This research was supported by grants from the National Science Council of Taiwan (MOST 104-2410-H-002-058) to Jei-Tun Wu and (NSC 101-2410-H-002-093-MY2) to Tai-Li Chou. Our special gratitude goes to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

All subjects must give informed written consent before the administration of experimental protocols. All procedures, consent forms, and the experimental protocol were approved by the Research Ethics Committee of National Taiwan University.
1. Comparing the Frequency Effect between the Lexical Decision and Naming Tasks in Chinese Character Recognition&#160;(Experiment 1)
<ol>
	<li>Recruit the Participants
	<ol>
		<li>Recruit forty-four students from National Taiwan University to participate in both the LDT and the naming task. The participants must be native Chinese speakers with normal or corrected-to-normal vision, and fluent in listening, speaking, reading and writing Mandarin. All of them were right-handed.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Materials
	<ol>
		<li>Select a total of 180 characters from Chinese character database of Wu and Liu (1987). Use 90 high-frequency characters and 90 low-frequency characters. According to Wu and Liu (1987), the high-frequency character is defined by the occurrence more than 100, and the low-frequency is defined by the occurrence from 1 to 15, among a total frequency of about one million in the database. Balance the important lexical characteristics (frequency, number of strokes, and/or other properties, etc.) of the materials chosen across conditions.</li>
		<li>Based on the phonology of the phonetic radical and the character, ensure that the characters contain three regularity types: regular, in which the phonetic radical and the character share the same pronunciation (ignoring the tones); irregular, in which there are differences between their pronunciations; and non-phonogram, in which the character cannot be defined as a phonogram.</li>
		<li>Classify each character into one of the six categories: (1) high-frequency, regular (e.g., <img alt="bao" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figBAO.jpg" />, b&#257;o, compatriot) (2) high-frequency, irregular (e.g., <img alt="bing" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figBING.jpg" />, b&#299;ng, ice) (3) high-frequency, non-phonogram (e.g., <img alt="duan" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figDUAN.jpg" />, du&#224;n, section) (4) low-frequency, regular (e.g., <img alt="ban" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figBAN.jpg" />, b&#224;n, stumble) (5) low-frequency, irregular (e.g., <img alt="fei" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figFEI.jpg" />, f&#275;i, wife of a prince) (6) low-frequency, non- phonogram (e.g., <img alt="duo" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figDUO.jpg" />, du&#242;, lazy). Each category contains 30 characters.</li>
		<li>Using TrueType (built in the Windows OS), construct 180 pseudo-characters by keeping the right radical of the characters and changing the left radical to another one. Make sure that there is no significant difference in the numbers of strokes between the characters and pseudo-characters.
		<ol>
			<li>Start the TrueType program. When a dialog box appears, click the OK button and start the program to construct the pseudo-characters. Click the Windows-Reference in the menu, then a reference panel will show up and choose a proper font.</li>
			<li>Input one real character in the blank box of the panel and click the OK button. Two panels will appear side by side on the screen. In the right panel of constructing characters, use the tool of Free Selection button to select the left radical of this real character with a circle. Move the left radical to the left panel of constructing characters. Then the left radical of the pseudo-characters has been made.</li>
			<li>Click the Windows-Reference in the menu again, and adopt the similar procedures to select the right radical of another real character. Move the right radical to the left panel of constructing characters. Put the two radicals together and make sure the combination of those two radicals is meaningless in the lexicon. A pseudo-character has been constructed. Then save the pseudo-character in the computer.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
		<li>Adopt a frequency (high, low) by regularity (regular, irregular, and non-phonogram) within-subject factorial design. Set the type of task as a between-subject variable.</li>
		<li>Randomize all the items.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>The LDT
	<ol>
		<li>Use a standard experimental software, such as the E-Prime, to program the experiment according to software protocols.</li>
		<li>Make sure that 50% of the stimuli are characters for the &#34;Yes response&#34; and the others are pseudo-characters for the &#34;No response&#34;.</li>
		<li>Ask the participants to judge whether the written stimulus appearing on the screen is a real character or not. Instruct them to respond as accurately and quickly as possible by pressing one of two keys, one is for &#34;Yes response&#34;, and the other is for &#34;No response&#34;. Remind all the participants to use right hand when making responses.</li>
		<li>Start each trial with an asterisk to indicate a fixation point at the center of the monitor for 500 msec, accompanied by a 100 Hz warning tone for 200 msec, followed by a blank screen appeared for 500 msec.</li>
		<li>After the asterisk, show the target character, which subtends a visual arc of approximately 2 degrees, from a 70 cm viewing distance, until the computer detects the participant&#39;s key stroke, and measure the response time (RT) from the onset of the target character until a key-press response is made.</li>
		<li>Set the time interval between one trial and the next with a blank screen for 1,000 msec. The computer will record the RT and accuracy rate of the participants&#39; responses in the LDT by keyboard pressing.</li>
		<li>Provide all the instruction both in written format on computer screen and verbally, and participants performed the task individually. 
		NOTE: In the exemplar experiment 1, the task included a practice session having 20 trials with feedback. During the experiment session, participants had a rest every 36 trials. A typical session including the practice one will take a participant 25 - 30 min to complete.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>
2. Comparing the Frequency Effect between the Lexical Decision and Naming Tasks in Chinese Word Recognition&#160;(Experiment 2)
<ol>
	<li>Recruit the Participants
	<ol>
		<li>Recruit thirty-six students from National Taiwan University to participate in both the LDT and the naming task. The recruitment criterion is the same as that in Protocol 1.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Materials
	<ol>
		<li>Select a total of 288 two-character words, in which half of them are real words and the other half are pseudo-words. According to Wu and Liu (1987), the high-frequency word is defined by the occurrence more than 50. Balance the important lexical characteristics (frequency, and/or other properties, etc.) of the materials chosen across conditions.</li>
		<li>Based on the phonology of the phonetic radical and the character, ensure that the leading character within the words contains three regularity types: regular, in which the phonetic radical and the character share the same pronunciation (ignoring the tones); irregular, in which there are differences between their pronunciations; and non-phonogram, in which the character cannot be defined as a phonogram.</li>
		<li>Control the leading characters within the real words for frequency across regularity types and make sure that the leading characters within the pseudo-words (e.g., <img alt="xianque" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figXIANQUE.jpg" />, xi&#224;n qu&#232;) are different from those in the real words.</li>
		<li>Adopt a frequency (high, low) by regularity (regular, irregular, and non-phonogram) within-subject factorial design.</li>
		<li>Classify each word into one of the six categories: (1) high-frequency, regular leading character (e.g., <img alt="buzhi" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figBUZHI.jpg" />, b&#249; zh&#236;, arrange) (2) high-frequency, irregular leading character (e.g., <img alt="banyan" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figBANYAN.jpg" />, b&#224;n y&#462;n, play the role) (3) high-frequency, non-phonogram leading character (e.g., <img alt="boshi" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figBOSHI.jpg" />, b&#242; sh&#236;, doctor) (4) low-frequency, regular leading character (e.g., <img alt="buju" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figBUJU.jpg" />, b&#249; j&#250;, distribution) (5) low-frequency, irregular leading character (e.g., <img alt="banxiang" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figBANXIANG.jpg" />, b&#224;n xi&#224;ng, actor in costume) (6) low-frequency, non-phonogram leading character (e.g., <img alt="boxue" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figBOXUE.jpg" />, b&#242; xu&#233;, eruditely).</li>
		<li>Assign all the stimuli into two blocks, and make each block correspond to a task type. Counterbalance the order of blocks among the participants.</li>
		<li>Randomize all the trials within each block.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>The LDT
	<ol>
		<li>Use a standard experimental software, such as the E-Prime, to program the experiment according to software protocols.</li>
		<li>Make sure that 50% of the stimuli are words for the &#34;Yes response&#34; and the others are pseudo-words for the &#34;No response&#34;.</li>
		<li>Ask the participants to judge whether the written stimulus appearing on the screen is a real word or not. Instruct them to respond as accurately and quickly as possible by pressing one of two keys, one is for &#34;Yes response&#34;, and the other is for &#34;No response&#34;. Remind all the participants to use right hand when making responses.</li>
		<li>Set the same requirements and arrangements as in Experiment 1, except that the stimulus on the screen is a word or pseudo-word instead of a character or pseudo-character.</li>
		<li>Provide all the instruction both in written format on computer screen and verbally, and participants performed the task individually.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>The Naming Task
	<ol>
		<li>Use a standard experimental software, such as the E-Prime, to program the experiment according to software protocols.</li>
		<li>Make sure that 50% of the stimuli are words for the &#34;Yes response&#34; and the others are pseudo-words for the &#34;No response&#34;.</li>
		<li>Ask the participants to pronounce the written words or pseudo-words on the screen. Instruct them to make a response as accurately and quickly as possible.</li>
		<li>Set the same requirements and arrangements as in Experiment 1, except that the stimulus on the screen is a word or pseudo-word instead of a character or pseudo-character.</li>
		<li>Provide all the instruction both in written format on computer screen and verbally, and participants performed the task individually.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>

<ol>
	<li>Johnson, D. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Word-association+and+word+frequency.">Word-association and word frequency.</a> AJP. 69 (1), 125-127 (1956).</li><li>McGinnes, E., Comer, P. B., Lacey, O. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Visual-recognition+thresholds+as+a+frequency+of+word+length+and+word+frequency.">Visual-recognition thresholds as a frequency of word length and word frequency.</a> J. Exp. Psychol. 44 (2), 65-69 (1952).</li><li>Forster, K. I., Chambers, S. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Lexical+access+and+naming+time.">Lexical access and naming time.</a> J. Mem. Lang. 12 (6), 627-635 (1973).</li><li>Whaley, C. P. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Word-nonword+classification+time.">Word-nonword classification time.</a> J. Mem. Lang. 17 (2), 143-154 (1978).</li><li>Becker, C. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Allocation+of+attention+during+visual+word+recognition.">Allocation of attention during visual word recognition.</a> J. Exp. Psychol. Human. 2 (4), 556-566 (1976).</li><li>Becker, C. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Semantic+context+and+word+frequency+effects+in+visual+word+recognition.">Semantic context and word frequency effects in visual word recognition.</a> J. Exp. Psychol. Human. 5 (2), 252-259 (1979).</li><li>Becker, C. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Semantic+context+effects+in+visual+word+recognition:+An+analysis+of+semantic+strategies.">Semantic context effects in visual word recognition: An analysis of semantic strategies.</a> Mem. Cognit. 8 (6), 493-512 (1980).</li><li>Coltheart, M., Underwood, G. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Lexical+access+in+simple+reading+tasks.">Lexical access in simple reading tasks.</a> Strategies of information processing. , 151-216 (1978).</li><li>Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., Haller, M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Model+of+reading+aloud:+Dual-route+and+parallel+distributed-processing+approaches.">Model of reading aloud: Dual-route and parallel distributed-processing approaches.</a> Psychol. Rev. 100 (4), 589-608 (1993).</li><li>Frost, R., Katz, L., Bentin, S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Strategies+for+visual+word+comparison+and+orthographic+depth:+A+multilingual+comparison.">Strategies for visual word comparison and orthographic depth: A multilingual comparison.</a> J. Exp. Psychol. Human. 13 (1), 104-115 (1987).</li><li>Li, M. -. F., Lin, W. -. C., Chou, T. -. L., Yang, F. -. L., Wu, J. -. T. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+role+of+orthographic+neighborhood+size+effects+in+Chinese+word+recognition.">The role of orthographic neighborhood size effects in Chinese word recognition.</a> J. Psycholinguistic. Res. 44 (3), 219-236 (2015).</li><li>Liu, I. -. M., Wu, J. -. T., Chou, T. -. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Encoding+operation+and+transcoding+as+the+major+loci+of+the+frequency+effect.">Encoding operation and transcoding as the major loci of the frequency effect.</a> Cognition. 59 (2), 149-168 (1996).</li><li>Wu, J. -. T., Yang, F. -. L., Lin, W. -. C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Beyond+phonology+matters+in+character+recognition.">Beyond phonology matters in character recognition.</a> Chin. J. Psychol. 55 (3), 289-318 (2013).</li><li>Wu, J. T., Chou, T. L., Liu, I. M., Chang, H. W., Huang, J. T., Hue, C. W., Tzeng, O. J. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+locus+of+the+character/word+frequency+effect.">The locus of the character/word frequency effect.</a> Advances in the study of Chinese language processing. , 31-58 (1994).</li><li>Balota, D. A., Chumbley, J. I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Are+lexical+decisions+a+good+measure+of+lexical+access?+The+role+of+word+frequency+in+the+neglected+decision+stage.">Are lexical decisions a good measure of lexical access? The role of word frequency in the neglected decision stage.</a> J. Exp. Psychol. Human. 10 (3), 340-357 (1984).</li><li>Wu, J. T., Liu, I. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Frequency+counts+of+Chinese+characters,+words,+and+syllables.">Frequency counts of Chinese characters, words, and syllables.</a> National Science Council Technical Report (Rep. NO. NSC 75-0301-H002-024). , (1987).</li></ol>

The authors have nothing to disclose.

This study demonstrates that the differences in frequency effects between the two tasks can help to elucidate the role of phonology on recognition such as pre-lexical and post-lexical phonology. In Chinese character recognition (Experiment 1), the phonology process may be post-lexical with a larger frequency effect in the naming task than in the LDT. This finding is different from the results reported in alphabetic languages. In Chinese word recognition (Experiment 2), a smaller frequency effect in the naming task may be...

In the reading experience, higher occurrence of a word increases the speed at which it will be identified, which is known as the frequency effect in the psycholinguistic field. Manipulating the variable of word frequency in psychophysical research, people observed lower thresholds of recognizing common words1,2. In the late 1970s, the word frequency has been widely regarded as one of most important variables influencing word identification3,4. Focusing on the word frequency and involving other related variables, most theories in explaining the word recognition had been constructed and spread5-9. Hence if it is claimed that one task can capture the process of word recognition effectively, it should be sensitive to the changes of word frequency. In the literature of written word recognition, both the lexical decision task (LDT) and naming tasks meet this criterion and researchers usually chose one of them to probe into the underlying mechanism of recognition.
Among research about word recognition in different languages, the LDT and naming task have been the classical experimental methods that use response-time measures to understand the mental processes of reading. In the LDT, researchers measure the time of the participant&#39;s decision making about whether a written stimulus is a word or not. As for the naming task, researchers measure how long it takes for the participant to speak a written word aloud. However, either of the two tasks has its own task demands and limitations. The LDT involves a discrimination process between words and non-words/pseudo-words, and a decision-making process of the participant. The naming task requires the participant to pronounce the stimuli, and phonological information must be used to fulfill the task requirement.
Results of the two tasks in previous research manifested different frequency effects in variety of scripts. In the alphabetic systems, the LDT manifested a larger frequency effect than the naming task3. In opinions of Balota and Chumbley (1984), the lower-frequency words have similar orthography with the non-words/pseudo-words. Thus, it takes longer for participants to discriminate the orthographic similarities to make the accurate response, which possibly exaggerates the frequency effect in the LDT. While in the naming task, especially when stimuli are from languages of shallow orthography, participants may pronounce the word using the orthography-to-phonology (O-P) conversion rules to make a response before they truly identify it. This naming demand has been taken as evidence of possible pre-lexical phonology on recognition in alphabetic languages. Such a naming strategy is argued to undermine the frequency effect10. In sum, although sensitive reflections to the manipulation of word frequency can be observed in both tasks, the LDT and the naming task may capture different stages and characteristics of the recognition process. To obtain a more precise and complete view, the proper way is adopting the two tasks meanwhile and comparing the patterns of their results.
Different from the alphabetic languages, Chinese has the characteristic of deeper orthography and involves the concept of characters in addition to words. In general, a Chinese word (e.g., <img alt="jiaren" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figJIAREN.jpg" />, ji&#257; r&#233;n, family member) is composed by two characters (&#34;<img alt="jia" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figJIA.jpg" />&#34;, ji&#257;, family; &#34;<img alt="ren" src="/files/ftp_upload/53815/53815figREN.jpg" />&#34;, r&#233;n, person). Before a word is identified, the recognition process of characters within the word should be finished11. In light of the unique psycholinguistic characteristics, the recognition process of a character or word in Chinese is quite distinct from the word recognition in alphabetic systems. If studies combine the LDT and the naming task in the same experiment to investigate frequency effect in Chinese, interesting revelations can be shown, e.g., phonological activation regarding visual character/word recognition. In processing Chinese characters, the use of the naming task shows a larger frequency effect than the LDT, which implies the existence of post-lexical phonology12, 13. Switching the stimuli to Chinese two-character words, a reversal pattern occurs. A larger frequency effect is found in the LDT than that in the naming, suggesting the existence of pre-lexical phonology. The participant produces the oral response according to the phonological information of the component characters, before the whole word is identified11, 14. Moreover, results after manipulating the regularity of the characters in the stimuli can reveal valuable information about phonological processing, and help researchers make inferences about when the retrieval of phonology occurs. The following experiments showed how the researchers combined the LDT and the naming task to investigate the frequency effect of Chinese characters and words to elaborate the underlying logic.

<table><tbody><tr><td>Standard PC</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>E-Prime (version 2.0)</td><td>Psychology Software Tools</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Serial Response Box</td><td>Psychology Software Tools</td><td></td><td>The serial response box includes the voice key, which&amp;nbsp; allows researchers to collect vocal latencies with confidence.</td></tr><tr><td>Microphone</td><td></td><td></td><td>It can be used to detect the incoming sound by the participant</td></tr></tbody></table>

comparing the frequency effect between the lexical decision and naming tasks in chinese

In psycholinguistic research, the frequency effect can be one of the indicators for eligible experimental tasks that examine the nature of lexical access. Usually, only one of those tasks is chosen to examine lexical access in a study. Using two exemplar experiments, this paper introduces an approach to include both the lexical decision task and the naming task in a study. In the first experiment, the stimuli were Chinese characters with frequency and regularity manipulated. In the second experiment, the stimuli were switched to Chinese two-character words, in which the word frequency and the regularity of the leading character were manipulated. The logic of these two exemplar experiments was to explore some important issues such as the role of phonology on recognition by comparing the frequency effect between both the tasks. The results revealed different patterns of lexical access from those reported in the alphabetic systems. The results of Experiment 1 manifested a larger frequency effect in the naming task as compared to the LDT, when the stimuli were Chinese characters. And it is noteworthy that, in Experiment 1, when the stimuli were regular Chinese characters, the frequency effect observed in the naming task was roughly equivalent to that in the LDT. However, a smaller frequency effect was shown in the naming task as compared to the LDT, when the stimuli were switched to Chinese two-character words in Experiment 2. Taking advantage of the respective demands and characteristics in both tasks, researchers can obtain a more complete and precise picture of character/word recognition.

The frequency effect was observed to be robust in both the two tasks, the evidence of which was significantly shorter RT for the high-frequency characters. More importantly, a frequency by task interaction was found. Post-hoc comparisons showed a larger frequency effect in the naming task than in the LDT, which was different from those reported by the studies in the alphabetic systems.
Moreover, a regularity by frequency interac...

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Comparing the Frequency Effect Between the Lexical Decision and Naming Tasks in Chinese

Researchers adopt both the lexical decision task and the naming task to investigate some important topics such as character/word recognition by comparing the frequency effect between these two tasks. This article introduces this approach through two exemplar experiments and elaborates on the underlying logic.

In psycholinguistic research, the frequency effect can be one of the indicators for eligible experimental tasks that examine the nature of lexical access. ...

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9.3K Views.  National Taiwan University. Researchers adopt both the lexical decision task and the naming task to investigate some important topics such as character/word recognition by comparing the frequency effect between these two tasks. This article introduces this approach through two exemplar experiments and elaborates on the underlying logic.

Video: Comparing the Frequency Effect Between the Lexical Decision and Naming Tasks in Chinese

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets

When viewers search for targets in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream, if two targets are presented within about 500 msec of each other, the first target may be easy to spot but the second is likely to be missed. This phenomenon of attentional blink (AB) has been widely studied to probe the temporal capacity of attention for detecting visual targets. However, with the typical procedure of AB experiments, it is not possible to examine how the processing of non-target items in RSVP may be affected by attention. This paper describes a novel dual task procedure combined with RSVP to test effects of AB for nontargets at varied stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). In an exemplar experiment, a target category was first displayed, followed by a sequence of 8 nouns. If one of the nouns belonged to the target category, participants would respond &#8216;yes&#8217; at the end of the sequence, otherwise participants would respond &#8216;no&#8217;. Two 2-alternative forced choice memory tasks followed the response to determine if participants remembered the words immediately before or after the target, as well as a random word from another part of the sequence. In a second exemplar experiment, the same design was used, except that 1) the memory task was counterbalanced into two groups with SOAs of either 120 or 240 msec and 2) three memory tasks followed the sequence and tested remembrance for nontarget nouns in the sequence that could be anywhere from 3 items prior the target noun position to 3 items following the target noun position. Representative results from a previously published study demonstrate that our procedure can be used to examine divergent effects of attention that not only enhance targets but also suppress nontargets. Here we show results from a representative participant that replicated the previous finding.&#160;

This paper describes a novel dual task procedure combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to look at attentional blink at varied stimulus onset asynchronies. This experimental procedure differed from others in that it tested attentional blink for nontargets.

When viewers search for targets in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream, if two targets are presented within about 500 msec of each other, the ...

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism

Sentence comprehension relies on the ability to rapidly integrate different types of linguistic and non-linguistic information. However, there is currently a paucity of research exploring how preschool children with autism understand sentences using different types of cues. The mechanisms underlying sentence comprehension remains largely unclear. The present study presents a protocol to examine the sentence comprehension abilities of preschool children with autism. More specifically, a visual world paradigm of eye-tracking is used to explore the moment-to-moment sentence comprehension in the children. The paradigm has multiple advantages. First, it is sensitive to the time course of sentence comprehension and thus can provide rich information about how sentence comprehension unfolds over time. Second, it requires minimal task and communication demands, so it is ideal for testing children with autism. To further minimize the computational burden of children, the present study measures eye movements that arise as automatic responses to linguistic input rather than measuring eye movements that accompany conscious responses to spoken instructions.

We present a protocol to examine the use of morphological cues during real-time sentence comprehension by children with autism.

Sentence comprehension relies on the ability to rapidly integrate different types of linguistic and non-linguistic information. However, there is ...

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Language is a highly important yet poorly understood function of the human brain. While studies of brain activation patterns during language comprehension are abundant, what is often critically missing is causal evidence of brain areas&#39; involvement in a particular linguistic function, not least due to the unique human nature of this ability and a shortage of neurophysiological tools to study causal relationships in the human brain noninvasively. Recent years have seen a rapid rise in the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the human brain, an easy, inexpensive and safe noninvasive technique that can modulate the state of the stimulated brain area (putatively by shifting excitation/inhibition thresholds), enabling a study of its particular contribution to specific functions. While mostly focusing on motor control, the use of tDCS is becoming more widespread in both basic and clinical research on higher cognitive functions, language included, but the procedures for its application remain variable. Here, we describe the use of tDCS in a psycholinguistic word-learning experiment. We present the techniques and procedures for application of cathodal and anodal stimulation of core language areas of Broca and Wernicke in the left hemisphere of the human brain, describe the procedures of creating balanced sets of psycholinguistic stimuli, a controlled yet naturalistic learning regime, and a comprehensive set of techniques to assess the learning outcomes and tDCS effects. As an example of tDCS application, we show that cathodal stimulation of Wernicke&#39;s area prior to a learning session can impact word learning efficiency. This impact is both present immediately after learning and, importantly, preserved over longer time after the physical effects of stimulation wear off, suggesting that tDCS can have long-term influence on linguistic storage and representations in the human brain.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Here, we describe a protocol for using transcranial direct current stimulation for psycho- and neurolinguistic experiments aimed at studying, in a naturalistic yet fully controlled way, the role of cortical areas of the human brain in word learning, and a comprehensive set of behavioral procedures for assessing the outcomes.

Language is a highly important yet poorly understood function of the human brain. While studies of brain activation patterns during language comprehension ...

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks

Working memory (WM) plays a central role in the comprehension of complex sentences. Its function in the processing of spoken complex sentences is especially evident because spoken complex sentence processing is memory-intensive. The dual-modal interference paradigm has been used to examine how the WM system is involved in complex syntactic processing. This article presents two exemplar experiments involving auditory processing with either intra- or extrasentential interferences. In the first experiment, auditory stimuli [spoken-Chinese relative clause (RC) sentences with two syntactic types: subject-gapped (SRC) vs. object-gapped (ORC)] are interfered with via a visually presented lexical decision task within a sentence and manipulated using three different interference timepoints. In the second experiment, the same auditory stimuli, presented via an auditory window moving technique, are interfered with via a visually presented digital recall task beyond the sentence and manipulated using three digital memory loads. By assessing how the primary task of comprehending the RC sentences is affected by the secondary task, we can tackle the controversial issue concerning Chinese RC processing asymmetry. Our results reveal different patterns of RC processing compared to those reported in previous studies. Experiment 1 manifests no clear RC processing advantages in either SRC or ORC; however, a preference for ORC is observed at the ends of sentences, and a preference for SRC is found at the main verb site. Likewise, Experiment 2 presents a dynamic pattern. Under a no-digit load, SRCs show processing advantages in the RC marker region. However, under higher-digit-load interference, ORCs show processing advantages in the same region. These results lead to the conjecture that no obvious or intrinsic processing asymmetry exists in the processing of Chinese RCs. Using the approach of assessing specific interference during syntactic processing, these experiments demonstrate future research applications that explore the processing metrics of spoken sentences involving working memory.

Here, we present a protocol employing dual-modal interference tasks to examine online processing of spoken-Chinese relative clause sentences. Two exemplar experiments involving auditory processing with intra- and extrasentential interferences are described. The paradigm provides a methodology for addressing the nature of working memory and its effects on sentence processing.

Working memory (WM) plays a central role in the comprehension of complex sentences. Its function in the processing of spoken complex sentences is ...

Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment

Older adults are slower at recognizing visual objects than younger adults. The same is true for recognizing that a letter string is a real word. People with Alzheimer&#39;s disease (AD) or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) demonstrate even longer responses in written word recognition than elderly controls. Despite the general tendency towards slower recognition in aging and neurocognitive disorders, certain characteristics of words influence word recognition speed regardless of age or neuropathology (e.g., a word&#8217;s frequency of use). We present here a protocol for examining the influence of lexical characteristics on word recognition response times in a simple lexical decision experiment administered to younger and older adults and people with MCI or AD. In this experiment, participants are asked to decide as quickly and accurately as possible whether a given letter string is an actual word or not. We also describe mixed-effects models and principal components analysis that can be used to detect the influence of different types of lexical variables or individual characteristics of participants on word recognition speed.

This article describes how to implement a simple lexical decision experiment to assess written word recognition in neurologically healthy participants and in individuals with dementia and cognitive decline. We also provide a detailed description of reaction time analysis using principal components analysis (PCA) and mixed-effects modeling.

Older adults are slower at recognizing visual objects than younger adults. The same is true for recognizing that a letter string is a real word. People ...

An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing

Previous studies have found that older adults have greater difficulties in processing syntactically complex sentences than younger adults. However, the exact regions where the difficulties arise have not been fully identified. In this study, a maze task was implemented to investigate how older adults and younger adults differentially processed two types of sentences with different levels of syntactic complexity, namely subject relative clauses and object relative clauses. Participants were asked to choose between two alternatives at each segment of the sentences. The task required participants to engage in a strictly incremental mode of processing. The reading times for each segment were recorded, allowing the quantification of the difficulty of sentence reading. The task allowed us to identify the exact locations of the processing difficulty and thus facilitate a more accurate assessment of the age-related decline in sentence processing. The results indicate that the effect of ageing was found mainly at the head nouns, but not at other regions of the sentences, a finding which suggests that the maze task is an effective method to identify the exact location of the ageing effect on sentence processing. The implications of this experimental paradigm for investigating the effect of ageing on sentence processing are discussed.

Here, we present a protocol to examine the age-related decline in sentence processing using a maze task that allowed us to localize the processing difficulty at each word of the sentences during reading.

Previous studies have found that older adults have greater difficulties in processing syntactically complex sentences than younger adults. However, the ...

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

The Stroop task in its many variations has been used in fields such as psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience to examine questions regarding the automaticity of reading, language processing, and cognitive control, among others. When looking at bilingual individuals, this task can be used to obtain measures of language interference and control in both a bilingual&#39;s first language (L1) and second language (L2), as well as for testing the bilingual advantage hypothesis. The Stroop task presents participants with color terms written in congruent colors (e.g., the word RED written in red font), incongruent colors (e.g., the word RED written in green font), in addition to noncolor terms for control (e.g., the word TREE presented in any color), and uses the reaction times from the different conditions to assess the degree of interference and facilitation. In the covert version of the Stroop bilingual task (i.e., participants respond by pressing a button rather than naming aloud), stimuli in the L1 and the L2 are typically presented in separate blocks. While this allows for a simple, yet effective assessment of processing and cognitive control in each language, it fails to capture any potential differences in processing and control within bilingual young adult groups. The present task combines single-language blocks with a novel mixed-language block to increase the level of difficulty of the task, thus making it suitable for testing cognitive control in young adults. Representative results showing differences between performance in the single-language vs. mixed-language blocks are presented, and the benefits of a mixed-language block are discussed.

This bilingual Stroop task uses Congruent, Incongruent, and Neutral stimuli presented in blocks in the first language (L1) only, the second language (L2) only, and a combination of L1 and L2. This task allows for an examination of language processing and cognitive control in both L1 and L2.

The Stroop task in its many variations has been used in fields such as psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience to examine questions regarding the ...

Evaluation of the Cognitive Performance of Hypertensive Patients with Silent Cerebrovascular Lesions

Evidence accumulated from the last decade has proven that silent cerebrovascular lesions (SCLs) and their underlying pathogenic processes contribute to cognitive decline in the elderly. However, the distinct effects of each type of the lesions on cognitive performance remain unclear. Moreover, research data from Chinese elderly with SCLs is scarce. In this study, 398 otherwise healthy hypertensive elderly subjects (median age 72 years) were included and assessed. All participates were required to complete a battery of structured neuropsychological assessment, including forward and backward digit span tests, symbol digit modalities test, Stroop test, verbal fluency test and Montreal Cognitive Assessment. These tests were used to assess attention, executive function, information processing speed, language, memory and visuospatial function. A multi-sequence 3T MRI scanning was arranged within one month of the neuropsychological assessment to evaluate the burden of SCLs. SCLs were rated visually. Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) and silent lacunes (SLs) were identified as strictly lobar CMBs and SLs or deep CMBs and SLs according to their locations, respectively. Similarly, white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) were separated into periventricular WMHs (PVHs) and deep WMHs (DWMHs). A series of linear regression models were used to assess the correlation between each type of SCLs and individual cognitive function domain. The results showed that CMBs tend to impair language-related cognition. Deep SLs affect executive function, but this association disappeared after controlling for other types of SCLs. PVHs, rather than DWMHs, are associated with cognitive decline, especially in executive function and processing speed. It is concluded that different aspects of SCLs have differential impact on cognitive performance in hypertensive elderly Chinese.

Here, we present a protocol to assess whether various types of silent cerebrovascular lesions are differentially associated with deficits in certain cognitive domains in a cohort of 398 hypertensive elderly Chinese, using a combination of neuropsychological tests and multi-sequence 3T MRI scanning.

Evidence accumulated from the last decade has proven that silent cerebrovascular lesions (SCLs) and their underlying pathogenic processes contribute to ...

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

Controversies have always existed in research related to reading abilities; on whether printed words are perceived in a feedforward manner based on orthographic information after which, other representations, such as phonology and semantics are activated, or whether these are fully interactive and high-level semantic information affects early processing. An interference paradigm was implemented in the presented protocol of phonological and semantic judgment tasks that utilized the same precede-target pairs to explore the relative order of phonological and semantic activation. The high- and low-frequency target words were preceded with three conditions: semantically related, phonological-related (homophones), or unrelated. The results showed that the induced P200 component of low-frequency word pairs was significantly greater than high-frequency words in both the semantic and phonological tasks. In addition, both the homophones in the semantic task and the semantically related pairs in the phonological task caused reduction in N400 when compared to the the control condition, word frequency-independently. It is worth noting that for the low-frequency pairs in the phonological judgment task, the P200 released by the semantically related word pairs was significantly larger than that in the control condition. Overall, semantic processing in phonological tasks and phonological processing in semantic tasks were found in both high- and low-frequency words, suggesting that the interaction between semantics and phonology may operate in a task-independent manner. However, the specific time this interaction occurred may have been affected by the task and frequency.

We present a protocol to explore the relative activation sequence of phonology and semantics in visual word recognition. The results show that consistent with interactive accounts, semantic and phonological representations may be processed interactively, and higher-level linguistic representations may affect early processing.

Controversies have always existed in research related to reading abilities; on whether printed words are perceived in a feedforward manner based on ...