The last course of coarse coding: Hemispheric similarities in associative and categorical semantic processing

To test theories that posit differences in how semantic information is represented in the cerebral hemispheres, we assessed semantic priming for associatively and categorically related prime-target pairs that were graded in relatedness strength. Visual half-field presentation was used to bias processing to the right or left hemisphere, and event-related potential (ERP) and behavioral responses were measured while participants completed a semantic relatedness judgement task. Contrary to theories positing representational differences across the cerebral hemispheres, in two experiments using (1) centralized prime presentation and lateralized targets and (2) lateralized primes and targets, we found similar priming patterns across the two hemispheres at the level of semantic access (N400), on later measures of explicit processing (late positive complex; LPC), and in behavioral response speeds and accuracy. We argue that hemispheric differences, when they arise, are more likely due to differences in task demands than in how the hemispheres fundamentally represent semantic information.

The power of "good": Can adjectives rapidly decrease as well as increase the availability of the upcoming noun?

Can a single adjective immediately influence message-building during sentence processing? We presented participants with 168 sentence contexts, such as "His skin was red from spending the day at the …" Sentences ended with either the most expected word ("beach") or a low cloze probability completion ("pool"). Nouns were preceded by adjectives that changed their relative likelihood (e.g., "neighborhood" increases the cloze probability of pool whereas "sandy" promotes beach). We asked if participants' online processing can be rapidly updated by the adjective, changing the resulting pattern of facilitation at the noun, and, if so, whether updates unfold symmetrically-not only increasing, but also decreasing, the fit of particular nouns. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) to the adjective and the noun and modeled these with respect to (a) the overall amount of updating promoted by the adjective, (b) the preadjectival cloze probability of the noun and, (c) the amount of cloze probability change for the obtained noun after the adjective. Bayesian mixed-effects analysis of N400 amplitude at the noun revealed that adjectives rapidly influenced semantic processing of the noun, but did so asymmetrically, with positive updating (reducing N400 amplitudes) having a greater effect than negative updating (increasing N400s). At the adjective, the amount of (possible) updating was not associated with any discernible ERP modulation. Overall, these results suggest the information provided by adjectives is buffered until a head noun is encountered, at which point the access of the noun's semantics is shaped in parallel by both the adjective and the sentence-level representation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploiting Language Variation to Better Understand the Cognitive Consequences of Bilingualism

Within the past decade, there has been an explosion of research investigating the cognitive consequences of bilingualism. However, a controversy has arisen specifically involving research claiming a "bilingual advantage" in executive function. In this brief review, we re-examine the nature of the "bilingual advantage" and suggest three themes for future research. First, there must be a theoretical account of how specific variation in language experience impacts aspects of executive function and domain general cognition. Second, efforts toward adequately characterizing the participants tested will be critical to interpreting results. Finally, designing studies that employ converging analytical approaches and sensitive methodologies will be important to advance our knowledge of the dynamics between bilingual language experience and cognition.