Visual experiences during letter production contribute to the development of the neural systems supporting letter perception

Letter production through handwriting creates visual experiences that may be important for the development of visual letter perception. We sought to better understand the neural responses to different visual percepts created during handwriting at different levels of experience. Three groups of participants, younger children, older children, and adults, ranging in age from 4.5 to 22 years old, were presented with dynamic and static presentations of their own handwritten letters, static presentations of an age‐matched control's handwritten letters, and typeface letters during fMRI. First, data from each group were analyzed through a series of contrasts designed to highlight neural systems that were most sensitive to each visual experience in each age group. We found that younger children recruited ventral‐temporal cortex during perception and this response was associated with the variability present in handwritten forms. Older children and adults also recruited ventral‐temporal cortex; this response, however, was significant for typed letter forms but not variability. The adult response to typed letters was more distributed than in the children, including ventral‐temporal, parietal, and frontal motor cortices. The adult response was also significant for one's own handwritten letters in left parietal cortex. Second, we compared responses among age groups. Compared to older children, younger children demonstrated a greater fusiform response associated with handwritten form variability. When compared to adults, younger children demonstrated a greater response to this variability in left parietal cortex. Our results suggest that the visual perception of the variability present in handwritten forms that occurs during handwriting may contribute to developmental changes in the neural systems that support letter perception.     

The Differential Influence of Lexical Parameters on Naming Latencies in German. A Study on Noun and Verb Picture Naming

The present study investigates the effects of word category (nouns versus verbs) and their subcategories on naming latencies in German, with a focus on the influence of lexical parameters on naming performance. The experimental material met linguistic construction criteria and was carefully matched for age of spontaneous production, frequency, and name agreement. Additional lexical parameters (objective age-of-acquisition, word length, visual complexity, imageability) were obtained. The results demonstrated a clear effect of word category on naming latencies. This effect was supported by two different observations. First, there was evidence for category and subcategory effects in naming: nouns were named faster than verbs, and intransitive verbs were named faster than transitive verbs. Second, while objective age-of-acquisition (naming age) turned out to be an important predictor of reaction times for both word categories, naming latencies for nouns and verbs were affected differentially by other lexical parameters. The results are discussed with respect to current controversies on the noun-verb-asymmetry.     

The Impact of Sonority on Onset-Rime and Peak-Coda Lexical Decision and Naming of Lexical Items by Children with Different Spelling Ability

The present study used the lexical decision (making YES/NO decision) and the vocalization (naming) paradigms in two reaction time experiments to examine the cohesiveness of onset-rime and peak-coda in the syllable structure of English lexical items. The aim was to study the effect of sonority hierarchy of liquids, nasals and obstruents on the accurate and rapid identification and naming of CCVCC words and pseudowords in relation to the spelling performance of 222 grades 4, 5 and 6 students. In the onset-rime lexical decision and naming tasks nasals were processed faster than the liquids and the obstruents. In the peak-coda lexical decision and naming the obstruents were processed faster than the liquids and nasals. The reaction time results suggest relationship with the spelling of English words even though the significant main effects of grade, spelling performance, mode of response and lexicality of the stimulus items need to be interpreted in the context of statistical interactions.     

Arabic digit naming speed: task context and redundancy gain

There is evidence for both semantic and asemantic routes for naming Arabic digits, but neuropsychological dissociations suggest that number-fact retrieval (2x3=6) can inhibit the semantic route for digit naming. Here, we tested the hypothesis that such inhibition should slow digit naming, based on the principle that reduced access to multiple routes would counteract redundancy gain (the response time advantage expected from parallel retrieval pathways). Participants named two single digit numbers and then performed simple addition or magnitude comparison (Experiment 1), multiplication or magnitude comparison (Experiment 2), and multiplication or subtraction (Experiment 3) on the same or on a different pair of digits. Addition and multiplication were expected to inhibit the semantic route, whereas comparison and subtraction should enable the semantic route. Digit naming time was approximately 15ms slower when participants subsequently performed addition or multiplication relative to comparison or subtraction, regardless of whether or not the same digit pair was involved. A letter naming control condition in Experiment 3 demonstrated that the effect was specific to digit naming. Number fact retrieval apparently can inhibit Arabic digit naming processes.     

Concurrent processing of words and their replacements during speech

Two picture naming experiments, in which an initial picture was occasionally replaced with another (target) picture, were conducted to study the temporal coordination of abandoning one word and resuming with another word in speech production. In Experiment 1, participants abandoned saying the initial name, and resumed with the name of the target picture. This triggered both interrupted (e.g., Mush- …scooter) and completed (mushroom …scooter) productions of the initial name. We found that the time from beginning naming the initial picture to ending it was longer when the target picture was visually degraded than when it was intact. In Experiment 2, participants abandoned saying the initial name, but without resuming. There was no visual degradation effect, and thus the effect did not seem to be driven by detection of the stopping cue. These findings demonstrate that planning a new word can begin before the initial word is abandoned, so that both words can be processed concurrently.     

The role of naming in stimulus categorization by preschool children

The purpose of the current study was to assess whether children would categorize pictures when taught the relevant listener and speaker behaviors separately. A category-sort test was used to assess emergent conditional relations. Category-sort trials consisted of looking at (Test 1) or tacting/labeling (Test 2) a sample stimulus and selecting the appropriate comparison stimuli. In Experiment 1, 4 children (3-5 years) were taught to tact pictures of six U.S. state maps as either north or south. An assessment was conducted to determine whether they would (1) correctly categorize or sort when presented with a visual sample and (2) select the correct stimuli when hearing their category names (listener behavior). Two of the children categorized the pictures during Posttest 1 after the initial (pairwise) tact training. The other 2 categorized after receiving additional tact training with all pictures presented together. However, one of them categorized only during Posttest 2. In Experiment 2, 4 children (3-5 years) were taught to select pictures when hearing their category names. An assessment was conducted to determine whether they would (1) correctly categorize or sort and (2) tact the stimuli (speaker behavior). One child categorized the pictures during Posttest 1, and two during Posttest 2. The other child required additional training with all pictures grouped together. When participants failed to categorize, they also failed to tact the pictures accurately. Taken together, results from Experiments 1 and 2 show that both speaker and listener behavior play an important role in stimulus categorization.     

基于fMRI的自上而下字母加工神经机制的研究

人们在识别自己所熟悉的物体时, 不仅依赖于对输入信息的感知而且还会受到自上而下调节机制的影响。研究者基于功能磁共振成像(fMRI), 利用虚幻探测范式对自上而下字母加工的神经网络进行研究。该研究要求被试从纯噪声(实际没有任何字母)中探测字母。通过对fMRI数据进行心理生理交互效应分析, 发现当被试从纯噪声图片中“看”到字母时, 多个脑区的活动由于受到来自于右侧梭状回的影响而加强。该发现表明自上而下的字母加工网络不但包含负责字母形状和语音加工的脑区, 还涉及一些负责高级认知加工的区域。     

英文词、汉字词、早期文字和图画的认知加工比较

采用四种任务考察英文词、汉字词、甲骨文、东巴文和图画在知觉加工和语言加工中的特点, 揭示不同类型符号的认知机制。实验1采用知觉相似度判断和语义一致性判断考察符号在知觉加工和语义加工中的特点; 实验2考察符号在命名与分类中的表现。结果表明：(1)不同类型符号在知觉相似度判断和语义一致性判断中表现不同。符号相似的顺序与文字演化的顺序一致。(2)不同类型符号的命名与分类反应具有不对称性：英文词和汉字词的命名快于分类, 甲骨文、东巴文和图画的分类快于命名。(3)无论是命名还是分类, 对汉字词和图画的反应均快于对东巴文和甲骨文的反应。对英文词命名快于对甲骨文和东巴文命名, 对英文词分类慢于对东巴文分类。(4)英文词、汉字词和图画的命名与分类反应具有不对称性：对英文词、汉字词命名快于对图画命名, 对图画分类快于对英文词、汉字词分类。甲骨文和东巴文的命名与分类反应具有不对称性：对甲骨文命名快于对东巴文命名, 对东巴文分类快于对甲骨文分类。所以如此, 既与符号的外形特征和区别性特征有关, 又与符号记录语言的方式以及对符号的熟悉度有关。研究结果为确定文字发展和演变的规律及甲骨文与东巴文的性质提供了心理学依据。     

图画口语命名中的语义效应

图画口语命名包括了概念准备、词条选择、音韵编码和发音等加工阶段, 是口语产生研究中经典的实验任务。文章首先简要介绍了两类言语产生的基础理论, 然后介绍了不同研究范式下的语义抑制效应与语义促进效应。在此基础上总结了影响语义效应的各种因素, 并重点介绍了竞争说、动态词汇网络假说、反应一致说、语义选择说以及反应排除说。最后基于已有的研究成果与研究现状指出了下一步的研究方向。     

An experimental comparison between rival theories of rapid automatized naming performance and its relationship to reading

Two studies investigated the degree to which the relationship between rapid automatized naming (RAN) performance and reading development is driven by shared phonological processes. Study 1 assessed RAN, phonological awareness, and reading performance in 1010 7- to 10-year-olds. Results showed that RAN deficits occurred in the absence of phonological awareness deficits. These were accompanied by modest reading delays. In structural equation modeling, solutions where RAN was subsumed within a phonological processing factor did not provide a good fit to the data, suggesting that processes outside phonology may drive RAN performance and its association with reading. Study 2 investigated Kail's proposal that speed of processing underlies this relationship. Children with single RAN deficits showed slower speed of processing than did closely matched controls performing normally on RAN. However, regression analysis revealed that RAN made a unique contribution to reading even after accounting for processing speed. Theoretical implications are discussed.