Pupillometric and behavioural evidence shows no differences between polyseme and homonym processing.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Psycholinguistics
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Ambiguous words present unique challenges in language processing, with polysemes sharing related meanings and homonyms having unrelated meanings.
• Understanding how the brain differentiates or integrates these meanings is crucial for models of word recognition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the processing of ambiguous words (polysemes and homonyms) versus unambiguous words.
• To examine how semantic engagement level influences ambiguous word processing.
• To explore the utility of pupillary response as a measure in ambiguous word research.

Main Methods:

• Four experiments manipulated semantic engagement: lexical decision task (LDT), semantic categorization, and number-of-meanings task.
• Measured reaction times (RTs) and pupillary response during word processing.
• Pupillary response was used to study ambiguous word processing in isolation for the first time.

Main Results:

• Ambiguous words were processed faster than unambiguous words in the LDT.
• Greater pupil dilation was observed for ambiguous words compared to unambiguous words in the number-of-meanings task.
• No significant differences in processing were found between polysemes and homonyms across all tasks.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest that polysemes and homonyms may not be processed differently by the brain.
• Task demands, rather than word type, appear to influence processing patterns.
• Pupillary response is a viable measure for studying word processing, including ambiguity.