Work

Timecourse of bottom-up and top-down language processing during a picture-based semantic priming task

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Understanding spoken language requires rapid analysis of incoming information at multiple levels. Information at lower levels (e.g. acoustic/phonetic) cascades forward to affect processing at higher levels (e.g. lexical/semantic), and higher-level information may feed back to influence lower-level processing. Most studies have sought to examine a single stage of processing in isolation. Consequently, there is a poor understanding of how different stages relate temporally. In the present study, we characterise multiple stages of linguistic processing simultaneously as they unfold. Listeners (N = 30) completed a priming task while we collected their EEG, where a picture (e.g. of a peach) biased them to expect a target word from a minimal pair (e.g. beach/peach). We examine the processes of perceptual gradiency, semantic integration, and top-down feedback, to yield a more complete understanding of how these processes relate in time. Then, we discuss how the results from simplified priming paradigms may compare to more naturalistic settings.

Source: Language Cognition and Neuroscience

DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2024.2409136

Authors: McCall E. Sarrett, Bob McMurray

Institutions: Gonzaga University, University of Iowa

Language: English

Topic: Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Norges Idrettshøgskole, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Awards: G3350454689, G4228130969, G9000023571