Understanding the role of configural processing in face emotion recognition in Parkinson's disease.

This investigation examined whether impairment in configural processing could explain deficits in face emotion recognition in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Stimuli from the Radboud Faces Database were used to compare recognition of four negative emotion expressions by older adults with PD (n = 16) and matched controls (n = 17). Participants were tasked with categorizing emotional expressions from upright and inverted whole faces and facial composites; it is difficult to derive configural information from these two types of stimuli so featural processing should play a larger than usual role in accurate recognition of emotional expressions. We found that the PD group were impaired relative to controls in recognizing anger, disgust and fearful expressions in upright faces. Then, consistent with a configural processing deficit, participants with PD showed no composite effect when attempting to identify facial expressions of anger, disgust and fear. A face inversion effect, however, was observed in the performance of all participants in both the whole faces and facial composites tasks. These findings can be explained in terms of a configural processing deficit if it is assumed that the disruption caused by facial composites was specific to configural processing, whereas inversion reduced performance by making it difficult to derive both featural and configural information from faces.

ELD revisited: A second look at a neuropsychological impairment of working memory affecting retention of visuo-spatial material.

Neuropsychological case studies involving putative impairment of the visuo-spatial sketch-pad component of Baddeley's (1986) working memory model have been uncommon, with our own investigation of case ELD still being one of the most comprehensive to date (Hanley, Pearson, & Young, 1990; Hanley, Young, & Pearson, 1991). A recent theoretical review by Morey (2018) has offered a critique of ELD's data that has sought to cast doubt on our claim that she showed a pattern that reflects a problem with a functional component equivalent to the visuo-spatial sketch-pad. The importance of neuropsychological evidence to understanding visuo-spatial short-term memory has prompted us to revisit this case study, correct errors and misunderstandings in Morey's (2018) description of it, and provide some additional statistical information. Whilst acknowledging that cognitive neuropsychological studies will often depend on more than a single patient to offer definitive resolution of such an important issue, we show that there are compelling reasons to reject many of the claims that Morey (2018) made about ELD.

Developmental surface dysgraphia without surface dyslexia.

The case is reported of an individual (N.K.) with a developmental spelling impairment (dysgraphia) who has no apparent problems in reading. His performance therefore provides further evidence of a classical dissociation between impaired spelling and preserved reading in individuals with developmental literacy problems. The dissociation is observed when N.K. is asked to read and spell in either his first (Greek) or his second language (English). An investigation of his spelling performance revealed that his impairment was more selective than that of P.J.T. Although his spelling of regular words and nonwords was normal, N.K. had a problem in spelling words with atypical sound-letter associations despite having no problems in reading aloud or understanding the meaning of words of this kind. It is argued that N.K.'s pattern of performance can be best explained in terms of normal development of an orthographic system that allows access to the meaning and pronunciation of written words during reading. In terms of a dual-route model of spelling, his poor spelling appears to be the result of a developmental impairment that impedes access to the orthographic system from phonology and semantics. In terms of the triangle model, his poor spelling appears to be the result of a developmental impairment that affects activation of orthography from semantics.

Similarities between the irrelevant sound effect and the suffix effect.

Although articulatory suppression abolishes the effect of irrelevant sound (ISE) on serial recall when sequences are presented visually, the effect persists with auditory presentation of list items. Two experiments were designed to test the claim that, when articulation is suppressed, the effect of irrelevant sound on the retention of auditory lists resembles a suffix effect. A suffix is a spoken word that immediately follows the final item in a list. Even though participants are told to ignore it, the suffix impairs serial recall of auditory lists. In Experiment 1, the irrelevant sound consisted of instrumental music. The music generated a significant ISE that was abolished by articulatory suppression. It therefore appears that, when articulation is suppressed, irrelevant sound must contain speech for it to have any effect on recall. This is consistent with what is known about the suffix effect. In Experiment 2, the effect of irrelevant sound under articulatory suppression was greater when the irrelevant sound was spoken by the same voice that presented the list items. This outcome is again consistent with the known characteristics of the suffix effect. It therefore appears that, when rehearsal is suppressed, irrelevant sound disrupts the acoustic-perceptual encoding of auditorily presented list items. There is no evidence that the persistence of the ISE under suppression is a result of interference to the representation of list items in a postcategorical phonological store.

Lexical decision performance in developmental surface dysgraphia: Evidence for a unitary orthographic system that is used in both reading and spelling.

The relationship between spelling, written word recognition, and picture naming is investigated in a study of seven bilingual adults who have developmental surface dysgraphia in both Greek (their first language) and English (their second language). Four of the cases also performed poorly at orthographic lexical decision in both languages. This finding is consistent with similar results in Italian that have been taken as evidence of a developmental impairment to a single orthographic system that is used for both reading and spelling. The remaining three participants performed well at orthographic lexical decision. At first sight, preserved lexical decision in surface dysgraphia is less easy to explain in terms of a shared orthographic system. However, the results of subsequent experiments showed clear parallels between the nature of the reading and spelling difficulties that these three individuals experienced, consistent with the existence of a single orthographic system. The different patterns that were observed were consistent with the claims of Friedmann and Lukov (2008. Developmental surface dyslexias. Cortex, 44, 1146-1160) that several distinct sub-types of developmental surface dyslexia exist. We show that individual differences in spelling in surface dysgraphia are also consistent with these sub-types; there are different developmental deficits that can give rise, in an individual, to a combination of surface dyslexia and dysgraphia. Finally, we compare the theoretical framework used by Friedmann and her colleagues that is based upon the architecture of the DRC model with an account that relies instead upon the Triangle model of reading].

Developmental surface and phonological dyslexia in both Greek and English.

The hallmark of developmental surface dyslexia in English and French is inaccurate reading of words with atypical spelling-sound correspondences. According to Douklias, Masterson and Hanley (2009), surface dyslexia can also be observed in Greek (a transparent orthography for reading that does not contain words of this kind). Their findings suggested that surface dyslexia in Greek can be characterized by slow reading of familiar words, and by inaccurate spelling of words with atypical sound-spelling correspondences (Greek is less transparent for spelling than for reading). In this study, we report seven adult cases whose slow reading and impaired spelling accuracy satisfied these criteria for Greek surface dyslexia. When asked to read words with atypical grapheme-phoneme correspondences in English (their second language), their accuracy was severely impaired. A co-occurrence was also observed between impaired spelling of words with atypical phoneme-grapheme correspondences in English and Greek. These co-occurrences provide strong evidence that surface dyslexia genuinely exists in Greek and that slow reading of real words in Greek reflects the same underlying impairment as that which produces inaccurate reading of atypical words in English. Two further individuals were observed with impaired reading and spelling of nonwords in both languages, consistent with developmental phonological dyslexia. Neither of the phonological dyslexics read words slowly. In terms of computational models of reading aloud, these findings suggest that slow reading by dyslexics in transparent orthographies is the consequence of a developmental impairment of the lexical (Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Zeigler, 2001; Perry, Ziegler, & Zorzi, 2010) or semantic reading route (Plaut, McClelland, Seidenberg, & Patterson, 1996). This outcome provides evidence that the neurophysiological substrate(s) that support the lexical/semantic and the phonological pathways that are involved in reading and spelling are the same in both Greek and English.

Did I say dog or cat? A study of semantic error detection and correction in children.

Although naturalistic studies of spontaneous speech suggest that young children can monitor their speech, the mechanisms for detection and correction of speech errors in children are not well understood. In particular, there is little research on monitoring semantic errors in this population. This study provides a systematic investigation of detection and correction of semantic errors in children between the ages of 5 and 8years as they produced sentences to describe simple visual events involving nine highly familiar animals (the moving animals task). Results showed that older children made fewer errors and corrected a larger proportion of the errors that they made than younger children. We then tested the prediction of a production-based account of error monitoring that the strength of the language production system, and specifically its semantic-lexical component, should be correlated with the ability to detect and repair semantic errors. Strength of semantic-lexical mapping, as well as lexical-phonological mapping, was estimated individually for children by fitting their error patterns, obtained from an independent picture-naming task, to a computational model of language production. Children's picture-naming performance was predictive of their ability to monitor their semantic errors above and beyond age. This relationship was specific to the strength of the semantic-lexical part of the system, as predicted by the production-based monitor.

The man who mistook his neuropsychologist for a popstar: when configural processing fails in acquired prosopagnosia.

We report the case of an individual with acquired prosopagnosia who experiences extreme difficulties in recognizing familiar faces in everyday life despite excellent object recognition skills. Formal testing indicates that he is also severely impaired at remembering pre-experimentally unfamiliar faces and that he takes an extremely long time to identify famous faces and to match unfamiliar faces. Nevertheless, he performs as accurately and quickly as controls at identifying inverted familiar and unfamiliar faces and can recognize famous faces from their external features. He also performs as accurately as controls at recognizing famous faces when fracturing conceals the configural information in the face. He shows evidence of impaired global processing but normal local processing of Navon figures. This case appears to reflect the clearest example yet of an acquired prosopagnosic patient whose familiar face recognition deficit is caused by a severe configural processing deficit in the absence of any problems in featural processing. These preserved featural skills together with apparently intact visual imagery for faces allow him to identify a surprisingly large number of famous faces when unlimited time is available. The theoretical implications of this pattern of performance for understanding the nature of acquired prosopagnosia are discussed.

Surface developmental dyslexia is as prevalent as phonological dyslexia when appropriate control groups are employed.

Previous investigations of the incidence of developmental surface and phonological dyslexia using reading-age-matched control groups have identified many more phonological dyslexics (poor nonword reading relative to irregular-word reading) than surface dyslexics (poor irregular-word reading relative to nonword reading). However, because the measures that have been used to estimate reading age include irregular-word reading ability, they appear inappropriate for assessing the incidence of surface dyslexia. The current study used a novel method for generating control groups whose reading ability was matched to that of the dyslexic sample. The incidence of surface dyslexia was assessed by comparing dyslexic performance with that of a control group who were matched with the dyslexics on a test of nonword reading. The incidence of phonological dyslexia was assessed with reference to a control group who were matched with the dyslexics at irregular-word reading. These control groups led to the identification of an approximately equal number of children with surface and phonological dyslexia. It appeared that selecting control participants who were matched with dyslexics for reading age led to the recruitment of individuals with relatively high nonword reading scores relative to their irregular-word reading scores compared with other types of control group. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Stress errors in a case of developmental surface dyslexia in Filipino.

This paper reports the case of a dyslexic boy (L.A.) whose impaired reading of Filipino is consistent with developmental surface dyslexia. Filipino has a transparent alphabetic orthography with stress typically falling on the penultimate syllable of multisyllabic words. However, exceptions to the typical stress pattern are not marked in the Filipino orthography. L.A. read words with typical stress patterns as accurately as controls, but made many more stress errors than controls when reading Filipino words with atypical stress. He regularized the pronunciation of many of these words by incorrectly placing the stress on the penultimate syllable. Since he also read nonwords as accurately and quickly as controls and performed well on tests of phonological awareness, L.A. appears to present a clear case of developmental surface dyslexia in a transparent orthography.

A conflict-based model of color categorical perception: evidence from a priming study.

Categorical perception (CP) of color manifests as faster or more accurate discrimination of two shades of color that straddle a category boundary (e.g., one blue and one green) than of two shades from within the same category (e.g., two different shades of green), even when the differences between the pairs of colors are equated according to some objective metric. The results of two experiments provide new evidence for a conflict-based account of this effect, in which CP is caused by competition between visual and verbal/categorical codes on within-category trials. According to this view, conflict arises because the verbal code indicates that the two colors are the same, whereas the visual code indicates that they are different. In Experiment 1, two shades from the same color category were discriminated significantly faster when the previous trial also comprised a pair of within-category colors than when the previous trial comprised a pair from two different color categories. Under the former circumstances, the CP effect disappeared. According to the conflict-based model, response conflict between visual and categorical codes during discrimination of within-category pairs produced an adjustment of cognitive control that reduced the weight given to the categorical code relative to the visual code on the subsequent trial. Consequently, responses on within-category trials were facilitated, and CP effects were reduced. The effectiveness of this conflict-based account was evaluated in comparison with an alternative view that CP reflects temporary warping of perceptual space at the boundaries between color categories.

Concreteness and word production.

Two experiments are reported that investigated the effect of concreteness on the ability to generate words to fit sentence contexts. When participants attempted to retrieve words from dictionary definitions in experiment 1, abstract words were associated with more omissions and more alternates than were concrete words. These findings are consistent with the view that the semantic-lexical weights in the word production system are weaker for abstract than for concrete words. We found no evidence that greater competition from semantic neighbors was an additional reason why abstract words were harder to produce. Participants also reported more positive tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) when attempting to produce abstract words from their definitions, consistent with more phonological retrieval problems for abstract than for concrete words. In experiment 2, participants attempted to generate words to fit into a sentence that described a specific event. The difference between the numbers of abstract and concrete words recalled was significantly smaller in the event condition than in the definition condition, and evidence no longer emerged of greater phonological retrieval failure for abstract words. Overall, the results are consistent with the view that the semantic-lexical weights, but not the lexical-phonological weights, are weaker for abstract than for concrete words in the word production system.

The irrelevant sound effect under articulatory suppression is a suffix effect even with five-item lists.

The relationship between the suffix effect and the effect of irrelevant sound on serial recall of auditorily presented lists is investigated in this study. Contrary to the predictions of the phonological loop model, Hanley and Hayes (2012) reported that the irrelevant sound effect was abolished under articulatory suppression when a spoken suffix was added at the end of the list. The experiment reported in this paper uses a shorter list length (five items per list) than that employed by Hanley and Hayes. This is because it cannot realistically be argued that participants will abandon the use of phonological codes to retain the list items with sequences as short as this. Results replicated those of Hanley and Hayes (2012). There was a significant effect of irrelevant sound under articulatory suppression when the list items were followed by an auditory tone. Crucially, however, the effect of irrelevant sound under articulatory suppression was abolished when the list items were followed by a spoken suffix.

The irrelevant sound effect under articulatory suppression: is it a suffix effect?

An experiment is reported that investigates the relation between the suffix effect and the effect of irrelevant sound on the serial recall of short sequences of spoken material. The main issue was whether there is an effect of irrelevant sound under articulatory suppression in the presence of a spoken suffix. As in Hanley and Bakopoulou (2003), the irrelevant sound comprised speech that was presented during the retention interval. When a spoken suffix appeared at the end of the list, a significant effect of irrelevant sound remained when participants were able to rehearse list items. However, it disappeared under articulatory suppression. The effects of irrelevant sound remained significant under suppression when the suffix was an auditory tone but was confined to the final position of the serial position curve. These results parallel those reported by Jones, Macken, and Nicholls (2004) and Jones, Hughes, and Macken (2006) when they examined the effect of articulatory suppression on the phonological similarity effect. The results are consistent with Jones et al.'s (2006, 2004) view that an acoustic-perceptual representation of the terminal list items is the source of the effects of irrelevant sound and phonological similarity when they occur in the presence of articulatory suppression.

Evidence for a non-lexical influence on children's auditory repetition of familiar words.

This paper examines evidence for a nonlexical influence on children's repetition of real words. We investigate the extent to which two computational models of auditory repetition can simulate the performance of 68 children aged between 5 and 11 years-old when they are attempting to repeat familiar words. Both computational accounts were derived from Foygel and Dell's (J Mem Lang 43:182-216, 2000) semantic-phonological model of picture-naming. Results showed that a dual-route model in which a lexical and a nonlexical route work together to repeat familiar words (Hanley et al. in Cogn Neuropsychol 21:147-158, 2004) provided an accurate simulation of children's repetition, whereas Foygel and Dell (J Mem Lang 43:182-216, 2000) single lexical-route model under-predicted performance. The only exception was the repetition performance of 5 year-old children, which was over-predicted by the dual-route model. It is argued that at 5 years of age, some children have available both a lexical and a nonlexical repetition route but the output of the two routes does not summate when real words are being repeated. Some young children may lack the attentional skills that would enable them to co-ordinate the activity of the lexical and nonlexical repetition routes.

An appreciation of Bruce and Young's (1986) serial stage model of face naming after 25 years.

The current status of Bruce and Young's (1986) serial model of face naming is discussed 25 years after its original publication. In the first part of the paper, evidence for and against the serial model is reviewed. It is argued that there is no compelling reason why we should abandon Bruce and Young's claim that recall of a name is contingent upon prior retrieval of semantic information about the person. The current status of the claim that people's names are more difficult to recall than the names of objects is then evaluated. Finally, an account of the anatomical location in the brain of Bruce and Young's three processing stages (face familiarity, retrieval of semantic information, retrieval of names) is suggested. In particular, there is evidence that biographical knowledge about familiar people is stored in the right anterior temporal lobes (ATL) and that the left temporal pole (TP) is heavily involved in retrieval of the names of familiar people. The issue of whether these brain areas play a similar role in object processing is also discussed.

Why are names of people associated with so many phonological retrieval failures?

Two experiments are reported that revisit the issue of why people's names are more difficult to recall than common names such as the names of objects. In Experiment 1, retrieval of the names of a set of object pictures was compared with recall of a set of names of famous faces. The object and face sets were matched for preexperimental familiarity. The results showed significantly more tip-of-the tongue (TOT) states and significantly poorer name recall for faces than for objects. Although the overall numbers of incorrect answers for the two sets of items did not differ, the incorrect answers in the face condition were mostly "don't know" responses, whereas incorrect answers for objects were mostly alternative names. In Experiment 2, written definitions were used instead of pictures, and target items were selected so as to keep the number of alternatives to a minimum. Under these circumstances, there were no differences in either the number of items correctly named or the number of TOTs for common and people's names. These findings are consistent with the views of Brédart (Memory, 1, 351-366, 1993), who argued that there are fewer documented TOTs for common names because a semantically related alternative often comes to mind when a participant is experiencing, or is about to experience, a retrieval failure.

Categorical perception effects reflect differences in typicality on within-category trials.

Many studies have shown better discrimination of two stimuli that cross a category boundary than of two stimuli belonging to the same category. This finding, known as categorical perception, is generally assumed to reflect consistently good performance on cross-category trials, relative to within-category trials. However, Roberson, D., Damjanovic, L., and Pilling, M. (Memory & Cognition, 35, 1814-1829, 2007) revealed that performance on within-category pairs of morphed facial expressions matched performance on cross-category trials when the target was a good exemplar of its category. Here, we investigate the generality of that finding by conducting new analyses of data from a series of studies of categorical perception in facial identity and color domains with speakers of different languages. Consistent with Roberson et al. (2007), the new analyses demonstrate that performance for central targets on within-category trials is as good as performance on cross-category trials. Participants perform badly on within-category items only when the target is closer to the category boundary than is the distractor. These results provide no support for the view that categorical perception is associated with increased perceptual sensitivity at category boundaries.

It is more difficult to retrieve a familiar person's name and occupation from their voice than from their blurred face.

Damjanovic and Hanley (2007) showed that episodic information is more readily retrieved from familiar faces than familiar voices, even when the two presentation modalities are matched for overall recognition rates by blurring the faces. This pattern of performance contrasts with the results obtained by Hanley and Turner (2000) who showed that semantic information could be recalled equally easily from familiar blurred faces and voices. The current study used the procedure developed by Hanley and Turner (2000) and applied it to the stimuli used by Damjanovic and Hanley (2007). The findings showed a marked decrease in retrieval of occupations and names from familiar voices relative to blurred faces even though the two modalities were matched for overall levels of recognition and rated familiarity. Similar results were obtained in Experiment 2 in which the same participants were asked to recognise both faces and voices. It is argued that these findings pose problems for any model of person recognition (e.g., Burton, Bruce, & Johnston, 1990) in which familiarity decisions occur beyond the point at which information from different modalities has been integrated.