Papers by Kara D. Federmeier
Abstract Timed picture naming was compared in seven languages that vary along dimensions known to... more Abstract Timed picture naming was compared in seven languages that vary along dimensions known to affect lexical access. Analyses over items focused on factors that determine cross-language universals and cross-language disparities. With regard to universals, number of alternative names had large effects on reaction time within and across languages after target-name agreement was controlled, suggesting inhibitory effects from lexical competitors.
Picture naming is a widely used technique in psycholinguistic studies. Here, we describe new on-l... more Picture naming is a widely used technique in psycholinguistic studies. Here, we describe new on-line resources that our project has compiled and made available to researchers on the world wide web at http://crl. ucsd. edu/~ aszekely/ipnp/. The website provides access to a wide range of picture stimuli and related norms in seven languages. Picture naming norms, including indices of name agreement and latency, for 520 black-and-white drawings of common objects and 275 concrete transitive and intransitive actions are presented.
Abstract Factors affecting object and action naming were compared in a timed picture-naming parad... more Abstract Factors affecting object and action naming were compared in a timed picture-naming paradigm, for drawings of 520 objects and 275 actions, named by adult native speakers of English. Massive differences between object and action naming were observed for all dependent variables, and theoretically relevant differences emerged in the variables that predict retrieval of nouns vs. verbs in this task.
Abstract This study examined how the two cerebral hemispheres recruit semantic processing mechani... more Abstract This study examined how the two cerebral hemispheres recruit semantic processing mechanisms by combining event-related potential measures and visual half-field methods in a word priming paradigm in which semantic strength and predictability were manipulated using lexically associated word pairs.
Abstract Multiple neurocognitive subsystems are involved in resolving lexical ambiguity under dif... more Abstract Multiple neurocognitive subsystems are involved in resolving lexical ambiguity under different circumstances. We examined how processing in these subsystems changes with normal aging by comparing ERP responses to homographs and unambiguous words completing congruent sentences (with both semantic and syntactic contextual information) or syntactic prose (syntactic information only).
Abstract Voters tend to misattribute issue positions to political candidates that are consistent ... more Abstract Voters tend to misattribute issue positions to political candidates that are consistent with their partisan affiliation, even though these candidates have never explicitly stated or endorsed such stances. The prevailing explanation in political science is that voters misattribute candidates' issue positions because they use their political knowledge to make educated but incorrect guesses. We suggest that voter errors can also stem from a different source: false memories.
A growing body of evidence suggests that semantic access is obligatory. Several studies have demo... more A growing body of evidence suggests that semantic access is obligatory. Several studies have demonstrated that brain activity associated with semantic processing, measured in the N400 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP), is elicited even by meaningless, orthographically illegal strings, suggesting that semantic access is not gated by lexicality.
Exploratory behaviors during learning determine what is studied and when, helping to optimize sub... more Exploratory behaviors during learning determine what is studied and when, helping to optimize subsequent memory performance. To elucidate the cognitive and neural determinants of exploratory behaviors, we manipulated the control that human subjects had over the position of a moving window through which they studied objects and their locations.
Abstract Factors affecting word retrieval were compared in a timed picture-naming paradigm for 52... more Abstract Factors affecting word retrieval were compared in a timed picture-naming paradigm for 520 drawings of objects. In prior timed and untimed studies by Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) and Snodgrass and Yuditsky (1996), concerns were raised that participants could not reliably name large numbers of items in a single session. We show that reliable results are obtained in a single session for 520 items and validate our method against previous findings by Snodgrass and colleagues for overlapping items.
Abstract Effective exploratory behaviors involve continuous updating of sensory sampling to optim... more Abstract Effective exploratory behaviors involve continuous updating of sensory sampling to optimize the efficacy of information gathering. Despite some work on this issue in animals, little information exists regarding the cognitive or neural mechanisms for this sort of behavioral optimization in humans. Here we examined a visual exploration phenomenon that occurred when human subjects studying an array of objects spontaneously looked “backward” in their scanning paths to view recently seen objects again.
The human species is distinguished by its tool-making abilities, and by far the most important an... more The human species is distinguished by its tool-making abilities, and by far the most important and frequently used tool we have created is language. We use language to convey our thoughts and feelings to others via the systematic combination of spoken sounds, manual signs, or written symbols. This ability allows us to bridge the minds of others-sometimes across vast distances of time and space.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Jan 1, 2000
Journal of Memory and Language, Jan 1, 1999
Cognitive Brain Research, Jan 1, 1999
Learning, Memory, Jan 1, 2001
Psychophysiology, Jan 1, 2007
Reviewed are studies using event-related potentials to examine when and how sentence context info... more Reviewed are studies using event-related potentials to examine when and how sentence context information is used during language comprehension. Results suggest that, when it can, the brain uses context to predict features of likely upcoming items. However, although prediction seems important for comprehension, it also appears susceptible to age-related deterioration and can be associated with processing costs. The brain may address this trade-off by employing multiple processing strategies, distributed across the two cerebral hemispheres. In particular, left hemisphere language processing seems to be oriented toward prediction and the use of top-down cues, whereas right hemisphere comprehension is more bottom-up, biased toward the veridical maintenance of information. Such asymmetries may arise, in turn, because language comprehension mechanisms are integrated with language production mechanisms only in the left hemisphere (the PARLO framework).
Neuropsychologia, Jan 1, 2002
Psychophysiology, Jan 1, 1998
Uploads
Papers by Kara D. Federmeier