Commonalities and differences in semantic decisions about pictures and words

Three experiments investigated differences in semantic classifications of pictures and words. In Experiment 1, subjects indicated on each trial whether a given stimulus—picture or word—was or was not in a predesignated target category. Negative responses were slowed when the stimulus and target were semantically related, and this effect was greater for pictures. However, degrading pictures with a grid did not alter the effect, indicating that the picture/word difference was not due to perceptual processing. On each trial of Experiments 2 and 3, subjects indicated whether each of two successive stimuli was living or nonliving. The second response was speeded when the stimuli were related. However, this effect did not depend on the first stimulus' modality, contraindicating certain picture/word differences in activating semantic memory. The data suggested an alternative locus for picture/word classification differences: visual short-term memory.

[1]  Roberta L. Klatzky,et al.  Semantic classification of pictures and words. , 1977 .

[2]  D. Kahneman.  Method, findings, and theory in studies of visual masking. , 1968, Psychological bulletin.

[3]  R. Schvaneveldt,et al.  Facilitation in recognizing pairs of words: evidence of a dependence between retrieval operations. , 1971, Journal of experimental psychology.

[4]  Michael I. Posner,et al.  Abstraction and The Process of Recognition , 1970 .

[5]  Harry L. Chiesi,et al.  Picture-word differences in decision latency: An analysis of single and dual memory models , 1977, Memory & cognition.

[6]  R. Klatzky,et al.  Category-structure effects in picture comparisons , 1978 .

[7]  A W Siegel,et al.  Differential distraction effects in short-term and long-term retention of pictures and words. , 1976, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[8]  Allan Collins,et al.  A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing , 1975 .

[9]  Lance J. Rips,et al.  Semantic distance and the verification of semantic relations , 1973 .

[10]  A. Bencomo,et al.  Recognition latency for pictures and words as a function of encoded-feature similarity. , 1975, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[11]  W. Montague,et al.  Category norms of verbal items in 56 categories A replication and extension of the Connecticut category norms , 1969 .

[12]  Saul Sternberg,et al.  The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of Donders' method , 1969 .

[13]  Wayne D. Gray,et al.  Basic objects in natural categories , 1976, Cognitive Psychology.

[14]  E. Loftus,et al.  The influence of one memory retrieval on a subsequent memory retrieval , 1974, Memory & cognition.

[15]  M. Potter,et al.  Time to understand pictures and words , 1975, Nature.

[16]  M. Potter.  Short-term conceptual memory for pictures. , 1976, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[17]  M. Posner,et al.  Retention of visual and name codes of single letters. , 1969, Journal of experimental psychology.