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Distractor strength and selective attention in picture-naming performance
Vitória Piai1, Ardi Roelofs, Herbert Schriefers
1Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Center for Cognition, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. v.piai@donders.ru.nl
Memory & Cognition
|December 28, 2011
Summary
Lexical selection in word production involves competition. Distractor word strength determines if semantic interference or facilitation occurs, supporting a competition threshold account.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- The role of competition in lexical selection during word production is debated.
- Previous research observed semantic interference with visible distractors and facilitation with masked distractors, challenging the competition assumption.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and test an alternative account preserving the competition assumption.
- To explain the polarity of semantic effects (interference vs. facilitation) based on distractor strength.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments manipulated distractor strength via coactivation and visibility.
- Naming performance was measured using response time (RT) and RT distributions.
Main Results:
- Experiment 1 (low coactivation): Visible distractors caused semantic facilitation; poorly visible distractors had no effect.
- Experiment 2 (high coactivation): Both visible and poorly visible distractors caused semantic interference.
Conclusions:
- Findings support a competition threshold account.
- Distractor strength determines whether distractors enter the competition process, influencing semantic effects in picture naming.
