This work was supported by Major Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62036001).

The protocol used for this study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Tsinghua University.
1. Stimuli construction and presentation
<ol>
	<li>Stimuli construction
	<ol>
		<li>Stimuli preparation: Prepare target words containing approximately 140 Chinese two-character compounds, of which low- and high-frequency words account for half. Precede each target by three analogues: a phonologically identical word (homonymous word), a word with related meaning, and an irrelevant control word.
		<ol>
			<li>Ensure that high-frequency targets are always preceded by high-frequency antecedents and low-frequency targets are always preceded by low-frequency precedents, whether in related conditions or unrelated control groups. In addition, ensure the precede-target pairs are similar in the number of strokes and frequency. 
			NOTE: All the words for this study were selected from the Modern Chinese Frequency Dictionary (Xiandai Hanyu Pinlu Cidian). The frequency of low-frequency words was less than eight times per million, and the frequency of high-frequency words exceeded 800 times per million.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
		<li>Stimuli assessment: Recruit a separate group of approximately 30 students to evaluate the degree of semantic relevance between word pairs on a seven-point scale, wherein 1 reflects the lowest correlation and 7 reflects the highest correlation.</li>
		<li>Final stimulus determination: Delete inappropriate word pairs, such as word pairs with lower scores in semantically related conditions and word pairs with higher scores in homophone and irrelevant condition scores.
		<ol>
			<li>Calculate the respective average scores of high- and low-frequency semantic-related word pairs and ensure no significant difference is present between the two.</li>
			<li>In addition, ensure that the scores of homophone pairs and unrelated pairs are not significantly different at both high and low frequency. Finally, determine the final experimental stimulus material (see Table Materials). 
			&#8203;NOTE: For the semantic-related values of the semantic-related pairs in this experiment, the final average values were 5.62 and 5.73 for high-frequency and low-frequency pairs, respectively, and there was no significant difference between the two (p &#62; .1). In addition, the semantic relatedness between the homophonic and unrelated pairs was not significantly different (p &#62; .1).</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Stimuli presentation
	<ol>
		<li>Build a program to show the task to the subjects and fill in the aforementioned materials (the program can be written in E-prime or other programming languages).</li>
		<li>Ensure that each core structure of the program starts with a screen displaying a &#34; + &#34; sign that lasts for 300 ms, directly after which the preceding word must appear for 140 ms, with no interval between the two.</li>
		<li>After that, set a blank screen lasting for 360 ms, and then set the target word, which will appear for 500 ms. Finally, set a question mark (?) that will continue to be displayed until the participant has decided on the word pair just shown and pressed the button as quickly and accurately as possible.</li>
		<li>Tell the participants in advance that they need to judge whether the word pair is semantically related in the semantic judgment task and whether the phonology is the same in the phonological judgment task.</li>
		<li>Practice session setup: Set up two practice groups to include semantic judgment and phonological judgment tasks, respectively, with no less than 10-word pairs for each task. Inform the participants that they can repeat the exercises to ensure that the accuracy in the practice session is more than 70%.</li>
		<li>Formal experiment setup: Divide the whole experiment into 6 blocks, with the semantic judgment task and the phonological judgment task each accounting for half.
		<ol>
			<li>Make sure that there are no repeated target words in each block, and that the number of priming types in each block is the same. In addition, set up a few filler trials to reduce the response deviation caused by the unequal number of tests requiring positive or negative reactions.</li>
			<li>Randomize the order of items in each block and counterbalance the block order among the subjects. 
			&#8203;NOTE: The entire experiment can also be divided into eight or ten or more blocks according to the number of experimental materials to be prepared, which minimizes the repetition of target words in each block.</li>
		</ol>
		</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>
2. Experiment preparation and electrophysiological recording
<ol>
	<li>Recruit right-handed native Chinese speakers with a normal vision that may have been previously corrected.
	<ol>
		<li>Exclude participants with any neurological or psychiatric diseases.</li>
		<li>Ensure there is a balanced number of female and male participants in the desired age range (18-28 years old).</li>
		<li>Ensure that the participants do not have any history of perming or dyeing their hair for the past two months.</li>
		<li>Inform the participants that they will need to have sufficient sleep and rest time before the experiment25.</li>
		<li>When participating in the experiment, please make sure the participants are in a healthy state at the time of conducting the experiment.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>When a participant arrives at the lab, introduce the experimental equipment, tasks, and time costs. Explain the requirements (such as not being sleepy, moving, and blinking) to help them understand the entire process and eliminate unnecessary worries.</li>
	<li>If the participant has no other questions about the experiment, ask them to fill in the Edinburgh Handedness Query Form, which is used to confirm that all participants have the same right-handed habits.</li>
	<li>Provide the informed consent form to the participants and ask them to read and sign carefully. If participants have questions about the content of the consent form, provide them with the necessary explanations.</li>
	<li>Instruct the participant to properly clean their scalp and dry their hair in the laboratory. While waiting for participants, please prepare all experimental materials. 
	NOTE: The electroencephalogram (EEG) signal is amplified using an amplifier system with a bandpass of 0.01 to 100 Hz and continuously sample at 500 Hz.</li>
	<li>Invite the participants to sit comfortably on a chair in the chamber where the experiment will be conducted. Instructed them not to move the chair.</li>
	<li>Use cotton swabs and facial scrubs to clean the skin under the participant&#39;s left eye (for the vertical electro-oculographic electrode), near the outer canthus of the right eye (for the horizontal electro-oculographic), and around the right and left mastoid bones (for Tp9 and Tp10, which will be used as new offline references). 
	NOTE: The distribution of electrodes may vary depending on the caps used.</li>
	<li>Place the elastic cap on the participant&#39;s head and make sure that the Cz electrode is at the center of the top of the head. Fix the electrode cap strap under the chin with care to ensure that it is not too tight or too loose.</li>
	<li>Make sure that the cap and amplifier are connected to the recording system. Next, switch the recording software to the impedance monitoring interface.</li>
	<li>Ensure that the impedance of all electrodes does not exceed 5 k&#937; or 10 k&#937;, starting with the reference (Ref) and ground (Gnd) electrodes.</li>
	<li>Pass the syringe filled with conductive gel through the small hole of an electrode to the scalp and then push the plunger to inject a small amount of conductive gel into the scalp while being careful not to cause an overflow. At the same time, monitor the display system that displays the impedance in real-time until the impedance drops to the threshold.</li>
	<li>After the Ref and Gnd electrodes are prepared, reduce the impedance of the other electrodes in the same way. Treat the impedance reduction of ocular electricity carefully.
	<ol>
		<li>Tape the small holes on one side of the two electro-oculographic electrodes to prevent the injected conductive gel from leaking. Fix them to the bottom of the left eye and the outer canthus of the right eye with tape.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>After all the electrodes are prepared, instruct the participants to be ready for the experiment. Instruct the participants to relax and avoid excessive eye blinking and body movement during the experiment.</li>
	<li>Present the stimulus via the stimulus demonstration program and let the participants practice in the practice section. 
	NOTE: After the practice session, participants can ask questions if they have any doubts or questions about how to proceed.</li>
	<li>Start the formal experiment and record the EEG information. Monitor the recording system during recording. If an electrode is loose or the resistance exceeds the threshold, refill the electrode when the participant is resting. 
	NOTE: Participants can rest for 4-10 min after each block.</li>
	<li>After the experiment is completed, save the EEG signal and turn off the equipment, such as the recording system and amplifier. Then take off the participant&#39;s cap and instruct the participant to wash off the conductive gel from the hair and skin. Finally, reward the participants and thank them for their cooperation.</li>
</ol>
3. EEG preprocessing
<ol>
	<li>Utilize semi-automatic ocular correction with independent component analysis.</li>
	<li>Compute the ERPs from 100 ms to 600 ms after the onset of the target word (100 ms pre-target baseline).</li>
	<li>Set the EEG bandpass-filtered offline from 0.05 to 30 Hz (zero phase shift mode, 24 dB/oct).</li>
	<li>Discard epochs exceeding &#177;80 &#181;V by artifact rejection and eliminate the trials of erroneous responses.</li>
</ol>

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There are no competing financial interests.

Experimental results and significance: 
The purpose of this protocol was to infer the following: 1) whether the word recognition model is a feedforward model or an interactive model and 2) the interaction between the phonological and semantic patterns in Chinese two-character compound recognition of high and low frequency under different tasks. An interference paradigm of phonological and semantic matching task using the ERP technique was adopted. The ERP responses preceded by homophones and unrelat...

The critical issue in any word recognition model is understanding the role of phonology in the process of semantic access1. For alphabetic languages, many studies consistently view phonology as playing an important role in semantic access, including English2,3,4, Hebrew5, French6, and Spanish7. In other words, written word recognition involves not only orthographic but also phonological and semantic processing. This observation in the interactive connectionist model is explained by extensions activated throughout the network, where orthography is associated with phonological and semantic representations through weighted connections8. This proliferation of activation provides the core mechanism for the visual word recognition model, which assumes that phonological and semantic representations are automatically activated in response to orthographic input9.
However, current empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis of interactive automation remains controversial. Some studies claim that the activation of phonological and semantic representations can be adjusted or prevented by task demands or attention, which implies a certain top-down influence on the high-level processes involved in word perception10,11. However, the aforementioned description has been questioned by many findings that report phonological and semantic effects in visual word recognition even though these representations are completely irrelevant to the task or cannot be directly accessed12, thereby supporting the view that semantics and phonology may be accessed automatically and forcibly during the reading process13. Therefore, there is uncertainty on whether the phonological and semantic activation in visual word recognition depends on the specific task or whether it occurs forcibly and automatically in a task-independent manner.
The answer to aforementioned question is difficult for Chinese readers. Compared to English, Chinese is a logographic script whose characters represent morphemes instead of phonemes14. At present, the role of phonology for semantic access to Chinese words remains controversial. Some studies have claimed that phonology plays an important role in semantic access to Chinese words15,16,17. Others, however, have held the opposite view18,19. After evaluating the aforementioned research for Chinese phonological processing, we found that the experimental paradigm and specific research methods differ. On the whole, it was mainly divided into two paradigms: word priming15,18,19 and violation paradigm in the sentence17,20,21. The target word is usually embedded at the end of the sentence in the violation paradigm22. In terms of language mechanism, a short two-word phrase is a more manageable unit than a complete sentence that is difficult to process23. In addition, variables that are difficult to control in a sentence, such as syntax, context, or other factors, may lead to different conclusions24. The word priming paradigm is a method commonly used to explore word recognition models, whether in alphabetic languages or Chinese. The task of this paradigm is to judge whether the target word preceded by the primes is a real word or pseudoword; that is, this paradigm usually contains only one lexical task. However, a single lexical decision task may not be the best choice to solve the problem of whether the activation of phonology and semantics depends on the task. Therefore, two different tasks may be more suitable for exploring this question.
Therefore, this research aimed to explore the role of phonology in Chinese word recognition and simultaneously attempt to determine whether the activation of phonology and semantics is in task independent. Our research includes two tasks using the interference paradigm: semantic judgment and phonological judgment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first event-related potential (ERP) study of Chinese two-character compound recognition using this interference paradigm, and this method rarely appears in studies of alphabetic languages. Specifically, in the semantic judgment task, participants must judge whether the target word and its precedent are semantically related, while in the phonological task, they must judge whether the paired words have the same pronunciation.
The former is a semantic matching task that does not require a priori phonological processing, and the latter is a phonological judgment task that does not require a priori semantic processing. Therefore, we compared homophone pairs and unrelated control groups in the semantic judgment task to reveal whether and how phonology affects semantic processing. Similarly, we compared semantically related word pairs with unrelated control conditions in the phonological judgment task to reveal whether and how semantics affect phonological processing. In addition, the aforementioned problem was verified in high- and low-frequency words. Thus, this complementary semantic and phonological judgment task can not only reveal the importance of phonological processing in Chinese word recognition but also reveal whether and how phonology and semantics interact.
If the phonology and semantic processes are early, automatic, and interactive, the effect of phonological and semantic activation should be observed in the response time of the two tasks. For ERP, phonological and semantic processes trigger two different electrophysiological markers2,7. In addition, their time courses and their spatial distributions should be different. An early positive component (P200) should reflect phonological processing, and the typical semantic processing marker N400 should also be identified20,21. We assumed that both the phonologically related pairs in the semantic task and the semantic-related pairs in the phonological task would cause a significant decrease in N400, which would have indicated that phonological processing may lead to some degree of activation at lexical-semantic levels. In addition, we monitored whether the P200, which characterizes phonological processing, appeared in the semantic judgment task or the phonological judgment task. In the phonological judgment task, semantic-related conditions trigger the P200, which can be seen as evidence of the early influence of semantics on phonological processing.

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	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>BrainAmp DC amplifier system (Brain Products GmbH)</td>
			<td>Brain Products, Gilching, Germany</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>BrainAmp S/N AMP13061964DC Input 5.6DC=150mA Operation 7mA Standby</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Easycap (Brain Products GmbH)</td>
			<td>Brain Products, Gilching, Germany</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>62 Ag/AgCl electrodes with a configuration of the international 10&#8211;20 system of electrode</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

interaction between phonological and semantic processes in visual word recognition using electrophysiology

Controversies have always existed in research related to reading abilities; on whether printed words are perceived in a feedforward manner based on orthographic information after which, other representations, such as phonology and semantics are activated, or whether these are fully interactive and high-level semantic information affects early processing. An interference paradigm was implemented in the presented protocol of phonological and semantic judgment tasks that utilized the same precede-target pairs to explore the relative order of phonological and semantic activation. The high- and low-frequency target words were preceded with three conditions: semantically related, phonological-related (homophones), or unrelated. The results showed that the induced P200 component of low-frequency word pairs was significantly greater than high-frequency words in both the semantic and phonological tasks. In addition, both the homophones in the semantic task and the semantically related pairs in the phonological task caused reduction in N400 when compared to the the control condition, word frequency-independently. It is worth noting that for the low-frequency pairs in the phonological judgment task, the P200 released by the semantically related word pairs was significantly larger than that in the control condition. Overall, semantic processing in phonological tasks and phonological processing in semantic tasks were found in both high- and low-frequency words, suggesting that the interaction between semantics and phonology may operate in a task-independent manner. However, the specific time this interaction occurred may have been affected by the task and frequency.

This protocol was used in a recent study to investigate the role of phonology in Chinese two-character compound recognition and to infer the word recognition model26. All stimuli used in this study were fully disclosed26. Three time windows were selected on the basis of global field power (GFP): at 100-150 ms, 160-280 ms, and 300- 500 ms for N1, P200, and N400 components, respectively26. The average amplitudes of the above two time windows were analy...

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Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

We present a protocol to explore the relative activation sequence of phonology and semantics in visual word recognition. The results show that consistent with interactive accounts, semantic and phonological representations may be processed interactively, and higher-level linguistic representations may affect early processing.

Controversies have always existed in research related to reading abilities; on whether printed words are perceived in a feedforward manner based on ...

interaction-between-phonological-semantic-processes-visual-word

Research

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Behavior

2.3K Views.  Tsinghua University. We present a protocol to explore the relative activation sequence of phonology and semantics in visual word recognition. The results show that consistent with interactive accounts, semantic and phonological representations may be processed interactively, and higher-level linguistic representations may affect early processing.

Video: Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Kinesthetic awareness is important to successfully navigate the environment. When we interact with our daily surroundings, some aspects of movement are deliberately planned, while others spontaneously occur below conscious awareness. The deliberate component of this dichotomy has been studied extensively in several contexts, while the spontaneous component remains largely under-explored. Moreover, how perceptual processes modulate these movement classes is still unclear. In particular, a currently debated issue is whether the visuomotor system is governed by the spatial percept produced by a visual illusion or whether it is not affected by the illusion and is governed instead by the veridical percept. Bistable percepts such as 3D depth inversion illusions (DIIs) provide an excellent context to study such interactions and balance, particularly when used in combination with reach-to-grasp movements. In this study, a methodology is developed that uses a DII to clarify the role of top-down processes on motor action, particularly exploring how reaches toward a target on a DII are affected in both deliberate and spontaneous movement domains.

It is unclear how top-down signals from the ventral visual stream affect movement. We developed a paradigm to test motor behavior towards a target on a 3D depth inversion illusion. Significant differences are reported in both deliberate, goal-directed movements and automatic actions under illusory and veridical viewing conditions.

Kinesthetic awareness is important to successfully navigate the environment. When we interact with our daily surroundings, some aspects of movement are ...

Investigating the Effects of Antipsychotics and Schizotypy on the N400 Using Event-Related Potentials and Semantic Categorization

Within the field of cognitive neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a popular method of visualizing brain function. This is in part because of its excellent spatial resolution, which allows researchers to identify brain areas associated with specific cognitive processes. However, in the quest to localize brain functions, it is relevant to note that many cognitive, sensory, and motor processes have temporal distinctions that are imperative to capture, an aspect that is left unfulfilled by fMRI&#8217;s suboptimal temporal resolution. To better understand cognitive processes, it is thus advantageous to utilize event-related potential (ERP) recording as a method of gathering information about the brain. Some of its advantages include its fantastic temporal resolution, which gives researchers the ability to follow the activity of the brain down to the millisecond. It also directly indexes both excitatory and inhibitory post-synaptic potentials by which most brain computations are performed. This sits in contrast to fMRI, which captures an index of metabolic activity. Further, the non-invasive ERP method does not require a contrast condition: raw ERPs can be examined for just one experimental condition, a distinction from fMRI where control conditions must be subtracted from the experimental condition, leading to uncertainty in associating observations with experimental or contrast conditions. While it is limited by its poor spatial and subcortical activity resolution, ERP recordings&#8217; utility, relative cost-effectiveness, and associated advantages offer strong rationale for its use in cognitive neuroscience to track rapid temporal changes in neural activity. In an effort to foster increase in its use as a research imaging method, and to ensure proper and accurate data collection, the present article will outline &#8211; in the framework of a paradigm using semantic categorization to examine the effects of antipsychotics and schizotypy on the N400 &#8211; the procedure and key aspects associated with ERP data acquisition.

Using event-related EEG potentials (ERPs), we investigate the effects of antipsychotic medications on abnormal semantic brain activations in healthy individuals with schizotypal traits. We use ERPs to track distinct changes in brain activity, shedding insight into the cognitive processes associated with semantic categorization.

Within the field of cognitive neuroscience, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a popular method of visualizing brain function. This is in ...

The Modified Hole Board - Measuring Behavior, Cognition and Social Interaction in Mice and Rats

This protocol describes the modified hole board (mHB), which combines features from a traditional hole board and open field and is designed to measure multiple dimensions of unconditioned behavior in small laboratory mammals (e.g., mice, rats, tree shrews and small primates). This paradigm is a valuable alternative for the use of a behavioral test battery, since a broad behavioral spectrum of an animal&#8217;s behavioral profile can be investigated in one single test.
The apparatus consists of a box, representing the &#8216;protected&#8217; area, separated from a group compartment. A board, on which small cylinders are staggered in three lines, is placed in the center of the box, representing the &#8216;unprotected&#8217; area of the set-up. The cognitive abilities of the animals can be measured by baiting some cylinders on the board and measuring the working and reference memory. Other unconditioned behavior, such as activity-related-, anxiety-related- and social behavior, can be observed using this paradigm. Behavioral flexibility and the ability to habituate to a novel environment can additionally be observed by subjecting the animals to multiple trials in the mHB, revealing insight into the animals&#8217; adaptive capacities.
Due to testing order effects in a behavioral test battery, na&#239;ve animals should be used for each individual experiment. By testing multiple behavioral dimensions in a single paradigm and thereby circumventing this issue, the number of experimental animals used is reduced. Furthermore, by avoiding social isolation during testing and without the need to food deprive the animals, the mHB represents a behavioral test system, inducing if any, very low amount of stress.

This protocol describes the modified hole board, which is a behavioral test set-up that comprises the characteristics of an open field and a traditional hole board. This set-up enables the differential analysis of unconditioned behavior of small laboratory mammals as well as the analysis of cognitive abilities.

This protocol describes the modified hole board (mHB), which combines features from a traditional hole board and open field and is designed to measure ...

A Mouse Model of Subchronic and Mild Social Defeat Stress for Understanding Stress-induced Behavioral and Physiological Deficits

Stressful life events often increase the incidence of depression in humans. To study the mechanisms of depression, the development of animal models of depression is essential. Because there are several types of depression, various animal models are needed for a deeper understanding of the disorder. Previously, a mouse model of subchronic and mild social defeat stress (sCSDS) using a modified chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) paradigm was established. In the paradigm, to reduce physical injuries from aggressors, the duration of physical contact between the aggressor and a subordinate was reduced compared to in the original CSDS paradigm. sCSDS mice showed increased body weight gain, food intake, and water intake during the stress period, and their social behaviors were suppressed after the stress period. In terms of the face validity of the stress-induced overeating and overdrinking following the increased body weight gain, the sCSDS mice may show some features related to atypical depression in humans. Thus, a mouse model of sCSDS may be useful for studying the pathogenic mechanisms underlying depression. This protocol will help establish the sCSDS mouse model, especially for studying the mechanisms underlying stress-induced weight gain and polydipsia- and hyperphagia-like symptoms.

Here, methods for developing a mouse model of subchronic and mild social defeat stress are described and used to investigate the pathogenic features of depression including hyperphagia- and polydipsia-like symptoms following increased body weight.

Stressful life events often increase the incidence of depression in humans. To study the mechanisms of depression, the development of animal models of ...

Novel Object Recognition Test for the Investigation of Learning and Memory in Mice

The object recognition test (ORT) is a commonly used behavioral assay for the investigation of various aspects of learning and memory in mice. The ORT is fairly simple and can be completed over 3 days: habituation day, training day, and testing day. During training, the mouse is allowed to explore 2 identical objects. On test day, one of the training objects is replaced with a novel object. Because mice have an innate preference for novelty, if the mouse recognizes the familiar object, it will spend most of its time at the novel object. Due to this innate preference, there is no need for positive or negative reinforcement or long training schedules. Additionally, the ORT can also be modified for numerous applications. The retention interval can be shortened to examine short-term memory, or lengthened to probe long-term memory. Pharmacological intervention can be used at various times prior to training, after training, or prior to recall to investigate different phases of learning (i.e., acquisition, early or late consolidation, or recall). Overall, the ORT is a relatively low-stress, efficient test for memory in mice, and is appropriate for the detection of neuropsychological changes following pharmacological, biological, or genetic manipulations.

The object recognition test (ORT) is a simple and efficient assay for evaluating learning and memory in mice. The methodology is described below.

The object recognition test (ORT) is a commonly used behavioral assay for the investigation of various aspects of learning and memory in mice. The ORT is ...

A Semantic Priming Event-related Potential (ERP) Task to Study Lexico-semantic and Visuo-semantic Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have characteristic deficits in understanding the meaning of language, or semantic processing. However, some evidence indicates that semantic processing of non-linguistic stimuli is intact, suggesting that semantic deficits may be language-specific. To appropriately characterize semantic processing deficits in individuals with ASD, comparison of within-modality linguistic (e.g., written words) and non-linguistic (e.g., pictures) stimuli is required. This paper describes such a methodology that makes use of a semantic priming paradigm during concurrent recording of electroencephalographic (EEG) data. EEG provides a dynamic measure of brain activity that is well-suited to characterize subtle differences in semantic processing that may not be observable at the behavioral level. The semantic priming paradigm presents a prime picture or word (e.g., dog) followed by a target picture or word that is either related (e.g., cat) or unrelated (e.g., pencil) to the prime. This paradigm can thus be used to evaluate semantic processing across different modalities, and to compare lexico-semantic and visuo-semantic processing abilities in individuals with ASD and how they might differ from TD individuals. The specific steps involved in creating the stimuli, performing the EEG testing, and analyzing the EEG data are discussed. Representative results illustrate how the N400 component of the event-related potential (ERP) is reduced following semantically-related prime-target pairs compared to unrelated pairs. Comparisons of the N400 between conditions, modalities, and groups can provide estimates of the success of semantic processing, and can thereby be used to characterize semantic deficits in individuals with ASD or other clinical populations.

A Semantic Priming Event-related Potential ERP Task to Study Lexico-semantic and Visuo-semantic Processing in Autism Spectrum Disorder

This paper describes a semantic priming ERP task using within-modality pairs of pictures and words to investigate semantic processing in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have characteristic deficits in understanding the meaning of language, or semantic processing. However, ...

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects

The present work is a description and an assessment of a methodology designed to quantify different aspects of the interaction between language processing and the perception of the visual world. The recording of eye-gaze patterns has provided good evidence for the contribution of both the visual context and linguistic/world knowledge to language comprehension. Initial research assessed object-context effects to test&#160;theories of modularity in language processing. In the introduction, we describe how subsequent investigations have taken the role of the wider visual context in language processing as a research topic in its own right, asking questions such as how our visual perception of events and of speakers contributes to&#160;comprehension informed by&#160;comprehenders&#39; experience. Among the examined aspects of the visual context are actions, events, a speaker&#39;s gaze, and emotional facial expressions, as well as spatial object configurations. Following an overview of the eye-tracking method and its different applications, we list the key steps of the methodology in the protocol, illustrating how to successfully use it to study visually-situated language comprehension. A final section presents three sets of representative results and illustrates the benefits and limitations of eye tracking for investigating the interplay between the perception of the visual world and language comprehension.

The present article reviews an eye-tracking methodology for studies on language comprehension. To obtain reliable data, key steps of the protocol must be followed. Among these are the correct set-up of the eye tracker (e.g., ensuring good quality of the eye and head images) and accurate calibration.

The present work is a description and an assessment of a methodology designed to quantify different aspects of the interaction between language processing ...

Visual Classical Conditioning in Wood Ants

Several species of insects have become model systems for studying learning and memory formation. Although many studies focus on freely moving animals, studies implementing classical conditioning paradigms with harnessed insects have been important for investigating the exact cues that individuals learn and the neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory formation. Here we present a protocol for evoking visual associative learning in wood ants through classical conditioning. In this paradigm, ants are harnessed and presented with a visual cue (a blue cardboard), the conditional stimulus (CS), paired with an appetitive sugar reward, the unconditional stimulus (US). Ants perform a Maxilla-Labium Extension Reflex (MaLER), the unconditional response (UR), which can be used as a readout for learning. Training consists of 10 trials, separated by a 5-minute intertrial interval (ITI). Ants are also tested for memory retention 10 minutes or 1 hour after training. This protocol has the potential to allow researchers to analyze, in a precise and controlled manner, the details of visual memory formation and the neural basis of learning and memory formation in wood ants.

We present a protocol for the classical conditioning of harnessed ants that permits researchers to study visual learning and memory formation at a level of analysis not possible with freely moving individuals.

Several species of insects have become model systems for studying learning and memory formation. Although many studies focus on freely moving animals, ...

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism

Sentence comprehension relies on the ability to rapidly integrate different types of linguistic and non-linguistic information. However, there is currently a paucity of research exploring how preschool children with autism understand sentences using different types of cues. The mechanisms underlying sentence comprehension remains largely unclear. The present study presents a protocol to examine the sentence comprehension abilities of preschool children with autism. More specifically, a visual world paradigm of eye-tracking is used to explore the moment-to-moment sentence comprehension in the children. The paradigm has multiple advantages. First, it is sensitive to the time course of sentence comprehension and thus can provide rich information about how sentence comprehension unfolds over time. Second, it requires minimal task and communication demands, so it is ideal for testing children with autism. To further minimize the computational burden of children, the present study measures eye movements that arise as automatic responses to linguistic input rather than measuring eye movements that accompany conscious responses to spoken instructions.

We present a protocol to examine the use of morphological cues during real-time sentence comprehension by children with autism.

Sentence comprehension relies on the ability to rapidly integrate different types of linguistic and non-linguistic information. However, there is ...

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Language is a highly important yet poorly understood function of the human brain. While studies of brain activation patterns during language comprehension are abundant, what is often critically missing is causal evidence of brain areas&#39; involvement in a particular linguistic function, not least due to the unique human nature of this ability and a shortage of neurophysiological tools to study causal relationships in the human brain noninvasively. Recent years have seen a rapid rise in the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the human brain, an easy, inexpensive and safe noninvasive technique that can modulate the state of the stimulated brain area (putatively by shifting excitation/inhibition thresholds), enabling a study of its particular contribution to specific functions. While mostly focusing on motor control, the use of tDCS is becoming more widespread in both basic and clinical research on higher cognitive functions, language included, but the procedures for its application remain variable. Here, we describe the use of tDCS in a psycholinguistic word-learning experiment. We present the techniques and procedures for application of cathodal and anodal stimulation of core language areas of Broca and Wernicke in the left hemisphere of the human brain, describe the procedures of creating balanced sets of psycholinguistic stimuli, a controlled yet naturalistic learning regime, and a comprehensive set of techniques to assess the learning outcomes and tDCS effects. As an example of tDCS application, we show that cathodal stimulation of Wernicke&#39;s area prior to a learning session can impact word learning efficiency. This impact is both present immediately after learning and, importantly, preserved over longer time after the physical effects of stimulation wear off, suggesting that tDCS can have long-term influence on linguistic storage and representations in the human brain.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Here, we describe a protocol for using transcranial direct current stimulation for psycho- and neurolinguistic experiments aimed at studying, in a naturalistic yet fully controlled way, the role of cortical areas of the human brain in word learning, and a comprehensive set of behavioral procedures for assessing the outcomes.

Language is a highly important yet poorly understood function of the human brain. While studies of brain activation patterns during language comprehension ...