Abstractionist versus Exemplar-Based Theories of Visual Word Priming: A Subsystems Resolution

Three experiments addressed abstractionist versus exemplar-based theories of the visual representations underlying word priming. Participants first read centrally presented whole words (each displayed in all lowercase or in all uppercase letters), and then they completed laterally presented word stems (each displayed in all lowercase or in all uppercase letters). Word stem completion priming was letter-case specific (greater for same-case primed items than for different-case primed items) when stems were presented directly to the right cerebral hemisphere but not when stems were presented directly to the left cerebral hemisphere. This interaction was not influenced by the typicality of the test stems, but it was observed only for stems composed of letters with visually dissimilar lowercase and uppercase structures (e.g., bea/BEA) and not for stems composed of letters with visually similar lowercase and uppercase structures (e.g., sco/SCO). In contrast, cued recall was letter-case specific when similar-case or dissimilar-case stems were presented directly to the right hemisphere. Results do not support strongly abstractionist or exemplar-based theories. Instead, they suggest a resolution to these differing perspectives: Relatively independent neural subsystems operate in parallel to underlie abstract-category and specific-exemplar priming of word forms.

[1]  Jeffrey S. Bowers,et al.  In defense of abstractionist theories of repetition priming and word identification , 2000, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[2]  Timothy R. Jordan,et al.  Central Fixations are Inadequately Controlled by Instructions Alone: Implications for Studying Cerebral Asymmetry , 1998, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[3]  A. Ostergaard.  Dissociations between Word Priming Effects in Normal Subjects and Patients with Memory Disorders: Multiple Memory Systems or Retrieval? , 1994, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[4]  Marc Brysbaert,et al.  Interhemispheric transfer and the processing of foveally presented stimuli , 1994, Behavioural Brain Research.

[5]  Paul A. Kolers,et al.  Processing of visible language , 1979 .

[6]  L. Squire,et al.  Intact Priming for Novel Perceptual Representations in Amnesia , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[7]  A. Dale,et al.  The representation of the ipsilateral visual field in human cerebral cortex. , 1998, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[8]  F. Craik,et al.  Depth of processing and the retention of words , 1975 .

[9]  John Morton,et al.  Facilitation in Word Recognition: Experiments Causing Change in the Logogen Model , 1979 .

[10]  S. Christman.  Cerebral asymmetries in sensory and perceptual processing , 1997 .

[11]  James L. McClelland,et al.  Hippocampal conjunctive encoding, storage, and recall: Avoiding a trade‐off , 1994, Hippocampus.

[12]  T. Hudson,et al.  Task and stimulus demands influence letter-case-specific priming in the right cerebral hemisphere. , 1999, Laterality.

[13]  D L Schacter,et al.  Visual specificity effects on word stem completion: beyond transfer appropriate processing? , 1996, Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale.

[14]  M. Koivisto.  On Functional Brain Asymmetries in Perceptual Priming , 1995, Brain and Cognition.

[15]  C. J. Marsolek.  Dissociable Neural Subsystems Underlie Abstract and Specific Object Recognition , 1999 .

[16]  Douglas L. Medin,et al.  Context theory of classification learning. , 1978 .

[17]  David R. Andresen,et al.  Interactive visual and postvisual processes and their roles in form-specific memory. , 2005, Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale.

[18]  F. Miezin,et al.  Functional anatomical studies of explicit and implicit memory retrieval tasks , 1995, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[19]  Kim Kirsner,et al.  An analysis of the visual component in recognition memory for verbal stimuli , 1973, Memory & cognition.

[20]  S. P. Springer,et al.  Left brain, right brain , 1981 .

[21]  Douglas L. Hintzman,et al.  "Schema Abstraction" in a Multiple-Trace Memory Model , 1986 .

[22]  S. Dimond,et al.  Cross field and within field integration of visual information. , 1972, Neuropsychologia.

[23]  Daniel L. Schacter,et al.  Form-specific visual priming for new associations in the right cerebral hemisphere , 1996, Memory & cognition.

[24]  J D Gabrieli,et al.  Font-specific priming following global amnesia and occipital lobe damage. , 1998, Neuropsychology.

[25]  J. Beaumont.  Divided visual field studies of cerebral organisation , 1982 .

[26]  G. Logan.  Repetition priming and automaticity: Common underlying mechanisms? , 1990, Cognitive Psychology.

[27]  Daniel L. Schacter,et al.  Implicit Memory in Amnesic Patients: Impairment of Voice-Specific Priming , 1995 .

[28]  L. Jacoby,et al.  Specific Visual Transfer in Word Identification , 1987 .

[29]  C. J. Marsolek.  Abstract visual-form representations in the left cerebral hemisphere. , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[30]  P. L. Tenpenny,et al.  Abstractionist versus episodic theories of repetition priming and word identification , 1995, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[31]  Stephen M. Kosslyn,et al.  Form-Specific Explicit and Implicit Memory in the Right Cerebral Hemisphere , 1994 .

[32]  M. Mishkin,et al.  Word recognition as a function of retinal locus. , 1952, Journal of experimental psychology.

[33]  Terry L. Jernigan,et al.  Word priming and recognition memory are both affected by mesial temporal lobe damage. , 1993 .

[34]  M. Masson,et al.  Identification of typographically transformed words: instance-based skill acquisition. , 1986, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[35]  Paul A Kolers,et al.  Specificity of operations in sentence recognition , 1975, Cognitive Psychology.

[36]  J. Bowers,et al.  Different perceptual codes support priming for words and pseudowords: was Morton right all along? , 1996, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[37]  A. H. Bunt,et al.  Demonstration of bilateral projection of the central retina of the monkey with horseradish peroxidase neuronography , 1977, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[38]  Kim Kirsner,et al.  Modality effects in word identification , 1974, Memory & cognition.

[39]  M. Tarr,et al.  Visual Object Recognition , 1996, ISTCS.

[40]  Daniel L. Schacter,et al.  Priming and Multiple Memory Systems: Perceptual Mechanisms of Implicit Memory , 1992, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[41]  David R. Andresen,et al.  Interhemispheric communication of abstract and specific visual-form information , 2002, Neuropsychologia.

[42]  R. C. Oldfield.  THE ASSESSMENT AND ANALYSIS OF HANDEDNESS , 1971 .

[43]  H L Roediger,et al.  Implicit memory. Retention without remembering. , 1990, The American psychologist.

[44]  L. Squire.  Memory and the hippocampus: a synthesis from findings with rats, monkeys, and humans. , 1992, Psychological review.

[45]  R. C. Oldfield.  The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[46]  Michael E. J. Masson,et al.  Identification of typographically transformed words: instance-based skill acquisition. , 1986 .

[47]  Chad J. Marsolek,et al.  COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSES AND HEMISPHERIC ASYMMETRIES IN VISUAL-FORM RECOGNITION , 1997 .

[48]  J M Gardiner,et al.  Involuntary conscious memory and the method of opposition. , 1994, Memory.

[49]  Henry L. Roediger,et al.  Retrieval modes produce dissociations in memory for surface information. , 1987 .

[50]  David B. Boles,et al.  An upper- and lowercase alphabetic similarity matrix, with derived generation similarity values , 1989 .

[51]  J. Beaumont.  Studies with verbal stimuli , 1982 .

[52]  James L. McClelland,et al.  Why there are complementary learning systems in the hippocampus and neocortex: insights from the successes and failures of connectionist models of learning and memory. , 1995, Psychological review.

[53]  T. S. Hyde,et al.  Recall for words as a function of semantic, graphic, and syntactic orienting tasks. , 1973 .

[54]  Robert A. Bjork,et al.  Measures of Memory , 1988 .

[55]  Don L. Scarborough,et al.  Frequency and Repetition Effects in Lexical Memory. , 1977 .

[56]  E. D. Burgund,et al.  Serotonin levels influence patterns of repetition priming. , 2003, Neuropsychology.

[57]  Lee Ryan,et al.  Transfer-appropriate processing for implicit and explicit memory. , 1990 .

[58]  A. Young,et al.  Left hemisphere superiority for pronounceable nonwords, but not for unpronounceable letter strings , 1984, Brain and Language.

[59]  Lillian Leiber.  Lexical decisions in the right and left cerebral hemispheres , 1976, Brain and Language.

[60]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Form-specific visual priming in the right cerebral hemisphere. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[61]  L. Jacoby,et al.  Episodic transfer and automaticity: Integration of data-driven and conceptually-driven processing in rereading. , 1992 .

[62]  James L. McClelland,et al.  Distributed memory and the representation of general and specific information. , 1985, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[63]  F. Craik,et al.  Levels of Pro-cessing: A Framework for Memory Research , 1975 .

[64]  A P Shimamura,et al.  Priming across modalities and priming across category levels: extending the domain of preserved function in amnesia. , 1985, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[65]  T. Carr,et al.  Limits on perceptual abstraction in reading: Asymmetric transfer between surface forms differing in typicality. , 1993 .

[66]  Lynn C. Robertson,et al.  A Review of Hemispheric Asymmetry: What's Right and What's Left , 1994, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[67]  M. Koivisto.  Form-Specific Priming and Functional Brain Asymmetries in Perceptual Identification , 1996, Cortex.

[68]  S. Kinoshita,et al.  Effects of surface features on word-fragment completion in amnesic subjects. , 1993, The American journal of psychology.

[69]  Paul A. Kolers,et al.  Remembering operations , 1973, Memory & cognition.

[70]  Lee Ryan,et al.  Search and selection processes in implicit and explicit word-stem completion performance in young, middle-aged, and older adults , 2001, Memory & cognition.

[71]  R M Shiffrin,et al.  Episodic and lexical contributions to the repetition effect in word identification. , 1983, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[72]  D. B. Bender,et al.  Visual properties of neurons in inferotemporal cortex of the Macaque. , 1972, Journal of neurophysiology.

[73]  Georg Deutsch,et al.  Left brain, right brain : perspectives from cognitive neuroscience , 1998 .

[74]  K. Forster,et al.  Masked repetition priming: Lexical activation or novel memory trace? , 1990 .

[75]  Jeffrey S. Bowers,et al.  An investigation into the structure and acquisition of orthographic knowledge: Evidence from cross-script Kanji-Hiragana priming , 1998 .

[76]  L. Jacoby,et al.  On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning. , 1981, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[77]  J.A. Anderson,et al.  Theory of categorization based on distributed memory storage. , 1984 .

[78]  W. Nelson Francis,et al.  FREQUENCY ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH USAGE: LEXICON AND GRAMMAR , 1983 .

[79]  E. Darcy Burgund,et al.  Letter-Case-Specific Priming in the Right Cerebral Hemisphere with a Form-Specific Perceptual Identification Task , 1997, Brain and Cognition.