Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2019-01-09
Abstract： Age of Acquisition (AoA) refers to the age at which a concept is learned. Early-acquired words have an advantage over late-acquired words in processing accuracy and speed. Which stage of AoA playing its role in spoken word production remains controversial. The phonological completeness hypothesis assumes that AoA may have a phonological locus, while the semantic hypothesis assumes that AoA affects semantic processing (i.e., conceptual preparation, lexical selection). The network plasticity hypothesis assumes that AoA arises at multiple processing levels, in spoken word production.In a picture naming task, we used the event-related potential (ERP) technique to examine the loci of AoA effect in object and action pictures naming. Twenty-eight participants (9 males, mean range: 22.18, SD: 2.56) participated in this study. We selected a total of 188 words and their corresponding black and white line pictures, half of which were object pictures, and half were action pictures. Within each type of picture, half were early acquired, and half were late acquired. Therefore, the age of acquisition of picture names (early vs. late) and word type (noun vs. verb) served as within-participants variables. During the experiment, participants were asked to name each picture as accurately and quickly as possible. Behavioral data indicated a typical AoA effect in object pictures naming, showing that object pictures corresponding to early-acquired nouns were named faster than those corresponding to late-acquired ones. In contrast, action pictures corresponding to early-acquired verbs were named slower than those corresponding to late-acquired verbs. ERP data also showed distinct AoA effect patterns in object and action picture naming. For object picture naming, late-acquired nouns elicited a larger positivity than early-acquired nouns between 250~300 ms over left-prefrontal regions. In contrast, for action picture naming, early-acquired verbs evoked a larger positivity than late-acquired verbs within 200~250 ms, 300~400 ms and 450~600 ms time windows over the left hemisphere. We suggest that the AoA effect in object naming may originate in the lexical selection of spoken word production, supporting the semantic hypothesis. In contrast, the AoA effects in action naming may originate in multiple processes, such as lexical selection, phonological encoding and phonetic encoding, supporting the network plasticity hypothesis. The distinct AoA effects between the naming of object and action pictures probably relate to the distinct semantic networks that represent objects and actions. Therefore, the AoA effect in action picture naming is much more complicated than in object picture naming and needs further investigation.
Subjects: Psychology >> Cognitive Psychology submitted time 2018-12-20
Abstract： The “tip of the tongue” (TOT) refers to a state in which one cannot recall a familiar word but can recall words of similar form and meaning in speech production, which is common in our daily life, especially for the old speakers. The perspectives of cognitive (how linguistic properties and general cognitive abilities influence aging of TOT) and meta-cognitive (how the meta-cognitive evaluations of TOT influence TOT’s processing) have been proposed to explain the aging of TOT. However, little research has addressed this question in Chinese. The present study aims to examine how (a) individual characteristics (i.e., emotion, age) influence daily TOTs and (b) the interplay of cognitive factors and meta-cognitive factors influence daily TOTs. A sample of 67 participants (36 old adults, 13 males, age ranges: 60~81 years, M = 66.91, SD = 6.85; 31 young adults, 16 males, age ranges: 18~25 years, M = 21.50, SD = 2.43) filled in a quantitative and qualitative diary for 4 weeks (including weekends) to investigate their experience of TOTs. The questions and measurements used in our diary questionnaire included cognitive and meta-cognitive characteristics of TOT in speech production. Results indicated that the old adults generated more TOTs and took longer time to retrieve target words in successful production than the young adults in daily life, which confirmed our hypothesis that there was an aging of speech production in Chinese. Furthermore, when TOT happened, both old and young people could successfully retrieve alternative words and (or) semantically related information, but less phonologically related information, which supported transmission deficit hypothesis about aging of speech production. For the meta-cognitive experience, we found that young adults experienced higher degree of excitement and fatigueness than the old adults. In addition, the resolution time of TOTs was influenced by factors of target words familiarity, the presence of alternates and the comfort level when TOT happened. The assessments on TOT’s cognitive and meta-cognitive states affected the resolution time of the subsequent TOTs, reflecting that participants took more efforts and time to resolve TOTs after evaluating their meta-cognitive states. We suggest that TOT is the products of cognitive and meta-cognitive processes in Chinese speech production. "
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