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Semantic cognition in healthy ageing: Neural signatures of representation and control mechanisms in naming typical and atypical objects. Neuropsychologia 2023; 184:108545. [PMID: 36934809 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Revised: 11/19/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/19/2023]
Abstract
Effective use of conceptual knowledge engages semantic representation and control processes to access information in a goal-driven manner. Neuropsychological findings of patients presenting either degraded knowledge (e.g., semantic dementia) or disrupted control (e.g., semantic aphasia) converge with neuroimaging evidence from young adults, and delineate the neural segregation of representation and control mechanisms. However, there is still scarce research on the neurofunctional underpinnings of such mechanisms in healthy ageing. To address this, we conducted an fMRI study, wherein young and older adults performed a covert naming task of typical and atypical objects. Three main age-related differences were found. As shown by age group and typicality interactions, older adults exhibited overactivation during naming of atypical (e.g., avocado) relative to typical concepts in brain regions associated to semantic representation, including anterior and medial portions of left temporal lobe (respectively, ATL and MTG). This provides evidence for the reorganization of neural activity in these brain regions contingent to the enrichment of semantic repositories in older ages. The medial orbitofrontal gyrus was also overactivated, indicating that the processing of atypical concepts (relative to typical items) taxes additional control resources in the elderly. Increased activation in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was observed in naming typical items (relative to atypical ones), but only for young adults. This suggests that naming typical items (e.g., strawberry) taxes more on control processes in younger ages, presumably due to the semantic competition set by other items that share multiple features with the target (e.g., raspberry, blackberry, cherry). Together, these results reveal the dynamic nature of semantic control interplaying with conceptual representations as people grow older, by indicating that distinct neural bases uphold semantic performance from young to older ages. These findings may be explained by neural compensation mechanisms coming into play to support neurocognitive changes in healthy ageing.
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Haro J, Calvillo R, Poch C, Hinojosa JA, Ferré P. Your words went straight to my heart: the role of emotional prototypicality in the recognition of emotion-label words. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2022; 87:1075-1084. [PMID: 36056965 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01723-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2022] [Accepted: 07/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Emotional words differ in how they acquire their emotional charge. There is a relevant distinction between emotion-label words (those that directly name an emotion, e.g., "joy" or "sadness") and emotion-laden words (those that do not name an emotion, but can provoke it, e.g., "party" or "death"). In this work, we focused on emotion-label words. These words vary in their emotional prototypicality, which indicates the extent to which the word refers to an emotion. We conducted two lexical decision experiments to examine the role played by emotional prototypicality in the recognition of emotion-label words. The results showed that emotional prototypicality has a facilitative effect in word recognition. Emotional prototypicality would ease conceptual access, thus facilitating the retrieval of emotional content during word recognition. In addition to the theoretical implications, the evidence gathered in this study also highlights the need to consider emotional prototypicality in the selection of emotion-label words in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Haro
- Departament de Psicologia and CRAMC, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Carretera de Valls, s.n., 43007, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Rocío Calvillo
- Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Claudia Poch
- Departamento de Educación, Universidad de Nebrija, Madrid, Spain
| | - José Antonio Hinojosa
- Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Pluridisciplinar, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Nebrija en Cognición (CINC), Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pilar Ferré
- Departament de Psicologia and CRAMC, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Carretera de Valls, s.n., 43007, Tarragona, Spain.
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Alves M, Figueiredo P, Roberto MS, Raposo A. Using concept typicality to explore semantic representation and control in healthy ageing. Cogn Process 2021; 22:539-552. [PMID: 33928471 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-021-01024-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Successful use of conceptual knowledge entails the assembling of semantic representations and control processes to access the subsets of knowledge relevant in each situation. Research has suggested that representation and control mechanisms interact to support categorization. Notably, depleted representations in semantic dementia and disrupted control processes in semantic aphasia impair categorization of atypical concepts. Yet, it remains unclear how knowledge accumulation and control decay in healthy ageing impact categorization. To address this question, we compared young and older adults' performance in a categorization task of items varying in concept typicality. Critically, older adults were more accurate in categorizing atypical concepts than the younger counterparts, as indicated by the interaction between group and typicality. Moreover, the elderly outperformed the younger in categorizing atypical concepts that were also less familiar. Thus, the decay in semantic control observed along ageing did not significantly hinder the categorization of atypical items. Our data suggest that, relative to young adults, older adults possess enriched conceptual knowledge, which supports retrieval of the category-related features needed for categorizing atypical and less familiar exemplars.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mara Alves
- Faculdade de Psicologia, Research Center for Psychological Science, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1649-013, Lisboa, Portugal.
| | - Patrícia Figueiredo
- ISR-Lisboa/LARSyS and Department of Bioengineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Magda Sofia Roberto
- Faculdade de Psicologia, Research Center for Psychological Science, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1649-013, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Ana Raposo
- Faculdade de Psicologia, Research Center for Psychological Science, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1649-013, Lisboa, Portugal
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Cohen ML, Boulton AJ, Lanzi AM, Sutherland E, Hunting Pompon R. Psycholinguistic features, design attributes, and respondent-reported cognition predict response time to patient-reported outcome measure items. Qual Life Res 2021; 30:1693-1704. [PMID: 33555446 PMCID: PMC8178143 DOI: 10.1007/s11136-021-02778-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Purpose Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) vary in their psycholinguistic complexity. This study examined whether response time to PROM items is related to psycholinguistic attributes of the item and/or the self-reported cognitive ability of the respondent. Methods Baseline data from Wave 2 of the Quality of Life in Neurological Disorders (Neuro-QoL) development study were reanalyzed. That sample contained 581 adults with neurological disorders and whose self-reported cognitive abilities were quantified by the Neuro-QoL v2.0 Cognitive Function Item Bank. 185 Neuro-QoL items were coded for several psycholinguistic variables and design attributes: number of words and syllables, mean imageability of words, mean word frequency, mean age of word acquisition, and response format (e.g., about symptom frequency or task difficulty). Data were analyzed with linear and generalized linear mixed models. Results Main effects models revealed that slower response times were associated with respondents with lower self-reported cognitive abilities and with PROM items that contained more syllables, less imageable (e.g., more abstract) words, and that asked about task difficulty rather than symptom frequency. Interaction effects were found between self-reported cognition and those same PROM attributes such that people with worse self-reported cognitive abilities were disproportionately slow when responding to items that were longer (more syllables), contained less imageable words, and asked about task difficulty. Conclusion Completing a PROM requires multiple cognitive skills (e.g., memory, executive functioning) and appraisal processes. Response time is a means of operationalizing the amount or difficulty of cognitive processing, and this report indicates several aspects of PROM design that relate to a measure’s cognitive burden. However, future research with better experimental control is needed. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11136-021-02778-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew L Cohen
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware, 100 Discovery Blvd 6th Floor, Newark, DE, 19713, USA. .,Center for Health Assessment Research and Translation, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19713, USA.
| | - Aaron J Boulton
- Center for Health Assessment Research and Translation, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19713, USA
| | - Alyssa M Lanzi
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware, 100 Discovery Blvd 6th Floor, Newark, DE, 19713, USA
| | - Elyse Sutherland
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware, 100 Discovery Blvd 6th Floor, Newark, DE, 19713, USA
| | - Rebecca Hunting Pompon
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware, 100 Discovery Blvd 6th Floor, Newark, DE, 19713, USA
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Catling JC, Elsherif MM. The hunt for the age of acquisition effect: It's in the links! Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 209:103138. [PMID: 32805435 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103138] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2020] [Revised: 07/07/2020] [Accepted: 07/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The Age of Acquisition (AoA) effect is such that words acquired early in life are processed more quickly than later-acquired words. One explanation for the AoA effects is the arbitrary mapping hypothesis (Ellis & Lambon-Ralph, 2000), stating that the AoA effects are more likely to occur in items that have an arbitrary, rather than a systematic, nature between input and output. Previous behavioural findings have shown that the AoA effects are larger in pictorial than word items. However, no behavioural studies have attempted to directly assess the AoA effects in relation to the connections between representations. In the first two experiments, 48 participants completed a word-picture verification task (Experiments 1A and 2A), together with a spoken (Experiment 1B) or written (Experiment 2B) picture naming task. In the third and fourth experiments, 48 participants complete a picture-word verification task (Experiments 3A and 4A), together with a spoken (Experiment 3B) or written (Experiment 4B) word naming task. For each pair of experiments the subtraction of the naming latencies from the verification tasks for each item per participant was calculated (Experiments 1-4C; e.g. Santiago, Mackay, Palma & Rho, 2000). Results showed that early-acquired items were responded to more quickly than late-acquired ones for all experiments, except for Experiment 3B (spoken word naming) where the AoA effect was shown for only low-frequency words. In addition, the subtraction results for pictorial stimuli demonstrated strong AoA effects. This strengthens the case for the AM hypothesis, also suggesting the AoA effect resides in the connections between representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- J C Catling
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, UK
| | - M M Elsherif
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, UK.
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Two words as one: A multi-naming investigation of the age-of-acquisition effect in compound-word processing. Mem Cognit 2019; 48:511-525. [PMID: 31755026 PMCID: PMC7242258 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-019-00986-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Previous research has shown that early-acquired words are produced faster than late-acquired words. Juhasz and colleagues (Juhasz, Lai & Woodcock, Behavior Research Methods, 47 (4), 1004-1019, 2015; Juhasz, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1-10, 2018) argue that the Age-of-Acquisition (AoA) loci for complex words, specifically compound words, are found at the lexical/semantic level. In the current study, two experiments were conducted to evaluate this claim and investigate the influence of AoA in reading compound words aloud. In Experiment 1, 48 participants completed a word naming task. Using general linear mixed modelling, we found that the age at which the compound word was learned significantly affected the naming latencies beyond the other psycholinguistic properties measured. The second experiment required 48 participants to name the compound word when the two morphemes were presented with a space in-between (combinatorial naming, e.g. air plane). We found that the age at which the compound word was learned, as well as the AoA of the individual morphemes that formed the compound word, significantly influenced combinatorial naming latency. These findings are discussed in relation to theories of the AoA in language processing.
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Łuniewska M, Wodniecka Z, Miller CA, Smolík F, Butcher M, Chondrogianni V, Hreich EK, Messarra C, A. Razak R, Treffers-Daller J, Yap NT, Abboud L, Talebi A, Gureghian M, Tuller L, Haman E. Age of acquisition of 299 words in seven languages: American English, Czech, Gaelic, Lebanese Arabic, Malay, Persian and Western Armenian. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0220611. [PMID: 31393919 PMCID: PMC6687123 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 07/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a new set of subjective Age of Acquisition (AoA) ratings for 299 words (158 nouns, 141 verbs) in seven languages from various language families and cultural settings: American English, Czech, Scottish Gaelic, Lebanese Arabic, Malaysian Malay, Persian, and Western Armenian. The ratings were collected from a total of 173 participants and were highly reliable in each language. We applied the same method of data collection as used in a previous study on 25 languages which allowed us to create a database of fully comparable AoA ratings of 299 words in 32 languages. We found that in the seven languages not included in the previous study, the words are estimated to be acquired at roughly the same age as in the previously reported languages, i.e. mostly between the ages of 1 and 7 years. We also found that the order of word acquisition is moderately to highly correlated across all 32 languages, which extends our previous conclusion that early words are acquired in similar order across a wide range of languages and cultures.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zofia Wodniecka
- Jagiellonian University, Institute of Psychology, Krakow, Poland
- Pennsylvania State University, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Carol A. Miller
- Pennsylvania State University, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Filip Smolík
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Morna Butcher
- University of Edinburgh, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | - Vasiliki Chondrogianni
- University of Edinburgh, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | | | - Camille Messarra
- Saint Joseph University of Beirut, High Institute of Speech and Language Therapy, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Rogayah A. Razak
- Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Faculty of Health Science, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Jeanine Treffers-Daller
- University of Reading, Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Ngee Thai Yap
- Universiti Putra Malaysia, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Serdang, Malaysia
| | - Layal Abboud
- Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Ali Talebi
- Allameh Tabatabai University, Department of Linguistics and Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages, Teheran, Iran
| | - Maribel Gureghian
- Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon
| | | | - Ewa Haman
- University of Warsaw, Faculty of Psychology, Warsaw, Poland
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