Testing the Limits of Skill Transfer for Scrabble Experts in Behavior and Brain.

We investigated transfer of the skills developed by competitive Scrabble players. Previous studies reported superior performance for Scrabble experts on the lexical decision task (LDT), suggesting near transfer of Scrabble skills. Here we investigated the potential for far transfer to a symbol decision task (SDT); in particular, transfer of enhanced long-term working memory for vertically presented stimuli.

This is your brain on Scrabble: Neural correlates of visual word recognition in competitive Scrabble players as measured during task and resting-state.

Competitive Scrabble players devote considerable time to studying words and practicing Scrabble-related skills (e.g., anagramming).

Semantic classification of pictures and words.

We provide new behavioural norms for semantic classification of pictures and words. The picture stimuli are 288 black and white line drawings from the International Picture Naming Project ([Székely, A., Jacobsen, T.

Get rich quick: the signal to respond procedure reveals the time course of semantic richness effects during visual word recognition.

According to several current frameworks, semantic processing involves an early influence of language-based information followed by later influences of object-based information (e.g., situated simulations; Santos, Chaigneau, Simmons, & Barsalou, 2011).

Does richness lose its luster? Effects of extensive practice on semantic richness in visual word recognition.

Previous studies have reported facilitatory effects of semantic richness on word recognition (e.g., Yap et al.

An abundance of riches: cross-task comparisons of semantic richness effects in visual word recognition.

There is considerable evidence (e.g., Pexman et al.

Richer concepts are better remembered: number of features effects in free recall.

Many models of memory build in a term for encoding variability, the observation that there can be variability in the richness or extensiveness of processing at encoding, and that this variability has consequences for retrieval. In four experiments, we tested the expectation that encoding variability could be driven by the properties of the to-be-remembered item. Specifically, that concepts associated with more semantic features would be better remembered than concepts associated with fewer semantic features.

The neural correlates of the body-object interaction effect in semantic processing.

The semantic richness dimension referred to as body-object interaction (BOI) measures perceptions of the ease with which people can physically interact with words' referents. Previous studies have shown facilitated lexical and semantic processing for words rated high in BOI, e.g.

The question shapes the answer: the neural correlates of task differences reveal dynamic semantic processing.

Task effects in semantic processing were investigated by contrasting the neural activation associated with two semantic categorization tasks (SCT) using event-related fMRI. The two SCTs involved different decision categories: is it an animal? vs. is it a concrete thing? Participants completed both tasks and, across participants, the same core set of items were presented in both tasks.

Abnormalities of lexical and semantic processing in left temporal lobe epilepsy: an fMRI study.

Purpose: We examined the efficiency of lexical and semantic processing and associated brain activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).

Methods: Twenty patients with left TLE (10 with hippocampal sclerosis, the HS group; and 10 with nonlesional MR scans, the NL group) and 12 healthy controls underwent an event-related fMRI analysis during a lexical decision task (LDT). Lexical and semantic processing were examined by comparing behavioral and imaging data associated with words and nonwords (lexicality) or with concrete and abstract words (concreteness).

How a hobby can shape cognition: visual word recognition in competitive Scrabble players.

Competitive Scrabble is an activity that involves extraordinary word recognition experience. We investigated whether that experience is associated with exceptional behavior in the laboratory in a classic visual word recognition paradigm: the lexical decision task (LDT). We used a version of the LDT that involved horizontal and vertical presentation and a concreteness manipulation.

Is more always better? Effects of semantic richness on lexical decision, speeded pronunciation, and semantic classification.

Evidence from large-scale studies (Pexman, Hargreaves, Siakaluk, Bodner, & Pope, 2008) suggests that semantic richness, a multidimensional construct reflecting the extent of variability in the information associated with a word's meaning, facilitates visual word recognition. Specifically, recognition is better for words that (1) have more semantic neighbors, (2) possess referents with more features, and (3) are associated with more contexts. The present study extends Pexman et al.

Tolerating ambiguity: ambiguous words recruit the left inferior frontal gyrus in absence of a behavioral effect.

Many models of word recognition predict a lexical ambiguity disadvantage in semantic categorization tasks (SCTs). However, recent evidence suggests that an ambiguity disadvantage in SCT results from a bias in the decision-making phase of the task and not in the meaning-activation phase: Behavioral effects of ambiguity disappear when these decision biases are controlled (Pexman, Hino, & Lupker, 2004). The current study used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural correlates of ambiguity in a task that produced no behavioral ambiguity effect (i.

There are many ways to be rich: effects of three measures of semantic richness on visual word recognition.

Previous studies have reported that semantic richness facilitates visual word recognition (see, e.g., Buchanan, Westbury, & Burgess, 2001; Pexman, Holyk, & Monfils, 2003).

Neural correlates of concreteness in semantic categorization.

In some contexts, concrete words (CARROT) are recognized and remembered more readily than abstract words (TRUTH). This concreteness effect has historically been explained by two theories of semantic representation: dual-coding [Paivio, A. Dual coding theory: Retrospect and current status.

The neural consequences of semantic richness: when more comes to mind, less activation is observed.

Some concepts have richer semantic representations than others. That is, when considering the meaning of concepts, subjects generate more information (more features, more associates) for some concepts than for others. This variability in semantic richness influences responses in speeded tasks that involve semantic processing, such as lexical decision and semantic categorization tasks.