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Corpus-based models of lexical strength have called into question the role of word frequency as an organizing principle of the lexicon, revealing that contextual and semantic diversity measures provide a closer fit to lexical behavior data (Adelman et al., 2006; Jones et al., 2012). Contextual diversity measures modify word frequency by ignoring word repetition in context, while semantic diversity measures consider the semantic consistency of contextual word occurrence. Recent research has shown that a better account of lexical organization data is provided by socially based measures of semantic diversity, which encode the communication patterns of individuals across discourses (Johns, 2021b). While most research on contextual diversity has focused on single words, recent corpus-based and experimental evidence suggests that an integral part of language use involves recurrent and more structurally complex units, such as multiword phrases and idioms. The aim of the present work was to determine if contextual and semantic diversity drive lexical organization at the level of multiword units (here, operationalized as idiomatic expressions), in addition to single words. To this end, we analyzed normative ratings of familiarity for 210 English idioms (Libben & Titone, 2008) using a set of contextual, semantic, and socially based diversity measures that were computed from a 55-billion word corpus of Reddit comments. The results confirm the superiority of diversity measures over frequency for multiword expressions, suggesting that multiword units, such as idiomatic phrases, show similar lexical organization dynamics as single words. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Bilinguals frequently juggle competing representations from their two languages when they interact with their environment (i.e., nonselective activation). As a result, both first (L1) and second language (L2) communication may be impeded when words share orthographic form but not meaning (i.e., interlingual homographs; e.g., CRANE, a machine in English, a skull in French). Similarly, bilinguals' reduced exposure to each known language makes bilingual lexical processing more vulnerable to larger frequency effects. While much is known about processes within the language system, less is known about how the bilingual language system interacts with the visual system, specifically in the context of image processing. We investigated this by testing whether commonly observed semantic (homograph interference) and lexical (frequency) effects extend to a visual word-image matching task. We tested 48 bilinguals, who were asked to determine whether an image corresponded to a written word that was presented immediately beforehand. By modulating the complexity of visual referents and the semantic (Analysis 1) or lexical (Analysis 2) complexity of word cues, we simultaneously burdened the visual and language systems. The results showed that both semantic and lexical factors modulated response accuracy and correct reaction time on the word-image matching task. Crucially, we observed an interaction between the image factor (visual complexity) with the semantic (homograph status) but not the lexical factor (word frequency). We conclude that it is possible for the language and image processing systems to interact, although the extent to which this occurs depends on the degree of linguistic processing involved., (© 2021. The Psychonomic Society, Inc.)

Word learning is a crucial aspect of human development that depends on the formation and consolidation of novel memory traces. In this paper, we critically review the behavioural research on sleep-related lexicalization of novel words in healthy young adult speakers. We first describe human memory systems, the processes underlying memory consolidation, then we describe the complementary learning systems account of memory consolidation. We then review behavioural studies focusing on novel word learning and sleep-related lexicalization in monolingual samples, while highlighting their relevance to three main theoretical questions. Finally, we review the few studies that have investigated sleep-related lexicalization in L2 speakers. Overall, while several studies suggest that sleep promotes the gradual transformation of initially labile traces into more stable representations, a growing body of work suggests a rich variety of time courses for novel word lexicalization. Moreover, there is a need for more work on sleep-related lexicalization patterns in varied populations, such as L2 speakers and bilingual speakers, and more work on individual differences, to fully understand the boundary conditions of this phenomenon.

Previous research is equivocal with respect to the neural substrates of idiom processing. Particularly elusive is the role of the left ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), a region implicated in semantic control generally. Although fMRI studies have shown that the left VLPFC is active during idiom processing (see Rapp et al. (2012), for review), rTMS studies have failed to corroborate a clear role of this prefrontal region (e.g., Oliveri et al., 2004). We investigated this issue using a semantic meaningfulness judgment task that compared idiom comprehension following rTMS-stimulation to the left VLPFC relative to a control site (vertex). We also investigated whether individual differences in general cognitive capacity among comprehenders modulated the effects of rTMS. The results indicate that left VLPFC stimulation particularly affected the processing of low-familiar idioms, possibly because these items involve a maximal semantic conflict between a salient literal and less-known figurative meaning. Of note, this pattern only emerged for comprehenders with higher cognitive control capacity, possibly because they were more likely to activate or maintain multiple semantic representations during idiom processing, which required VLPFC integrity. Taken together, the results support the importance of the left VLPFC to idiom processing., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Libben and Titone (2009) recently observed that cognate facilitation and interlingual homograph interference were attenuated by increased semantic constraint during bilingual second language (L2) reading, using eye movement measures. We now investigate whether cross-language activation also occurs during first language (L1) reading as a function of age of L2 acquisition and task demands (i.e., inclusion of L2 sentences). In Experiment 1, participants read high and low constraint English (L1) sentences containing interlingual homographs, cognates, or control words. In Experiment 2, we included French (L2) filler sentences to increase salience of the L2 during L1 reading. The results suggest that bilinguals reading in their L1 show nonselective activation to the extent that they acquired their L2 early in life. Similar to our previous work on L2 reading, high contextual constraint attenuated cross-language activation for cognates. The inclusion of French filler items promoted greater cross-language activation, especially for late stage reading measures. Thus, L1 bilingual reading is modulated by L2 knowledge, semantic constraint, and task demands.

To study age effects in the resolution of idiomatic semantic ambiguity, we focus on decomposability, the extent to which a literal reading of an idiom's words shares meaning with its figurative interpretation. Younger and older adults judged whether decomposable and nondecomposable idioms and nonidioms had a literal interpretation. Older adults were slower at making literality judgments and more sensitive to conflicts between literal and figurative meanings. The results support claims of decompositional analysis of idioms during later processing stages and of obligatory activation of figurative meanings. They also lend support to research that has shown age-related effects in ambiguity resolution., ((c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.)

The neural bases of prosody during the production of literal and idiomatic interpretations of literally plausible idioms was investigated. Left- and right-hemisphere-damaged participants and normal controls produced literal and idiomatic versions of idioms (He hit the books.) All groups modulated duration to distinguish the interpretations. LHD patients, however, showed typical speech timing difficulties. RHD patients did not differ from the normal controls. The results partially support a differential lateralization of prosodic cues in the two cerebral hemispheres [Van Lancker, D., & Sidtis, J. J. (1992). The identification of affective-prosodic stimuli by left- and right-hemisphere-damaged subjects: All errors are not created equal. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 35, 963-970]. Furthermore, extended final word lengthening appears to mark idiomaticity.

Current models of bilingualism (e.g., BIA+) posit that lexical access during reading is not language selective. However, much of this research is based on the comprehension of words in isolation. The authors investigated whether nonselective access occurs for words embedded in biased sentence contexts (e.g., A. I. Schwartz & J. F. Kroll, 2006). Eye movements were recorded as French-English bilinguals read English sentences containing cognates (e.g., piano), interlingual homographs (e.g., coin, meaning corner in French), or matched control words. Sentences provided a low or high semantic constraint for target-language meanings. Both early-stage comprehension measures (e.g., first fixation duration, gaze duration, and skipping) and late-stage comprehension measures (e.g., go-past time and total reading time) showed significant cognate facilitation and interlingual homograph interference for low-constraint sentences. For high-constraint sentences, however, only early-stage comprehension measures were consistent with nonselective access. There was no evidence of cognate facilitation or interlingual homograph interference for late-stage comprehension measures. Thus, nonselective bilingual lexical access at early stages of comprehension is rapidly resolved in semantically biased contexts at later stages of comprehension., ((c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)

Studies of polysemy are few in number and are contradictory. Some have found differences between polysemy and homonymy (L. Frazier & K. Rayner, 1990), and others have found similarities (D. K. Klein & G. Murphy, 2001). The authors investigated this issue using the methods of D. K. Klein and G. Murphy (2001), in whose study participants judged whether ambiguous words embedded in word pairs (e.g., tasty chicken) made sense as a function of a cooperating, conflicting, or neutral context. The ambiguous words were independently rated as having low, moderate, or highly overlapping senses to approximate a continuum from homonymy to metonymic polysemy. The effects of meaning dominance were examined. Words with highly overlapping meanings (e.g., metonymy) showed reduced effects of context and dominance compared with words with moderately or low overlapping meanings (e.g., metaphorical polysemy and homonymy). These results suggest that the comprehension of ambiguous words is mediated by the semantic overlap of alternative senses/meanings.

Models of idiom comprehension differ in their predictions concerning compositionality: Some claim that idiomatic meaning is the result of compositional analysis initiated at the earliest stages of comprehension, whereas others claim that compositional analysis occurs only at late stages, subsequent to direct retrieval--especially for idioms that are highly familiar. We evaluated these alternatives in four experiments by using a variety of online and offline comprehension measures. In Experiment 1, we analyzed the normative characteristics of 219 idioms with respect to these predictions. Dimensions of interest included several measures of decomposability, familiarity, and word frequency of the idioms' verbs and nouns. In Experiments 2 through 4, we determined how these dimensions relate to several online measures of idiom comprehension. High familiarity was associated with good comprehension across all experiments; however, facilitative effects of decomposability were found only for tasks that required an overt semantic judgment. Word frequency, but not semantic decomposability of the idiom-initial verb, was associated with comprehension for some measures. These data support a model of idiom comprehension, according to which figurative meaning arises from the time-dependent availability of multiple linguistic constraints, and in which decomposability plays a limited role in the earliest stages of idiom comprehension. Normative data for 210 of the idiomatic phrases may be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society Web archive at www.psychonomic.org/archive/.

Two experiments examined whether young and older adults differ in comprehending sentences that contain temporary syntactic closure ambiguities. Experiment 1 examined age-related differences using the Auditory Moving Window (AMW) task, in which sentences were presented in a segment-by-segment self-paced fashion. Experiment 2 examined age-related differences using a sentence recall task, in which sentences were presented in their entirety. Sentences were constructed to have cooperating prosody (i.e., where prosody is consistent with the syntactic boundaries), baseline prosody (i.e., where prosody is ambiguous in the syntactically ambiguous region), and conflicting prosody (i.e., where cross-splicing relocates the prosodic phrase break at a misleading point in syntactic structure). The results showed that both young and older adults make comparable use of prosodic information to interpret temporary syntactic ambiguities, although younger adults may make use of this information more quickly than older adults. In addition, older adults appeared to be less able than young adults to revise initial syntactic misinterpretations caused by conflicting prosodic information. These results are interpreted with respect to age-related impairments in the allocation of working memory resources and inefficient inhibitory function during spoken language processing.

Though much is known about the N400 component, an event-related EEG potential that is sensitive to semantic manipulations, it is unclear whether modulations of N400 amplitude reflect automatic processing, controlled processing, or both. We examined this issue using a semantic judgment task that manipulated local and global contextual cues. Word triplets (prime-noun-target, e.g., finance-bank-money) were sequentially presented on a computer screen (500 ms duration, 1000 ms stimulus onset asynchrony), in which the second word was a homograph. The first word (prime) created a neutral-, dominant-meaning- or subordinate-meaning-biased "global context," and the third word (target) created a dominant- or subordinate-biased "local context" that was either congruent or incongruent with the "global context" established by the first prime word. Participants were instructed to read all three words but to decide only whether the second and third words were semantically related. Event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically the N400, were recorded to the third terminal word. N400 amplitudes evoked by dominant meaning-related third words incongruent with the globally biased subordinate context (e.g., river-bridge-money) were significantly more negative than dominant endings in neutral contexts (e.g., taxi-bank-money), but not different from unrelated filler triplets. In addition, there was some indication that left hemisphere, temporal-parietal electrode sites were associated with greater N400 negativity for dominant targets in conflicting subordinate global contexts than homologous right hemisphere electrode sites, the latter of which showed significant activation to subordinate meanings in cooperating contexts. Thus, N400 amplitude was more affected by global than local context suggesting that controlled processes may take priority over automatic processes in modulating N400 amplitude, especially for left hemisphere electrode sites.

Schizophrenia patients have difficulty processing nonliteral forms of discourse such as idiomatic expressions. We hypothesized that schizophrenia patients would show impaired idiom processing for literally plausible idioms (e.g., kick the bucket) but not for literally implausible idioms (e.g., be on cloud nine). Thirty-two patients and 36 controls listened to sentences containing literally plausible and implausible idioms and made lexical decisions about idiom-related or literal-related targets. Schizophrenia patients showed reduced priming for literally plausible idioms but intact priming for literally implausible idioms compared with controls. Both groups showed evidence of literal word priming. These results are consistent with the notion that schizophrenia patients make normal use of context under conditions that minimize the need for controlled processing.

We investigated whether cross-language activation is sensitive to shifting language demands and language experience during first and second language (i.e., L1, L2) reading. Experiment 1 consisted of L1 French-L2 English bilinguals reading in the L2, and Experiment 2 consisted of L1 English-L2 French bilinguals reading in the L1. Both groups read English sentences with target words serving as indices of cross-language activation: cross-language homographs, cognates, and matched language-unique control words. Critically, we manipulated whether English sentences contained a momentary language switch into French before downstream target words. This allowed us to assess the consequences of shifting language demands, both in the moment, and residually following a switch as a function of language experience. Switches into French were associated with a reading cost at the switch site for both L2 and L1 readers. However, downstream cross-language activation was larger following a switch only for L1 readers. These results suggest that cross-language activation is jointly sensitive to momentary shifts in language demands and language experience, likely reflecting different control demands faced by L2 versus L1 readers, consistent with models of bilingual processing that ascribe a primary role for language control.

Libben and Titone (2009) recently observed that cognate facilitation and interlingual homograph interference were attenuated by increased semantic constraint during bilingual second language (L2) reading, using eye movement measures. We now investigate whether cross-language activation also occurs during first language (L1) reading as a function of age of L2 acquisition and task demands (i.e., inclusion of L2 sentences). In Experiment 1, participants read high and low constraint English (L1) sentences containing interlingual homographs, cognates, or control words. In Experiment 2, we included French (L2) filler sentences to increase salience of the L2 during L1 reading. The results suggest that bilinguals reading in their L1 show nonselective activation to the extent that they acquired their L2 early in life. Similar to our previous work on L2 reading, high contextual constraint attenuated cross-language activation for cognates. The inclusion of French filler items promoted greater cross-language activation, especially for late stage reading measures. Thus, L1 bilingual reading is modulated by L2 knowledge, semantic constraint, and task demands. (Contains 1 footnote, 9 tables, and 2 figures.)

Current models of bilingualism (e.g., BIA+) posit that lexical access during reading is not language selective. However, much of this research is based on the comprehension of words in isolation. The authors investigated whether nonselective access occurs for words embedded in biased sentence contexts (e.g., A. I. Schwartz & J. F. Kroll, 2006). Eye movements were recorded as French-English bilinguals read English sentences containing cognates (e.g., piano), interlingual homographs (e.g., coin, meaning corner in French), or matched control words. Sentences provided a low or high semantic constraint for target-language meanings. Both early-stage comprehension measures (e.g., first fixation duration, gaze duration, and skipping) and late-stage comprehension measures (e.g., go-past time and total reading time) showed significant cognate facilitation and interlingual homograph interference for low-constraint sentences. For high-constraint sentences, however, only early-stage comprehension measures were consistent with nonselective access. There was no evidence of cognate facilitation or interlingual homograph interference for late-stage comprehension measures. Thus, nonselective bilingual lexical access at early stages of comprehension is rapidly resolved in semantically biased contexts at later stages of comprehension. (Contains 11 tables and 1 footnote.)

Studies of polysemy are few in number and are contradictory. Some have found differences between polysemy and homonymy (L. Frazier & K. Rayner, 1990), and others have found similarities (D. K. Klein & G. Murphy, 2001). The authors investigated this issue using the methods of D. K. Klein and G. Murphy (2001), in whose study participants judged whether ambiguous words embedded in word pairs (e.g., tasty chicken) made sense as a function of a cooperating, conflicting, or neutral context. The ambiguous words were independently rated as having low, moderate, or highly overlapping senses to approximate a continuum from homonymy to metonymic polysemy. The effects of meaning dominance were examined. Words with highly overlapping meanings (e.g., metonymy) showed reduced effects of context and dominance compared with words with moderately or low overlapping meanings (e.g., metaphorical polysemy and homonymy). These results suggest that the comprehension of ambiguous words is mediated by the semantic overlap of alternative senses/meanings.

Through much is known about the N400 component, an event-related EEG potential that is sensitive to semantic manipulations, it is unclear whether modulations of N400 amplitude reflect automatic processing, controlled processing, or both. We examined this issue using a semantic judgment task that manipulated local and global contextual cues. Word triplets (prime-noun-target, e.g., "finance"-"bank"-"money") were sequentially presented on a computer screen (500ms duration, 1000ms stimulus onset asynchrony), in which the second word was a homograph. The first word (prime) created a neutral-, dominant-meaning- or subordinate-meaning-biased ''global context,'' and the third word (target) created a dominant- or subordinate-biased ''local context'' that was either congruent or incongruent with the ''global context'' established by the first prime word. Participants were instructed to read all three words but to decide only whether the second and third words were semantically related. Event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically the N400, were recorded to the third terminal word. N400 amplitudes evoked by dominant meaning-related third words incongruent with the globally biased subordinate context (e.g., "river"-"bridge"-"money") were significantly more negative than dominant endings in neutral contexts (e.g., "taxi"-"bank"-"money"), but not different from unrelated filler triplets. In addition, there was some indication that left hemisphere, temporal-parietal electrode sites were associated with greater N400 negativity for dominant targets in conflicting subordinate global contexts than homologous right hemisphere electrode sites, the latter of which showed significant activation to subordinate meanings in cooperating contexts. Thus, N400 amplitude was more affected by global than local context suggesting that controlled processes may take priority over automatic processes in modulating N400 amplitude, especially for left hemisphere electrode sites.

Idioms are semantically non-compositional multiword units whose meanings often go beyond literal interpretations of their component words (e.g., break the ice, kick the bucket, spill the beans). According to hybrid models of idiom processing, idioms are subject to both direct retrieval from the lexicon in early stages of processing, and word-by-word compositional reanalysis in later stages of comprehension. However, a less clear aspect is how disrupting an idiom's canonical form, and thus its direct retrieval, impacts the time course of comprehension. In this eye-tracking reading study, healthy English-French bilingual adults with English as their dominant language read sentences containing English idioms in their canonical form (e.g., break the ice), or in a switched form where the phrase-final noun was translated into French (e.g., break the glace). Thus, within this manipulation, momentary language switches modified the canonical form of idioms, while at the same time minimally altering the semantics of their component words, thus nudging readers towards a compositional processing route. Analyses of eye-movement data revealed switching costs in longer reading times at early (but not late) processing stages for idioms compared to matched literal phrases. Interestingly, the cost of language switching was attenuated by the availability of a translationally equivalent idiom in the non-target language (French, e.g., briser la glace). Taken together, these results suggest that direct retrieval is the preferential route in the comprehension of idioms' canonical forms, which acts as an effective repair strategy by the language-processing system when recovering the underlying form of modified idioms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated how individual differences in language proficiency and executive control impact cross-language meaning activation through phonology. Ninety-six university students read English sentences that contained French target words. Target words were high- and low-frequency French interlingual homophones (i.e., words that share pronunciation, but not meaning across langauges; mot means 'word' in French and sounds like 'mow' in English) and matched French control words (e.g., mois – 'month' in French). Readers could use the homophones' shared phonology to activate their English meanings and, ultimately, make sense of the sentence (e.g., Tony was too lazy to mot/mois the grass on Sunday). Shorter reading times were observed on interlingual homophones than control words, suggesting that phonological representations in one language activate cross-language semantic representations. Importantly, the magnitude of the effect was modulated by word frequency, and several participant-level characteristics, including French proficiency, English word knowledge, and executive control ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idioms are part of a general class of multiword expressions where the overall interpretation cannot be fully determined through a simple syntactic and semantic (i.e., compositional) analysis of their component words (e.g., kick the bucket, save your skin). Idioms are thus simultaneously amenable to direct retrieval from memory, and to an on-demand compositional analysis, yet it is unclear which processes lead to figurative interpretations of idioms during comprehension. In this eye-tracking study, healthy adults read sentences in their native language that contained idioms, which were followed by figurative-or literal-biased disambiguating sentential information. The results showed that the earliest stages of comprehension are driven by direct retrieval of idiomatic forms; however, later stages of comprehension, after which point the intended meaning of an idiom is known, are driven by both direct retrieval and compositional processing. Of note, at later stages, increased idiom decomposability slowed reading time, suggesting more effortful figurative comprehension. Together, these results are most consistent with multidetermined or hybrid models of idiom processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to investigate first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) reading of verb particle constructions (VPCs) among English–French bilingual adults. VPCs, or phrasal verbs, are highly common collocations of a verb paired with a particle, such as eat up or chew out , that often convey a figurative meaning. VPCs vary in form (eat up the candy vs. eat the candy up) and in other factors, such as the semantic contribution of the constituent words to the overall meaning (semantic transparency) and frequency. Much like classic forms of idioms, VPCs are difficult for L2 users. Here, we present two experiments that use eye-tracking to discover factors that influence the ease with which VPCs are processed by bilingual readers. In Experiment 1, we compared L1 reading of adjacent vs. split VPCs, and then explored whether the general pattern was driven by item-level factors. L1 readers did not generally find adjacent VPCs (eat up the candy) easier to process than split VPCs (eat the candy up) ; however, VPCs low in co-occurrence strength (i.e., low semantic transparency) and high in frequency were easiest to process in the adjacent form during first pass reading. In Experiment 2, we compared L2 reading of adjacent vs. split VPCs, and then explored whether the general pattern varied with item-level or participant-level factors. L2 readers generally allotted more second pass reading time to split vs. adjacent forms, and there was some evidence that this pattern was greater for L2 English readers who had less English experience. In contrast with L1 reading, there was no influence of item differences on L2 reading behavior. These data suggest that L1 readers may have lexicalized VPC representations that are directly retrieved during comprehension, whereas L2 readers are more likely to compositionally process VPCs given their more general preference for adjacent particles, as demonstrated by longer second pass reading time for all split items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using event related brain potentials (ERPs), we examined the neurocognitive basis of phonological discrimination of phoneme /h/ in native English speakers and Francophone late second language (L2) learners, as a function of L2 proficiency and stimulus/task demands. In Experiment 1, native and non-native (L2 only) phonological contrasts were presented as syllables during a task that directed attention to phonological form. Phonological categorization was assessed with MMN, N2b and P3b effects. In Experiment 2, the same contrasts were presented as words/ pseudowords during a task that directed attention to semantics. Phonological discrimination was assessed with N400 pseudoword effects. High proficiency L2 learners displayed similar ERPs as native speakers in both experiments; low proficiency L2 learners showed discrimination of non-native contrasts in Experiment 1 (directed attention task) only. Thus, L2 phonological discrimination by late learners may depend on stimulus/task factors and occurs in a wider range of contexts as L2 proficiency improves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We address a core question about idioms relevant to formulaic language generally: are the figurative meanings of idioms directly retrieved or compositionally built? An understanding of this question has been previously obscured by the fact that idioms vary in ways that can affect processing, and also because experimental tasks, which differ across studies, probe different kinds of comprehension processes. We thus investigate how linguistic differences among idioms in semantic decomposability, familiarity, and literal plausibility modulate figurative meaning activation using cross-modal semantic priming, which is ideal for tracking activation of a particular target meaning over time. Across two experiments, we obtained two key findings. First, a comparison of different prime-target delay conditions suggests that figurative meaning activation steadily accrues as the idiom unfolds to 1000 ms later. Second, different linguistic attributes of idioms modulate figurative activation at different time points: increased literal plausibility interferes with idiom priming prior to the offset of the phrase, increased familiarity facilitates idiom priming at phrase offset, and increased semantic decomposability (surprisingly) interferes with idiom priming 1000 ms following phrase offset. These results contradict strong decompositional models of idiom processing and rather suggest that multiple linguistic factors jointly constrain figurative meaning retrieval in a time-dependent fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study investigated cross-modal effects of emotional voice tone (prosody) on face processing during instructed visual search. Specifically, we evaluated whether emotional prosodic cues in speech have a rapid, mandatory influence on eye movements to an emotionally-related face, and whether these effects persist as semantic information unfolds. Participants viewed an array of six emotional faces while listening to instructions spoken in an emotionally congruent or incongruent prosody (e.g., “Click on the happy face” spoken in a happy or angry voice). The duration and frequency of eye fixations were analyzed when only prosodic cues were emotionally meaningful (pre-emotional label window: “Click on the/…”), and after emotional semantic information was available (post-emotional label window: “…/happy face”). In the pre-emotional label window, results showed that participants made immediate use of emotional prosody, as reflected in significantly longer frequent fixations to emotionally congruent versus incongruent faces. However, when explicit semantic information in the instructions became available (post-emotional label window), the influence of prosody on measures of eye gaze was relatively minimal. Our data show that emotional prosody has a rapid impact on gaze behavior during social information processing, but that prosodic meanings can be overridden by semantic cues when linguistic information is task relevant. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Semantic priming has long been used to investigate how concepts and ideas are related at the level of language, and has become a convenient tool for assessing conceptual and semantic dysfunction in cognitive disorders, including schizophrenia. The study of semantic priming in schizophrenia has led to diverse results: enhanced priming, reduced priming, and priming equivalent to that found in nonpsychiatric comparison groups. A number of hypotheses have been proposed to explain some of the observed deficits in schizophrenia patients. For example, difficulties in word recognition may be due to hyperactivation of too many lexical representations or to a failure to inhibit lexical competitors. One way to distinguish between these possible explanations is to move beyond reliance on behavior alone and to examine the neural processes involved in lexical recognition. Here we present a magnetoencephalographic study of semantic priming in schizophrenia. Importantly, schizophrenia patients and healthy controls did not differ in performance on a priming task. We show that normal behavioral performance can occur in a context of aberrant neural responses. These findings suggest that normal behavioral responses in schizophrenia can be achieved through neural mechanisms that differ from those seen in the psychiatrically well brain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Studies of polysemy are few in number and are contradictory. Some have found differences between polysemy and homonymy (L. Frazier & K. Rayner, 1990), and others have found similarities (D. K. Klein & G. Murphy, 2001). The authors investigated this issue using the methods of D. K. Klein and G. Murphy (2001), in whose study participants judged whether ambiguous words embedded in word pairs (e.g., tasty chicken) made sense as a function of a cooperating, conflicting, or neutral context. The ambiguous words were independently rated as having low, moderate, or highly overlapping senses to approximate a continuum from homonymy to metonymic polysemy. The effects of meaning dominance were examined. Words with highly overlapping meanings (e.g., metonymy) showed reduced effects of context and dominance compared with words with moderately or low overlapping meanings (e.g., metaphorical polysemy and homonymy). These results suggest that the comprehension of ambiguous words is mediated by the semantic overlap of alternative senses/meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study employed a conceptual combination task based on Estes and Glucksberg [(2000). Interactive property attribution in concept combination. Memory & Cognition, 28(1), 28–34] to address the question of whether semantic processing abnormalities in schizophrenia arise from deficits in semantic storage or access, or the controlled use of semantic memory representations. High thought disorder schizophrenia patients (), low thought disorder schizophrenia patients (), and controls () read and interpreted noun–noun combinations that varied with respect to whether the modifier noun had a salient semantic feature that could be mapped to a relevant dimension of a head noun. The percentages of property attributions, relational interpretations, and “other” interpretations were determined for each combination type. Subjective difficulty ratings were also collected for each response. Neither high nor low thought disorder patients differed from controls in the production of property interpretations. High thought disorder patients were significantly less likely to generate relational interpretations and significantly more likely to generate “other” interpretations. Subjective difficulty ratings were low for all groups, suggesting that differences in the ease of generating interpretations does not account for the results. The finding of intact property interpretations suggests that the integrity and initial access of semantic memory is spared in schizophrenia. In contrast, the reduced production of relational interpretations and increased production of “other” interpretations in schizophrenia suggests a compromised ability to engage in the controlled processing operations necessary to make flexible use of semantic material. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The authors investigated whether contextual failures in schizophrenia are due to deficits in the detection of context or the inhibition of contextually irrelevant information. Eighteen schizophrenia patients and 24 nonpsychiatric controls were tested via a cross-modal semantic priming task. Participants heard sentences containing homonyms and made lexical decisions about visual targets related to the homonyms' dominant or subordinate meanings. When sentences moderately biased subordinate meanings (e.g., the animal enclosure meaning of pen), schizophrenia patients showed priming of dominant targets (e.g., paper) and subordinate targets (e.g., pig). In contrast, controls showed priming only of subordinate targets. When contexts strongly biased subordinate meanings, both groups showed priming only of subordinate targets. The results suggest that inhibitory deficits rather than context detection deficits underlie contextual failures in schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The process of combining two words to create or identify a new concept is highly productive in English. A noun–noun compound may be interpreted by integrating a feature of the modifying noun into the head noun’s representation (property interpretation), or by aligning the referents in a context (relational interpretation). In the present study, young (n = 13) and older (n = 15) adults, and patients with probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n = 11) generated definitions for novel compounds. Older adults produced fewer property, but not relational, interpretations than younger adults, suggesting that the two routes to interpretation are dissociable. Young adults produced more expected and fewer unexpected property interpretations than older adults; higher production of unexpected property interpretations by AD participants relative to older adults was also observed. This finding may be due to impairments in inhibitory functioning in healthy aging and AD, which result in reduced inhibition of irrelevant or less salient features of the modifying noun. All participants produced both types of interpretation, suggesting that both comprehension routes are available in healthy aging and AD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]