1,720,991 research outputs found
Number line estimation and complex mental calculation: Is there a shared cognitive process driving the two tasks?
Full text linkIt is widely accepted that different number-related tasks, including solving simple addition and subtraction, may induce attentional shifts on the so-called mental number line, which represents larger numbers on the right and smaller numbers on the left. Recently, it has been shown that different number-related tasks also employ spatial attention shifts along with general cognitive processes. Here we investigated for the first time whether number line estimation and complex mental arithmetic recruit a common mechanism in healthy adults. Participants’ performance in two-digit mental additions and subtractions using visual stimuli was compared with their performance in a mental bisection task using auditory numerical intervals. Results showed significant correlations between participants’ performance in number line bisection and that in two-digit mental arithmetic operations, especially in additions, providing a first proof of a shared cognitive mechanism (or multiple shared cognitive mechanisms) between auditory number bisection and complex mental calculation
Memoria pupillare e falsi ricordi per i verbi di manipolazione: l'occhio sa quello che la mano fa
No full textCan the humped animal’s knee conceal its name? The effect of (non-)distinctive features in picture naming
Full text linkCore features: measures and characterization for different languages
Full text linkAccording to the feature-based view of semantic representation, concepts can be represented as distributed networks of semantic features, which contribute with different weights to determine the overall meaning of a concept. The study of semantic features, typically collected in property generation tasks, is enriched with measures indicating the informativeness and distinctiveness of a given feature for the related concepts. However, while these measures have been provided in several languages (e.g. Italian, Spanish and English), they have hardly been applied comparatively across languages. The purpose of this paper is to investigate language-related differences and similarities emerging from the semantic representation of aggregated core features. Features with higher salience for a set of concrete concepts are identified and described in terms of their feature type. Then, comparisons are made between domains (natural vs. artefacts) and languages (Italian, Spanish and English) and descriptive statistics are provided. These results show that the characterization of concrete concepts is overall fairly stable across languages, although interesting cross-linguistic differences emerged. We will discuss the implications of our findings in relation to the theoretical paradigm of semantic feature norms, as well as in relation to speakers’ mutual understanding in multilingual settings
Multiplex lexical networks and artificial intelligence unravel cognitive patterns of picture naming in people with anomic aphasia
No full textAphasia is a language disorder which impairs people's ability to comprehend or produce words. The mechanisms behind this disorder are not yet fully understood mainly because of the challenge of interpreting them through large-scale quantitative models. To this aim, we use artificial intelligence and knowledge graphs to investigate picture naming in people affected by anomic aphasia. Our knowledge graphs encode four aspects of associative knowledge: free word associations, synonyms, generalisations and phonological similarities. We then use these networks to compute features of target words and mistakes in producing them as recorded in a psychological mega-study with 31700 utterances. Adopting a human-centric AI approach, we train an artificial general intelligence (AGI) to predict the type of mistake (formal, semantic or mixed) according to network distances and individual level psychological norms. Our results reveal some key relationships between the multiplex structure and the error..
Catching the intangible: A role for emotion?
Full text linkA crucial aspect of Gilead and colleagues' ontology is the dichotomy between tangible and intangible representations, but the latter remains rather ill-defined. We propose a fundamental role for interoceptive experience and the statistical distribution of entities in language, especially for intangible representations, that we believe Gilead and colleagues' ontology needs to incorporate
The "subjective" pupil old/new effect: Is the truth plain to see?
No full textHuman memory is an imperfect process, prone to distortion and errors that range from minor disturbances to major errors that can have serious consequences on everyday life. In this study, we investigated false remembering of manipulatory verbs using an explicit recognition task and pupillometry. Our results replicated the "classical" pupil old/new effect as well as data in false remembering literature that show how items must be recognize as old in order for the pupil size to increase (e.g., "subjective" pupil old/new effect), even though these items do not necessarily have to be truly old. These findings support the strength-of-memory trace account that affirms that pupil dilation is related to experience rather than to the accuracy of recognition. Moreover, behavioral results showed higher rates of true and false recognitions for manipulatory verbs and a consequent larger pupil diameter, supporting the embodied view of language.© 2013 Elsevier B.V
Fine-Grained Concreteness Effects on Word Processing and Representation Across Three Tasks: An ERP Study
Full text linkPeople process concrete words more quickly and accurately than abstract ones-the so-called "concreteness effect." This advantage also reflects differences in how the brain processes and stores concrete versus abstract words. In this electrophysiological study, we treated word concreteness as a continuous variable and examined its effects on ERPs across three tasks with distinct processing demands (semantic, affective, grammatical). Behavioral results revealed task-dependent concreteness effects: in the semantic task, reaction times were faster for words at both concreteness extremes, and the classical linear advantage emerged for concrete words. Mass univariate ERP analyses revealed distinct spatiotemporal patterns of task-dependent concreteness effects. In the semantic task, we identified three significant clusters reflecting increased parietal N2/P3-like and sustained bilateral fronto-temporal negativity ERPs and decreased central N400-like ERP for abstract words. By contrast, the affective task elicited an increased parietal P600-like ERP for abstract words. Moreover, results from multivariate representational similarity analysis and an intersection analysis revealed that concreteness is encoded in ERP spatiotemporal patterns from 450 ms onwards, regardless of task, suggesting its role not only as an organizational principle in semantic representation, but also as a factor influencing downstream word processing and univariate ERP concreteness effects. Our findings challenge and extend existing theories like the dual coding and context availability ones, highlighting the importance of treating concreteness as a continuous variable and considering task context in word processing studies. This approach, enabled by advanced analytical techniques, provides a more nuanced understanding of how the brain processes and represents words
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