (reciprocal-interaction patterns), while tasks based on different rules appeared to develop independently (divergent-decalage patterns). However, only one-half of the cross-classification tables were adequately described by either the divergent-decalage or the reciprocal-interaction patterns.     

Cortical evoked responses to synonyms and antonyms

The brain’s processing of synonymity and antonymy was explored by examining the cortical evoked responses to correct judgments that a test word was a synonym or an antonym of a standard word presented 1 sec previously. Each of five subjects judged 256 pairs of words in each of two sessions. The evoked response to the second word was averaged separately for synonym and antonym pairs. Presentation of each test word as a synonym or an antonym, the order of presentation of each pair, and the side of the “synonym” response key were counter-balanced within subjects. The difference between the averaged response to antonym test words and that to synonym test words differed biphasically over the interval 250-650 msec after the stimulus. The demonstration of an evoked response difference between synonyms and antnyms extends the applicability of evoked potentials from attributes of individual word meaning to the semantic relationships between words.     

The effects of encoding distinctiveness on retrieval variability in children and adults

To what extent are developmental differences in encoding distinctiveness responsible for differences in retrieval variability? This study examined this question by comparing the effects of different kinds of encoding distinctiveness on the ability of children and adults to reinstate the input environment at retrieval. The critical manipulations involved the use of semantic orienting questions at both encoding and retrieval. Second and fourth (Experiment 1) or fifth (Experiment 2) graders and college adults were given moderately associated word pairs (Knife-Axe) at input. Encoding was free or constrained at input and retrieval. The retrieval questions biased the Same interpretation of the cue as at input (weapon), a uniquely Different interpretation (utensil), or an inappropriate Negative interpretation. Encoding distinctiveness was varied by crossing these manipulations with either picture or word input (Experiment 1) or general or distinctive orienting questions (Experiment 2). The results suggested that encoding distinctiveness and retrieval variability contribute independently to developmental differences in recall.     

Sound to meaning correspondences facilitate word learning

A fundamental assumption regarding spoken language is that the relationship between sound and meaning is essentially arbitrary. The present investigation questioned this arbitrariness assumption by examining the influence of potential non-arbitrary mappings between sound and meaning on word learning in adults. Native English-speaking monolinguals learned meanings for Japanese words in a vocabulary-learning task. Spoken Japanese words were paired with English meanings that: (1) matched the actual meaning of the Japanese word (e.g., “hayai” paired with fast); (2) were antonyms for the actual meaning (e.g., “hayai” paired with slow); or (3) were randomly selected from the set of antonyms (e.g., “hayai” paired with blunt). The results showed that participants learned the actual English equivalents and antonyms for Japanese words more accurately and responded faster than when learning randomly paired meanings. These findings suggest that natural languages contain non-arbitrary links between sound structure and meaning and further, that learners are sensitive to these non-arbitrary relationships within spoken language.     

Retrieval variability: The inefficient use of retrieval cues by young children

The hypothesis of this study is that the inefficient use of retrieval cues by young children is due to retrieval variability: the variable encoding of semantic information in cue stimuli at input and retrieval and the inability to reinterpret cue information to ensure cue-trace compatibility. The critical manipulations involved the use of semantic orienting questions at both input and retrieval. Second and fourth graders and college adults were given moderately associated word pairs (Knife-Axe). Encoding was constrained or free between groups at both input and retrieval. The retrieval questions biased the Same interpretation of the cue as at input (weapon), a uniquely Different interpretation (utensil), or an inappropriate Negative interpretation. Both cued recall and recognition of the target items was tested. The results showed systematic developmental increases both in the distinctiveness of the semantic encoding of stimulus information, and in the ability to reinterpret cue information to ensure cue-trace compatibility. The second graders encoded more variably than the older subjects, and were less able to shift from an incompatible encoding of cue information.     

Functional significance of stimulus orientation: effects on orientation discrimination.

Children (6- and 9-year-olds) and adults were required to discriminate identical pairs of visual stimuli from mirror images. It was hypothesized that a key factor in performance would be the extent to which orientation was a functionally significant attribute of the stimuli. Two variables were manipulated, type of orientation discrimination and stimulus class. The first variable refers to the fact that the mirror images could be produced by either left/right or top/bottom reversals. Three classes of stimuli, varying in the extent to which a particular orientation was emphasized, were used: mobile objects (for which left/right orientation is assumed to be important); stationary objects (which lack comparable relevance for left/right orientation); and novel, abstract forms. The prediction was that if the discrimination task involved left/right reversals, as contrasted with top/bottom reversals, subjects would show an advantage for mobile objects, producing an interaction between stimulus class and orientation discrimination. In the first study, the subjects were children and performance was measured in terms of error rates. In the second study adults were tested, and reaction times were measured. Both studies manifested the predicted interaction. Results are discussed in terms of an information-processing framework, in which the incorporation of orientation-related features in the code representing a stimulus varies with the functional significance of the orientation to the stimulus class.     

Comparison of two models of similarity judgment

The conventional multidimensional distance model of similarity judgment was compared with a new model in which component differences are weighted and then averaged. To evaluate the models, qualitative and quantitative predictions were derived from Romney and D'Andrade's (1964) componential analysis of American kinship terms, and these predictions were tested by having subjects rate the similarity (in experiment 1) and the difference (in experiment 2) between all possible pairs of 12 kinship terms. In both experiments, violations of qualitative predictions for both a simple distance model and a simple averaging model revealed that the componential analysis was not sufficient to account for the data. However the averaging model was able to account for the data when the dichotomous dimension of lineality used by Romney and D'Andrade was replaced by a continuous dimension of immediacy or closeness of kin. In contrast, no comparable elaboration under the distance model was successful. These results were discussed in terms of the likely psychological processes underlying similarity judgment.