Representations Of Words In Memory Research Articles

Top-down modulation of brain responses in spelling error recognition

The task being undertaken can influence orthographic, phonological and semantic processes. In linguistic research, two tasks are most often used: a task requiring a decision in relation to the presented word and a passive reading task which does not require a decision regarding the presented word. The results of studies using these different tasks are not always consistent. This study aimed to explore brain responses associated with the process of recognition of spelling errors, as well as the influence of the task on this process. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in 40 adults during an orthographic decision task to determine correctly spelled words and words written with errors that did not change the phonology and during the passive reading. During spelling recognition, the early stages up to 100 ms after the stimulus were automatic and did not depend on the requirements of the task. The amplitude of the N1 component (90–160 ms) was greater in the orthographic decision task, but did not depend on the correct spelling of the word. Late word recognition after 350–500 ms was task dependent, but spelling effects were similar across the two tasks: misspelled words evoked an increase in the amplitude of the N400 component related to lexical and semantic processing regardless of the task. In addition, the orthographic decision task modulated spelling effects, this was reflected in an increase in the amplitude of the P2 component (180–260 ms) for correctly spelled words compared with misspelled words. Thus, our results show that spelling recognition involves general lexico-semantic processes independent of the task. Simultaneously, the orthographic decision task modulates the spelling-specific processes necessary to quickly detect conflicts between orthographic and phonological representations of words in memory.

Anticipating predictability: an ERP investigation of expectation-managing discourse markers in dialogue comprehension

ABSTRACTIn two ERP experiments, we investigated how the Dutch discourse markers eigenlijk “actually”, signalling expectation disconfirmation, and inderdaad “indeed”, signalling expectation confirmation, affect incremental dialogue comprehension. We investigated their effects on the processing of subsequent (un)predictable words, and on the quality of word representations in memory. Participants read dialogues with (un)predictable endings that followed a discourse marker (eigenlijk in Experiment 1, inderdaad in Experiment 2) or a control adverb. We found no strong evidence that discourse markers modulated online predictability effects elicited by subsequently read words. However, words following eigenlijk elicited an enhanced posterior post-N400 positivity compared with words following an adverb regardless of their predictability, potentially reflecting increased processing costs associated with pragmatically driven discourse updating. No effects of inderdaad were found on online processing, but inderdaad seemed to influence memory for (un)predictable dialogue endings. These findings nuance our understanding of how pragmatic markers affect incremental language comprehension.

Learning to read with and without feedback, in and out of context.

The self-teaching hypothesis posits that enduring orthographic and phonological representations are produced when children independently recode print into speech. However, very little research has examined how children self-teach when initial decoding attempts are weak or ineffective. In this within-participant design, 25 students in Grade 2 learned to read 85 different words in 4 conditions. Words were read in and out of context, with and without feedback. Accuracy rates were recorded throughout 5 training sessions (2 word repetitions per session = 10 repetitions in total). A posttest was administered after a 6-day delay by reinstating the training materials. At the end of training, the highest accuracy scores were observed when children read in context/feedback followed by when they read in isolation/feedback, and then in context/no feedback; the lowest accuracy scores were observed when children read in isolation/no feedback. This pattern remained over the retention period, suggesting that external support from feedback, and top-down support from context, can help create word representations in memory. The results are discussed in relation to the importance of whole-word phonology within self-teaching. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)

Second language experience modulates word retrieval effort in bilinguals: evidence from pupillometry.

Bilingual speakers often have less language experience compared to monolinguals as a result of speaking two languages and/or a later age of acquisition of the second language. This may result in weaker and less precise phonological representations of words in memory, which may cause greater retrieval effort during spoken word recognition. To gauge retrieval effort, the present study compared the effects of word frequency, neighborhood density (ND), and level of English experience by testing monolingual English speakers and native Spanish speakers who differed in their age of acquisition of English (early/late). In the experimental paradigm, participants heard English words and matched them to one of four pictures while the pupil size, an indication of cognitive effort, was recorded. Overall, both frequency and ND effects could be observed in the pupil response, indicating that lower frequency and higher ND were associated with greater retrieval effort. Bilingual speakers showed an overall delayed pupil response and a larger ND effect compared to the monolingual speakers. The frequency effect was the same in early bilinguals and monolinguals but was larger in late bilinguals. Within the group of bilingual speakers, higher English proficiency was associated with an earlier pupil response in addition to a smaller frequency and ND effect. These results suggest that greater retrieval effort associated with bilingualism may be a consequence of reduced language experience rather than constitute a categorical bilingual disadvantage. Future avenues for the use of pupillometry in the field of spoken word recognition are discussed.

Graded semantic and phonological similarity effects in priming: Evidence for a distributed connectionist approach to morphology.

A considerable body of empirical and theoretical research suggests that morphological structure governs the representation of words in memory and that many words are decomposed into morphological components in processing. The authors investigated an alternative approach in which morphology arises from the interaction of semantic and phonological codes. A series of cross-modal lexical decision experiments shows that the magnitude of priming reflects the degree of semantic and phonological overlap between words. Crucially, moderately similar items produce intermediate facilitation (e.g., lately-late). This pattern is observed for word pairs exhibiting different types of morphological relationships, including suffixed-stem (e.g., teacher-teach), suffixed-suffixed (e.g., saintly-sainthood), and prefixed-stem pairs (preheat-heat). The results can be understood in terms of connectionist models that use distributed representations rather than discrete morphemes.

Some consequences of the representation of words in memory

Lorsque nous parlons, nous selectionons des mots, puises dans notre lexique ; le locuteur et l'auditeur ont l'impression de percevoir une sequence de mots ; pourtant le signal acoustique est continu. L'A. propose quelques reflexions a partir de ces faits, en particulier sur la maniere dont ils affectent la nature de la phonetique. Il examine l'activite articulatoire impliquee dans le fait de parler et le signal acoustique qui resulte de cette activite. Tout evenement du discours implique un acces aux items emmagasines dans la memoire ; ceci peut eclairer certaines questions sur l'importance fondamentale de la phonetique

Speeded comparisons of spoken words

This research evaluated the claim that spoken words are recognized as soon as they diverge from all other words in memory. Pairs of consonant‐vowel‐consonant (CVC) words were presented for a speeded SAME‐DIFFERENT response. Subjects were instructed to respond SAME or DIFFERENT as soon as they could determine if the second word of the pair was the same as or different from the first word. Reaction times were measured from the onset of the second word. The overlap between the two members of the pairs of spoken words was systematically manipulated to determine if reaction times to say DIFFERENT were a simple function of the point at which the two words differed or whether overlapping segments after the divergence point would affect reaction times. The results are consistent with the notion that the temporal window for mapping information onto representations of spoken words in memory spans more than a feature or segment and that spoken words are not necessarily recognized as soon as they diverge from other words in memory.

On the spread of semantic excitation

Access to word-representations in memory was studied in two experiments. A lexical decision paradigm was used in both: Ss had to decide whether a string of letters shown to them was a word or a nonword. Decision time was the main dependent variable. Independent variables were context-similarity and context-intensity. The former is defined in terms of the categorical relationship that holds between a set of “context-words” and a subsequently presented “test-word”. The latter is defined by the number of highly related context-words, all sampled from a small semantic subcategory, that preceded the test-stimulus. In theory, the presentation of the context-words generates “semantic excitation” that spreads over memory and activates other memory representations. Differences in mean decision time, as a function of experimental conditions, are attributed to differences in the activation of test-words. Two hypotheses about the course or gradient of excitation-spread in lexical memory were studied. The results indicate that a simple spread-of-excitation hypothesis as proposed by Meyer, Schvaneveldt and Ruddy (1972, 1974) is sufficient to account for the data. For the conditions studied in the experiments, there was no reliable evidence of inhibitory processes that confine spread of excitation to a small region of lexical memory.

Semantic expectancy effects on word access

Access to word-representations in memory was studied in an experiment that used a lexical decision task: Ss had to decide whether a string of letters was a word or a nonword. Independent variables were context-similarity and semantic expectancy. The former is defined in terms of the categorical relationship that holds between a set of context words and the subsequently presented test word. The second refers to the cue-value given to subjects as to the likelihood with which related or unrelated test words would be presented. Cue-values did not provide information on the likelihood with which word or nonword decisions were required, but only on the most probable semantic relationship holding among context and test words. In theory, Meyer and Ellis' (1970) race model for word access was extended for the present purpose. It is shown that the two search processes assumed to mediate lexical access interfere on the basis of limited processing capacity, at least under the special conditions prevailing during the experiment. Furthermore, it is shown that Ss effectively manage to control the point in time at which they decide to issue a nonword response. Cuing for related test words tends to produce faster nonword decisions than cuing for unrelated words.