Subvocal motor activity and contextual processing.

S G Zecker; M K Tanenhaus; A G Glaros; R D Whitman

doi:10.1007/bf01068462

Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 6726663

Subvocal motor activity and contextual processing.

S G Zecker·M K Tanenhaus·A G Glaros·R D Whitman

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Twenty male and female subjects listened for mispronounced words while minimizing either subvocal or frontalis electromyographic activity. Stimuli were varied on size of the distortion, lexical constraint, and contextual constraint, all known to influence detections. Analysis of both the reaction time and detection data indicated that the minimization of subvocal EMG activity reduced or eliminated the effect of contextual constraint, effect. Results indicate that subvocal activity is related to contextual processing. Additionally, reaction time data are reported that indicate that although low contextual constraint greatly slows the decision process, detectability is actually superior. A possible underlying mechanism for this reversal of the speed-accuracy trade-off is discussed.

Explore related subjects

Attention Biofeedback, Psychology Electromyography Humans Mental Recall Reaction Time Semantics Speech Perception Journal Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

S G Zecker, M K Tanenhaus, A G Glaros, R D Whitman. 1984. Subvocal motor activity and contextual processing.. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01068462

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed1998

Sensory gain control (amplification) as a mechanism of selective attention: electrophysiological and neuroimaging evidence.

Both physiological and behavioral studies have suggested that stimulus-driven neural activity in the sensory pathways can be modulated in amplitude during selective attention. Recordings of event-related brain potentials indicate that such sensory gain control or amplification processes play an important role in visual-spatial attention. Combined event-related brain potential and neuroimaging experiments provide strong evidence that attentional gain control operates at an early stage of visual processing in extrastriate cortical areas. These data support early selection theories of attention and provide a basis for distinguishing between separate mechanisms of attentional suppression (of unattended inputs) and attentional facilitation (of attended inputs).

Attention↗

PubMed1998

A computational theory of visual attention.

A computational theory of visual attention is presented. The basic theory (TVA) combines the biased-choice model for single-stimulus recognition with the fixed-capacity independent race model (FIRM) for selection from multi-element displays. TVA organizes a large body of experimental findings on performance in visual recognition and attention tasks. A recent development (CTVA) combines TVA with a theory of perceptual grouping by proximity. CTVA explains effects of perceptual grouping and spatial distance between items in multi-element displays. A new account of spatial focusing is proposed in this paper. The account provides a framework for understanding visual search as an interplay between serial and parallel processes.

Attention↗

PubMed1998

How do we select perceptions and actions? Human brain imaging studies.

The selective nature of human perception and action implies a modulatory interaction between sensorimotor processes and attentional processes. This paper explores the use of functional imaging in humans to explore the mechanisms of perceptual selection and the fate of irrelevant stimuli that are not selected. Experiments with positron emission tomography show that two qualitatively different patterns of modulation of cerebral blood flow can be observed in experiments where non-spatial visual attention and auditory attention are manipulated. These patterns of modulation of cerebral blood flow modulation can be described as gain control and bias signal mechanisms. In visual and auditory cortex, the dominant change in cerebral blood flow associated with attention to either modality is related to a bias signal. The relation of these patterns of modulation to attentional effects that have been observed in single neurons is discussed. The existence of mechanisms for selective perception raises the more general question of whether irrelevant ignored stimuli are nevertheless perceived. Lavie's theory of attention proposes that the degree to which ignored stimuli are processed varies depending on the perceptual load of the current task. Evidence from behavioural and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of ignored visual motion processing is presented in support of this proposal.

Attention↗