Language and cognitive processes最新文献

Word and name retrieval failures increase with age, and this study investigated how priming impacts young and older adults' ability to produce proper names. The transmission deficit hypothesis predicts facilitation from related prime names, whereas the blocking and inhibition deficit hypotheses predict interference from related names, especially for older adults. On half of our experimental trials, we exposed participants to a prime name that is phonologically- and semantically-related to a target name. Related names facilitated production of targets overall, with older adults' naming ability improved at least as much as young adults'. Results are contrary to predictions of the blocking and inhibitory deficit hypotheses, and suggest that an activation-based model of memory and language better accounts for retrieval and production of well-known names.

The Response Exclusion Hypothesis localises the semantic interference effect as observed in the picture-word paradigm at a postlexical level of processing. An important aspect of this proposal is that the ease with which distractor words can be excluded from production at the response level is determined by the degree to which they satisfy criteria demanded of a correct response. This proposal predicts that naming a picture of a "rose" with the response "flower" will be slower with the distractor "rose" than a distractor word that would not be appropriate for the picture (e.g., "tulip"). Hantsch and Mädebach report evidence consistent with this expectation; however, the authors argue that the results are problematic for the Response Exclusion Hypothesis. Here we unpack Hantsch and Mädebach's arguments about why their finding is (putatively) problematic for the Response Exclusion Hypothesis. We conclude that the pattern of effects that the authors report are not only in line with what would be expected by the Response Exclusion Hypothesis, but are difficult to reconcile with Hantsch and Mädebach's preferred theoretical position.

This study examines the neural correlates of processing verbal entries with multiple argument structures using fMRI. We compared brain activation in response to 'alternating transitivity' verbs, corresponding to two different verbal alternates - one transitive and one intransitive - and simple verbs, with only one, intransitive, thematic grid. Fourteen young healthy participants performed a lexical decision task with the two verb types. Results showed significantly greater activation in the angular and supramarginal gyri (BAs 39 and 40) extending to the posterior superior and middle temporal gyri bilaterally, for alternating compared to simple verbs. Additional activation was detected in bilateral middle and superior frontal gyri (BAs 8 and 9). The opposite contrast, simple compared to alternating verbs, showed no significant differential activation in any regions of the brain. These findings are consistent with previous studies implicating a posterior network including the superior temporal, supramarginal and angular gyri for processing verbs with multiple thematic roles, as well as with those suggesting involvement of the middle and superior frontal gyri in lexical ambiguity processing. However, because 'alternating transitivity' verbs differ from simple intransitives with regard to both the number of thematic grids (two vs. one) and the number of thematic roles (two vs. one), our findings do not distinguish between activations associated with these two differences.

This study employs a naming task to examine the role of the syllable in speech production, focusing on a lesser-studied aspect of syllabic processing, the interaction of subsyllabic patterns (i.e. syllable phonotactics) and higher-level prosody, in this case, stress assignment in Spanish. Specifically, we examine a controversial debate in Spanish regarding the interaction of syllable weight and stress placement, showing that traditional representations of weight fail to predict the differential modulation of stress placement by rising versus falling diphthongs in Spanish nonce forms. Our results also suggest that the internal structure of the syllable plays a larger role than is assumed in the processing literature in that it modulates higher-level processes such as stress encoding. Our results thus inform the debate regarding syllable weight in Spanish and linguistic theorizing more broadly, as well as expand our understanding of the importance of the syllable, and more specifically its internal structure, in modulating word processing.