Comparing different kinds of words and word-word relations to test an habituation model of priming

Huber and O'Reilly (2003) proposed that neural habituation exists to solve a temporal parsing problem, minimizing blending between one word and the next when words are visually presented in rapid succession. They developed a neural dynamics habituation model, explaining the finding that short duration primes produce positive priming whereas long duration primes produce negative repetition priming. The model contains three layers of processing, including a visual input layer, an orthographic layer, and a lexical-semantic layer. The predicted effect of prime duration depends both on this assumed representational hierarchy and the assumption that synaptic depression underlies habituation. The current study tested these assumptions by comparing different kinds of words (e.g., words versus non-words) and different kinds of word-word relations (e.g., associative versus repetition). For each experiment, the predictions of the original model were compared to an alternative model with different representational assumptions. Experiment 1 confirmed the prediction that non-words and inverted words require longer prime durations to eliminate positive repetition priming (i.e., a slower transition from positive to negative priming). Experiment 2 confirmed the prediction that associative priming increases and then decreases with increasing prime duration, but remains positive even with long duration primes. Experiment 3 replicated the effects of repetition and associative priming using a within-subjects design and combined these effects by examining target words that were expected to repeat (e.g., viewing the target word ‘BACK' after the prime phrase ‘back to'). These results support the originally assumed representational hierarchy and more generally the role of habituation in temporal parsing and priming.     

Familiarity,Priming, and Perception in Similarity Judgments

We present a novel way of accounting for similarity judgments. Our approach posits that similarity stems from three main sources—familiarity, priming, and inherent perceptual likeness. Here, we explore each of these constructs and demonstrate their individual and combined effectiveness in explaining similarity judgments. Using these three measures, our account of similarity explains ratings of simple, color‐based perceptual stimuli that display asymmetry effects, as well as more complicated perceptual stimuli with structural properties; more traditional approaches to similarity solve one or the other and have difficulty accounting for both. Overall, our work demonstrates the importance of each of these components of similarity in explaining similarity judgments, both individually and together, and suggests important implications for other similarity approaches.     

Aftereffects for face attributes with different natural variability: Children are more adaptable than adolescents

Adults can be adapted to a particular facial distortion in which both eyes are shifted symmetrically (Robbins, R., McKone, E., & Edwards, M. (2007). Aftereffects for face attributes with different natural variability: Adapter position effects and neural models. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 33, 570–592), but they do not show as great adaptation to an asymmetrical eye distortion. We adapted children and adolescents to symmetrical and asymmetrical eye distortions and measured the aftereffects. Children (aged 6–12, mean age 9 years) showed larger aftereffects than adolescents (aged 13–18, mean age 15 years) and demonstrated aftereffects of a similar magnitude for both asymmetrical and symmetrical distortions. Adolescents only showed aftereffects for symmetrical distortions. We propose that children may have a more flexible face norm and neural responses that allow a broader range of adapted states compared to adolescents.     

Processing time predictions of current models of perception in the classic additive factors paradigm

This article explores the consequences for factorial additivity in a Sternberg [(1969). The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of donders method In: W.G. Koster (Ed.), Attention and performance II, Acta Psychologica, 30, 276-315] additive-factors paradigm of the assumptions adopted by models of perception that relate the representation of a stimulus to decision time. Three example models, signal detection theory with the latency-distance hypothesis, stochastic general recognition theory, and a random walk model of exemplar classification, are interrogated to determine what type of interaction they predict factors will yield in a hypothetical factorial (choice) reaction time experiment in which the ‘empirical’ factors’ effects are manifest as parameter changes. All frameworks make the critical assumption that decision time depends on the perceptual representation of the stimulus as well as the architecture. As a consequence, nonadditivity of factors thought to affect different “stages” in the classical approach emerges within the current modeling approach. The nature of this influence is revealed through analytic investigations and simulation. Earlier empirical findings of failures of selective influence that have defied adequate explanation are reinterpreted in light of the present findings.     

Early top-down influences on bistable perception revealed by event-related potentials

A longstanding debate exists in the literature concerning bottom-up vs. top-down influences on bistable perception. Recently, a technique has been developed to measure early changes in brain activity (via ERPs) related to perceptual reversals (Kornmeier & Bach, 2004). An ERP component, the reversal negativity (RN) has been identified, and is characterized as an increase in negative potential over the posterior scalp from 150 to 350 ms for perceptual reversals compared to perceptual stability. This finding, although interesting, has not helped resolve issues related to the bottom-up vs. top-down debate because top-down influences have not been directly manipulated. The current study focused on resolving some of these issues by measuring the RN while observers maintained one of three 'intentional approaches', (1) try to reverse perception as often as possible, (2) try to stabilize perception for as long as possible, and (3) maintain a passive approach. Enhancements in RN amplitude were found for the intention-to-reverse condition compared to the passive condition. This finding suggests an early influence (150 ms) of top-down control on perceptual reversals of bistable figures. Results are discussed in terms of competing attention shifting vs. fatigue-based theories of bistable perception.     

不同类型的知觉刺激对语言理解的影响

采用知觉负载范式探讨知觉刺激对语言理解的影响。实验1考察被试在加工听觉概念和视觉概念时的表征形式。实验2进一步探讨在同一通道内部,形状概念和视觉概念的表征形式。实验1发现,在进行语言理解时,如果存在听知觉负荷,加工语言中的听觉信息时会变慢。如果存在视知觉负荷,加工语言中的视觉信息时错误率会增加。实验2发现,在涉及视觉信息的语言理解中,颜色知觉负荷产生了广泛的影响,而形状知觉负荷没有表现出这种效应。总的实验结果表明,不同类型的知觉刺激对语言理解产生了不同的影响。语言理解中存在着模态化和非模态化两种不同的加工模式。     

Perceptual adaptation to non-native speech

This study investigated talker-dependent and talker-independent perceptual adaptation to foreign-accent English. Experiment 1 investigated talker-dependent adaptation by comparing native English listeners' recognition accuracy for Chinese-accented English across single and multiple talker presentation conditions. Results showed that the native listeners adapted to the foreign-accented speech over the course of the single talker presentation condition with some variation in the rate and extent of this adaptation depending on the baseline sentence intelligibility of the foreign-accented talker. Experiment 2 investigated talker-independent perceptual adaptation to Chinese-accented English by exposing native English listeners to Chinese-accented English and then testing their perception of English produced by a novel Chinese-accented talker. Results showed that, if exposed to multiple talkers of Chinese-accented English during training, native English listeners could achieve talker-independent adaptation to Chinese-accented English. Taken together, these findings provide evidence for highly flexible speech perception processes that can adapt to speech that deviates substantially from the pronunciation norms in the native talker community along multiple acoustic-phonetic dimensions.     

Accommodating variation: dialects, idiolects, and speech processing

Listeners are faced with enormous variation in pronunciation, yet they rarely have difficulty understanding speech. Although much research has been devoted to figuring out how listeners deal with variability, virtually none (outside of sociolinguistics) has focused on the source of the variation itself. The current experiments explore whether different kinds of variation lead to different cognitive and behavioral adjustments. Specifically, we compare adjustments to the same acoustic consequence when it is due to context-independent variation (resulting from articulatory properties unique to a speaker) versus context-conditioned variation (resulting from common articulatory properties of speakers who share a dialect). The contrasting results for these two cases show that the source of a particular acoustic-phonetic variation affects how that variation is handled by the perceptual system. We also show that changes in perceptual representations do not necessarily lead to changes in production.     

The use of perceptual features in categorization by orangutans (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pongo abelli</Emphasis>)

The extent to which categorization of natural classes in animals reflects a generalization based on perceptual similarity versus an abstract conceptual representation remains unclear. Here, two experiments were conducted to identify the perceptual features used by orangutans when categorizing pictures. In Experiment 1, subjects were trained and tested for transfer on a concrete discrimination (gorillas or orangutans vs. other primates). Analysis of performance on both positive and negative exemplars revealed that performance was best on photos with faces, particularly close-ups. Moreover, error trials did not seem to reflect instances of mistaken identity, but rather, exemplars that may have been distracting for other reasons, such as novel coloration or morphology. In Experiment 2, photos were modified to test the effects of various features. Color modifications caused the biggest decrease in performance, and eye modifications also affected performance deleteriously. Therefore, two perceptual features, namely eye regions and color, played a key role in subjects' ability to categorize. However, performance based on an underlying concept cannot be ruled out, because both of these features are highly relevant in terms of defining category membership. Although a subset of features was identified as playing a key role in categorization, these features differed depending on whether feature-use was studied indirectly, as in Experiment 1, or directly, as in Experiment 2.