What is preexisting strength? Predicting free association probabilities, similarity ratings, and cued recall probabilities

Nelson, Douglas L.; Dyrdal, Gunvor Marie; Goodmon, Leilani B.

doi:10.3758/bf03196762

Cited by 42 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…This is implied in the division we assume between a stage of representation that computes the posterior probability of each response word being the appropriate response in the present context, and a response selection stage that translates this distribution into a single response (our second assumption). We draw this distinction for two reasons: First, Nelson and colleagues (e.g., Nelson, Dyrdal, & Goodmon, 2005) have explored the relationship between cue-target association strength and competitor strength in free association data. In their work, competitor strength and association strength are negatively correlated, but imperfectly, since the response rates are not constrained to sum to 1 (because idiosyncratic responses deemed to be unreliable are not included in their analysis).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resolving conflict: A response to Martin and Cheng (2006)

Thompson-Schill

Botvinick

2006

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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Martin and Cheng (2006) report the results of an experiment aimed at disentangling the effects of association strength from those of competition on performance on a verb generation task. Their experiment is situated at the center of a putative debate regarding the function of the left inferior frontal gyrus in language processing (see, e.g., Wagner, Paré-Blagoev, Clark, & Poldrack, 2001 Martin and Cheng (2006; henceforth MC06) report that performance on a verb generation task (measured by response times in young and elderly subjects and accuracy in a patient with left frontoparietal damage) was better for nouns either with one dominant verb associate (e.g., APPLE-eat) or with multiple strong verb associates (e.g., DOOR-open, DOOR-close) than for nouns with multiple weak verb associates (e.g., RUG-roll, RUG-lay). From this pattern, the authors conclude that "competition appeared to play no role in the verb generation task" (p. 400). This conclusion is predicated on the notion that association strength (between a noun and a verb) is unrelated to-or at least, partially dissociable from-competition, thus allowing these factors to be unconfounded. In this article, we challenge that assumption.We begin with a brief review of "selection" and "controlled retrieval" hypotheses of the function of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG). We contend that terms such as selection and controlled retrieval have outlived their usefulness in this research enterprise, and that investigators would be better served by developing a more explicit framework in which the effects of manipulations such as association strength can be more formally assessed. To this end, we propose a Bayesian framework based on a small set of independently motivated assumptions. In addition, we present a simulation that addresses an observation from MC06 that would seem to pose difficulties for the proposed framework. It is beyond the scope of this comment to lay out a detailed defense of the model; rather, our goal is to present a rough sketch of a unifying theoretical perspective that is meant to begin the work of grounding this research in a more explicit computational context.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resolving conflict: A response to Martin and Cheng (2006)

Thompson-Schill

Botvinick

2006

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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“…Semantic/associative networks (shortened to semantic in this article) can be constructed by presenting lists of words to subjects asked to produce the first word to come to mind that is meaningfully or associatively related (e.g., Cramer, 1968;Deese, 1965;De Deyne & Storms, 2008a, 2008bNelson, Dyrdal, & Goodmon, 2005;Nelson, McEvoy, & Schreiber, 2004). Free association measures what one group of brains knows about semantic relationships and predicts what other groups of brains will be likely to know.…”

Section: The Semantic Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

How activation, entanglement, and searching a semantic network contribute to event memory

et al. 2013

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Free-association norms indicate that words are organized into semantic/associative neighborhoods within a larger network of words and links that bind the net together. We present evidence indicating that memory for a recent word event can depend on implicitly and simultaneously activating related words in its neighborhood. Processing a word during encoding primes its network representation as a function of the density of the links in its neighborhood. Such priming increases recall and recognition and can have longlasting effects when the word is processed in working memory. Evidence for this phenomenon is reviewed in extralistcuing, primed free-association, intralist-cuing, and singleitem recognition tasks. The findings also show that when a related word is presented in order to cue the recall of a studied word, the cue activates the target in an array of related words that distract and reduce the probability of the target's selection. The activation of the semantic network produces priming benefits during encoding, and search costs during retrieval. In extralist cuing, recall is a negative function of cue-to-distractor strength, and a positive function of neighborhood density, cue-to-target strength, and target-tocue strength. We show how these four measures derived from the network can be combined and used to predict memory performance. These measures play different roles in different tasks, indicating that the contribution of the semantic network varies with the context provided by the task.Finally, we evaluate spreading-activation and quantum-like entanglement explanations for the priming effects produced by neighborhood density.Keywords Activation . Quantum-like entanglement . Semantic networks . Semantic memory . Working memory . Priming . Extralist cuing . Word recognition . Reminding Navigating a complex world requires many kinds of knowledge, and we rely on fast, efficient access to information while engaging hundreds of mental operations, including remembering, thinking, reading, driving, and so on. The brain seems to be wired to respond automatically to cues in its environment by simultaneously activating neighborhoods of related knowledge. We see a friend and her name comes readily, along with related information; we hear the word Atom, and automatically electron, neutron, and bomb are activated. In each instance, related word knowledge is activated, but most of it remains in the shadow of awareness, available but not apparent. Later, some cue reminds us of a prior event, and activates it along with related knowledge; for instance, suppose that we write a check to the electric company, seal it, and put it on the desk. We get ready for work, rush out, and stop the car at the end of the driveway after noticing the mailbox. Our findings indicate that Check and Envelope remind us of the associated words bill, money, mail, and the Mailbox cue activates links to bill, mail, and mailman. Mailbox succeeds as a cue because it implicitly activates words associated with a momentarily forgotten task tha...

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“…Quanto maior for a força associativa (força pré-existente entre as palavras de um par) maior será a probabilidade de um alvo ser evocado a partir de uma pista em um teste de associação livre (Nelson, Dyrdal, & Goodmon, 2005). Esse aspecto é importante, sobretudo na seleção de categorias naturais e seus respectivos exemplares na elaboração do teste de produção de exemplar da categoria.…”

Section: Estímulos Verbaisunclassified

Considerações metodológicas na elaboração de experimentos com priming de repetição

2016

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ResumoO paradigma experimental do priming permite lançar luz sobre diferentes aspectos dos processos de memória e possui diversas aplicações. Priming é um efeito de memória implícita, no qual há a recuperação não consciente de informação experienciada recentemente. No Brasil, o volume de pesquisas utilizando esta metodologia é pouco expressivo se comparado à literatura internacional. Buscando incentivar estudos nesse paradigma, o presente artigo tem como objetivo apresentar e discutir aspectos metodológicos relevantes à elaboração de experimentos com priming de repetição, com ênfase na seleção de materiais (software, estímulos normatizados para o Brasil e relevância de fatores psicolinguísticos) e na manipulação de variáveis (instruções e tempo de exposição dos estímulos, por exemplo). Concluiu-se que: a) PsycoPy é uma excelente opção de software de acesso livre, enquanto E-prime é uma excelente opção com exigência de licença; b) estímulos dos testes de priming precisam dispor de normas brasileiras, considerando aspectos psicolinguísticos e normas para as propriedades de estímulos pictórios; c) Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) curtos (menores que 300 ms) associados à máscara são excelentes para investigar ativações automáticas e não conscientes de priming; e d) técnicas para reduzir a infl uência explícita devem ser utilizadas, como o Critério da Intencionalidade da Recuperação. São apresentadas recomendações para pesquisas futuras. Palavras-chave:Priming de repetição, memória implícita, psicologia experimental, cognição. Methodological Considerations in the Elaboration with Repetition Priming Experiments AbstractThe priming experimental paradigm sheds light on different aspects of memory processes and has several applications. Priming is an implicit memory effect, in which there is no conscious retrieval information recently experienced. In Brazil, very few studies using this methodology comparing to the international literature is observed. Aiming to encourage studies to use this paradigm, the goal of this paper is to present and discuss methodological aspects relevant to the elaboration of repetition priming 1 Endereço para correspondência: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul,

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What is preexisting strength? Predicting free association probabilities, similarity ratings, and cued recall probabilities

Cited by 42 publications

References 16 publications

Resolving conflict: A response to Martin and Cheng (2006)

Resolving conflict: A response to Martin and Cheng (2006)

How activation, entanglement, and searching a semantic network contribute to event memory

Considerações metodológicas na elaboração de experimentos com priming de repetição

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