The locus of taboo context effects in picture naming

Speakers respond more slowly when naming pictures presented with taboo (i.e., offensive/embarrassing) than with neutral distractor words in the picture–word interference paradigm. Over four experiments, we attempted to localize the processing stage at which this effect occurs during word production and determine whether it reflects the socially offensive/embarrassing nature of the stimuli. Experiment 1 demonstrated taboo interference at early stimulus onset asynchronies of −150 ms and 0 ms although not at 150 ms. In Experiment 2, taboo distractors sharing initial phonemes with target picture names eliminated the interference effect. Using additive factors logic, Experiment 3 demonstrated that taboo interference and phonological facilitation effects do not interact, indicating that the two effects originate at different processing levels within the speech production system. In Experiment 4, interference was observed for masked taboo distractors, including those sharing initial phonemes with the target picture names, indicating that the effect cannot be attributed to a processing level involving responses in an output buffer. In two of the four experiments, the magnitude of the interference effect correlated significantly with arousal ratings of the taboo words. However, no significant correlations were found for either offensiveness or valence ratings. These findings are consistent with a locus for the taboo interference effect prior to the processing stage responsible for word form encoding. We propose a pre-lexical account in which taboo distractors capture attention at the expense of target picture processing due to their high arousal levels.

[1]  Eva Ceulemans,et al.  What's hampering measurement invariance: detecting non-invariant items using clusterwise simultaneous component analysis , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[2]  Jelena Havelka,et al.  Affective norms for 210 British English and Finnish nouns , 2010, Behavior research methods.

[3]  A. Roelofs,et al.  A spreading-activation theory of lemma retrieval in speaking , 1992, Cognition.

[4]  J. S. Burt Why do non-color words interfere with color naming? , 2002, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[5]  W. Glaser,et al.  The time course of picture-word interference. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[6]  Herbert Schriefers,et al.  Distractor strength and selective attention in picture-naming performance , 2012, Memory & cognition.

[7]  Antje S. Meyer,et al.  Exploring the time course of lexical access in language production : Picture word interference studies , 1990 .

[8]  Randi C. Martin,et al.  Semantic and phonological codes interact in single word production. , 1999, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[9]  V. Ferreira,et al.  Halting in Single Word Production: A Test of the Perceptual Loop Theory of Speech Monitoring. , 2006, Journal of memory and language.

[10]  Amy Beth Warriner,et al.  Norms of valence, arousal, and dominance for 13,915 English lemmas , 2013, Behavior Research Methods.

[11]  Amy Beth Warriner,et al.  Concreteness ratings for 40 thousand generally known English word lemmas , 2014, Behavior research methods.

[12]  Rinus G. Verdonschot,et al.  Time course analysis of the effects of distractor frequency and categorical relatedness in picture naming: An evaluation of the response exclusion account , 2013 .

[13]  Wido La Heij,et al.  Picture-word interference increases with target-set size , 1995 .

[14]  A. Caramazza,et al.  When more is less: a counterintuitive effect of distractor frequency in the picture-word interference paradigm. , 2003, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[15]  S. Yantis,et al.  Abrupt visual onsets and selective attention: evidence from visual search. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[16]  A. Roelofs,et al.  Goal-referenced selection of verbal action: modeling attentional control in the Stroop task. , 2003, Psychological review.

[17]  W. Levelt A History of Psycholinguistics: The Pre-Chomskyan Era , 2012 .

[18]  Meredith A. Shafto,et al.  Relations between emotion, memory, and attention: Evidence from taboo Stroop, lexical decision, and immediate memory tasks , 2004, Memory & cognition.

[19]  P A Starreveld,et al.  Word substitution errors in a speeded picture-word task. , 1999, The American journal of psychology.

[20]  A. Anderson Affective influences on the attentional dynamics supporting awareness. , 2005, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[21]  Robert J Hartsuiker,et al.  How Do Speakers Resist Distraction? , 2011, Psychological science.

[22]  Alfonso Caramazza,et al.  Now You See it, Now you Don't: On Turning Semantic Interference Into Facilitation in a Stroop-Like Task , 2006, Cortex.

[23]  J. C. Johnston,et al.  Involuntary covert orienting is contingent on attentional control settings. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[24]  W. Levelt,et al.  Speaking: From Intention to Articulation , 1990 .

[25]  Kristin Janschewitz Taboo, emotionally valenced, and emotionally neutral word norms , 2008, Behavior research methods.

[26]  R. Hartsuiker,et al.  The distractor frequency effect in picture-word interference: Evidence for response exclusion. , 2010, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[27]  Ardi Roelofs,et al.  From Popper to Lakatos: A case for cumulative computational modeling , 2005 .

[28]  K. Arnell,et al.  Blinded by emotion: target misses follow attention capture by arousing distractors in RSVP. , 2004, Emotion.

[29]  S. Lupker The role of phonetic and orthographic similarity in picture-word interference. , 1982, Canadian journal of psychology.

[30]  R. Golinkoff,et al.  Automatic semantic processing in a picture-word interference task. , 1975 .

[31]  Rebecca Treiman,et al.  The English Lexicon Project , 2007, Behavior research methods.

[32]  Herbert Schriefers,et al.  Selective attention and distractor frequency in naming performance: comment on Dhooge and Hartsuiker (2010). , 2011, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[33]  J G Snodgrass,et al.  Picture naming by young children: norms for name agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. , 1997, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[34]  Wido La Heij,et al.  Semantic interference, orthographic facilitation, and their interaction in naming tasks. , 1995 .

[35]  James L. McClelland,et al.  An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: I. An account of basic findings. , 1981 .

[36]  Richard R. Rosinski,et al.  Picture-word interference is semantically based. , 1977 .

[37]  Bradford Z. Mahon,et al.  Lexical selection is not by competition: a reinterpretation of semantic interference and facilitation effects in the picture-word interference paradigm. , 2007, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[38]  M. Damian,et al.  Processing different kinds of semantic relations in picture-word interference with non-masked and masked distractors , 2014, Front. Psychol..

[39]  Matthew H. Davis,et al.  Mix, a program for pseudorandomization , 2006, Behavior research methods.

[40]  M. Siegrist Effects of Taboo Words on Color-Naming Performance on a Stroop Test , 1995, Perceptual and Motor Skills.

[41]  James L. McClelland,et al.  An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: part 1.: an account of basic findings , 1988 .

[42]  C MacLeod,et al.  Anxiety and the selective processing of emotional information: mediating roles of awareness, trait and state variables, and personal relevance of stimulus materials. , 1992, Behaviour research and therapy.

[43]  Daniel Herron,et al.  A new on-line resource for psycholinguistic studies. , 2004, Journal of memory and language.

[44]  S. Sternberg Memory-scanning: mental processes revealed by reaction-time experiments. , 1969, American scientist.

[45]  P. Starreveld,et al.  Time-course analysis of semantic and orthographic context effects in picture naming. , 1996 .