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Otani Y, Katagiri Y, Imai E, Kowa H. Action-rule-based cognitive control enables efficient execution of stimulus-response conflict tasks: a model validation of Simon task performance. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1239207. [PMID: 38034070 PMCID: PMC10687480 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1239207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction The human brain can flexibly modify behavioral rules to optimize task performance (speed and accuracy) by minimizing cognitive load. To show this flexibility, we propose an action-rule-based cognitive control (ARC) model. The ARC model was based on a stochastic framework consistent with an active inference of the free energy principle, combined with schematic brain network systems regulated by the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), to develop several hypotheses for demonstrating the validity of the ARC model. Methods A step-motion Simon task was developed involving congruence or incongruence between important symbolic information (illustration of a foot labeled "L" or "R," where "L" requests left and "R" requests right foot movement) and irrelevant spatial information (whether the illustration is actually of a left or right foot). We made predictions for behavioral and brain responses to testify to the theoretical predictions. Results Task responses combined with event-related deep-brain activity (ER-DBA) measures demonstrated a key contribution of the dACC in this process and provided evidence for the main prediction that the dACC could reduce the Shannon surprise term in the free energy formula by internally reversing the irrelevant rapid anticipatory postural adaptation. We also found sequential effects with modulated dip depths of ER-DBA waveforms that support the prediction that repeated stimuli with the same congruency can promote remodeling of the internal model through the information gain term while counterbalancing the surprise term. Discussion Overall, our results were consistent with experimental predictions, which may support the validity of the ARC model. The sequential effect accompanied by dip modulation of ER-DBA waveforms suggests that cognitive cost is saved while maintaining cognitive performance in accordance with the framework of the ARC based on 1-bit congruency-dependent selective control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshitaka Otani
- Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan
- Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kobe International University, Kobe, Japan
| | - Yoshitada Katagiri
- Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyō, Japan
| | - Emiko Imai
- Department of Biophysics, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan
| | - Hisatomo Kowa
- Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan
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Vergara-Martínez M, Gutierrez-Sigut E, Perea M, Gil-López C, Carreiras M. The time course of processing handwritten words: An ERP investigation. Neuropsychologia 2021; 159:107924. [PMID: 34175372 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 06/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral studies have shown that the legibility of handwritten script hinders visual word recognition. Furthermore, when compared with printed words, lexical effects (e.g., word-frequency effect) are magnified for less intelligible (difficult) handwriting (Barnhart and Goldinger, 2010; Perea et al., 2016). This boost has been interpreted in terms of greater influence of top-down mechanisms during visual word recognition. In the present experiment, we registered the participants' ERPs to uncover top-down processing effects on early perceptual encoding. Participants' behavioral and EEG responses were recorded to high- and low-frequency words that varied in script's legibility (printed, easy handwritten, difficult handwritten) in a lexical decision experiment. Behavioral results replicated previous findings: word-frequency effects were larger in difficult handwriting than in easy handwritten or printed conditions. Critically, the ERP data showed an early effect of word-frequency in the N170 that was restricted to the difficult-to-read handwritten condition. These results are interpreted in terms of increased attentional deployment when the bottom-up signal is weak (difficult handwritten stimuli). This attentional boost would enhance top-down effects (e.g., lexical effects) in the early stages of visual word processing.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Manuel Perea
- ERI-Lectura, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain; Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, Spain; Basque Center of Cognition, Brain, and Language, Donostia, Spain
| | | | - Manuel Carreiras
- Basque Center of Cognition, Brain, and Language, Donostia, Spain; IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain; University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Bilbao, Spain
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Welcome SE, Trammel ER. ERPs Reveal Relationships Between Neural Orthographic Priming Effects and Reading Skill. J PSYCHOPHYSIOL 2019. [DOI: 10.1027/0269-8803/a000211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Abstract. Masked priming has long been used to demonstrate the impact of brief presentations of orthographically related stimuli on visual word recognition. The aim of the present study was to examine neural correlates of orthographic priming produced by pronounceable and unpronounceable anagram primes. Crucially, we examined relationships between these priming effects and individual differences on a battery of measures assessing orthographic processing ability, current reading ability, and verbal intelligence in university students. Our study demonstrated group-level priming effects on the N200 and N400, with both components being primarily modulated by unpronounceable, orthographically illegal primes. Relationships between the extent of priming as indexed by N200 amplitude and speed of orthographic processing emerged, as reaction time (RT) on an orthographic choice task was associated with priming effects. Priming effects on N400 amplitude were related to phonological decoding efficiency. Those individuals with less efficient orthographic or phonological processing were more sensitive to the orthographic relationship between primes and targets. These findings demonstrate that university students vary in their sensitivity to orthographic priming and the degree to which orthographic information is used during word recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Emma R. Trammel
- Department of Psychology, University of Missouri – St. Louis, MO, USA
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Gansonre C, Højlund A, Leminen A, Bailey C, Shtyrov Y. Task-free auditory EEG paradigm for probing multiple levels of speech processing in the brain. Psychophysiology 2018; 55:e13216. [PMID: 30101984 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Revised: 05/09/2018] [Accepted: 05/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
While previous studies on language processing highlighted several ERP components in relation to specific stages of sound and speech processing, no study has yet combined them to obtain a comprehensive picture of language abilities in a single session. Here, we propose a novel task-free paradigm aimed at assessing multiple levels of speech processing by combining various speech and nonspeech sounds in an adaptation of a multifeature passive oddball design. We recorded EEG in healthy adult participants, who were presented with these sounds in the absence of sound-directed attention while being engaged in a primary visual task. This produced a range of responses indexing various levels of sound processing and language comprehension: (a) P1-N1 complex, indexing obligatory auditory processing; (b) P3-like dynamics associated with involuntary attention allocation for unusual sounds; (c) enhanced responses for native speech (as opposed to nonnative phonemes) from ∼50 ms from phoneme onset, indicating phonological processing; (d) amplitude advantage for familiar real words as opposed to meaningless pseudowords, indexing automatic lexical access; (e) topographic distribution differences in the cortical activation of action verbs versus concrete nouns, likely linked with the processing of lexical semantics. These multiple indices of speech-sound processing were acquired in a single attention-free setup that does not require any task or subject cooperation; subject to future research, the present protocol may potentially be developed into a useful tool for assessing the status of auditory and linguistic functions in uncooperative or unresponsive participants, including a range of clinical or developmental populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christelle Gansonre
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Andreas Højlund
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Alina Leminen
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Christopher Bailey
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Yury Shtyrov
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience (CFIN), Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.,Laboratory of Behavioural Neurodynamics, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
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Chang YT, Lin SC, Meng LF, Fan YT. Atypical temporal activation pattern and central-right brain compensation during semantic judgment task in children with early left brain damage. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2018; 177-178:37-43. [PMID: 29421270 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2018.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2015] [Revised: 04/13/2017] [Accepted: 01/16/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
In this study we investigated the event-related potentials (ERPs) during the semantic judgment task (deciding if the two Chinese characters were semantically related or unrelated) to identify the timing of neural activation in children with early left brain damage (ELBD). The results demonstrated that compared with the controls, children with ELBD had (1) competitive accuracy and reaction time in the semantic judgment task, (2) weak operation of the N400, (3) stronger, earlier and later compensational positivities (referred to the enhanced P200, P250, and P600 amplitudes) in the central and right region of the brain to successfully engage in semantic judgment. Our preliminary findings indicate that temporally postlesional reorganization is in accordance with the proposed right-hemispheric organization of speech after early left-sided brain lesion. During semantic processing, the orthography has a greater effect on the children with ELBD, and a later semantic reanalysis (P600) is required due to the less efficient N400 at the former stage for semantic integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Tzu Chang
- Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, Section 1, Heping E. Rd., Taipei 106, Taiwan; Department of Occupational Therapy & Graduate Institute of Behavioral Science, Chang Gung University, 259, Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan
| | - Shih-Che Lin
- Division of Occupational Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 6. West section, Chiapu Road, Putzu, Chia-Yi 613, Taiwan
| | - Ling-Fu Meng
- Department of Occupational Therapy & Graduate Institute of Behavioral Science, Chang Gung University, 259, Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan; Division of Occupational Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 6. West section, Chiapu Road, Putzu, Chia-Yi 613, Taiwan.
| | - Yang-Teng Fan
- Center for Bioinformatics Research, National Chiao Tung University, 1001, University Road, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
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Liebenthal E, Silbersweig DA, Stern E. The Language, Tone and Prosody of Emotions: Neural Substrates and Dynamics of Spoken-Word Emotion Perception. Front Neurosci 2016; 10:506. [PMID: 27877106 PMCID: PMC5099784 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2016] [Accepted: 10/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Rapid assessment of emotions is important for detecting and prioritizing salient input. Emotions are conveyed in spoken words via verbal and non-verbal channels that are mutually informative and unveil in parallel over time, but the neural dynamics and interactions of these processes are not well understood. In this paper, we review the literature on emotion perception in faces, written words, and voices, as a basis for understanding the functional organization of emotion perception in spoken words. The characteristics of visual and auditory routes to the amygdala—a subcortical center for emotion perception—are compared across these stimulus classes in terms of neural dynamics, hemispheric lateralization, and functionality. Converging results from neuroimaging, electrophysiological, and lesion studies suggest the existence of an afferent route to the amygdala and primary visual cortex for fast and subliminal processing of coarse emotional face cues. We suggest that a fast route to the amygdala may also function for brief non-verbal vocalizations (e.g., laugh, cry), in which emotional category is conveyed effectively by voice tone and intensity. However, emotional prosody which evolves on longer time scales and is conveyed by fine-grained spectral cues appears to be processed via a slower, indirect cortical route. For verbal emotional content, the bulk of current evidence, indicating predominant left lateralization of the amygdala response and timing of emotional effects attributable to speeded lexical access, is more consistent with an indirect cortical route to the amygdala. Top-down linguistic modulation may play an important role for prioritized perception of emotions in words. Understanding the neural dynamics and interactions of emotion and language perception is important for selecting potent stimuli and devising effective training and/or treatment approaches for the alleviation of emotional dysfunction across a range of neuropsychiatric states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Einat Liebenthal
- Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Emily Stern
- Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's HospitalBoston, MA, USA; Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's HospitalBoston, MA, USA
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Shin E, Chong SC. Electrophysiological revelations of trial history effects in a color oddball search task. Psychophysiology 2016; 53:1878-1888. [PMID: 27699796 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2015] [Accepted: 08/31/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
In visual oddball search tasks, viewing a no-target scene (i.e., no-target selection trial) leads to the facilitation or delay of the search time for a target in a subsequent trial. Presumably, this selection failure leads to biasing attentional set and prioritizing stimulus features unseen in the no-target scene. We observed attention-related ERP components and tracked the course of attentional biasing as a function of trial history. Participants were instructed to identify color oddballs (i.e., targets) shown in varied trial sequences. The number of no-target scenes preceding a target scene was increased from zero to two to reinforce attentional biasing, and colors presented in two successive no-target scenes were repeated or changed to systematically bias attention to specific colors. For the no-target scenes, the presentation of a second no-target scene resulted in an early selection of, and sustained attention to, the changed colors (mirrored in the frontal selection positivity, the anterior N2, and the P3b). For the target scenes, the N2pc indicated an earlier allocation of attention to the targets with unseen or remotely seen colors. Inhibitory control of attention, shown in the anterior N2, was greatest when the target scene was followed by repeated no-target scenes with repeated colors. Finally, search times and the P3b were influenced by both color previewing and its history. The current results demonstrate that attentional biasing can occur on a trial-by-trial basis and be influenced by both feature previewing and its history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eunsam Shin
- The Center for Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
| | - Sang Chul Chong
- Graduate Program in Cognitive Science, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.,Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
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Coch D, Meade G. N1 and P2 to words and wordlike stimuli in late elementary school children and adults. Psychophysiology 2015; 53:115-28. [PMID: 26473497 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2015] [Accepted: 09/23/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
In an investigation of the development of fine-tuning for word processing across the late elementary school years as indexed by the posterior N1 and P2 components of the ERP waveform, third, fourth, and fifth graders and a comparison group of adults viewed words, pseudowords, nonpronounceable letter strings, and false font strings in a semantic categorization task. In adults, N1 was larger to and P2 was later to words as compared to pseudowords, a finely tuned effect of lexicality reflecting specialization for word processing. In contrast, in each group of children, N1 was larger to letter strings than false font strings and P2 was larger to false font strings than letter strings, reflecting coarse encoding for orthography. In regression analyses, scores on standardized behavioral test measures of orthographic knowledge, decoding skill, and fluency predicted N1 amplitude; these effects were not significant with age included as a separate predictor. None of the behavioral scores, in models including or not including age, predicted P2 amplitude. In direct comparisons between groups, there were multiple differences between the child and adult groups for both N1 and P2 amplitude effects, and only a single significant difference between two child groups. Overall, the findings suggest a lengthy developmental time course for the fine-tuning of early word processing as indexed by N1 and P2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donna Coch
- Department of Education, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Gabriela Meade
- Department of Education, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
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Casaponsa A, Carreiras M, Duñabeitia JA. How do bilinguals identify the language of the words they read? Brain Res 2015; 1624:153-166. [PMID: 26236021 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2015.07.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2015] [Revised: 07/16/2015] [Accepted: 07/22/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
How do bilinguals detect the language of the words they read? Recent electrophysiological research using the masked priming paradigm combining primes and targets from different languages has shown that bilingual readers identify the language of the words within approximately 200 ms. Recent evidence shows that language-detection mechanisms vary as a function of the orthographic markedness of the words (i.e., whether or not a given word contains graphemic combinations that are not legal in the other language). The present study examined how the sub-lexical orthographic regularities of words are used as predictive cues. Spanish-Basque bilinguals and Spanish monolinguals (control group) were tested in an Event-Related Potential (ERP) experiment, using the masked priming paradigm. During the experiment, Spanish targets were briefly preceded by unrelated Spanish or Basque words. Unrelated Basque words could contain bigram combinations that are either plausible or implausible in the target language (Spanish). Results show a language switch effect in the N250 and N400 components for marked Basque primes in both groups, whereas, in the case of unmarked Basque primes, language switch effects were found in bilinguals but not monolinguals. These data demonstrate that statistical orthographic regularities of words play an important role in bilingual language detection, and provide new evidence supporting the assumptions of the BIA+ extended model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aina Casaponsa
- BCBL. Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia, Spain.
| | - Manuel Carreiras
- BCBL. Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia, Spain; Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
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Marinelli CV, Traficante D, Zoccolotti P. Does pronounceability modulate the letter string deficit of children with dyslexia? A study with the rate and amount model. Front Psychol 2014; 5:1353. [PMID: 25520680 PMCID: PMC4251298 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2014] [Accepted: 10/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The locus of the deficit of children with dyslexia in dealing with strings of letters may be a deficit at a pre-lexical graphemic level or an inability to bind orthographic and phonological information. We evaluate these alternative hypotheses in two experiments by examining the role of stimulus pronounceability in a lexical decision task (LDT) and in a forced-choice letter discrimination task (Reicher-Wheeler paradigm). Seventeen fourth grade children with dyslexia and 24 peer control readers participated to two experiments. In the LDT children were presented with high-, low-frequency words, pronounceable pseudowords (such as DASU) and unpronounceable non-words (such as RNGM) of 4-, 5-, or 6- letters. No sign of group by pronounceability interaction was found when over-additivity was taken into account. Children with dyslexia were impaired when they had to process strings, not only of pronounceable stimuli but also of unpronounceable stimuli, a deficit well accounted for by a single global factor. Complementary results were obtained with the Reicher-Wheeler paradigm: both groups of children gained in accuracy in letter discrimination in the context of pronounceable primes (words and pseudowords) compared to unpronounceable primes (non-words). No global factor was detected in this task which requires the discrimination between a target letter and a competitor but does not involve simultaneous letter string processing. Overall, children with dyslexia show a selective difficulty in simultaneously processing a letter string as a whole, independent of its pronounceability; however, when the task involves isolated letter processing, also these children can make use of the ortho-phono-tactic information derived from a previously seen letter string. This pattern of findings is in keeping with the idea that an impairment in pre-lexical graphemic analysis may be a core deficit in developmental dyslexia.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Daniela Traficante
- Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan Milan, Italy ; NeuroMI - Milan Center for Neuroscience Milan, Italy
| | - Pierluigi Zoccolotti
- Neuropsychology Research Centre, IRCCS Santa Lucia Rome, Italy ; Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome Rome, Italy
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Abstract
This study examined the effect of spatial iconicity on the N400 component. Spatial iconicity is defined as the spatial arrangement of words on a screen relative to the spatial arrangement of their referents (e.g. attic-basement). In two experiments, electroencephalograms were recorded in 32 participants while performing a semantic relatedness judgment task on pairs of words that were either related or unrelated. All of the related word pairs were parts of objects that shared a vertical spatial relationship. In Experiment 1, the words of each pair were presented simultaneously on top of one another. Results showed that related word pairs presented in a spatial arrangement that mismatched the spatial relationship of their referents were associated with increased error rates as well as larger N400 components known to index semantic/conceptual processing cost. These findings thus suggest that the words automatically activated visuospatial simulations of their referents and that semantic/conceptual processing difficulty arose when the vertical arrangement of the word pairs was inconsistent with those simulations. In line with this interpretation, these effects were not present in Experiment 2 when the words of each pair were presented in succession in the middle of the screen. Overall, these results provide evidence that perceptual simulations contribute to some of the underlying processes of the N400 component (see video abstract, Supplemental digital content 1, http://links.lww.com/WNR/A304).
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Coch D. The N400 and the fourth grade shift. Dev Sci 2014; 18:254-69. [PMID: 25041502 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2013] [Accepted: 05/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
While behavioral and educational data characterize a fourth grade shift in reading development, neuroscience evidence is relatively lacking. We used the N400 component of the event-related potential waveform to investigate the development of single word processing across the upper elementary years, in comparison to adult readers. We presented third graders, fourth graders, fifth graders, and college students with a well-controlled list of real words, pseudowords, letter strings, false font strings, and animal name targets. Words and pseudowords elicited similar N400s across groups. False font strings elicited N400s similar to words and letter strings in the three groups of children, but not in college students. The pattern of findings suggests relatively adult-like semantic and phonological processing by third grade, but a long developmental time course, beyond fifth grade, for orthographic processing in this context. Thus, the amplitude of the N400 elicited by various word-like stimuli does not reflect some sort of shift or discontinuity in word processing around the fourth grade. However, the results do suggest different developmental time courses for the processes that contribute to automatic single word reading and the integrative N400.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donna Coch
- Department of Education, Dartmouth College, USA
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Coch D, Mitra P, George E. Behavioral and ERP evidence of word and pseudoword superiority effects in 7- and 11-year-olds. Brain Res 2012. [PMID: 23036274 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2012.09.041"] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/01/2022]
Abstract
In groups of 7-year-olds and 11-year-olds, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to briefly presented, masked letter strings that included real word (DARK/PARK), pronounceable pseudoword (DARL/PARL), unpronounceable nonword (RDKA/RPKA), and letter-in-xs (DXXX, PXXX) stimuli in a variant of the Reicher-Wheeler paradigm. Behaviorally, participants decided which of two letters occurred at a given position in each string (here, forced-choice alternatives D and P). Both groups showed evidence of behavioral word (more accurate choices for letters in words than in baseline nonwords or letter-in-xs) and pseudoword (more accurate choices for letters in pseudowords than in baseline nonwords or letter-in-xs) superiority effects. Electrophysiologically, 11-year-olds evidenced superiority effects on P150 and N400 peak amplitude, while 7-year-olds showed effects only on N400 amplitude. These findings suggest that the mechanisms underlying the observed behavioral superiority effects may be lexical in younger children but both sublexical and lexical in older children. These results are consistent with a lengthy developmental time course for automatic sublexical orthographic specialization, extending beyond the age of 11.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donna Coch
- Reading Brains Lab, Department of Education, Dartmouth College, 3 Maynard Street, Raven House, HB 6103, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
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Coch D, Mitra P, George E. Behavioral and ERP evidence of word and pseudoword superiority effects in 7- and 11-year-olds. Brain Res 2012; 1486:68-81. [PMID: 23036274 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2012.09.041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2012] [Revised: 07/25/2012] [Accepted: 09/26/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
In groups of 7-year-olds and 11-year-olds, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to briefly presented, masked letter strings that included real word (DARK/PARK), pronounceable pseudoword (DARL/PARL), unpronounceable nonword (RDKA/RPKA), and letter-in-xs (DXXX, PXXX) stimuli in a variant of the Reicher-Wheeler paradigm. Behaviorally, participants decided which of two letters occurred at a given position in each string (here, forced-choice alternatives D and P). Both groups showed evidence of behavioral word (more accurate choices for letters in words than in baseline nonwords or letter-in-xs) and pseudoword (more accurate choices for letters in pseudowords than in baseline nonwords or letter-in-xs) superiority effects. Electrophysiologically, 11-year-olds evidenced superiority effects on P150 and N400 peak amplitude, while 7-year-olds showed effects only on N400 amplitude. These findings suggest that the mechanisms underlying the observed behavioral superiority effects may be lexical in younger children but both sublexical and lexical in older children. These results are consistent with a lengthy developmental time course for automatic sublexical orthographic specialization, extending beyond the age of 11.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donna Coch
- Reading Brains Lab, Department of Education, Dartmouth College, 3 Maynard Street, Raven House, HB 6103, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
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16
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Zhang JX, Fang Z, Du Y, Kong L, Zhang Q, Xing Q. Centro-parietal N200: An event-related potential component specific to Chinese visual word recognition. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1007/s11434-011-4932-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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Hollenstein M, Koenig T, Kubat M, Blaser D, Perrig WJ. Non-conscious word processing in a mirror-masking paradigm causing attentional distraction: An ERP-study. Conscious Cogn 2012; 21:353-65. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2012.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2011] [Revised: 01/04/2012] [Accepted: 01/08/2012] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Hsu YF, Szűcs D. The time course of symbolic number adaptation: oscillatory EEG activity and event-related potential analysis. Neuroimage 2012; 59:3103-9. [PMID: 22138125 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.11.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2011] [Revised: 10/10/2011] [Accepted: 11/04/2011] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Several functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have used neural adaptation paradigms to detect anatomical locations of brain activity related to number processing. However, currently not much is known about the temporal structure of number adaptation. In the present study, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to elucidate the time course of neural events in symbolic number adaptation. The numerical distance of deviants relative to standards was manipulated. In order to avoid perceptual confounds, all levels of deviants consisted of perceptually identical stimuli. Multiple successive numerical distance effects were detected in event-related potentials (ERPs). Analysis of oscillatory activity further showed at least two distinct stages of neural processes involved in the automatic analysis of numerical magnitude, with the earlier effect emerging at around 200ms and the later effect appearing at around 400ms. The findings support for the hypothesis that numerical magnitude processing involves a succession of cognitive events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Fang Hsu
- Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
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19
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Lin SE, Chen HC, Zhao J, Li S, He S, Weng XC. Left-lateralized N170 response to unpronounceable pseudo but not false Chinese characters-the key role of orthography. Neuroscience 2011; 190:200-6. [PMID: 21704128 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.05.071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2011] [Revised: 05/22/2011] [Accepted: 05/27/2011] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
A negative event-related potential (ERP) component, known as N170, can be readily recorded over the posterior left brain region when skilled readers are presented with visual words. This left-lateralized word-related N170 has been attributed either to linguistic processes, particularly phonological processing, or to the role of orthographic regularity, emphasizing a perceptual origin. This debate, however, is difficult to resolve in the context of alphabetic scripts because of the tight relations between orthography and phonology. In contrast, Chinese characters have arbitrary mappings between orthographic and sound forms, making it possible to tease apart these two properties of visual words. We therefore addressed this issue by examining ERP responses to Chinese characters and three types of structurally matched but unpronounceable stimuli: pseudo-characters, false-characters, and stroke combinations. A content-irrelevant color matching task was adopted to minimize potentially different top-down modulations across stimulus types. Results show that, relative to false-characters and stroke combinations, real- and pseudo-characters evoked greater N170 in the left posterior brain region. Critically, despite being unpronounceable, pseudo-characters produced the same amplitude and left-lateralized N170, just as real-characters. These results provide strong evidence that orthography rather than phonology serves as the main driver for the enhanced and left-lateralized N170 to visual words.
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Affiliation(s)
- S E Lin
- Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
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20
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Grossi G, Savill N, Thomas E, Thierry G. Posterior N1 asymmetry to English and Welsh words in Early and Late English–Welsh bilinguals. Biol Psychol 2010; 85:124-33. [PMID: 20542079 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2010] [Revised: 05/06/2010] [Accepted: 06/03/2010] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Giordana Grossi
- Department of Psychology, State University of New York at New Paltz, 600 Hawk Drive, New Paltz, NY 12561, USA.
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21
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Coch D, Mitra P. Word and pseudoword superiority effects reflected in the ERP waveform. Brain Res 2010; 1329:159-74. [PMID: 20211607 PMCID: PMC2857552 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2010.02.084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2009] [Revised: 02/24/2010] [Accepted: 02/27/2010] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
A variant of the Reicher-Wheeler task was used to determine when in the event-related potential (ERP) waveform indices of word and pseudoword superiority effects might be present, and whether ERP measures of superiority effects correlated with standardized behavioral measures of orthographic fluency and single word reading. ERPs were recorded to briefly presented, masked letter strings that included real words (DARK/PARK), pseudowords (DARL/PARL), nonwords (RDKA/RPKA), and letter-in-xs (DXXX, PXXX) stimuli. Participants decided which of two letters occurred at a given position in the string (here, forced-choice alternatives D and P). Behaviorally, both word (more accurate choices for letters in words than in baseline nonwords or letter-in-xs) and pseudoword (more accurate choices for letters in pseudowords than in baseline conditions) superiority effects were observed. Electrophysiologically, effects of orthographic regularity and familiarity were apparent as early as the P150 time window (100-160ms), an effect of lexicality was observed as early as the N200 time window (160-200ms), and peak amplitude of the N300 and N400 also differentiated word and pseudoword as compared to baseline stimuli. Further, the size of the P150 and N400 ERP word superiority effects was related to standardized behavioral measures of fluency and reading. Results suggest that orthographic fluency is reflected in both lower-level, sublexical, perceptual processing and higher-level, lexical processing in fluently reading adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donna Coch
- Dartmouth College, Department of Education, Reading Brains Lab, USA.
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22
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From numbers to letters: Feedback regularization in visual word recognition. Neuropsychologia 2010; 48:1343-55. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.12.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2009] [Revised: 12/04/2009] [Accepted: 12/22/2009] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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23
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Sass SM, Heller W, Stewart JL, Silton RL, Edgar JC, Fisher JE, Miller GA. Time course of attentional bias in anxiety: emotion and gender specificity. Psychophysiology 2010; 47:247-59. [PMID: 19863758 PMCID: PMC3073148 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00926.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 133] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Anxiety is characterized by cognitive biases, including attentional bias to emotional (especially threatening) stimuli. Accounts differ on the time course of attention to threat, but the literature generally confounds emotional valence and arousal and overlooks gender effects, both addressed in the present study. Nonpatients high in self-reported anxious apprehension, anxious arousal, or neither completed an emotion-word Stroop task during event-related potential (ERP) recording. Hypotheses differentiated time course of preferential attention to emotional stimuli. Individuals high in anxious apprehension and anxious arousal showed distinct early ERP evidence of preferential processing of emotionally arousing stimuli along with some evidence for gender differences in processing. Healthy controls showed gender differences at both early and later processing stages. The conjunction of valence, arousal, and gender is critical in the time course of attentional bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah M Sass
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA
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24
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A masked priming ERP study of letter processing using single letters and false fonts. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2009; 9:216-28. [DOI: 10.3758/cabn.9.2.216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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25
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26
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Neumann MF, Schweinberger SR. N250r and N400 ERP correlates of immediate famous face repetition are independent of perceptual load. Brain Res 2008; 1239:181-90. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.08.039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2008] [Revised: 07/29/2008] [Accepted: 08/10/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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27
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Shin E, Wan XI, Fabiani M, Gratton G, Lleras A. Electrophysiological evidence of feature-based inhibition of focused attention across consecutive trials. Psychophysiology 2008; 45:804-11. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2008.00679.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
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Holcomb PJ, Grainger J. Exploring the temporal dynamics of visual word recognition in the masked repetition priming paradigm using event-related potentials. Brain Res 2007; 1180:39-58. [PMID: 17950262 PMCID: PMC2151932 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2007.06.110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2007] [Revised: 05/31/2007] [Accepted: 06/01/2007] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The present study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the time-course of visual word recognition in a masked repetition priming paradigm. In two experiments, participants monitored a stream of words for occasional animal names, and ERPs were recorded to non-animal critical target items that were either repetitions or were unrelated to the immediately preceding masked prime word. In Experiment 1, the onset interval between the prime and target (stimulus-onset-asynchrony--SOA) was manipulated across four levels (60, 180, 300 and 420 ms) and the duration of primes was held constant at 40 ms. In Experiment 2, the SOA between the prime and target was held constant at 60 ms and the prime duration was manipulated across four levels (10, 20, 30 and 40 ms). Both manipulations were found to have distinct effects on the N250 and N400 ERP components. The results provide converging evidence that the N250 reflects processing at the level of form representations (orthography and phonology) while the N400 reflects processing at the level of meaning.
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Eddy M, Schmid A, Holcomb PJ. Masked repetition priming and event-related brain potentials: a new approach for tracking the time-course of object perception. Psychophysiology 2007; 43:564-8. [PMID: 17076812 PMCID: PMC1857300 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2006.00455.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
This study reports a new approach to studying the time-course of the perceptual processing of objects by combining for the first time the masked repetition priming technique with the recording of event-related potentials (ERPs). In a semantic categorization task ERPs were recorded to repeated and unrelated target pictures of common objects that were immediately preceded by briefly presented pattern masked prime objects. Three sequential ERP effects were found between 100 and 650 ms post-target onset. These effects included an early posterior positivity/anterior negativity (N/P190) that was suggested to reflect early feature processing in visual cortex. This early effect was followed by an anterior negativity (N300) that was suggested to reflect processing of object-specific representations and finally by a widely distributed negativity (N400) that was argued to reflect more domain general semantic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianna Eddy
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
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