Exploring the automaticity of language-perception interactions: Effects of attention and awareness
Publication year
2015Number of pages
9 p.
Source
Scientific Reports, 5, (2015), article 17725ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
SW OZ DCC BO
PI Group Neurobiology of Language
PI Group Predictive Brain
Psychiatry
SW OZ DCC PL
Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging
Journal title
Scientific Reports
Volume
vol. 5
Languages used
English (eng)
Subject
110 000 Neurocognition of Language; 180 000 Predictive Brain; DI-BCB_DCC_Theme 1: Language and Communication; Psycholinguistics; Radboudumc 13: Stress-related disorders DCMN: Donders Center for Medical NeuroscienceAbstract
Previous studies have shown that language can modulate visual perception, by biasing and/or enhancing perceptual performance. However, it is still debated where in the brain visual and linguistic information are integrated, and whether the effects of language on perception are automatic and persist even in the absence of awareness of the linguistic material. Here, we aimed to explore the automaticity of language-perception interactions and the neural loci of these interactions in an fMRI study. Participants engaged in a visual motion discrimination task (upward or downward moving dots). Before each trial, a word prime was briefly presented that implied upward or downward motion (e.g., "rise", "fall"). These word primes strongly influenced behavior: congruent motion words sped up reaction times and improved performance relative to incongruent motion words. Neural congruency effects were only observed in the left middle temporal gyrus, showing higher activity for congruent compared to incongruent conditions. This suggests that higher-level conceptual areas rather than sensory areas are the locus of language-perception interactions. When motion words were rendered unaware by means of masking, they still affected visual motion perception, suggesting that language-perception interactions may rely on automatic feed-forward integration of perceptual and semantic material in language areas of the brain.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [238441]
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging [3824]
- Electronic publications [122537]
- Faculty of Medical Sciences [90373]
- Faculty of Social Sciences [29483]
- Open Access publications [97529]
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