Semantic processing without conscious identification: Evidence from event-related potentials
Author
Summary, in English
Three event-related potential (ERP) experiments examined whether semantic content can be accessed From visually presented words that cannot he consciously identified. Category labels were shown to participants, followed by masked, briefly exposed words that were either exemplars of the category or not exemplars. The task was to verify the category, by guessing if necessary, and to identify the word naming it if possible. Exposure durations were selected to allow identification in approximately half the trials. For identified words, there was a marked difference in the ERP response between in-category and out-of-category words because of an N400 component. For unidentified words, there was a similar although smaller difference. Conscious identification was defined using a variety of approaches: verbal report 6-alternative forced choice, and binary categorization (in the context of the regression method; A. G. Greenwald, M. R. Klinger, & E. S. Schuh, 1995). By any definition, ERPs for unidentified words showed evidence of semantic processing. In addition, there were differences in the neuronal populations recruited to process above-threshold versus below-threshold words, suggesting qualitative differences.
Department/s
Publishing year
2000
Language
English
Pages
973-1004
Publication/Series
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
Volume
26
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Topic
- Neurology
Keywords
- VISUAL WORD RECOGNITION
- UNCONSCIOUS PERCEPTION
- ASSOCIATIVE ACTIVATION
- BRAIN POTENTIALS
- N400
- LEXICAL DECISION
- GREENWALD 1998
- MEMORY
- CONTEXT
- STIMULUS ONSET ASYNCHRONIES
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0278-7393