The semantic-similarity effect in children: influence of long-term knowledge on verbal short-term memory.

The present research was designed to highlight the relation between children's categorical knowledge and their verbal short-term memory (STM) performance. To do this, we manipulated the categorical organization of the words composing lists to be memorized by 5- and 9-year-old children. Three types of word list were drawn up: semantically similar context-dependent (CD) lists, semantically similar context-independent (CI) lists, and semantically dissimilar lists. In line with the procedure used by Poirier and Saint-Aubin (1995), the dissimilar lists were produced using words from the semantically similar lists. Both 5- and 9-year-old children showed better recall for the semantically similar CD lists than they did for the unrelated lists. In the semantic similar CI condition, semantic similarity enhanced immediate serial recall only at age 9 but contributed to item information memory both at ages 5 and 9. These results, which indicate a semantic influence of long-term memory (LTM) on serial recall from age 5, are discussed in the light of current models of STM. Moreover, we suggest that differences between results at 5 and 9 years are compatible with pluralist models of development.

The sensory-motor specificity of taxonomic and thematic conceptual relations: a behavioral and fMRI study.

Previous behavioral data suggest that the salience of taxonomic (e.g., hammer-saw) and thematic (e.g., hammer-nail) conceptual relations depends on object categories. Furthermore, taxonomic and thematic relations would be differentially grounded in the sensory-motor system. Using a picture matching task, we asked adult participants to identify taxonomic and thematic relations for non-manipulable and manipulable natural and artifact targets (e.g., animals, fruit, tools and vehicles, respectively) inside and outside a 3 T MR scanner. Behavioral data indicated that taxonomic relations are identified faster in natural objects while thematic relations are processed faster in artifacts, particularly manipulable ones (e.g., tools). Neuroimaging findings revealed that taxonomic processing specifically activates the bilateral visual areas (cuneus, BA 18), particularly for non-manipulable natural objects (e.g., animals). On the contrary, thematic processing specifically recruited a bilateral temporo-parietal network including the inferior parietal lobules (IPL, BA 40) and middle temporal gyri (MTG, BA 39/21/22). Left IPL and MTG activation was stronger for manipulable than for non-manipulable artifacts (e.g., tools vs. vehicles) during thematic processing. Right IPL and MTG activation was greater for both artifacts compared to natural objects during thematic processing (manipulable and non-manipulable ones, e.g., tools and vehicles). While taxonomic relations would selectively rely on perceptual similarity processing, thematic relations would specifically activate visuo-motor regions involved in action and space processing. In line with embodied views of concepts, our findings show that taxonomic and thematic conceptual relations are based on different sensory-motor processes. It suggests that they may have different roles in concept formation and processing depending on object categories.

How action and context priming influence categorization: A developmental study.

Embodied views of cognition propose that concepts are grounded in sensorimotor experience. Diverse aspects of sensorimotor experience, like action and context information, could play a key role in the formation and processing of manipulable object concepts. Specifically, contextual information could help to link specific actions experienced with different object exemplars. In this study, the effects of action and context priming on superordinate and basic-level categorization of manipulable objects were directly contrasted in 7- and 9-year-olds and in adults. Across the ages, results revealed a differential effect of hand and scene primes on conceptual processing at the superordinate and basic levels; the disadvantage of superordinate over basic-level categorization was reduced in the context priming condition in comparison to the action priming condition. The nature and role of contextual knowledge are discussed from a cognitive and a neurophysiological point of view. Directions for further developmental research on concepts are also considered.

Object manipulability affects children's and adults' conceptual processing.

Research on kinds of concepts indicates that children use perceptual and functional information differently to form natural and artifact concepts. Beyond object domain, object manipulability appears to be a decisive factor in adult conceptual processing. Thus, the effect of object manipulability on conceptual processing was tested in 5- and 7-year-olds and adults using a picture matching task. Reaction times for identifying conceptual relations on the basis of perceptual similarity (e.g., jacket-coat) and contextual/functional information (e.g., jacket-hanger) were analyzed according to object manipulability and domain. Both children and adults were faster to identify contextual/functional relations for manipulable than for nonmanipulable objects. Conversely, they were faster to identify perceptual similarity relations for nonmanipulable than for manipulable objects, particularly for natural concepts. Results reveal an early distinction between concepts of manipulable and nonmanipulable objects. Implications for further research on concept formation and for embodied views of concepts are discussed.

Improving the effectiveness of nutritional information policies: assessment of unconscious pleasure mechanisms involved in food-choice decisions.

The rise in obesity in many countries has led to the emergence of nutritional information policies that aim to change people's diets. Changing an individual's diet is an ambitious goal, since numerous factors influence a person's food-choice decisions, many of which are made unconsciously. These frequently subconscious processes should not be underestimated in food-choice behavior, as they play a major role in food diet composition. In this review, research in cognitive experimental psychology and neuroscience provides the basis for a critical analysis of the role of pleasure in eating behaviors. An assessment of the main characteristics of nutritional policies is provided, followed by recent findings showing that food choices are guided primarily by automatic emotional processes. Neuroimaging and behavioral studies, which provide new insights into the relationships between emotions and food both in lean persons and in persons with eating disorders, are reported as well. Lastly, the argument is presented that future nutritional policies can be more effective if they associate healthy food with eating pleasure.

Picture naming in 3- to 8-year-old French children: methodological considerations for name agreement.

Picture naming has become an important experimental paradigm in cognitive psychology. Young children are more variable than adults in their naming responses and less likely to know the object or its name. A consequence is that the interpretation of the two classical measures used by Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) for scoring name agreement in adults (the percentage of agreement, based on modal name, and the H statistic, based on alternative names) will differ because of the high rate of "don't know object" responses, common in young children, relative to the low rate of "don't know object" responses more characteristic of adults. The present study focused on this methodological issue in young French children (3-8 years old), using a set of 145 Snodgrass-Vanderwart pictures. Our results indicate that the percentage of agreement based on the expected name is a better measure of picture-naming performance than are the commonly used measures. The norms may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.