Jacques Mehler's early psycholinguistic days in Paris.

This article first describes Jacques Mehler's initial efforts to make psycholinguistics and, more generally, the cognitive sciences better known during his first years in Paris. Two lines of research on sentence perception, that we conducted in collaboration with Jacques, are then presented to illustrate his focus. In the Seventies, sentence perception was a central topic in psycholinguistics, with contrasting proposals of syntactic autonomy and interactivity being confronted. A first series of experiments aimed at defining the role of syntax in lexical selection process as revealed by the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of the words in a sentence. The second series, using the phoneme monitoring technique, examined the clause as a processing unit during the auditory perception of sentences. These results confirm the fundamental role played by syntax in language processing.

PAPDI: Prueba Argentina Psicolingüística de Denominación de Imágenes.: Segunda parte: Estudio de sus propiedades psicométricas / PAPDI: Argentinean Psycholinguistic Image Naming Test.: Second part: Study of psychometric properties

En el presente trabajo se detallan los análisis realizados con el fin de estudiar las propiedades psicométricas la Prueba Argentina Psicolingüística de Denominación de Imágenes (PAPDI). La misma cuenta con dos cualidades que representan un valor agregado frente a las pruebas actualmente disponibles en nuestro país: a) los estímulos fueron seleccionados controlando las variables que afectan las etapas de análisis visual y de representación conceptual de la imagen del objeto y se manipularon las variables que afectan la selección y recuperación de la etiqueta léxica, en base a valores normativos de población argentina; y b) las claves semánticas se elaboraron de acuerdo con normas de producción de atributos semánticos también recolectadas en nuestro país. En este trabajo se analizaron las propiedades psicométricas mediante el estudio de pacientes con demencia tipo Alzheimer, con lesiones cerebrales focales y participantes sin patología neurológica. Se buscaron evidencias de validez de criterio mediante el análisis de grupos contrastados y la correlación con el test de Boston. A su vez, se estudió la confiabilidad de las puntuaciones por dos métodos: consistencia interna y test-retest. También se analizó la capacidad de discriminación entre pacientes con y sin anomia mediante curvas ROC. Se estudiaron además los efectos de las variables manipuladas, se realizó un análisis cualitativo de los errores y se examinó el desempeño en función del uso de las claves. Los resultados de los análisis aportan evidencia de que presenta cualidades psicométricas sumamente aceptables para su uso en nuestra población.

In the current paper we present the psychometric analysis of the Argentinean Psycholinguistic Image Naming Test (PAPDI). This test has two characteristics that makes it different from those currently available in our country: a) the stimuli has been chosen and ordered controlling certain psycholinguistic variables proven to have influence on this task, such as Visual Complexity, Image Agreement, Image Variability, Familiarity, Name Agreement, Age of Acquisition and Frequency of Use, following Argentinean normative data base; and b) semantic cues were elaborated according to semantic feature production norms also from Argentina. We present here the psychometric analysis of its properties. There were analyzed through the study of patients with Alzheimer Disease (n = 25) and focal brain lesions (n = 27) and healthy partici-pants (n = 125). On the first place, in order to study criteria validity a group comparison analysis was carried out. On the one hand Alzheimer Disease patients were compared with healthy participants. On the other hand, two focal brain damaged patients were compared: with and without aphasia. Convergent validity was also studied through the correlation with Boston naming test. In the third place, scores reliability was studied through two methods: internal consistency analysis, for Alzheimer, focal and healthy groups, and test-retest for focal brain damage group. Forth, it was analyzed the capacity to discriminate between patient with and without aphasia through ROC curves analysis. The respective sensitivity and specificity values to detect anomia were established. Fifth, the demographic variables´ influence was analyzed through a regression analysis. Moreover, there were analyzed the effects of two psycholinguistic variables that were taken into account to order the images but were not normalized: Lexical Frequency and Age of Acquisition. Finally, type of errors and response to cues were studied for focal brain damaged patients. The results indicated that the PAPDI presents acceptable psychometric properties to be used as a tool in neuropsychological assessment. It showed evidence of internal and external validity and it was observed scores reliability through internal consistency and test-retest. A suggested cutting point was established to detect anomia. Furthermore a main influence of educational level was reported. There were also detected effects of Lexical Frequency and Age of Acquisition which were observed for Alzheimer and aphasic patients groups. Moreover it was illustrated the response profile analysis for aphasic and nonaphasic focal brain damaged patients regarding a proposed taxonomy of error types. It was also studied the response to semantic and phonological cues and it was observed that both contributed to improve patients´ performance.

Prueba Argentina Psicolingüística de Denominación de Imágenes (PAPDI): Construcción y desarrollo (Primera parte)* / Argentinean Psycholinguistic Image Naming Test (PAPDI): Design and development (First part)

En la primera parte de este trabajo se presenta la construcción y el desarrollo de la Prueba Argentina Psicolingüística de Denominación de Imágenes (PAPDI). La misma tiene dos características que la diferencian de las pruebas actualmente disponibles en nuestro medio: (a) Los estímulos fueron seleccionados controlando las variables que afectan las etapas de análisis visual y reconocimiento de la imagen (Complejidad visual y Concordancia con la imagen) y el conocimiento conceptual (Variabilidad de la Imagen y Familiaridad) del dibujo del objeto también se manipularon las variables (Frecuencia léxica y Edad de adquisición) que afectan la etapa que busca evaluar la prueba: activación, selección y recuperación de la etiqueta léxica. Los índices que operacionalizan a las variables son dependientes de la cultura y de la lengua de dónde se obtengan, por ello se tomaron sus valores de normas argentinas. (b) Las claves semánticas han sido elaboradas cuidadosamente, siguiendo las normas de producción de atributos semánticos también recolectadas en nuestro país, ya que el uso de las mismas permite generar hipótesis más precisas acerca de la localización del déficit. Por lo tanto, se presenta el proceso de construcción y desarrollo de la prueba mostrando cómo se tuvieron en cuenta estas particularidades, cuáles variables han sido controladas y cuáles manipuladas, y su justificación. Por último, los resultados de la prueba piloto permitieron seleccionar 30 ítems y la constitución de la versión final de la prueba, que es lo suficientemente breve para su uso en la clínica y de libre acceso.

In the current paper, first part, we present the design and development of the Argentinean Psycholinguistic Image Naming Test (PAPDI). This test has two characteristics that make it different from those currently available in our country: (a) the stimuli have been selected by controlling the variables that affect the stages of visual analysis and image recognition (Visual Complexity and Image Agreement) and conceptual knowledge (Image Variability and Familiarity) of the drawing of the object; and the variables (Frequency of Use and Age of Acquisition) that affect the stage that seeks to evaluate the test were manipulated: activation, selection and retrieval of the lexical label (phonological form of the name), to generate a gradient of difficulty in the items of the test. However, the variable Naming Agreement, that also affects this stage, was controlled to selected pictures with only one predominating name. The quantification of these factors by means of specific variables is influenced by the cultural and linguistic context from which they were obtained, consequently we took their values from Argentinean normative data base and (b) semantic cues were elaborated according to semantic feature production norms also from Argentina. The phonological cues corresponded to the first syllable of the object's name. Their use allows to generate more precise hypotheses about the location of the deficit and allows to infer relevant information about the cognitive profile. Therefore, the process of construction and development of the test is presented, showing how these particularities were taken into consideration, which variables were controlled and which were manipulated, and their justification. For the design of the test 62, black and white pictures were originally selected from the 400 pictures taken from Cycowicz's set (of frequent use in Experimental Psychology and Neuropsychology). They correspond to concrete concepts from different semantic categories belonging to both living andnon living domains. The criteria used to include those images were that they were moderately complex (in quantity of lines and details), moderately familiar and that they had a mean image variability value. They had to have a medium to high concordance degree between the mental image and its corresponding representation. Besides, these images had to have a naming agreement superior to 80%. To conform the first version of the test, the 62 images selected were ordered according to the variable Age of Acquisition and each image was assigned its corresponding semantic and phonological cues. The former were extracted from the Argentinean norms considering the most relevant features. The second consisted on the word´s first syllable. A pilot study with healthy population (n = 50), of different ages, both sexes and three educational levels, was carried out through which 30 images were selected that constituted the test´s final version. The deleted items were: figures that did not evokea univocal response, that is, they were easily confused with other objects; figures that had more than one acceptable answer although not all were correct; and items that presented a ceiling effect where the scores accumulated in high scores and did not allow to discriminate the participants' ability to select, retrieve and produce a word (only 25 and 30% of the items were retained). In the test´s final version, the items were reordered according to the Age of Acquisition and Frequency values and their difficulty in naming (following the percentage of successes in the spontaneous response). And images that were contain in another naming tests were deleted. The test is short enough for use in the clinic and freely accessible. The second part of the paper presents the psychometric studies that provide evidence of their relevance and validity.

The emergence of automaticity in reading: Effects of orthographic depth and word decoding ability on an adjusted Stroop measure.

How long does it take for word reading to become automatic? Does the appearance and development of automaticity differ as a function of orthographic depth (e.g., French vs. English)? These questions were addressed in a longitudinal study of English and French beginning readers. The study focused on automaticity as obligatory processing as measured in the Stroop test. Measures of decoding ability and the Stroop effect were taken at three time points during first grade (and during second grade in the United Kingdom) in 84 children. The study is the first to adjust the classic Stroop effect for inhibition (of distracting colors). The adjusted Stroop effect was zero in the absence of reading ability, and it was found to develop in tandem with decoding ability. After a further control for decoding, no effects of age or orthography were found on the adjusted Stroop measure. The results are in line with theories of the development of whole word recognition that emphasize the importance of the acquisition of the basic orthographic code.

Subliminal repetition primes help detection of phonemes in a picture: Evidence for a phonological level of the priming effects.

In this research, we combine a cross-form word-picture visual masked priming procedure with an internal phoneme monitoring task to examine repetition priming effects. In this paradigm, participants have to respond to pictures whose names begin with a prespecified target phoneme. This task unambiguously requires retrieving the word-form of the target picture's name and implicitly orients participants' attention towards a phonological level of representation. The experiments were conducted within Spanish, whose highly transparent orthography presumably promotes fast and automatic phonological recoding of subliminal, masked visual word primes. Experiments 1 and 2 show that repetition primes speed up internal phoneme monitoring in the target, compared to primes beginning with a different phoneme from the target, or sharing only their first phoneme with the target. This suggests that repetition primes preactivate the phonological code of the entire target picture's name, hereby speeding up internal monitoring, which is necessarily based on such a code. To further qualify the nature of the phonological code underlying internal phoneme monitoring, a concurrent articulation task was used in Experiment 3. This task did not affect the repetition priming effect. We propose that internal phoneme monitoring is based on an abstract phonological code, prior to its translation into articulation.

Ictus cerebeloso por consumo de cannabis / Cerebellar stroke by cannabis consumption

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Expanded norms for 400 experimental pictures in an Argentinean Spanish-speaking population.

The study of the cognitive processes in the production of language demands careful selection of stimuli and requires normative databases. The main goal of the present research was to collect normative data for the set of 400 figures taken from Cycowicz, Friedman, Rothstein, and Snodgrass (1997; including the 260 figures of Snodgrass & Vanderwart, 1980) using a sample of native Argentinean Spanish speakers. The pictures have been standardized on the following variables: name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, visual complexity, image variability, age of acquisition, and word association. The obtained norms were compared with the normative data of other studies in Spanish, English, and French. This comparison highlights the variability of some of the measures (e.g., name agreement in naming and verbal association) across the different studies and confirms the necessity of elaborating specific norms that are adapted to the studied population's linguistic and sociocultural context. The norms described may be downloaded as supplemental materials for this article from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.

On the role of regular phonological variation in lexical access: evidence from voice assimilation in French.

The present study investigated whether lexical access is affected by a regular phonological variation in connected speech: voice assimilation in French. Two associative priming experiments were conducted to determine whether strongly assimilated, potentially ambiguous word forms activate the conceptual representation of the underlying word. Would the ambiguous word form [sud] (either assimilated soute 'hold' or soude 'soda') facilitate "bagage" 'luggage', which is semantically related to soute but not to soude? In Experiment 1, words in either canonical or strongly assimilated form were presented as primes. Both forms primed their related target to the same extent. Potential lexical ambiguity did not modulate priming effects. In Experiment 2, the primes such as assimilated soute pronounced [sud] used in Experiment 1 were replaced with primes such as soude canonically pronounced [sud]. No semantic priming effect was obtained with these primes. Therefore, the effect observed for assimilated forms in Experiment 1 cannot be due to overall phonological proximity between canonical and assimilated forms. We propose that listeners must recover the intended words behind the assimilated forms through the exploitation of the remaining traces of the underlying form, however subtle these traces may be.

Perceptual processing of partially and fully assimilated words in French.

Models of speech perception attribute a different role to contextual information in the processing of assimilated speech. This study concerned perceptual processing of regressive voice assimilation in French. This phonological variation is asymmetric in that assimilation is partial for voiced stops and nearly complete for voiceless stops. Two auditory-visual cross-modal form priming experiments were used to examine perceptual compensation for assimilation in French words with voiceless versus voiced stop offsets. The results show that, for the former segments, assimilating context enhances underlying form recovery, whereas it does not for the latter. These results suggest that two sources of information -- contextual information and bottom-up information from the assimilated forms themselves -- are complementary and both come into play during the processing of fully or partially assimilated word forms.

Phonological mediation in visual masked priming: evidence from phonotactic repair.

In a series of 4 experiments, the authors show that phonological repair mechanisms, known to operate in the auditory modality, are directly translated in the visual modality. This holds with the provision that printed stimuli are presented for a very brief duration and that the effect of phonological repair is tested after a delay of some 100 ms has elapsed after that presentation. The case of phonological repair chosen to exemplify the parallelism between print and speech is the prosthesis of /e/ in utterances beginning with /s/ followed by a consonant in Spanish. Native speakers of Spanish hear a prothetic /e/ in auditorily presented pseudowords such as special (/speojal/, derived from "especial") as well as stuto (/stuto/, derived from "astuto"). It is shown here that they also hear that same vowel /e/ when presented with the printed pseudowords "special" and "stuto." This finding of a phonological repair effect in print has implications for the issue of phonological activation from print, as well as for the prelexical locus and mandatory nature of phonological repair mechanisms in general.

Assigning grammatical gender during word production.

The present study was designed to examine the processes by which grammatical gender is assigned during word production. French words varied in strength of sublexical cues, based on whether the word ending was typical for one gender rather than neutral about gender, and lexical cues, derived from the associated definite article being uninformative about gender for words beginning with a vowel, but informative for words beginning with a consonant. In Experiment 1. when native French speakers classified the gender of mentally evoked names of pictures, no effects of these cues were obtained. Experiment 2 used an improved methodology, with participants classifying the gender of words translated from English. English-speaking learners of French were influenced strongly by lexical and sublexical cues, while French speakers showed a weaker influence. However, for both speaker groups, words whose gender was classified slowly during recognition were also classified slowly during production, and error rates were similarly correlated across tasks. The conclusion was that gender is not equally available for all words once the associated "lemma" is accessed Current models of language production may have to incorporate mechanisms allowing differential speed of access to gender information depending on a word's formal properties.

Sublexical and lexical influences on gender assignment in French.

Two experiments showed that French native speakers rely on sublexical and lexical cues to allocate gender during word recognition. Sublexical cues were based on whether the word ending was typical for a particular gender rather than neutral with regard to gender. Lexical cues were based on whether the associated definite article was informative (for words beginning with a consonant) or uninformative (for words beginning with a vowel). Classification of single nouns and verification of grammatical combinations of indefinite article and noun led to longer times when both sublexical and lexical cues were uninformative compared with when one or both cues were informative. Verification of ungrammatical combinations of indefinite article and noun yielded separate effects of both cues, though only when monitoring for both semantic and syntactic unacceptability in meaningful phrases did people attend to both cues independently. It was argued that people became more cautious in their gender assignments as task requirements became "deeper": If strategic changes as a function of task demands are incorporated, the results are compatible with connectionist models proposing that gender decisions are computed from strength of past associations of the word and gender-specifying elements.

Gender congruency effects in picture naming.

The analysis of speech error corpora in various gender-marked languages has shown that noun substitutions tend to preserve grammatical gender. This result has been taken as an indication that grammatical gender could play a constraining role during the process of lexical selection. To gain insights on the status of grammatical gender in the speech production system, we discuss this hypothesis and we report three picture naming experiments. We attempted to observe gender-marked context effects in the course of error-free speech production. Participants named pictures shortly after processing a prime that was or was not gender marked and that was or was not congruent with the name of the picture. A clear congruency effect was observed, involving both facilitation in the gender congruent conditions and inhibition in gender incongruent conditions. Different interpretations of this effect and of previously reported gender context effects are discussed in the context of current models of speech production.

Predictors of picture naming speed.

We report the results of a large-scale picture naming experiment in which we evaluated the potential contribution of nine theoretically relevant factors to naming latencies. The experiment included a large number of items and a large sample of participants. In order to make this experiment as similar as possible to classic picture naming experiments, participants were familiarized with the materials during a training session. Speeded naming latencies were determined by a software key on the basis of the digital recording of the responses. The effects of various variables on these latencies were assessed with multiple regression techniques, using a repeated measures design. The interpretation of the observed effects is discussed in relation to previous studies and current views on lexical access during speech production.

Cross-modal morphological priming in French.

We investigated the lexical representation of morphologically complex words in French using a cross-modal priming experiment. We asked if the lexical representation for derivationally suffixed and prefixed words is morphologically structured and how this relates to the phonological transparency of the surface relationship between stem and affix. Overall we observed a clear effect of the morphological structure for derived words, an effect that is not explicable by a formal effect. Prefixed words prime their stems, even when they have a phonologically opaque relationship, and a prefixed word primes another prefixed word derived from the same stem. However, suffixed words prime their stems only if their relationship is phonologically transparent. Two suffixed words derived from the same stem prime each other. These two latter results differ from those observed in English by Marslen-Wilson, Tyler, Waksler, and Older (1994). We argue that it is the specific properties of the language, such as rhythm, that could explain the differences between the results observed for the two languages and we propose a model where prefixed and suffixed words are decomposed at different stages during their identification process.

Procesamiento morfológico en el reconocimiento de palabras: una revisión con especial referencia a los datos en español / Morphological processing in word recognition: a review with particular reference to Spanish data

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar de forma organizada los resultados que apoyan el procesamiento de las unidades morfológicas de palabras aisladas desde distintos paradigmas experimentales. Para ello se han revisado tres hipótesis que proponen distintas soluciones al problema del papel de la morfología en el acceso al léxico: a) segmentación obligatoria, b) listado exhaustivo y c) hipótesis mixta. Se barajan los problemas y ventajas de cada una de ellas, y de los modelos que representan, a la luz de los datos que provienen de las siguientes manipulaciones experimentales: pseudopalabras estructuradas morfológicamente, palabras monomorfémicas versus palabras polimorfémicas, estudios de priming morfológico y comparación entre frecuencia acumulada y frecuencia superficial (AU)