Word Processing Research Articles

Words before pictures: the role of language in biasing visual attention

BackgroundThe present study investigated whether semantic processing of word and object primes can bias visual attention using top-down influences, even within an exogenous cueing framework. We hypothesized that real words and familiar objects would more effectively bias attentional engagement and target detection than pseudowords or pseudo-objects, as they can trigger prior knowledge to influence attention orienting and target detection.MethodsTo examine this, we conducted two web-based eye-tracking experiments that ensured participants maintained central fixation on the screen during remote data collection. In Experiment 1, participants viewed a central prime—either a real word or pseudo-word—followed by a spatial cue directing them to a target on the left or right, which they located by pressing a key. Experiment 2 presented participants with real objects or pseudo-objects as primes, with primes and targets that either matched or did not match in identity. Importantly, primes in both experiments conveyed no information about target location.ResultsResults from Experiment 1 indicated that real word primes were associated with faster target detection than pseudo-words. In Experiment 2, participants detected targets more quickly when primed with real objects and when prime-target identity matched. Comparisons across both experiments suggest an automatic influence of semantic knowledge on target detection and spatial attention.DiscussionThese findings indicate that words can contribute to attentional capture, potentially through top-down processes, even within an exogenous cueing paradigm in which semantic processing is task-irrelevant.

Contributions of hemispheric dynamics in visual word recognition: uncovering familiarity effects through lateralized priming

IntroductionThis investigation aimed to explore interhemispheric interactions in visual word processing with a focus on proficiency development. Given the asymmetrical specialization in visual word processing across hemispheres, the study hypothesized that the primary hemisphere predominantly regulates interhemispheric interactions. The familiarity effect, serving as a measure of visual word processing proficiency, was examined to determine how proficiency influences these interactions.MethodsA primed-lateralized lexical decision task with a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 100 ms was employed. The task involved presenting primes and targets in parafoveal visual fields (left visual field/right visual field) to assess behavioral responses. By manipulating prime and target visual field locations, the study aimed to evaluate both inter- and intrahemispheric interactions during visual word processing.ResultsThe findings revealed a significant interhemispheric familiarity effect in response times when the left visual field (LVF)/right hemisphere (RH) served as the prime and the right visual field (RVF)/left hemisphere (LH) as the target. Additionally, a significant intrahemispheric familiarity effect was observed within the LVF/RH condition, suggesting a prominent role of the RH in visual-perceptual processing during the development of visual word recognition proficiency.DiscussionThese results provide compelling evidence for asymmetric specialization between the hemispheres in visual word processing. The significant inter- and intrahemispheric familiarity effects underscore the importance of RH visual-perceptual processing in proficiency development. These insights enhance our understanding of interhemispheric dynamics in the evolution of visual word recognition proficiency, highlighting the complex coordination between hemispheres in facilitating fluent visual word processing.

Does lexical category matter in effects of emotionality on L2 word processing in late proficient Chinese-English bilinguals? An ERP study.

Although the effects of emotionality on word processing might be modulated by lexical category, a body of extant literature has tended to obviate the need of considering this factor. In this study, we attempted to address how lexical category modulates the effects of emotionality on L2 word processing. To this end, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from a group of late proficient Chinese-English bilinguals while they performed a lexical decision task with a set of tightly matched negative, positive, and neutral words across three lexical categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives). The results revealed a P2 effect, an N400 effect, as well as an LPC effect for word emotionality. Moreover, an interaction between word emotionality and lexical category occurred within the N400 and LPC time windows over fronto-central electrodes, reflecting that the N400 displayed a smaller amplitude for positive nouns and verbs than for their neutral counterparts, as well as for negative as opposed to neutral adjectives, and that the LPC showed a larger amplitude for positive relative to neutral nouns, as well as for positive and negative adjectives than for their neutral counterparts. These results provide initial electrophysiological evidence for the modulation of lexical category to the emotionality effects on L2 word processing at the different stages and highlight the importance of lexical category in research on L2 emotional word processing.

The influence of semantic primes on the typing of word targets

Abstract Typing is a complex activity involving identifying and encoding the to-be-typed word, planning, and executing the keystrokes. Different mechanisms have been proposed to explain how contextual information about meaning influences the processing of a target word (for example, semantic priming), and it is unclear how this information influences the typing output of the target word. When the interval between the prime and target is short, the prime is thought to automatically activate the target. With a longer interval, the facilitation may be more strategic. The influence of the prime on the output of the target may thus depend on the interval between the two. We found that at both short and long intervals, related semantic primes facilitated the speed of the first keystroke of the target word. However, there was no effect on how quickly the non-initial letters of the target were entered, suggesting that information from semantic primes influences the planning and initiation of typing, but not the execution of remaining keystrokes. Interestingly, the initial and non-initial keystrokes were faster when the interstimulus interval was long, suggesting participants encode the letters of the prime which could interfere with encoding and typing the target if the interval between them is short.

EXPRESS: Exploring the role of visual similarity in parafoveal processing: Insights from the Flanking Letter Lexical Decision Task.

This study explores the impact of visually similar flanking stimuli on central target words using the Flanking Letter Lexical Decision (FLLD) task. Specifically, we investigated whether visual similarity effects can explain orthographic relatedness effects observed in previous FLLD tasks. By employing non-reversal mirror letters as visual flankers, we compared their influence on response times to traditional orthographic-related and orthographic-unrelated conditions. Results confirmed the known facilitative effect of orthographic-related flankers on response times (ROCK ROCK ROCK). However, mirror-related conditions showed no facilitative effect (ROCK ROCK ROCK), as evidenced by a Bayesian analysis indicating no significant differences between mirror-related and mirror-unrelated (STEP ROCK STEP). These findings suggest that low-level visual information in the parafovea does not contribute to the processing of the foveal word in tasks requiring specific word identification. The study concludes that only parafoveal information with relevant linguistic content is spatially pooled across target and flankers during word identification tasks. This research highlights the need to consider task-specific attentional demands and the linguistic relevance of parafoveal information in understanding visual and orthographic processing in reading.

EXPRESS: When function words carry content.

Studies on eye movements during reading have primarily focussed on the processing of content words (CWs), such as verbs and nouns. Those few studies that have analysed eye movements on function words (FWs), such as articles and prepositions, have reported that FWs are typically skipped more often and, when fixated, receive fewer and shorter fixations than CWs. However, those studies were often conducted in languages where FWs contain comparatively little information (e.g. the in English). In Brazilian Portuguese (BP), FWs can carry gender and number marking. In the present study, we analysed data from the RASTROS corpus of natural reading in BP (Vieira, 2020) and examined the effects of word length, predictability, frequency and word class on eye movements. Very limited differences between FWs and CWs were observed mostly restricted to the skipping rates of short words, such that FWs were skipped more often than CWs. For fixation times, differences were either non-existent or restricted to atypical FWs, such as low frequency FWs, warranting further research. As such, our results are more compatible with studies showing limited or no differences in processing speed between FWs and CWs when influences of word length, frequency and predictability are taken into account.

Investigating Adult Learners’ Perceptual and Phonolexical Representations of Novel Phonological Contrasts

Previous studies have shown that language learners’ auditory word recognition behavior provides evidence for independent contributions of perceptual and phonolexical representations, and learners’ patterns of auditory word recognition have been characterized as resulting from “fuzziness” or “imprecision” associated with these representations. More recently, it has been argued that representational “fuzziness” may in fact take various forms (e.g., neutralized, precise, ambiguous). The purpose of the present study is to further build on this line of work by elaborating additional logically possible scenarios by crossing larger sets of logically possible types of perceptual and phonolexical representational precision/imprecision, as an exercise in exploring the empirical and theoretical implications of our characterizations of representational fuzziness in language learners. We collect new empirical data for the purpose of demonstrating how we might evaluate auditory word recognition performance relative to this fuller set of predicted scenarios. We computed the set of hypothesized scenarios by crossing possible perceptual and lexical representations. We crossed four possible perceptual representations (NeutralizedC + NeutralizedV, NeutralizedC + PreciseV, PreciseC + NeutralizedV, or PreciseC + PreciseV) and six possible phonolexical representations (Neutralized, Ambiguous, Not X, Precise, Fuzzy Word, or Word Length), for a total of 24 scenarios, each accompanied by a set of predictions with respect to accuracy on an auditory word–picture matching test. We interpret the group and individual performance relative to these scenarios with the ultimate aim of better understanding the implications of our assumptions about the nature of perceptual and phonolexical representations relative to observed patterns of learner behavior. Our hope is that in computing this factorial typology of logically possible scenarios and demonstrating a starting point for how we might empirically evaluate its predictions, we set the stage for future research to refine the hypothesis space through empirical studies of auditory word processing in language learners.

Using Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) in the English Classroom as Supporting Technology in the Teaching and Learning Process: Opportunities and Challenges

This research describes the teachers' and students' perception of using Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) and explain the opportunities and challenges of using IWB in English classrooms. This research uses library research. IWBs are large interactive displays used as input devices for computers. They can be used in educational institutions combining traditional presentation benefits with cutting-edge technology. IWB technology consists of a digital board, computer, and projector, which can be linked to a personal computer for easy use. It offers various tools including graphics, word processing, database, and multimedia tools. Using IWB as an educational tool increase new knowledge, provide innovations to students, improve the quality of students’ learning, facilitate interaction between teaching teams and students, improve teaching efficiency, and reduce paper usage. IWB has been found to significantly improve students' English skills, vocabulary proficiency, engagement, and attitude. However, implementing IWBs in schools presents challenges including large costs, insufficient technical support, technical issues, lack of adequate e-materials, limited time for lesson preparation, negative attitudes, lack of consensus among decision-makers, inadequate proficiency, and inadequate teacher training. Teachers need to master this technology so they can use it effectively in teaching. It is proposed that teachers receive training on utilizing IWBs more efficiently in various classroom settings. Teaching using proper operation of IWBs is a major factor in the teachers' ability to implement it successfully in the classroom. The trained teachers possessed a comprehension of the most efficient methods for utilizing the IWBs.

The Acquisition of Polysemous Words in Maritime English from a Cognitive Perspective

The acquisition of English polysemous words is an important theory regarding category division in cognitive linguistics. It emphasizes that the boundaries of categories are fuzzy, the status of members within a category is unequal, with a distinction between the center and the periphery. This paper conducts an in-depth exploration of the acquisition process of English polysemous words from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, analyzes the cognitive connections and evolution mechanisms among the various senses within polysemous words. By introducing the prototype category theory and metaphor theory, this paper reveals the cognitive motives for the generation and development of polysemous words and explores the applications of these theories in English vocabulary teaching. Research shows that the acquisition of English polysemous words not only depends on the improvement of memory, but more importantly, it links known concepts with unknown concepts through cognitive means such as metaphor and metonymy, thereby expanding and enriching the meaning network of vocabulary.

Attentional differences in L2 learners’ word learning strategies between mobile-assisted and in-print reading: An eye tracking study

The present study combines three influential and interwoven areas of research (MALL, SLA, and psycholinguistics) into a cohesive research framework to explore whether and how medium and word exposure influence L2 learners’ incidental acquisition and online processing of new words using eye tracking methodology. Seventy-seven L2 learners engaged in reading a short novel containing new words of higher and lower exposure frequencies on a tablet or in print. We assessed L2 learners’ word learning accuracy using word form recognition, meaning recognition, and meaning recall tasks after reading. Eye tracking measures (including first-fixation duration, first-pass time, second-pass time, and total-reading time) were used to analyse visual attention allocated at the early and late stages of L2 learners’ lexical processing during reading. The results from ANCOVA analyses demonstrated the continued positive and significant effects of word exposure on L2 learners’ learning gains and attentive processing. Further, our findings indicated the negative effects of mobile-assisted reading on both accuracy and attention compared to in-print reading, with the latter readers achieving greater word learning gains in all three accuracy dimensions and employing an attentive reading strategy with more attentional resources allocated at the early stage and fewer ones at the late stage of lexical processing, as opposed to a skimming strategy observed in tablet users. From a pedagogical perspective, the cognitive costs associated with attentional deficits underscore issues on underlying cognitive mechanisms and highlight interventions requiring further exploration and consideration.

The time course of syllable frequency effects in the visual recognition of Korean morphologically complex nouns: an ERP study

IntroductionThe syllable frequency effect refers to that during the lexical decision task, words beginning with high-frequency syllables elicit slower responses than words beginning with low-frequency ones, indicating an inhibitory effect. However, previous studies in Korean have yielded mixed results. For morphologically simple words, an inhibitory or null effect has been observed, whereas in morphologically complex words, a facilitative effect has been reported. Unfortunately, the explanations for these mixed findings remain unclear. This study employed both behavioral and electrophysiological methods to investigate the temporal dynamics of the facilitative syllable frequency effect in Korean morphologically complex nouns. A secondary aim was to explore whether syllable frequency is modulated by stem length as a factor in morphological processing, at both the behavioral and neurophysiological levels.MethodsTwenty-eight participants (mean age = 25.14, 9 female) performed a lexical decision task, responding whether visually presented stimuli were valid Korean words, while EEG data were recorded. The experimental condition included syllable frequency (2: High vs. low) and stem length (2: Long vs. Short).ResultsThe behavioral data showed that lexical decision latencies were faster for morphologically complex nouns with higher syllable frequencies compared to those with lower frequencies. The ERP data revealed a significant syllable frequency effect on the P300 component, reflecting early visual word processing. However, no significant effect was found in the N400 component. Although stem length did not significantly influence behavioral results, it did show significant differences in N250 amplitudes. Notably, an interaction between syllable frequency and stem length had a significant effect on N400, in contrast to the behavioral findings.DiscussionsThe findings suggest that, in the processing of morphologically complex words in Korean, syllable frequency serves as partial information that facilitates lexical decisions through the fast-guess mechanism, as proposed by the MROM-S model. Furthermore, the delayed time window for syllable processing may stemmed from a different stage of the processing between morphologically complex words and morphologically simple words. Lastly, stem length, as a form of morphological processing, may interact with syllable frequency during the lexical access stage.

From Single Words to Sentence Production: Shared Cortical Representations but Distinct Temporal Dynamics.

Sentence production is the uniquely human ability to transform complex thoughts into strings of words. Despite the importance of this process, language production research has primarily focused on single words. It remains an untested assumption that insights from this literature generalize to more naturalistic utterances like sentences. Here, we investigate this using high-resolution neurosurgical recordings (ECoG) and an overt production experiment where patients produce six words in isolation (picture naming) and in sentences (scene description). We trained machine learning models to identify the unique brain activity pattern for each word during picture naming, and used these patterns to decode which words patients were processing while they produced sentences. Our findings reveal that words share cortical representations across tasks. In sensorimotor cortex, words were consistently activated in the order in which they were said in the sentence. However, in inferior and middle frontal gyri (IFG and MFG), the order in which words were processed depended on the syntactic structure of the sentence. This dynamic interplay between sentence structure and word processing reveals that sentence production is not simply a sequence of single word production tasks, and highlights a regional division of labor within the language network. Finally, we argue that the dynamics of word processing in prefrontal cortex may impose a subtle pressure on language evolution, explaining why nearly all the world's languages position subjects before objects.

Top Dyslexia-Oriented Transcription & Study Methods

Dyslexia is a prevalent learning disorder characterized by difficulties in reading, spelling, and writing, affecting academic performance and self-esteem. This review paper explores top dyslexia-oriented transcription and study methods, emphasizing the need for specialized strategies tailored to dyslexic learners' unique needs. The paper delves into the challenges faced by dyslexic students, including slow reading ability, difficulties in decoding words, and associated anxiety. It discusses various assistive technologies such as speech-to-text software, text-to-speech applications, and digital scanning pens that aid in transcription and study. Additionally, it highlights the benefits and limitations of these tools. The review also examines effective study methods, including reading assistance techniques, word processing and writing tools, and multisensory learning approaches, which enhance comprehension and retention. Practical recommendations for educators, parents, and policymakers are provided to ensure successful implementation and integration of these methods. The paper concludes with insights into future directions, emphasizing the importance of emerging technologies and ongoing research in developing more targeted interventions. By adopting these methods, dyslexic students can achieve improved academic outcomes and greater self-confidence.

Multisensory Integration in Lexical Processing: Predicting Word Recognition Through Cross-Modal Capability

The integration of multisensory in lexical processing has garnered significant interest in cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics. This study investigates the predictive power of cross-modal capability (CMC) on word recognition, focusing on how sensory integration influences cognitive processing and lexical decision-making. By collecting five-sense ratings for synesthetic adjectives, we computed the cross-modal capability for each word. We then conducted regression analyses to examine the relationship between these indices and reaction time in lexical decision tasks. Our findings reveal that words with higher cross-modal capabilities, as measured by CMC, are recognized and processed more quickly. This superior predictive power of CMC underscores the importance of sensory associations in lexical processing and highlights the need for comprehensive indices that account for multiple sensory inputs. These results provide deeper insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying word recognition and processing speed, suggesting that CMC is a better independent variable for partially predict lexical cognition and recognition. This research contributes to our understanding of multisensory integration in lexical processing and has implications for models of word recognition and cognitive linguistics.

Specificity ratings for English data.

A dataset of specificity ratings for English words is hereby presented, analyzed and discussed in relation with other collections of speaker-generated ratings, including concreteness. Both, specificity and concreteness are analyzed in their ability to explain decision latencies in lexical and semantic tasks, showing important individual contributions. Specificity ratings are collected through best-worst scaling method on the words included in the ANEW dataset (Bradley and Lang in Affective norms for English words (ANEW): instruction manual and affective ratings (Tech. Rep.). Technical report C-1, the center for research in psychophysiology, 1999), chosen for its compatibility with many other collections of rating resources, and for its comparability with Italian specificity data (Bolognesi and Caselli in Behav Res Methods 55(7):3531-3548, 2023), allowing for cross-linguistic comparisons. Results suggest that specificity plays an important role in word processing and the importance of taking specificity into consideration when investigating concreteness effects.

Reading Prosody: A Listening Guide for Teachers

AbstractProsody is an important indicator of reading development, but many teachers are unclear about how it can help students improve their reading fluency. Beyond demonstrating expressive or flowing reading, specific components of reading prosody can distinctly reveal how well word recognition and comprehension processes coalesce, providing teachers with useful information for their instruction. In this article, we review the research on reading prosody to clarify how differences in intonation, amplitude, and timing components distinguish struggling and strong readers. In addition, we discuss reading prosody considerations for classroom assessment and intervention by sharing insights drawn from educators trained to evaluate it systematically. We aim to clarify how teachers can use these reading prosody components to enhance classroom reading fluency practices.

Teachings of the interpretations of Malintzin in today's context

In Tres veces tres. In Malintzin's code: Nine approaches to her figure, Yasnaya revisits one of the characters with whom possibly a large part of Mexicans encounter during their early years of history class in primary school. That female character, proficient in the Spanish language, "facilitated" the interaction between the Spaniards and the inhabitants of Tenochtitlán during the conquest, from which the term "malinchista" or "malinchism" derives, denoting disdain towards things pertaining to Mexico. While the semantic process of words is the result of multiple factors within language and society, Yasnaya proposes a reclamation of the figure and name of the character from which these adjectives arise, Malintzin.

The aging of emotional words processing in implicit and explicit emotion task: an ERP study.

This study examined how cognitive aging affects emotional word processing using event-related potential technique. Young and older adults completed both implicit lexical decision and explicit emotion categorization tasks involving positive, negative, and neutral words. Behaviorally, older adults displayed a negative emotion effect in the implicit task, which was absent in young adults. While both age groups exhibited both positive and negative emotion effects in the explicit task, older adults demonstrated a greater positivity bias compared to young adults. Event-related potential technique data revealed that young adults exhibited an early negative emotion effect on the P2 and a late emotion effect on the late positivity potentials in the implicit task. In contrast, older adults exhibited an early negativity bias effect on the P2, as well as both negative and positive emotion effects on the N400, and positive emotion effects on the late positivity potentials. In the explicit task, young adults showed both early and late negative emotion effects on the P2 and late positivity potentials, while older adults showed both negative and positive emotion effects on the late positivity potentials. The results suggest distinct processing mechanisms for emotion words in young and older adults, involving both bottom-up and top-down mechanisms, which support the socioemotional selectivity theory.

Expectation to rewards modulates learning emotional words: Evidence from a hierarchical Bayesian model.

In language acquisition, individuals learn the emotional value of words through external feedback. Previous studies have used emotional words as experimental materials to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying emotional language processing, but have failed to recognize that languages are acquired in changing environments. To this end, this study aims to combine reinforcement learning with emotional word learning, using a probabilistic reversal learning task to explore how individuals acquire the valence of emotional words in a dynamically changing environment. Computational modeling on both behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data revealed that individuals' expectations to rewards modulated the learning speed and temporal processing of emotional words, demonstrating a clear negative bias. Specifically, as the expected value increased, individuals responded faster and exhibited higher amplitudes for negative emotional words. These findings shed light on the neural mechanisms of emotional word learning in a volatile environment, highlighting the crucial role of expectations in this process and a preference for learning negative information.

Neural changes in sign language vocabulary learning: Tracking lexical integration with ERP measures

The present study aimed to investigate the neural changes related to the early stages of sign language vocabulary learning. Hearing non-signers were exposed to Catalan Sign Language (LSC) signs in three laboratory learning sessions over the course of a week. Participants completed two priming tasks designed to examine learning-related neural changes by means of N400 responses. In a semantic decision task, participants evaluated whether written Catalan word pairs were semantically related or not. The experimental manipulation included prime-target phonological overlap (or not) of the corresponding LSC sign translations. In a LSC primed lexical decision task, participants saw pairs of signs and had to determine if the targets were real LSC signs or not. The experimental design included pairs of signs that were semantically related or unrelated. The results of the LSC lexical decision task showed N400 lexicality and semantic priming effects in the third session. Also in the third session, N400 effects related to the activation of LSC phonology were observed during word processing in the semantic decision task. Overall, our findings suggest rapid neural changes occurring during the initial stages of intensive sign language vocabulary training. The results are discussed in relation to the temporality of lexicality and semantic effects, as well as their potential relation to linguistic features of sign languages.