The present paper studies how, in deictic expressions, the temporal interdependency of speech and... more The present paper studies how, in deictic expressions, the temporal interdependency of speech and gesture is realized in the course of motor planning and execution. Two theoretical positions were compared. On the "interactive" view the temporal parameters of speech and gesture are claimed to be the result of feedback between the two systems throughout the phases of motor planning and execution. The alternative "ballistic" view, however, predicts that the two systems are independent during the phase of motor execution, the temporal parameters having been preestablished in the planning phase. In four experiments subjects were requested to indicate which of an array of referent lights was momentarily illuminated. This was done by pointing to the light and/or by using a deictic expression (this/that light). The temporal and spatial course of the pointing movement was automatically registered by means of a Selspot opto-electronic system. By analyzing the moments of gesture initiation and apex, and relating them to the moments of speech onset, it was possible to show that, for deictic expressions, the ballistic view is very nearly correct .
Basic-level picture naming is hampered by the presence of a semantically related context word (co... more Basic-level picture naming is hampered by the presence of a semantically related context word (compared to an unrelated word), whereas picture categorization is facilitated by a semantically related context word. This reversal of the semantic context effect has been explained by assuming that in categorization tasks, basic-level distractor words (e.g., ''dog'') do not compete with the selection of the correct category label (e.g., ''animal''). In this article, we test an alternative account in terms of a congruency effect (''message-congruency''), which arises at the conceptual level when target (e.g., the picture of a cat) and context (e.g., the word ''dog'') converge on the same to-be-verbalized concept (e.g., ''animal''). In four experiments we observed a substantial message-congruency effect in categorization and action naming. Implications for models of spoken-word production are discussed.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 1996
... Previous research has shown that, at least for SOA 0 ms and SOA 100 ms, semantic and orthogra... more ... Previous research has shown that, at least for SOA 0 ms and SOA 100 ms, semantic and orthographic context effects interact: The semantic interference effect is reduced when there is also an orthographic relation between the accompany-ing words and the name of the picture ...
Abstract: IN TWO EXPERIMENTS, SUBJECTS WERE SHOWN SIMULATED REAR-END CONFIGURATIONS OF CARS ON A ... more Abstract: IN TWO EXPERIMENTS, SUBJECTS WERE SHOWN SIMULATED REAR-END CONFIGURATIONS OF CARS ON A VECTOR DISPLAY. THEY WERE ASKED TO REACT TO BRAKE LIGHTS BY PUSHING A BUTTON. IN EXPERIMENT 1, THE EFFECT OF THE ...
British Journal of Development Psychology, Jan 16, 2017
Pictures are named more slowly in the context of semantically related pictures than in the contex... more Pictures are named more slowly in the context of semantically related pictures than in the context of unrelated pictures. This semantic blocking effect has been studied extensively in adult participants, and one study has revealed its presence in 6-year-old children. However, little is known about the development of the effect with age. In this study, a blocked cyclic naming procedure was arranged for 5-to 7-year-old and 10-to 12-year-old children. The semantic blocking effect obtained did not differ in size between the two age groups. This finding is tentatively interpreted as evidence that the semantic blocking effect does not have the same underlying cause as interference effects typically observed in naming tasks involving a distractor stimulus, like the Stroop task.
and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study pu... more and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Feb 1, 1985
A semantic relation between relevant and irrelevant stimulus components facilitates performance i... more A semantic relation between relevant and irrelevant stimulus components facilitates performance in priming tasks but seems to inhibit performance in Stroop-like tasks. The causes of this discrepancy were investigated. In a series of wordnaming tasks, the effect of number of semantic domains (varied concomitantly with number of response alternatives) was examined by presenting to undergraduates an identical set of stimuli either blocked or mixed. Experiment 1 shows that blocked presentation yields Stroop-like interference, whereas mixed presentation yields semantic facilitation. Experiments 2 and 3 show that the word-word variant of the Stroop task and the word-naming variant of the semantic priming task belong to one family of tasks. Both tasks show (a) a facilitation effect when the prime is related to the target and (b) an interference effect when the prime is a member of the response set. In the Stroop task response competition outweighs facilitation; in the priming task semantic facilitation outweighs response competition.
Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung, Jun 1, 1995
In the picture-word interference task the naming of a picture is hampered by the presence of a di... more In the picture-word interference task the naming of a picture is hampered by the presence of a distractor word that is to be ignored. Two main components of this interference effect can be distinguished: an interference effect induced by an unrelated distractor word in comparison with a nonword control, and an additional interference effect that is due to a semantic similarity between target and distractor (called semantic interference). We examine whether the size of these two interference effects is affected by the number of different target pictures in an experiment. The results show that both interference effects increase with the size of the target set. This finding has two implications. First, at an empirical level, the use of a relatively small number of target pictures may account for remarkably small, or even nonsignificant, picture-word interference effects in a number of previous studies. Second, at a theoretical level, the present finding is in accordance with a name-retrieval account of picture-word interference.
Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung, Nov 1, 1983
In research on visual search within a single eye fixation, a number of different tasks are used a... more In research on visual search within a single eye fixation, a number of different tasks are used and referred to interchangeably. In a previous study, we showed that there are differences between "go-no go" tasks and "yes-no" tasks, and we introduced a tentative model in order to explain these differences. In the present study a "go-no go" task and a "detection" task are compared under conditions which are as equal as possible. Traditional views of the visual search process predict no essential differences between the two tasks. The tentative model predicts a steeper slope of the array-size function in the "detection" task than in the "go-no go" task and predicts that this difference in slopes is stable with practice. The results obtained appeared in accordance with the predictions of the tentative model. This result supports the point of view that response-related factors strongly contribute to the slope of the array-size function. The data are not in accord with predictions following from Estes' (1972) interactive channels model.
Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung, Feb 1, 1995
Color-color interference refers to the finding that the naming of a target color is hampered by t... more Color-color interference refers to the finding that the naming of a target color is hampered by the simultaneous presentation of an incongruent distractor color somewhere else in the visual field. This interference effect has been attributed to an imperfect input selection (selection-for-processing). We test an alternative account in which it is assumed that (a) target and distractor are identified in parallel without mutual interference, (b)the identified target color has to be selected to control the naming response (selectionfor-action), and (c)this selection process takes more time and is less accurate in the incongruent condition than in the control conditions. Experiment 1 shows that color-color interference is obtained when a target color, presented at the point of fixation, is flanked by incongruent colors. In Experiments 2 and 3, the central target position is indicated by an additional exogenous selection cue. The results show that an abrupt-onset cue, presented at the central target position 160 ms after the onset of the target and distractors, reduces the interference effect. This finding is interpreted as supporting evidence for a selection-for-action account of color-color interference.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2001
In comparison with the situation in which target and distractor are presented until response, Str... more In comparison with the situation in which target and distractor are presented until response, Stroop interference substantially decreases when the target color is removed from the display 150-160 ms after stimulus onset (W. La Heij, N. A. Kaptein, A. C. Kalff, & L. de Lange, 1995; O. Neumann, 1986). Six experiments showed that this paradoxical exposure-duration effect is robust, that it is not due to the target's exposure duration per se, and that it is not due to an increased spatial selectivity of input selection. The present findings support and extend earlier observations that changes in the display during stimulus exposure affect attentional selection. The findings are tentatively interpreted in terms of (a) reduced duration of input selection or (b) facilitation of attribute selection.
Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung, Dec 1, 1982
In research on visual search within a single eye-fixation a number of different tasks are used an... more In research on visual search within a single eye-fixation a number of different tasks are used and referred to interchangeably. Research with other types of tasks suggests that there are possibly important differences between these tasks. In the present study, two types of search tasks were compared under conditions as equal as possible: the 'go-no go' task and the 'yes-no' task. Conditions of low and high target-noise similarity were used. The results obtained showed: a) a steeper slope of the array size function in 'yes-no' tasks than in 'go-no go' tasks on the first day of practice but not on the second: b) a higher intercept value of the same function for 'yes-no' tasks than for 'go-no go' tasks; and c) a greater proportion of errors with 'yes-no' tasks than with comparable 'go-no go' tasks. A tentative model, describing the main features of the results obtained, is briefly sketched.
Abstract In the color—color variant of the Stroop task, the naming of a target color is hampered ... more Abstract In the color—color variant of the Stroop task, the naming of a target color is hampered by an incongruent distractor color when the position of the target varies from trial to trial (locational uncertainty), whereas no, or little interference is obtained when the target is presented at a fixed position in the display (locational certainty). The latter finding has been explained in terms of a narrow input selection window that prevents any processing of the distractor color. This account was tested in an experiment in which — under conditions of locational certainty — a target color was accompanied by either an incongruent color or an incongruent color word. The results show that color naming was not hampered by the incongruent color, whereas substantial interference effects were induced by the incongruent word. This finding indicates that (a) also the distractor color must have been processed, and (b) this processing is not a sufficient condition for interference to obtain. An alternative account of color—color interference is presented in which it is assumed that, under conditions of locational uncertainty, the distractor color is — erroneously — selected for naming.
The picture-word interference (PWI) paradigm and the Stroop color-word interference task are ofte... more The picture-word interference (PWI) paradigm and the Stroop color-word interference task are often assumed to reflect the same underlying processes. On the basis of a PRP study, Dell'Acqua et al. (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14: 717-722, 2007) argued that this assumption is incorrect. In this article, we first discuss the definitions of Stroop-and pictureword interference. Next, we argue that both effects consist of at least four components that correspond to four characteristics of the distractor word: (1) response-set membership, (2) task relevance, (3) semantic relatedness, and (4) lexicality. On the basis of this theoretical analysis, we conclude that the typical Stroop effect and the typical PWI effect mainly differ in the relative contributions of these four components. Finally, the results of an interference task are reported in which only the nature of the targetcolor or picturewas manipulated and all other distractor task characteristics were kept constant. The results showed no difference between color and picture targets with respect to all behavioral measures examined. We conclude that the assumption that the same processes underlie verbal interference in color and picture naming is warranted.
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Jun 22, 2006
In this article we discuss different views about how information flows through the lexical system... more In this article we discuss different views about how information flows through the lexical system in bilingual speech production. In the first part, we focus on some of the experimental evidence often quoted in favor of the parallel activation of the bilinguals' two languages from the semantic system in the course of language production. We argue that such evidence does not require us to embrace the existence of parallel activation of the two languages of a bilingual. In the second part of the article, we discuss the possibility that the language-not-in-use (or the non-response language) is activated via feedback from the sublexical representations and we devise some experimental procedures to assess the validity of such an assumption.
We first show that in a word-translation task, context words induce semantic interference whereas... more We first show that in a word-translation task, context words induce semantic interference whereas context pictures induce semantic facilitation. Experiments 2 and 3 show that this finding is not due to differences between context words and context pictures in terms of (a) relative speed of lexical activation or (b) the category level of the activated concepts. To account for our findings, we propose that conceptually-driven lexical access is confined to the selected target concept (or ''preverbal message''). A version of Starreveld and La HeijÕs (1996) connectionist model in which this proposal was implemented successfully simulated the polarity and the time course of the semantic context effects observed. In Experiment 4 the prediction that context pictures do not induce lexical context effects was tested and confirmed.
The present paper studies how, in deictic expressions, the temporal interdependency of speech and... more The present paper studies how, in deictic expressions, the temporal interdependency of speech and gesture is realized in the course of motor planning and execution. Two theoretical positions were compared. On the "interactive" view the temporal parameters of speech and gesture are claimed to be the result of feedback between the two systems throughout the phases of motor planning and execution. The alternative "ballistic" view, however, predicts that the two systems are independent during the phase of motor execution, the temporal parameters having been preestablished in the planning phase. In four experiments subjects were requested to indicate which of an array of referent lights was momentarily illuminated. This was done by pointing to the light and/or by using a deictic expression (this/that light). The temporal and spatial course of the pointing movement was automatically registered by means of a Selspot opto-electronic system. By analyzing the moments of gesture initiation and apex, and relating them to the moments of speech onset, it was possible to show that, for deictic expressions, the ballistic view is very nearly correct .
Basic-level picture naming is hampered by the presence of a semantically related context word (co... more Basic-level picture naming is hampered by the presence of a semantically related context word (compared to an unrelated word), whereas picture categorization is facilitated by a semantically related context word. This reversal of the semantic context effect has been explained by assuming that in categorization tasks, basic-level distractor words (e.g., ''dog'') do not compete with the selection of the correct category label (e.g., ''animal''). In this article, we test an alternative account in terms of a congruency effect (''message-congruency''), which arises at the conceptual level when target (e.g., the picture of a cat) and context (e.g., the word ''dog'') converge on the same to-be-verbalized concept (e.g., ''animal''). In four experiments we observed a substantial message-congruency effect in categorization and action naming. Implications for models of spoken-word production are discussed.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 1996
... Previous research has shown that, at least for SOA 0 ms and SOA 100 ms, semantic and orthogra... more ... Previous research has shown that, at least for SOA 0 ms and SOA 100 ms, semantic and orthographic context effects interact: The semantic interference effect is reduced when there is also an orthographic relation between the accompany-ing words and the name of the picture ...
Abstract: IN TWO EXPERIMENTS, SUBJECTS WERE SHOWN SIMULATED REAR-END CONFIGURATIONS OF CARS ON A ... more Abstract: IN TWO EXPERIMENTS, SUBJECTS WERE SHOWN SIMULATED REAR-END CONFIGURATIONS OF CARS ON A VECTOR DISPLAY. THEY WERE ASKED TO REACT TO BRAKE LIGHTS BY PUSHING A BUTTON. IN EXPERIMENT 1, THE EFFECT OF THE ...
British Journal of Development Psychology, Jan 16, 2017
Pictures are named more slowly in the context of semantically related pictures than in the contex... more Pictures are named more slowly in the context of semantically related pictures than in the context of unrelated pictures. This semantic blocking effect has been studied extensively in adult participants, and one study has revealed its presence in 6-year-old children. However, little is known about the development of the effect with age. In this study, a blocked cyclic naming procedure was arranged for 5-to 7-year-old and 10-to 12-year-old children. The semantic blocking effect obtained did not differ in size between the two age groups. This finding is tentatively interpreted as evidence that the semantic blocking effect does not have the same underlying cause as interference effects typically observed in naming tasks involving a distractor stimulus, like the Stroop task.
and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study pu... more and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Feb 1, 1985
A semantic relation between relevant and irrelevant stimulus components facilitates performance i... more A semantic relation between relevant and irrelevant stimulus components facilitates performance in priming tasks but seems to inhibit performance in Stroop-like tasks. The causes of this discrepancy were investigated. In a series of wordnaming tasks, the effect of number of semantic domains (varied concomitantly with number of response alternatives) was examined by presenting to undergraduates an identical set of stimuli either blocked or mixed. Experiment 1 shows that blocked presentation yields Stroop-like interference, whereas mixed presentation yields semantic facilitation. Experiments 2 and 3 show that the word-word variant of the Stroop task and the word-naming variant of the semantic priming task belong to one family of tasks. Both tasks show (a) a facilitation effect when the prime is related to the target and (b) an interference effect when the prime is a member of the response set. In the Stroop task response competition outweighs facilitation; in the priming task semantic facilitation outweighs response competition.
Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung, Jun 1, 1995
In the picture-word interference task the naming of a picture is hampered by the presence of a di... more In the picture-word interference task the naming of a picture is hampered by the presence of a distractor word that is to be ignored. Two main components of this interference effect can be distinguished: an interference effect induced by an unrelated distractor word in comparison with a nonword control, and an additional interference effect that is due to a semantic similarity between target and distractor (called semantic interference). We examine whether the size of these two interference effects is affected by the number of different target pictures in an experiment. The results show that both interference effects increase with the size of the target set. This finding has two implications. First, at an empirical level, the use of a relatively small number of target pictures may account for remarkably small, or even nonsignificant, picture-word interference effects in a number of previous studies. Second, at a theoretical level, the present finding is in accordance with a name-retrieval account of picture-word interference.
Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung, Nov 1, 1983
In research on visual search within a single eye fixation, a number of different tasks are used a... more In research on visual search within a single eye fixation, a number of different tasks are used and referred to interchangeably. In a previous study, we showed that there are differences between "go-no go" tasks and "yes-no" tasks, and we introduced a tentative model in order to explain these differences. In the present study a "go-no go" task and a "detection" task are compared under conditions which are as equal as possible. Traditional views of the visual search process predict no essential differences between the two tasks. The tentative model predicts a steeper slope of the array-size function in the "detection" task than in the "go-no go" task and predicts that this difference in slopes is stable with practice. The results obtained appeared in accordance with the predictions of the tentative model. This result supports the point of view that response-related factors strongly contribute to the slope of the array-size function. The data are not in accord with predictions following from Estes' (1972) interactive channels model.
Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung, Feb 1, 1995
Color-color interference refers to the finding that the naming of a target color is hampered by t... more Color-color interference refers to the finding that the naming of a target color is hampered by the simultaneous presentation of an incongruent distractor color somewhere else in the visual field. This interference effect has been attributed to an imperfect input selection (selection-for-processing). We test an alternative account in which it is assumed that (a) target and distractor are identified in parallel without mutual interference, (b)the identified target color has to be selected to control the naming response (selectionfor-action), and (c)this selection process takes more time and is less accurate in the incongruent condition than in the control conditions. Experiment 1 shows that color-color interference is obtained when a target color, presented at the point of fixation, is flanked by incongruent colors. In Experiments 2 and 3, the central target position is indicated by an additional exogenous selection cue. The results show that an abrupt-onset cue, presented at the central target position 160 ms after the onset of the target and distractors, reduces the interference effect. This finding is interpreted as supporting evidence for a selection-for-action account of color-color interference.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2001
In comparison with the situation in which target and distractor are presented until response, Str... more In comparison with the situation in which target and distractor are presented until response, Stroop interference substantially decreases when the target color is removed from the display 150-160 ms after stimulus onset (W. La Heij, N. A. Kaptein, A. C. Kalff, & L. de Lange, 1995; O. Neumann, 1986). Six experiments showed that this paradoxical exposure-duration effect is robust, that it is not due to the target's exposure duration per se, and that it is not due to an increased spatial selectivity of input selection. The present findings support and extend earlier observations that changes in the display during stimulus exposure affect attentional selection. The findings are tentatively interpreted in terms of (a) reduced duration of input selection or (b) facilitation of attribute selection.
Psychological Research-psychologische Forschung, Dec 1, 1982
In research on visual search within a single eye-fixation a number of different tasks are used an... more In research on visual search within a single eye-fixation a number of different tasks are used and referred to interchangeably. Research with other types of tasks suggests that there are possibly important differences between these tasks. In the present study, two types of search tasks were compared under conditions as equal as possible: the 'go-no go' task and the 'yes-no' task. Conditions of low and high target-noise similarity were used. The results obtained showed: a) a steeper slope of the array size function in 'yes-no' tasks than in 'go-no go' tasks on the first day of practice but not on the second: b) a higher intercept value of the same function for 'yes-no' tasks than for 'go-no go' tasks; and c) a greater proportion of errors with 'yes-no' tasks than with comparable 'go-no go' tasks. A tentative model, describing the main features of the results obtained, is briefly sketched.
Abstract In the color—color variant of the Stroop task, the naming of a target color is hampered ... more Abstract In the color—color variant of the Stroop task, the naming of a target color is hampered by an incongruent distractor color when the position of the target varies from trial to trial (locational uncertainty), whereas no, or little interference is obtained when the target is presented at a fixed position in the display (locational certainty). The latter finding has been explained in terms of a narrow input selection window that prevents any processing of the distractor color. This account was tested in an experiment in which — under conditions of locational certainty — a target color was accompanied by either an incongruent color or an incongruent color word. The results show that color naming was not hampered by the incongruent color, whereas substantial interference effects were induced by the incongruent word. This finding indicates that (a) also the distractor color must have been processed, and (b) this processing is not a sufficient condition for interference to obtain. An alternative account of color—color interference is presented in which it is assumed that, under conditions of locational uncertainty, the distractor color is — erroneously — selected for naming.
The picture-word interference (PWI) paradigm and the Stroop color-word interference task are ofte... more The picture-word interference (PWI) paradigm and the Stroop color-word interference task are often assumed to reflect the same underlying processes. On the basis of a PRP study, Dell'Acqua et al. (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14: 717-722, 2007) argued that this assumption is incorrect. In this article, we first discuss the definitions of Stroop-and pictureword interference. Next, we argue that both effects consist of at least four components that correspond to four characteristics of the distractor word: (1) response-set membership, (2) task relevance, (3) semantic relatedness, and (4) lexicality. On the basis of this theoretical analysis, we conclude that the typical Stroop effect and the typical PWI effect mainly differ in the relative contributions of these four components. Finally, the results of an interference task are reported in which only the nature of the targetcolor or picturewas manipulated and all other distractor task characteristics were kept constant. The results showed no difference between color and picture targets with respect to all behavioral measures examined. We conclude that the assumption that the same processes underlie verbal interference in color and picture naming is warranted.
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Jun 22, 2006
In this article we discuss different views about how information flows through the lexical system... more In this article we discuss different views about how information flows through the lexical system in bilingual speech production. In the first part, we focus on some of the experimental evidence often quoted in favor of the parallel activation of the bilinguals' two languages from the semantic system in the course of language production. We argue that such evidence does not require us to embrace the existence of parallel activation of the two languages of a bilingual. In the second part of the article, we discuss the possibility that the language-not-in-use (or the non-response language) is activated via feedback from the sublexical representations and we devise some experimental procedures to assess the validity of such an assumption.
We first show that in a word-translation task, context words induce semantic interference whereas... more We first show that in a word-translation task, context words induce semantic interference whereas context pictures induce semantic facilitation. Experiments 2 and 3 show that this finding is not due to differences between context words and context pictures in terms of (a) relative speed of lexical activation or (b) the category level of the activated concepts. To account for our findings, we propose that conceptually-driven lexical access is confined to the selected target concept (or ''preverbal message''). A version of Starreveld and La HeijÕs (1996) connectionist model in which this proposal was implemented successfully simulated the polarity and the time course of the semantic context effects observed. In Experiment 4 the prediction that context pictures do not induce lexical context effects was tested and confirmed.
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