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Timecourse of bottom-up and top-down language processing during a picture-based semantic priming task
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Timecourse of bottom-up and top-down language processing during a picture-based semantic priming task

McCall E. Sarrett and Bob McMurray
Language, cognition and neuroscience, Vol.40(1), pp.122-144
01/02/2025
DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2024.2409136
PMCID: PMC12040426
PMID: 40308946

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Abstract

Understanding spoken language requires rapid analysis of incoming information at multiple levels. Information at lower levels (e.g. acoustic/phonetic) cascades forward to affect processing at higher levels (e.g. lexical/semantic), and higher-level information may feed back to influence lower-level processing. Most studies have sought to examine a single stage of processing in isolation. Consequently, there is a poor understanding of how different stages relate temporally. In the present study, we characterise multiple stages of linguistic processing simultaneously as they unfold. Listeners (N = 30) completed a priming task while we collected their EEG, where a picture (e.g. of a peach) biased them to expect a target word from a minimal pair (e.g. beach/peach). We examine the processes of perceptual gradiency, semantic integration, and top-down feedback, to yield a more complete understanding of how these processes relate in time. Then, we discuss how the results from simplified priming paradigms may compare to more naturalistic settings.
 Electroencephalography feedback effects speech perception picture priming

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