Timing is everything: Exploring competition for lexical selection during picture naming

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meagan T. Farrell ◽  
Sabra D. Pelham ◽  
Lise Abrams
1999 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Costa ◽  
Alfonso Caramazza

In this study we address the question of how lexical selection is achieved by bilingual speakers during speech production. Specifically, we test whether there is competition between the two lexicons of a bilingual during lexical access. In two picture–word interference experiments we explore the performance of two groups of bilinguals, English–Spanish and Spanish–English proficient bilinguals while naming pictures either in their L1 (Spanish) or in their L2 (Spanish). Picture naming was facilitated when the name of the picture and the distracter word were the “same”, regardless of the language in which the distracter was printed: same-language (e.g., mesa–mesa [table in Spanish]) or different-language pairs (e.g., mesa–table). The magnitude of this facilitatory effect was similar when naming in L1 (Experiment 1) and in L2 (Experiment 2). We also found that naming latencies were slower when the distracter word was semantically related to the picture's name (e.g., mesa–chair), regardless of the language in which the distracter was printed. The results suggest that there is no competition between the two lexicons of a bilingual during lexical access for production. This interpretation favors a model of lexical access in which lexical selection is language-specific both when speaking in L1 and in L2.


Author(s):  
Kodai Aramaki ◽  
Kanako Ikeda ◽  
Kyoko Yamakoshi ◽  
Tomohiro Fujii

The study argues that in focus-sensitive why-questions in Japanese, why must precede its focus associate. It is proposed that this word order restriction follows if the why-as-CPmodifier approach is applied to the Japanese construction under investigation. It also reports the results of the elicitation experiment conducted to experimentally confirm the word order restriction.


2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (6) ◽  
pp. 1229-1240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Vitkovitch ◽  
Elisa Cooper

A related word prime has been found to interfere with picture naming after unrelated intervening trials (word-to-picture interference). Recently, Stroop-type picture–word interference effects have been interpreted in terms of a postlexical response exclusion process rather than a competitive lexical selection process. An experiment is reported that examines whether word-to-picture effects could reflect response exclusion mechanisms and, more generally, strategic processing of the word prime. Forty-eight volunteer university students named aloud sequences of semantically related (and unrelated) word primes and picture targets, separated by two unrelated filler stimuli. On half of the trials, participants were asked to count backwards in threes from a random number presented immediately after naming the prime word. They were also given a surprise recall test at the end of the naming block. Results for naming times and errors indicated a main effect of relatedness; semantic interference effects were not dependent on the unfilled gap following the word prime trial and were also not tied to episodic recall of prime words. The data indicate that slowed picture naming times are more likely to emerge from processes intrinsic to word prime naming rather than controlled processing and do not readily fit the postlexical response exclusion account. The results are considered in relation to two recent accounts of interference over unrelated trials, which refer to some form of competition at, or prior to, lexical access.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1586 ◽  
pp. 130-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeshu Shao ◽  
Ardi Roelofs ◽  
Daniel J. Acheson ◽  
Antje S. Meyer

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1294-1300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg D. Jescheniak ◽  
Asya Matushanskaya ◽  
Andreas Mädebach ◽  
Matthias M. Müller

2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 864-873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greig de Zubicaray ◽  
Katie McMahon ◽  
Mathew Eastburn ◽  
Alan Pringle

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Sara B. W. Troutman ◽  
David J. Madden ◽  
Michele T. Diaz

Abstract As people age, one of the most common complaints is difficulty with word retrieval. A wealth of behavioral research confirms such age-related language production deficits, yet the structural neural differences that relate to age-related language production deficits remains an open area of exploration. Therefore, the present study used a large sample of healthy adults across adulthood to investigate how age-related white matter differences in three key left-hemisphere language tracts may contribute to age-related differences in language ability. Specifically, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to measure fractional anisotropy (FA) and radial diffusivity (RD) which are indicators of white matter structure. We then used a series of path models to test whether white matter from the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), and the frontal aslant tract (FAT) mediated age-related differences in one form of language production, picture naming. We found that FA, as well as RD from the SLF and FAT mediated the relation between age and picture naming performance, whereas a control tract (corticospinal; CST) was not a mediator. Moreover, differences between mediation of picture naming and a control naming condition suggest that left SLF has a greater role in higher-order aspects of naming, such as semantic and lexical selection whereas left FAT is more sensitive to sensorimotor aspects of fluency or speech motor planning. These results suggest that dorsal white matter contributes to age-related differences in generating speech and may be particularly important in supporting word retrieval across adulthood.


Author(s):  
Manal Alharbi

Our study focused on the co-activation of lexical nodes in bilinguals’ speech production. We investigated whether the co-activated lexical forms compete for selection or not and whether language proficiency level would modulate the coactivation level in bilinguals. We tested the performance of Arabic-English bilinguals using the masked priming paradigm in a picture naming task. We found that the coactivated lexical forms do not compete for selection and that proficiency level does not affect the process of lexical selection.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary M. Oppenheim ◽  
Nazbanou Nozari

One of the major debates in the field of word production is whether lexical selection is competitive or not. For nearly half a century, semantic interference effects in picture naming latencies have been claimed as evidence for competitive (relative threshold) models of lexical selection, while semantic facilitation effects have been claimed as evidence for non-competitive (simple threshold) models instead. In this paper, we use a computational modeling approach to compare the consequences of competitive and noncompetitive selection algorithms for blocked cyclic picture naming latencies, combined with two approaches to representing taxonomic and thematic semantic features. We show that although our simple model can capture both semantic interference and facilitation, the presence or absence of competition in the selection mechanism is unrelated to the polarity of these semantic effects. These results question the validity of prior assumptions and offer new perspectives on the origins of interference and facilitation in language production.


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