A neurally plausible parallel distributed processing model of event-related potential word reading data

The Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) framework has significant potential for producing models of cognitive tasks that approximate how the brain performs the same tasks. To date, however, there has been relatively little contact between PDP modeling and data from cognitive neuroscience. In an attempt to advance the relationship between explicit, computational models and physiological data collected during the performance of cognitive tasks, we developed a PDP model of visual word recognition which simulates key results from the ERP reading literature, while simultaneously being able to successfully perform lexical decision—a benchmark task for reading models. Simulations reveal that the model’s success depends on the implementation of several neurally plausible features in its architecture which are sufficiently domain-general to be relevant to cognitive modeling more generally.     

Decomposing animacy reversals between agents and experiencers: An ERP study

The present study aimed to refine current hypotheses regarding thematic reversal anomalies, which have been found to elicit either N400 or - more frequently - “semantic-P600” (sP600) effects. Our goal was to investigate whether distinct ERP profiles reflect aspectual-thematic differences between Agent-Subject Verbs (ASVs; e.g., ‘to eat’) and Experiencer-Subject Verbs (ESVs; e.g., ‘to love’) in English. Inanimate subject noun phrases created reversal anomalies on both ASV and ESV. Animacy-based prominence effects and semantic association were controlled to minimize their contribution to any ERP effects. An N400 was elicited by the target verb in the ESV but not the ASV anomalies, supporting the hypothesis of a distinctive aspectual-thematic structure between ESV and ASV. Moreover, the N400 finding for English ESV shows that, in contrast to previous claims, the presence versus absence of N400s for this kind of anomaly cannot be exclusively explained in terms of typological differences across languages.     

Mighty metaphors: behavioral and ERP evidence that power shifts attention on a vertical dimension

Thinking about the abstract concept power may automatically activate the spatial up-down image schema (powerful up; powerless down) and consequently direct spatial attention to the image schema-congruent location. Participants indicated whether a word represented a powerful or powerless person (e.g. ‘king’ or ‘servant’). Following each decision, they identified a target at the top or bottom of the visual field. In Experiment 1 participants identified the target faster when their spatial position was congruent with the perceived power of the preceding word than when it was incongruent. In Experiment 2 ERPs showed a higher N1 amplitude for congruent spatial positions. These results support the view that attention is driven to the image schema congruent location of a power word. Thus, power is partially understood in terms of vertical space, which demonstrates that abstract concepts are grounded in sensory-motor processing.     

Neural activation underlying cognitive control in the context of neutral and affectively charged pictures in children

The neural correlates of cognitive control for typically developing 9-year-old children were examined using dense-array ERPs and estimates of cortical activation (LORETA) during a go/no-go task with two conditions: a neutral picture condition and an affectively charged picture condition. Activation was estimated for the entire cortex after which data were exported for four regions of interests (ROIs): ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and orbitofrontal/ventromedial prefrontal cortex (OFC/VMPFC). Results revealed faster reaction times, greater N2 activation, and greater prefrontal activation for the affectively charged picture condition than the neutral picture condition. The findings are discussed in reference to the impact of affective stimuli on recruitment of specific brain regions involved in cognitive control.     

Multiple group membership influences face-recognition: Recall and neurological evidence

The limited face-recognition research involving targets categorizable on multiple dimensions has provided contradictory evidence as to how partial-ingroup members are processed and recognized. This research demonstrates that partial-ingroup members are recognized in a manner distinct from double-ingroup and double-outgroup targets. Specifically, when race and university-affiliation are crossed, university-affiliation does not influence recognition for own-race targets, but does for other-race targets, in that other-race/own-university targets are recalled more accurately than other-race/other-university targets. The neurological mechanisms involved in the effect are explored through the inclusion of electroencephalography.     

Number of sense effects of Chinese disyllabic compounds in the two hemispheres

The current study manipulated the visual field and the number of senses of the first character in Chinese disyllabic compounds to investigate how the related senses (polysemy) of the constituted character in the compounds were represented and processed in the two hemispheres. The ERP results in experiment 1 revealed crossover patterns in the left hemisphere (LH) and the right hemisphere (RH). The sense facilitation in the LH was in favor of the assumption of single-entry representation for senses. However, the patterns in the RH yielded two possible interpretations: (1) the nature of hemispheric processing in dealing with sublexical sense ambiguity; (2) the semantic activation from the separate-entry representation for senses. To clarify these possibilities, experiment 2 was designed to push participants to a deeper level of lexical processing by the word class judgment. The results revealed the sense facilitation effect in the RH. In sum, the current study was in support of the single-entry account for related senses and demonstrated that two hemispheres processed sublexical sense ambiguity in a complementary way.     

Fundamental Beliefs,Origin Explanations and Perceived Effectiveness of Protection Measures: Exploring Laypersons' Chains of Reasoning About Influenza

Laypersons' chains of reasoning in explaining recent influenza outbreaks are investigated. Drawing on social representations theory, fundamental worldviews, that is, the belief in a dangerous world (BDW), are postulated to anchor explanations of disease origins, which in turn affect perceived effectiveness of protection measures. Our study, based on a longitudinal survey among the general public in Switzerland, showed that the lower people's BDW scores, the more they appeal to natural origins to explain outbreaks and the more they perceive official protection measures as effective. The higher people's BDW scores, the more they explain outbreaks via hygienic origins, which are linked with out‐group discrimination measures, and conspiracy origins, which are linked with lower perceived effectiveness of aid intervention measures. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高功能自闭症儿童不同常规度转喻加工的发展：来自ERP的证据

采用ERP技术考察了6~11岁高功能自闭症（HFA）儿童常规和新奇转喻的认知加工过程及发展轨迹。结果显示,6~8岁HFA组和典型发展（TD）组加工常规和新奇转喻的N400波幅无差异,未出现常规度效应,其波幅与错误句也无差异。9~11岁HFA组对新奇转喻N400波幅负于常规转喻,出现常规度效应,常规转喻N400波幅异于错误句,9~11岁TD组常规和新奇转喻均异于错误句。6~8岁HFA组对常规转喻N400差异波负于9~11岁,6~8岁TD组对常规和新奇转喻均负于9~11岁。HFA组转喻N400波幅均负于TD组。结论：HFA儿童常规和新奇转喻的加工较TD儿童存在缺陷。从6岁到11岁,HFA儿童常规转喻加工随年龄增长显著提高,新奇转喻则未出现明显变化,较之常规转喻,新奇转喻的加工尤为困难。     

先天视觉经验缺失对颜色认知的影响：一项ERP研究

感觉与认知是否是相互独立的？本研究通过对比先天盲被试与明眼被试在进行物体颜色判断时的行为反应和神经电生理信号变化,探讨视觉经验缺失对颜色认知的影响。结果发现,先天盲被试具有一定的颜色知识,但其水平低于明眼被试;两组被试都出现了由颜色不匹配所诱发的N400效应,且都表现出左半球优势;但是盲人组的N400效应大于明眼组,盲人组的N400反应潜伏期小于明眼组。该结果说明,直接的视觉经验是颜色认知的充分条件而非必要条件。     

Modulating younger and older adults’ performance in ignoring pictorial information during a word matching task

Using both behavioural and event-related potential (ERP) data, the current study sought to examine the neurophysiological underpinnings for the effect of distracting pictorial information on semantic word matching performance in younger and older adults. This was tested in the context of semantic relations between task-relevant word pairs, a task-irrelevant picture and the resultant N400 differences in ERP. Younger and older adults were shown a context word superimposed on a to-be-ignored picture, followed by a test word. Their task was to determine whether the prime and test words were semantically related. The to-be-ignored pictures were interfering (for ‘No’ trials), facilitating (for ‘Yes’ trials), or neutral (for both ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ trials) to the expected responses. The interfering and facilitatory effects of to-be-ignored pictures were assessed under more automatic and more controlled conditions by manipulating the context–test interstimulus-interval (ISI) as 50 ms and 1000 ms, respectively. The analysis of the N400 at centro-parietal sites during test word display revealed similar N400 amplitudes for the ‘No’ response trials at the two ISIs, suggesting that younger and older adults showed an equivalent effect from interfering pictures. In contrast, younger adults showed greater reductions in the N400, as compared to older adults, for ‘Yes’ trials indicating differential effects in facilitation from to-be-ignored pictorial information, but only in the long ISI condition. The data are discussed in terms of age differences in resource demanding strategy use during a semantic word matching task, specifically during controlled retrieval.