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We present a model of semantic memory that utilizes a high-dimensional semantic space constructed from a co-occurrence matrix. This matrix was formed by analyzing a 160 million word corpus. Word vectors were then obtained by extracting rows and columns of this matrix. These vectors were subjected to multidimensional scaling. Words were found to cluster semantically, suggesting that interword distance may be interpretable as a measure of semantic similarity. In attempting to replicate with our simulation the semantic and associative priming experiment by Shelton and Martin (1992), we found that semantic similarity plays a larger role in priming than what they would suggest. Vectors were formed for three different types of related words that may more orthogonally control for association and similarity, and interpair distances were computed for both related and unrelated prime-target pairs. A priming effect was found for pairs that were only semantically related, as well as for word pairs that were both semantically and associatively related. No priming was found for word pairs which were strictly associatively related (no semantic overlap). This finding was replicated in a single-word priming experiment using a lexical decision procedure with human subjects. The lack of associative priming is discussed in relation to prior experiments that have found robust associative priming. W e conclude that our priming results are driven by semantic overlap rather than by associativity, and that prior results finding associative priming are due, at least in part, to semantic overlap within the associated word pairs.

Two types of word stimuli, easily syllabified (eg. balcony) and ambisyllabic English words (eg. balance), were used in a reading task designed to determine if words are processed using strictly syllables as the unit of segmentation or if multiple units of segmentation are used. W e could not replicate work done by Prinzmetal, Treiman, and Rho (1986) who found that, with text, more illusory conjunction occurred within syllables than across syllable boundaries. In contrast, our work supports the hypothesis that English is too complicated of a language to use only one segmenting unit. Thus, the pattern of results was dependent on the structure of the words themselves, with the ambisyllabic words being processed using phonemes and not syllables as the unit of segmentation.

Facial affect processing is essential to social development and functioning and is particularly relevant to models of depression. Although cognitive and interpersonal theories have long described different pathways to depression, cognitive-interpersonal and evolutionary social risk models of depression focus on the interrelation of interpersonal experience, cognition, and social behavior. We therefore review the burgeoning depressive facial affect processing literature and examine its potential for integrating disciplines, theories, and research. In particular, we evaluate studies in which information processing or cognitive neuroscience paradigms were used to assess facial affect processing in depressed and depression-susceptible populations. Most studies have assessed and supported cognitive models. This research suggests that depressed and depression-vulnerable groups show abnormal facial affect interpretation, attention, and memory, although findings vary based on depression severity, comorbid anxiety, or length of time faces are viewed. Facial affect processing biases appear to correspond with distinct neural activity patterns and increased depressive emotion and thought. Biases typically emerge in depressed moods but are occasionally found in the absence of such moods. Indirect evidence suggests that childhood neglect might cultivate abnormal facial affect processing, which can impede social functioning in ways consistent with cognitive-interpersonal and interpersonal models. However, reviewed studies provide mixed support for the social risk model prediction that depressive states prompt cognitive hypervigilance to social threat information. We recommend prospective interdisciplinary research examining whether facial affect processing abnormalities promote--or are promoted by--depressogenic attachment experiences, negative thinking, and social dysfunction. (Contains 3 tables.)

The individual roles played by the cerebral hemispheres during the process of language comprehension have been extensively studied in tasks that require individuals to read text (for review see Jung-Beeman, 2005). However, it is not clear whether or not some aspects of the theorized laterality models of semantic comprehension are a result of the modality of presentation. Extending earlier work examining lateralized semantic processing using lexically ambiguous words, the current experiments utilized two modified lexical-decision tasks (one fully auditory and one cross-modal) with dichotically presented target stimuli. When targets were presented to the right ear/left hemisphere there was a distinct advantage for detecting words that are associated with the dominant meaning of the ambiguous word over the subordinate meaning. In contrast, for left ear/right hemisphere trials, there was either no difference between the pattern of semantic access for dominant and subordinate meaning (dichotic only) or a processing advantage for the subordinate meaning of the ambiguous word (with cross-modal presentation). These data suggest that the complimentary hemispheric strategies that allow for semantic access are not modality specific and instead characterize how the hemispheres each contribute to comprehension for both speech and text. Thus, dichotic presentation does seem to allow for the study of subtle hemispheric difference in meaning comprehension.

A divided visual field (DVF) experiment examined the semantic processing strategies employed by the cerebral hemispheres to determine if strategies observed with written word stimuli generalize to other media for communicating semantic information. We employed picture stimuli and vary the degree of semantic relatedness between the picture pairs. Participants made an on-line semantic relatedness judgment in response to sequentially presented pictures. We found that when pictures are presented to the right hemisphere responses are generally more accurate than the left hemisphere for semantic relatedness judgments for picture pairs. Furthermore, consistent with earlier DVF studies employing words, we conclude that the RH is better at accessing or maintaining access to information that has a weak or more remote semantic relationship. We also found evidence of faster access for pictures presented to the LH in the strongly-related condition. Overall, these results are consistent with earlier DVF word studies that argue that the cerebral hemispheres each play an important and separable role during semantic retrieval. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)

The present study employs event related potentials (ERPs) to verify the utility of using electrophysiological measures to study developmental questions within the field of language comprehension. Established ERP components (N400 and P600) that reflect semantic and syntactic processing were examined. Fifteen adults and 14 children (ages 8-13) processed spoken stimuli containing either semantic or syntactic anomalies. Adult participants showed a significant N400 in response to semantic anomalies and P600 components in response to syntactic anomalies. Children also show evidence of both ERP components. The children's N400 component differed from the adults' in scalp location, latency, and component amplitude. The children's P600 was remarkably similar to the P600 shown by adults in scalp location, component amplitude, and component latency. Theoretical implication for theories of language comprehension in adults and children will be discussed.

The objectives of the research described in this article focus on an understanding of factors that influence creativity in healthcare design. Two areas of emphasis include the personality strengths of successful healthcare architects and elements of the current project delivery process. As part of the research, 48 healthcare architects participated in a battery of personality and creativity tests including Myers/Briggs, The Big Five, the Remote Associates Test (RAT), and an architectural creativity test. Results of the test point to strong "openness" for new ideas, particularly with the designers sampled. As a group, respondents scored low in "narcistic" bias (indicating emotional stability) and did not score high in verbal creativity. Compared to earlier studies of creative architects, the sample group included significantly fewer "perceiver" (Myers/Briggs), associated with a high level of curiosity. A second interesting finding was a significant difference between younger and older architects in the architectural creativity test. One possible hypothesis is the experience of the older architects. A second, and potentially more alarming, hypothesis is that technological disruptions are interfering with the ability to stimulate divergent thinking, particularly in the younger generation raised with smart phones and other network tools. Creativity in healthcare architecture demonstrates the case for domain-specific experience and skills along with creative input from other knowledge domains. The ability to establish group creativity may be inhibited by pressures to condense project time lines and not fully implement lean and other process strategies for exploring alternative solutions. Effective participation in group creativity tasks is particularly important for the complex world of healthcare design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has found that more embodied insults (e.g. numbskull) are identified faster and more accurately than less embodied insults (e.g. idiot). The linguistic processing of embodied compliments has not been well explored. In the present study, participants completed two tasks where they identified insults and compliments, respectively. Half of the stimuli were more embodied than the other half. We examined the late positive potential (LPP) component of event-related potentials in early (400-500 ms), middle (500-600 ms), and late (600-700 ms) time windows. Increased embodiment resulted in improved response accuracy to compliments in both tasks, whereas it only improved accuracy for insults in the compliment detection task. More embodied stimuli elicited a larger LPP than less embodied stimuli in the early time window. Insults generated a larger LPP in the late time window in the insult task; compliments generated a larger LPP in the early window in the compliment task. These results indicate that electrophysiological correlates of emotional language perception are sensitive to both top-down and bottom-up processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November, of 2002 a satellite conference was held in conjunction with the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society in Kansas City. Several of those who presented at the [...]

The motivated attention network is believed to be the system that allocates attention toward motivationally relevant, emotional stimuli in order to better prepare an organism for action [Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1997). Motivated attention: Affect, activation, and action. In P. J. Lang, R. F. Simons, M. Balaban, & R. Simons (Eds.),Attention and orienting: Sensory and motivational processes(pp. 97–135). Psychology Press]. The late positive potential (LPP), an event-related potential (ERP) that is a manifestation of the motivated attention network, has not been found to reliably differentiate the valence of emotionally relevant stimuli. In two studies, we systematically varied epoch, stimulus arousal, stimulus valence, and hemisphere of presentation (Study 2) to investigate valence effects in the LPP. Both central and divided visual field presentations of emotional stimuli found the LPP to be sustained in later windows for high-arousing unpleasant images compared to pleasant images. Further, this effect was driven by sustained LPP responses following left hemisphere presentations of unpleasant stimuli compared to right. Findings are discussed regarding hemispheric processing of emotion and how lateralized emotion processes might contribute to psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]