Language can boost otherwise unseen objects into visual awareness
Language can boost otherwise unseen objects into visual awareness
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1303312110
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发表时间：
2013-08-27
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Ward, Emily J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lupyan, Gary;Ward, Emily J.
语言标签(例如“椅子”)似乎激活了它们所指对象的视觉属性。在这里，我们调查了基于语言的视觉表征激活是否会影响简单地检测物体存在的能力。我们使用持续的闪光抑制来抑制对熟悉物体的视觉感知，而这些物体是连续呈现在一只眼睛上的。参与者做出了简单的检测决定，表明他们是否看到了任何图像。在简单的检测任务之前听到一个口头标签，相对于没有信息的线索基线，改变了表现。与无标签基线试验相比，有效标签改善了性能。无效的标签降低了性能。标签影响灵敏度(d‘)和响应时间。此外，我们发现，标签的有效性作为刺激形状和标签所表示的形状之间的匹配的函数而可预测地变化。综上所述，这些发现表明，由于语言而导致的对无形物体的易化检测发生在感知而不是语义位置。我们假设，当与语言标签相关的信息与刺激驱动的活动相匹配时，语言可以促进感知，将原本看不见的图像推向意识。
Linguistic labels (e. g., "chair") seem to activate visual properties of the objects to which they refer. Here we investigated whether language-based activation of visual representations can affect the ability to simply detect the presence of an object. We used continuous flash suppression to suppress visual awareness of familiar objects while they were continuously presented to one eye. Participants made simple detection decisions, indicating whether they saw any image. Hearing a verbal label before the simple detection task changed performance relative to an uninformative cue baseline. Valid labels improved performance relative to no-label baseline trials. Invalid labels decreased performance. Labels affected both sensitivity (d') and response times. In addition, we found that the effectiveness of labels varied predictably as a function of the match between the shape of the stimulus and the shape denoted by the label. Together, the findings suggest that facilitated detection of invisible objects due to language occurs at a perceptual rather than semantic locus. We hypothesize that when information associated with verbal labels matches stimulus-driven activity, language can provide a boost to perception, propelling an otherwise invisible image into awareness.