A test of the symbol interdependency hypothesis with both concrete and abstract stimuli

Malhi, Simritpal Kaur

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0192719

Cited by 10 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 99 publications

(110 reference statements)

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“…The relatively later N700 modulations by the imageability of novel words in our study might be due to their novelty, which could have led to a delayed processing in comparison to familiar concrete and abstract words. Previous findings concerning the temporal dynamics of the N700 for familiar words, however, are inconsistent, with findings of early onsets around 500 ms (compare e.g., [ 35 , 51 ]) as well as relatively late onsets only after 700 ms (compare e.g., [ 36 ]). Thus, exploring the functional role of different stages of the N700 might be a promising approach for further research.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…The N700 result for the real words employed in the present study appears to indicate that the chosen task was appropriate for eliciting imagery processes. Concerning the lateralization of the N700 CE, previous studies yielded inconsistent findings, with more pronounced CEs either over the left [ 35 ] or right hemisphere ([ 34 ], but at occipital electrode sites), or no laterality difference at all [ 36 , 51 , 52 ]. However, in our study, the lateralization is in line with the stronger right hemispheric late N700 CE found for real abstract and concrete words.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the N400, the mean amplitude was extracted from the time window between 300 ms and 500 ms. The N700 is more a slow wave rather than a clearly defined ERP component, and the visual inspection of our data suggested different result patterns early and late in the N700 time window between 500 ms and 900 ms. We thus split the time window and analyzed an early N700 (from the 500 ms to 700 ms, compare, e.g., [ 34 , 35 , 51 ]) and a late N700 (from 700 ms to 900 ms) separately (compare, e.g., [ 36 , 52 ]). Novel words from the New condition were excluded from ERP analyses as they were only introduced as filler stimuli and we were not interested in studying old/new ERP effects, which are typically very pronounced [ 53 , 54 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effect of Training-Induced Visual Imageability on Electrophysiological Correlates of Novel Word Processing

2018

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The concreteness effect (CE) describes a processing advantage for concrete over abstract words. Electrophysiologically, the CE manifests in higher N400 and N700 amplitudes for concrete words. The contribution of the stimulus-inherent imageability to the electrophysiological correlates of the CE is not yet fully unraveled. This EEG study focused on the role of imageability irrespective of concreteness by examining the effects of training-induced visual imageability on the processing of novel words. In two training sessions, 21 healthy participants learned to associate novel words with pictures of novel objects as well as electron-microscopical structures and were additionally familiarized with novel words without any picture association. During a post-training EEG session, participants categorized trained novel words with or without picture association, together with real concrete and abstract words. Novel words associated with novel object pictures during the training elicited a higher N700 than familiarized novel words without picture-association. Crucially, this training-induced N700 effect resembled the CE found for real words. However, a CE on the N400 was found for real words, but no effect of imageability in novel words. The results suggest that the N400 CE for real words depends on the integration of multiple semantic features, while mere visual imageability might contribute to the CE in the N700 time window.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effect of Training-Induced Visual Imageability on Electrophysiological Correlates of Novel Word Processing

2018

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“…In a replication of one of the studies that motivated the development of the CAM 6 , context availability canceled out the CE only if subjective familiarity was not controlled 7 . Furthermore, studies controlling for imageability, context availability and/or familiarity reported an inverse CE, with faster and/or more accurate responses to abstract than concrete words 8 – 10 , which neither of the two theoretical approaches can explain. Instead, this processing facilitation for abstract words has been ascribed to a higher number of lexical associations 9 and enriching emotional content (measured in terms of higher valence and arousal) for abstract than concrete words 8 , 11 – 13 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Corroborating behavioral evidence for the interplay of representational richness and semantic control in semantic word processing

Bechtold

Bellebaum

Hoffman

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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This study aimed to replicate and validate concreteness and context effects on semantic word processing. In Experiment 1, we replicated the behavioral findings of Hoffman et al. (Cortex 63,250–266, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2014.09.001, 2015) by applying their cueing paradigm with their original stimuli translated into German. We found concreteness and contextual cues to facilitate word processing in a semantic judgment task with 55 healthy adults. The two factors interacted in their effect on reaction times: abstract word processing profited more strongly from a contextual cue, while the concrete words’ processing advantage was reduced but still present. For accuracy, the descriptive pattern of results suggested an interaction, which was, however, not significant. In Experiment 2, we reformulated the contextual cues to avoid repetition of the to-be-processed word. In 83 healthy adults, the same pattern of results emerged, further validating the findings. Our corroborating evidence supports theories integrating representational richness and semantic control mechanisms as complementary mechanisms in semantic word processing.

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“…Spatial iconicity (hereafter referred to as iconicity) refers to a correspondence between the spatial position of a word and its referent (e.g., airplane on top and car on the bottom). Again, consistent with a flexible approach, researchers have noted that an activation of spatial features is not automatic but rather dependent on whether a task makes the features salient (Lebois et al, 2015; Malhi & Buchanan, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 89%

Does visualisation help or hinder concrete word processing?

Malhi

Kost

2020

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

Self Cite

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In an iconicity judgement task, participants were asked whether word pairs were iconic (e.g., nose–tongue; joy–sorrow) or reverse-iconic (e.g., tongue–nose; sorrow–joy), and an advantage for abstract word pairs (i.e., joy–sorrow) was found. Malhi and Buchanan proposed that this reverse concreteness, or abstractness, effect was the result of participants taking a visualisation/imagining (time-costly) approach towards the concrete word pairs and an emotional/intuitive (time-efficient) approach towards the abstract word pairs. This study tested this proposal by asking participants questions about strategy use (Experiment 1). In the forced-choice questions, all participants reported using a visualisation/imagining approach towards the concrete word pairs and most participants reported using an emotional/intuitive approach towards the abstract word pairs. In the open-ended responses, visual-spatial reasoning and real-life experience emerged as themes for the concrete word pairs and social norms and values emerged as themes for the abstract word pairs, adding to our understanding of the grounding of abstract words. In Experiment 2, participants were supplied with pictures as an aid to visualisation with the expectation that this would reduce the time required for concrete word processing. Supplying pictures made participants faster and more accurate at completing the task. Experiment 3 manipulated the type of visual aid by also supplying pictures that did not match the orientation of the word pairs. Participants were only more accurate when the pictures were in the correct and iconic spatial arrangement. A flexible abstractness and concreteness effects (FACE) theory is proposed which integrates symbolic and embodied accounts and introduces constructs such as direct and constrained imageability for concrete words and indirect and free imageability for abstract words.

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A test of the symbol interdependency hypothesis with both concrete and abstract stimuli

Cited by 10 publications

References 99 publications

The Effect of Training-Induced Visual Imageability on Electrophysiological Correlates of Novel Word Processing

The Effect of Training-Induced Visual Imageability on Electrophysiological Correlates of Novel Word Processing

Corroborating behavioral evidence for the interplay of representational richness and semantic control in semantic word processing

Does visualisation help or hinder concrete word processing?

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