Browsing by Author "Bodner, Glen E."

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Accounting for The Revelation Effect: Criterion Flux or Discrepancy Misattribution?
    (2018-07-03) Currie, Devon; Bodner, Glen E.; Ellard, John H.; Sears, Christopher R.; Climie, Emma A.
    The revelation effect occurs when performing an initial task (vs. no task) increases ratings/endorsements of a subsequent target. I examined whether initial task difficulty (solving an easy vs. hard anagram) moderates the revelation effect in recognition and truth tasks. By a criterion flux account, solving an anagram displaces working memory contents, yielding a liberal response bias. This account predicts a revelation effect only in the recognition task—not influenced by anagram difficulty. By a discrepancy misattribution account, after solving an anagram, discrepantly fluent processing of the target is misattributed to recognition/truth. This account predicts a revelation effect in both tasks that is larger after hard anagrams. The revelation effect on recognition ratings was significant only after hard anagrams, consistent with both accounts, whereas a revelation effect on truth ratings occurred only after easy anagrams, contrary to both accounts. However, I argue that discrepancy misattribution fits best with this unexpected pattern.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Deriving meaning from print: The role of sensorimotor information and context in semantic processing
    (2019-01-07) Doyle, Alison Weyman; Pexman, Penny M.; Protzner, Andrea B.; Bodner, Glen E.; Graham, Susan A.; Taler, Vanessa; O'Brien, Mary Grantham
    The process by which meaning is derived from words has been described by a number of different theories. Most recently, hybrid theories have claimed that both lexical and perceptual information are involved in deriving meaning from words, and that the relative contributions of each are dependent on context (Zwaan, 2014). In Chapter 2, predictions derived from these theories were tested by examining semantic richness effects in a semantic decision task (SDT) across two conditions. EEG was recorded while participants categorized words rated high or low for body-object interaction (BOI), a sensorimotor semantic richness dimension that measures ease of bodily interaction with the word’s referent (Siakaluk, et al., 2008a). In one condition participants decided whether each word was an entity or non-entity and in the other condition participants decided whether each word was an action or non-action. The behavioural results from Experiment 1 replicated previous findings (Tousignant & Pexman, 2012): a BOI effect (faster responses for high BOI words than for low BOI words) was observed in the entity/non-entity condition only. The results from Experiment 2 showed a significant difference in mean amplitude and rectified area of the P2 component between high and low BOI words in the entity condition only. These results indicate that sensorimotor information was recruited differently in each condition, suggesting that the recruitment of semantic information is a dynamic process, dependent on task demands. Although the BOI dimension has proven useful for investigating the role of sensorimotor information in lexical-semantic processing it is a fairly coarse measure of sensorimotor experience with words’ referents. The research reported in Chapter 4 addressed this issue by collecting ratings for 621 words on seven semantic dimensions in order to investigate which attributes are most strongly related to BOI ratings and to lexical–semantic processing. The results showed that the motor dimensions of graspability, ease of pantomime, and number of actions were all related to BOI, and that these dimensions together explained more variance in semantic processing than did the BOI ratings alone. These findings support hybrid theories of semantic processing, and provide additional insights about the nature of sensorimotor semantic processing.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Does Taking a Walk in Nature Enhance Long-Term Memory?
    (Mary Ann Liebert, Publishers, 2015-09-24) Rider, Nathan D.; Bodner, Glen E.
    Given recent evidence that contact with nature can enhance cognitive processes, we measured whether students who took a brief on-campus walk in a natural environment showed improved retention of learned materials. Using a within-subjects design, we compared the effects of 10-minute walks in nature, urban, and indoor environments on long-term memory for word lists. Recall and recognition for word lists were tested in the indoor environment either after each walk (Experiment 1) or before each walk (Experiment 2). We failed to find an influence of walk type on either memory test in either experiment. Thus, contact with nature did not enhance students’ long-term memory under the conditions we tested. Our results contrast with a recent study in which learners showed better memory for lecture materials learned in a nature-enhanced classroom than in a control classroom. We identify potential explanations for our null findings and suggest future research directions.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Explorations of Sound Symbolism and Iconicity
    (2019-09-17) Sidhu, David Michael; Pexman, Penny M.; Bodner, Glen E.; Curtin, Suzanne; Flynn, Darin; Reilly, Jamie Patrick
    Sound symbolism refers to the finding that individuals have biases to associate certain language sounds (i.e., phonemes) with certain perceptual and/or semantic features (see Lockwood & Dingemanse, 2015; Sidhu & Pexman, 2018a). An example of this is the association between the phoneme /i/ (as in heed) and smallness. This is of special interest to language because it can enable iconic relationships between form and meaning: instances in which a word’s form maps onto its meaning via resemblance. For instance, the word teeny contains a vowel associated with smallness, and refers to something small. Iconicity can also exist through direct resemblance, in which a form imitates the meaning to which it refers (e.g., bang, woosh). In Chapter 2 I synthesize the existing sound symbolism literature to arrive at five potential mechanisms that could give rise to the associations between phonemes and features. I also discuss as yet unanswered questions for the field and propose ways in which future research might answer these questions. In Chapter 3 I demonstrate a novel form of sound symbolism, namely that between phonemes and personality factors. In a departure from much of the previous literature, I conduct this investigation using real first names, allowing exploration of sound symbolism in existing language. Further, by demonstrating an association between phonemes and an abstract dimension, I widen the scope of sound symbolism, and provide a novel test case for the potential mechanisms discussed in Chapter 2. In Chapter 4 I turn my attention to iconicity and its benefit to language processing. I demonstrate that iconic words are processed faster on a lexical decision task as well as a phonological lexical decision task, compared to arbitrary words. I consider how this finding might fit into an existing model of word processing. Finally, in Chapter 5, I explore the effect of iconicity on the structure of the lexicon. I demonstrate that iconic words tend to have more unique meanings, and to have a greater amount of associated sensory experience. I discuss how these findings could shed light on the emergence of iconicity in the lexicon over time. Across these diverse studies I explore non-arbitrariness in language both at the level of individual phonemes and entire words. A running theme throughout this work is a consideration of the mechanisms underlying these phenomena, as well as an exploration of their relevance to broad, existing language.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Getting at the source of distinctive encoding effects in the DRM paradigm: evidence from signal-detection measures and source judgments
    (2016-07-06) Bodner, Glen E.; Huff, Mark J.; Lamontagne, Raymond W.; Azas, Tanjeem
    Studying Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) lists using a distinctive encoding task can reduce the DRM false memory illusion. Reductions for both distinctively encoded lists and non-distinctively encoded lists in a within-group design have been ascribed to use of a distinctiveness heuristic by which participants monitor their memories at test for distinctive-task details. Alternatively, participants might simply set a more conservative response criterion, which would be exceeded by distinctive list items more often than all other test items, including the critical non-studied items. To evaluate these alternatives, we compared a within-group who studied 5 lists by reading, 5 by anagram generation, and 5 by imagery, relative to a control group who studied all 15 lists by reading. Generation and imagery improved recognition accuracy by impairing relational encoding, but the within group did not show greater memory monitoring at test relative to the read control group. Critically, the within group’s pattern of list-based source judgments provided new evidence that participants successfully monitored for distinctive-task details at test. Thus, source judgments revealed evidence of qualitative, recollection-based monitoring in the within group, to which our quantitative signal-detection measure of monitoring was blind.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Neuroanatomical Changes Associated with Working Memory Training in Healthy Adults
    (2018-06-26) Savage, Linette; Goghari, Vina M.; Campbell, Tavis S.; Bodner, Glen E.; Lebel, Catherine A.; MacMaster, Frank P.; Yang, Lixia
    The potential for working memory training to enhance cognitive and intellectual abilities is alluring across scientific disciplines and the general public. However, the field has been fraught with inconsistency and controversy. Heterogeneous methodological implementations have led to a divided and contrasting body of literature, which has collectively limited scientific transparency and advancement in the field. However, neuroimaging has the potential to clarify what, if any, benefit working memory training has on the adult human brain. A recent series of studies used functional neuroimaging to investigate neural activations associated with working memory training. This dissertation uses structural imaging to address another theoretical area: the neuroanatomical correlates of working memory training. Forty-eight healthy community dwelling adults, aged 18 - 40 years, completed a series of cognitive tasks and underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before and after completing a 6-week trial of working memory training (experimental condition) or processing speed training (active control condition). Group by time repeated measures Analyses of Variance (rm-ANOVAs) were conducted on MRI data to identify changes in surface area, thickness, and volume in theoretically relevant gray matter regions of interest, as well as overall gray and white matter volumes, associated with working memory training. Similar analyses were conducted to investigate changes in cognitive task performance in this sample. Null results were present across all neuroanatomical metrics after correction for multiple comparisons, and findings from cognitive tasks were consistent with the subset of literature suggesting that working memory training does not meaningfully benefit cognitive performance. Albeit limited by low statistical power and the confines of available technology, findings of this study, in consort with recently published investigations, strongly support the idea that working memory training is not an effective method for enhancing cognitive performance or inducing neoplastic changes in brain structure. We suggest that future studies continue attempts to resolve heterogeneity and polarization in this field, or alternatively, concentrate resources on identifying and refining mechanisms of change in populations who may benefit from rehabilitative forms of cognitive training.