Abstracts 2005 - The Psychonomic Society

Posters 4100–4106 Saturday Noon
learning; we become faster and more accurate after practice. This experiment
tested whether making a speech error also leads to learning.
Does making a mistake give speakers an opportunity to learn from that
mistake and make them less likely to make the same error a second
time? Alternatively, does making a speech error lead to the “learning”
of that error, making it more likely to be made again. This experiment
elicited phonological speech errors, using a SLIPs technique. Results
show that speakers are much more likely to make a particular speech
error in the test phase if they made the same mistake during the study
phase. Furthermore, this effect appears not to be simply due to the repetition
of the outcome words but, instead, implicates an erroneously
learned mapping between the intended utterance and the errorful
phonological outcome.
(4100)
Distinguishing Excitatory and Inhibitory Accounts of Semantic
Interference: An Analysis of Aphasic Error Types. TATIANA T.
SCHNUR, Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute & University of
Pennsylvania, MYRNA F. SCHWARTZ & ADELYN BRECHER, Moss
Rehabilitation Research Institute, & CATHERINE HODGSON, University
of Manchester—Nonaphasic speakers take longer to name a repeated
series of pictures from the same semantic category versus
mixed categories, presumably due to increased competition for lexical
selection from semantically related competitors. However, because
latency data are open to multiple interpretations, the effect is equally
compatible with an inhibition account: Repeated naming from the
same semantic category delays lexical selection due to competitors’
reduced availability. We analyzed 5,755 aphasic errors in blockedcyclic
naming to test whether semantic errors increased (excitation
prediction) or decreased (inhibition prediction) in the homogeneous,
as compared with mixed, condition. We found that both semantic and
omission errors linearly increased across repetitions. This pattern suggests
that both result from competitive activation, omissions representing
occasions on which competition was not resolvable prior to
the response deadline. That the homogeneous manipulation caused semantically
related words to become increasingly activated and misselected
is evidence for competitive intrusions and against competitor
suppression.
(4101)
Older Adults’ Tip-of-the-Tongue States Associated With Region-
Specific Gray Matter Atrophy. MEREDITH A. SHAFTO, University
of Cambridge, DEBORAH M. BURKE, Pomona College, EM-
MANUEL STAMATAKIS & PHYLLIS TAM, University of Cambridge,
GABRIELLE OSBORNE, Claremont Graduate University, & LOR-
RAINE K. TYLER, University of Cambridge—Older adults have more
frequent tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states, in which they are temporarily
unable to produce a familiar word. The hypothesis that phonological retrieval
deficits cause TOTs is supported by behavioral evidence (Burke
& Shafto, 2004) and the finding that TOTs correlate with activation in
the insula (Kikyo et al., 2001), an area implicated in phonological production.
Participants 19–88 years of age named celebrities cued by pictures,
indicating when they had a TOT. Structural MR scans were obtained
and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to correlate gray
matter concentration with age and TOT frequency. TOT frequency increased
with age and correlated negatively with gray matter concentration
in the insula. Another cognitive behavioral measure not involving
phonological production (Raven’s matrices), correlated with age, but
not with insula gray matter concentration. Age-related atrophy in
neural regions important for phonological production may contribute to
age-related word production failures, such as TOT states.
• CATEGORIZATION •
(4102)
Familiarity Processing in Primates and Avians: Observing Response
Requirements. JEFFREY S. KATZ, Auburn University, ANTHONY
A. WRIGHT, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston,
120
BRADLEY R. STURZ, Auburn University, TAMO NAKAMURA &
JACQUELYNE J. RIVERA, University of Texas Health Science Center,
Houston, & KENT D. BODILY, Auburn University—Rhesus monkeys
and pigeons learned a simultaneous same/different concept by responding
to a sample picture 10 (monkeys) or 20 (pigeons) times before
responding same or different to another picture. Familiarity of the
sample item was manipulated by decreasing the observing response to
zero. Good performance was maintained with the FR0 observing response.
Trial-unique transfer tests conducted with the FR0 observing
response showed, again, evidence for the abstract same/different concept.
These results show that familiarity (as the term is commonly conceived)
due to responding to the sample item is unlikely to be the major
process for the abstract concept learning demonstrated by both species.
(4103)
Uncertainty Monitoring by Humans and Rhesus Macaques (Macaca
mulatta) in the Categorization of Multidimensional Stimuli. JOSHUA
S. REDFORD, MELANIE BOGDAN, & J. DAVID SMITH, SUNY,
Buffalo—This study examined uncertainty monitoring in humans and
macaques (Macaca mulatta) in a randomization categorization task
drawn from general recognition theory. For both humans and monkeys,
accuracy decreased as to-be-categorized stimuli approached the
decision boundary that optimally separated the stimulus distribution
of the two categories. Humans and 1 monkey also used an uncertainty
response selectively to decline trials nearest the decision boundary.
The results suggest that both species are similar in their classification
of multidimensional stimuli and that both possess a generalized
uncertainty-monitoring system that extends to tasks of categorization.
(4104)
Interaction of Stimulus Proximity, Property Overlap, and Aliveness
in Similarity Judgments. KATJA WIEMER-HASTINGS & KIM-
BERLY K. BARNARD, Northern Illinois University—One-time observation
of two items’ co-occurrence creates associations and may
increase the items’ perceived similarity. Two experiments tested the
influence of spatial distance on similarity. Stimuli varied in feature
overlap, apparent aliveness, and spatial proximity. Proximity accentuated
both similarity and distinctness of stimuli: Similarity ratings
for adjacent items were increased for high-overlap and decreased for
low-overlap items, relative to items separated by an empty space.
When distance was conceptualized as a boundary (vertical line) between
items, different patterns emerged for living versus nonliving
stimuli: As compared with a no-boundaries but equal-proximity condition,
nonliving stimuli were rated more similar and similar living
stimuli were rated less similar when separated by a line. Finally, if the
dividing space was filled by a third stimulus of the same kind, effects
of spatial distance on similarity disappeared. Overall, the effect of
spatial distance on similarity seems to be mediated by interpretation.
(4105)
Representing Visual Information of Concepts Facilitates Delayed
Picture Recognition. DIANE PECHER, KIKI ZANOLIE, & RENÉ
ZEELENBERG, Erasmus University Rotterdam—According to the
embodied view of cognition (e.g., Barsalou, 1999), sensory–motor
simulations underlie the representation of concepts. Support for this
view is given by findings of similar phenomena in perception and cognition.
We investigated whether recognition of pictures of objects was
facilitated by earlier representation of the visual properties of those
objects. Object names (e.g., apple) were presented in a property verification
task with a visual property (e.g., shiny) or with a nonvisual
property (e.g., tart). Picture recognition was better if the concept
name had been presented with a visual property than if it had been
presented with a nonvisual property. These results indicate that
modality-specific information is used for concept representation.
(4106)
Stimulus and Participant Variables Affect Responses in the Triad
Classification Task. KAREN A. HUSSEY & JOHN PAUL MINDA,