Object Perception, Attention, and Memory (OPAM) 2006 Conference Report

Adults and children predict in complex and variable referential contexts

Prior research suggests that prediction supports language processing and learning. However, the ecological validity of such findings is unclear because experiments usually include constrained stimuli. While theoretically suggestive, previous conclusions will be largely irrelevant if listeners cannot generate predictions in response to complex and variable perceptual input. Taking a step toward addressing this limitation, three eye-tracking experiments evaluated how adults (N = 72) and 4- and 5-year-old children (N = 72) generated predictions in contexts with complex visual stimuli (Experiment 1), variable speech stimuli (Experiment 2), and both concurrently (Experiment 3). Results indicated that listeners generated predictions in contexts with complex visual stimuli or variable speech stimuli. When both were more naturalistic, listeners used informative verbs to generate predictions, but not adjectives or number markings. This investigation provides a test for theories claiming that prediction is a central learning mechanism, and calls for further evaluations of prediction in naturalistic settings.

Choosing attentional control settings in a dynamically changing environment

Goal-directed attentional control supports efficient visual search by prioritizing relevant stimuli in the environment. Previous research has shown that goal-directed control can be configured in many ways, and often multiple control settings can be used to achieve the same goal. However, little is known about how control settings are selected. We explored the extent to which the configuration of goal-directed control is driven by performance maximization (optimally configuring settings to maximize speed and accuracy) and effort minimization (selecting the least effortful settings). We used a new paradigm, adaptive choice visual search, which allows participants to choose one of two available targets (a red or a blue square) on each trial. Distractor colors vary predictively across trials, such that the optimal target switches back and forth throughout the experiment. Results (N = 43) show that participants chose the optimal target most often, updating to the new target when the environment changed, supporting performance maximization. However, individuals were sluggish to update to the optimal color, consistent with effort minimization. Additionally, we found a surprisingly high rate of nonoptimal choices and switching between targets, which could not be explained by either factor. Analysis of participants' self-reported search strategy revealed substantial individual differences in the control strategies used. In sum, the adaptive choice visual search enables a fresh approach to studying goal-directed control. The results contribute new evidence that control is partly determined by both performance maximization and effort minimization, as well as at least one additional factor, which we speculate to include novelty seeking.

Bilinguals implicitly name objects in both their languages: an ERP study

Upon being presented with a familiar name-known image, monolingual infants and adults implicitly generate the image's label (Meyer et al., 2007; Mani and Plunkett, 2010, 2011; Mani et al., 2012a). Although the cross-linguistic influences on overt bilingual production are well studied (for a summary see Colomé and Miozzo, 2010), evidence that bilinguals implicitly generate the label for familiar objects in both languages remains mixed. For example, bilinguals implicitly generate picture labels in both of their languages, but only when tested in L2 and not L1 (Wu and Thierry, 2011) or when immersed in their L2 (Spivey and Marian, 1999; Marian and Spivey, 2003a,b) but not when immersed in their L1 (Weber and Cutler, 2004). The current study tests whether bilinguals implicitly generate picture labels in both of their languages when tested in their L1 with a cross-modal ERP priming paradigm. The results extend previous findings by showing that not just do bilinguals implicitly generate the labels for visually fixated images in both of their languages when immersed in their L1, but also that these implicitly generated labels in one language can prime recognition of subsequently presented auditory targets across languages (i.e., L2–L1). The current study provides support for cascaded models of lexical access during speech production, as well as a new priming paradigm for the study of bilingual language processing.