Quantifying sensorimotor experience: Body–object interaction ratings for more than 9,000 English words

English verbs semantic norms database: Concreteness, embodiment, imageability, valence and arousal ratings for 3,500 verbs

Semantic ratings studies have resulted in significant methodological advances towards understanding the importance of experiential information to lexical-semantic processing. Yet, the existing norms are biased towards nouns, with fewer ratings available for verbs. In the present study, we collected new semantic rating norms for 3,512 verbs on the dimensions of concreteness, embodiment, imageability, valence, and arousal. The resulting ratings provide the largest database of verb-specific rating norms across multiple semantic dimensions. They show good reliability and validity on four of five dimensions, with some evident challenges in rating arousal for the verb stimuli. We demonstrate that the norms account for variance in response latencies and accuracy in a lexical decision task, word recognition task, and recognition memory, above and beyond dimensions such as length, frequency, orthographic Levenshtein distance, and age of acquisition, and thus that semantic richness effects are observed in verb processing. The norms described here should be a useful resource for researchers interested in verb lexical-semantic processing.

Contrasting the organization of concrete and abstract word meanings

Concepts have traditionally been categorized as either concrete (e.g., ROSE) or abstract (e.g., ROMANCE) based on whether they have a direct connection to external sensory experience or not. However, there is growing consensus that these conceptual categories differ in their reliance on various additional sources of semantic information, such as motor, affective, social, and linguistic experiences, and this is reflected in systematic differences in the semantic properties that typically contribute to their informational content. However, it remains unclear whether concrete and abstract concepts also differ in how their constituent semantic properties relate to one another. To explore this, we compared the organization of 15 semantic dimensions underlying concrete and abstract concept knowledge using data-driven network analyses. We found striking differences in both (1) the centrality of conceptual properties and (2) their pairwise partial correlations. Distinct sensorimotor dimensions emerged as pivotal in organizing each concept type: haptic information for concrete concepts, and interoception and mouth action for abstract concepts. Social content was higher in abstract concepts. However, it played a more central role in structuring concrete meanings, suggesting distinct contributions of social experience to each concept type. Age of acquisition was related exclusively to dimensions quantifying sensorimotor and affective experiences, with sensorimotor properties supporting the acquisition of concrete concepts and affective properties contributing more to the acquisition of abstract concepts. Overall, our findings offer novel insights into the interplay between the diverse sources of semantic information proposed by multiple representation theories in shaping both abstract and concrete concept knowledge.

What we mean when we say semantic: Toward a multidisciplinary semantic glossary

Tulving characterized semantic memory as a vast repository of meaning that underlies language and many other cognitive processes. This perspective on lexical and conceptual knowledge galvanized a new era of research undertaken by numerous fields, each with their own idiosyncratic methods and terminology. For example, "concept" has different meanings in philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. As such, many fundamental constructs used to delineate semantic theories remain underspecified and/or opaque. Weak construct specificity is among the leading causes of the replication crisis now facing psychology and related fields. Term ambiguity hinders cross-disciplinary communication, falsifiability, and incremental theory-building. Numerous cognitive subdisciplines (e.g., vision, affective neuroscience) have recently addressed these limitations via the development of consensus-based guidelines and definitions. The project to follow represents our effort to produce a multidisciplinary semantic glossary consisting of succinct definitions, background, principled dissenting views, ratings of agreement, and subjective confidence for 17 target constructs (e.g., abstractness, abstraction, concreteness, concept, embodied cognition, event semantics, lexical-semantic, modality, representation, semantic control, semantic feature, simulation, semantic distance, semantic dimension). We discuss potential benefits and pitfalls (e.g., implicit bias, prescriptiveness) of these efforts to specify a common nomenclature that other researchers might index in specifying their own theoretical perspectives (e.g., They said X, but I mean Y).

Grasping Variance in Word Norms: Individual Differences in Motor Imagery and Semantic Ratings

Word norming datasets have become an important resource for psycholinguistic research, and they are based on the underlying assumption that individual differences are inconsequential to the measurement of semantic dimensions. In this pre-registered study we tested this assumption by examining whether individual differences in motor imagery are related to variance in semantic ratings. We collected graspability ratings (i.e., how easily a word's referent can be grasped using one hand) for 350 words and also had each participant complete a series of motor imagery questionnaires. Using linear mixed effect models we tested whether measures of motor imagery ability (e.g., the Florida Praxis Imagery Questionnaire and the Test of Ability in Movement Imagery for Hands) and motor imagery vividness (e.g., the Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire 2) could account for variance (raw and absolute difference scores) in graspability ratings. We observed a significant relationship between motor imagery vividness and absolute rating difference scores, wherein people with more vivid motor imagery provided ratings that were further from the mean word ratings. However there was no relationship between motor imagery and raw rating difference scores. The results suggest that there are measurable systematic differences in how participants make sensorimotor semantic ratings, which has implications for how sensorimotor semantic word norms are used for investigations of lexical semantic processing.

Perception of emotion across cultures: Norms of valence, arousal, and sensory experience for 4923 Chinese words translated from English in Warriner et al. (2013)

Perception of emotion conveyed through language is influenced by embodied experiences obtained from social interactions, which may vary across different cultures. To explore cross-cultural differences in the perception of emotion between Chinese and English speakers, this study collected norms of valence and arousal from 322 native Mandarin speakers for 4923 Chinese words translated from Warriner et al., (Behavior Research Methods, 45, 1191-1207, 2013). Additionally, sensory experience ratings for each word were collected. Analysis demonstrated that the reliability of this dataset is satisfactory, as indicated by comparisons with previous datasets. We examined the distributions of valence and arousal for the entire dataset, as well as for positive and negative emotion categories. Further analysis suggested that valence, arousal, and sensory experience correlated with various psycholinguistic variables, including the number of syllables, number of strokes, imageability, familiarity, concreteness, frequency, and age of acquisition. Cross-language comparison indicated that native speakers of Chinese and English differ in their perception of emotional valence and arousal, largely due to cross-cultural variations associated with ecological, sociopolitical, and religious factors. This dataset will be a valuable resource for research examining the impact of emotional and sensory information on Chinese lexical processing, as well as for bilingual research investigating the interplay between language and emotion across different cultural contexts.

Beyond self-report: Measuring visual, auditory, and tactile mental imagery using a mental comparison task

Finding a reliable and objective measure of individual differences in mental imagery across sensory modalities is difficult, with measures relying on self-report scales or focusing on one modality alone. Based on the idea that mental imagery involves multimodal sensorimotor simulations, a mental comparison task (MCT) was developed across three studies and tested on adults (n = 96, 345, and 448). Analyses examined: (a) the internal consistency of the MCT, (b) whether lexical features of the MCT stimuli (word length and frequency) predicted performance, (c) whether the MCT related to two widely used self-report scales, (d) response latencies and accuracies across the visual, auditory, and tactile modalities, and (e) whether MCT performance was independent of processing speed. The MCT showed evidence of reliability and validity. Responses were fastest and most accurate for the visual modality, followed by the auditory and tactile. However, consistent with the idea that self-report questionnaires index a different aspect of mental imagery, the MCT showed minimal correlations with self-report imagery. Finally, relations between MCT scales remained strong after controlling for processing speed. Findings are discussed in relation to current understanding and measurement of mental imagery.

HeLP: The Hebrew Lexicon project

Lexicon projects (LPs) are large-scale data resources in different languages that present behavioral results from visual word recognition tasks. Analyses using LP data in multiple languages provide evidence regarding cross-linguistic differences as well as similarities in visual word recognition. Here we present the first LP in a Semitic language-the Hebrew Lexicon Project (HeLP). HeLP assembled lexical decision (LD) responses to 10,000 Hebrew words and nonwords, and naming responses to a subset of 5000 Hebrew words. We used the large-scale HeLP data to estimate the impact of general predictors (lexicality, frequency, word length, orthographic neighborhood density), and Hebrew-specific predictors (Semitic structure, presence of clitics, phonological entropy) of visual word recognition performance. Our results revealed the typical effects of lexicality and frequency obtained in many languages, but more complex impact of word length and neighborhood density. Considering Hebrew-specific characteristics, HeLP data revealed better recognition of words with a Semitic structure than words that do not conform to it, and a drop in performance for words comprising clitics. These effects varied, however, across LD and naming tasks. Lastly, a significant inhibitory effect of phonological ambiguity was found in both naming and LD. The implications of these findings for understanding reading in a Semitic language are discussed.

Body-object interaction ratings for 3600 French nouns

Body-object interaction (BOI) measures the ease with which the human body can interact with the concept represented by a word. This research focuses on two main objectives: first, to establish French norms for the psycholinguistic variable BOI, and second, to investigate the contribution of BOI to language processing in French. We collected BOI ratings for 3600 French nouns from participants through an online platform. The inter- and intrastudy reliability of these new ratings indicate that the ratings are robust. We then aimed to determine the role of BOI in word recognition. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted using lexical decision reaction times (RTs) as the dependent variable. BOI was found to be a significant predictor of lexical decision latencies, beyond the contribution of word length, frequency, orthographic distinctiveness, and imageability. Contrary to previous findings in English, higher BOI values were associated with longer RTs in French, indicating an inhibitory effect of BOI on French word processing. Methodological differences may account for this divergent result. Taken together, the results of this study show the independent contribution of BOI to word recognition in French. This supports the notion that sensorimotor information is a crucial component of language processing. By providing a reliable and sizable BOI database for French nouns, we offer a valuable resource for psycholinguistic and language processing research. This research underscores the complex relationship between language, cognition, and sensorimotor experiences, advancing our comprehension of language processing mechanisms.

TACO: A Turkish database for abstract concepts

The organization of abstract concepts reflects different dimensions, grounded in the brain regions coding for the corresponding experience. Normative measures of linguistic stimuli offer noteworthy insights into the organization of conceptual knowledge, but studies differ in the dimensions and classes of concepts considered. Additionally, most of the available information has been collected in English, without considering possible linguistic and cultural differences. Here, we aimed to create a comprehensive Turkish database for abstract concepts (TACO), including rarely investigated classes such as political concepts. We included 503 words-78 concrete (fruits, animals, tools) and 425 abstract (emotions, social, mental states, theoretical, quantity, space, political)-rated by 134 Turkish speakers for familiarity, imageability, age of acquisition, valence, arousal, quantity, space, theoretical, social, mental state, and political dimensions. We calculated dominance and exclusivity, indicating the dimension receiving the highest mean score for each word, and the position of the word along the unidimensional-multidimensional continuum, respectively. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on the semantic dimensions. The results showed that mental state was the dominant dimension for most concepts. Moderate to low levels of exclusivity indicated that the concepts were multidimensional. PCA revealed three components: Component 1 captured the juxtaposition between social/mental state and magnitude polarities, Component 2 highlighted affective components, and Component 3 grouped together political and theoretical dimensions. The introduction of political concepts provided insights into the multidimensional nature of this unexplored class, closely intertwined with the theoretical dimension. TACO constitutes the first comprehensive Turkish database covering several abstract dimensions, paving the way for cross-linguistic and cross-cultural studies of semantic representations.

Unseen but influential associates: Properties of words' associates influence lexical and semantic processing

In many models of lexical and semantic processing, it is assumed that single word processing is a function of the characteristics of the words presented and the distributional properties of the words' networks. Recent research suggests that semantic characteristics of a target word's associates may in fact influence target-word responses in lexical-semantic tasks. The present study extends that previous research to examine whether lexical and semantic properties of target-word associates are recruited during lexical and semantic decision tasks, and whether the type of associate information recruited varies as a function of task and concreteness of the target word. We found that lexical-semantic properties of words' first associates are related to accuracy of responses to words in lexical decision, and that semantic properties of words' first associates are related to both response time and accuracy in semantic decision. Further, these effects differ depending on the target word's concreteness. These findings provide new insight about the way words' associates contribute to semantic representation and processing, even though the associates are not actually presented, moving beyond previous assumptions about lexical-semantic processing of single words.

The drawing effect: Evidence for costs and benefits using pure and mixed lists

Drawing a referent of a to-be-remembered word often results in better recognition and recall of this word relative to a control task in which the word is written, a pattern dubbed the drawing effect. Although this effect is not always found in pure lists, we report three experiments in which the drawing effect emerged in both pure- and mixed-lists on recognition and recall tests, though the effect was larger in mixed lists. Our experiments then compared drawing effects on memory between pure- and mixed-list contexts to determine whether the larger mixed-list drawing effect reflected a benefit to draw items, a cost to write items, or a combination. In delayed recognition and free-recall tests, a mixed-list benefit emerged for draw items in which memory for mixed-list draw items was greater than pure-list draw items. This mixed-list drawing benefit was accompanied by a mixed-list writing cost compared to pure-list write items, indicating that the mixed-list drawing effect does not operate cost-free. Our findings of a pure-list drawing effect are consistent with a memory strength account, however, the larger drawing effect in mixed lists suggest that participants may also deploy a distinctiveness heuristic to aid retrieval of drawn items.

Is the approach avoidance compatibility effect moderated by word imageability?

The approach/avoidance (AA) compatibility effect refers to the fact that individuals respond faster by an approach movement to positive than to negative stimuli, whereas they respond faster by an avoidance movement to negative than to positive stimuli. Although this effect has been observed in many studies, the underlying mechanisms remain still unclear. On the basis of recent studies suggesting a key role of sensorimotor information in the emergence of the AA compatibility effect, the present study aimed to investigate the specific role of visual information, operationalised through word imageability, in the production of the AA compatibility effect. We orthogonally manipulated the emotional valence (positive/negative) and the imageability (low/high) of words in an incidental online-AA task (i.e., in the absence of valence processing goals) using a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of 300 ms. In line with previous studies, Experiment 1 revealed an AA compatibility effect in the absence of valence processing goals. However, this effect was not moderated by word imageability. In Experiment 2, we examined whether the absence of influence of word imageability could be due to the short SOA (300 ms) used in this experiment. We used the same design as in Experiment 1 and manipulated the SOA (400 vs 600 ms). We again observed an AA compatibility effect which was not moderated by word imageability, whatever the SOA used. The results of both experiments suggest the absence of any influence of sensorimotor information in the AA compatibility effect, at least when provided by the to-be-approached/avoided stimulus.

Does context matter for memory? Testing the effectiveness of learning by imagining situated interactions with objects

Mounting evidence supports the efficacy of mental imagery for verbal information retention. Motor imagery, imagining oneself interacting physically with the object to be learned, emerges as an optimal form compared to less physically engaging imagery. Yet, when engaging in mental imagery, it occurs within a specific context that may affect imagined actions and consequently impact the mnemonic benefits of mental imagery. In a first study, participants were given instructions for incidental learning: mental rehearsal, visual imagery, motor imagery or situated motor imagery. The latter, which involved imagining physical interaction with an item within a coherent situation, produced the highest proportion of correct recalls. This highlights memory's role in supporting situated actions and offers the possibility for further developing the mnemonic potential of embodied mental imagery. Furthermore, item-level analysis showed that individuals who engaged in situated motor imagery remembered words primarily due to the sensorimotor characteristics of the words' referent. A second study investigating the role of inter-item distinctiveness in this effect failed to determine the extent to which the situational and motor elements need to be distinctive in order to be considered useful retrieval cues and produce an optimal memory performance.

Determining the Relativity of Word Meanings Through the Construction of Individualized Models of Semantic Memory

Distributional models of lexical semantics are capable of acquiring sophisticated representations of word meanings. The main theoretical insight provided by these models is that they demonstrate the systematic connection between the knowledge that people acquire and the experience that they have with the natural language environment. However, linguistic experience is inherently variable and differs radically across people due to demographic and cultural variables. Recently, distributional models have been used to examine how word meanings vary across languages and it was found that there is considerable variability in the meanings of words across languages for most semantic categories. The goal of this article is to examine how variable word meanings are across individual language users within a single language. This was accomplished by assembling 500 individual user corpora attained from the online forum Reddit. Each user corpus ranged between 3.8 and 32.3 million words each, and a count-based distributional framework was used to extract word meanings for each user. These representations were then used to estimate the semantic alignment of word meanings across individual language users. It was found that there are significant levels of relativity in word meanings across individuals, and these differences are partially explained by other psycholinguistic factors, such as concreteness, semantic diversity, and social aspects of language usage. These results point to word meanings being fundamentally relative and contextually fluid, with this relativeness being related to the individualized nature of linguistic experience.

The recognition effects of attribute ambiguity

When examining memory effects of semantic attributes, it is common practice to manipulate normed mean (M) ratings of the attributes (i.e., attribute intensity) in learning materials. Meanwhile, the standard deviations (SDs) of attribute ratings (i.e., attribute ambiguity) are usually treated as indexes of measurement error. However, some recent research found that recall accuracy varied as a function of both the intensity and ambiguity of semantic attributes such as valence, categorization, concreteness, and meaningfulness. These findings challenged the traditional interpretation of attribute rating SDs as noise indexes. In the current study, we examined the recognition effects of ambiguity, intensity, and Ambiguity × Intensity interactions for 21 attributes using mega study data for over 5,000 words. Our results showed that attribute ambiguity had reliable recognition effects beyond those of attribute intensity, and that it sometimes explained more unique variance in recognition than attribute intensity. Thus, we concluded that attribute ambiguity is a distinct psychological dimension of semantic attributes, which is processed separately from attribute intensity during encoding. Two theoretical hypotheses had been proposed for the memory effects of attribute ambiguity. We discuss the implications of our findings for the two theoretical hypotheses about how attribute ambiguity influences episodic memory.

Meaning in hand: Investigating shared mechanisms of motor imagery and sensorimotor simulation in language processing

There is substantial evidence to support grounded theories of semantic representation, however the mechanisms of simulation in most theories are underspecified. In the present study, we used an individual differences approach to test whether motor imagery may share some mechanisms with sensorimotor simulations engaged during semantic processing. We quantified individual differences in motor imagery ability via implicit imagery tasks and explicit imagery questionnaires and tested their relationship to sensorimotor effects in syntactic classification tasks. In Experiment 1 (N = 185) we tested relationships between motor imagery and semantic processing of body-object interaction meaning (BOI; the degree to which you can interact with a word's referent) and foot/leg action meaning. We observed two interactions between imagery ability measured on the Florida Praxis Imagery Questionnaire (FPIQ) and BOI effects in semantic processing (response time and accuracy). In both interactions poorer imagery ability was associated with null BOI effects, whereas better imagery was associated with BOI effects. We also observed faster and more accurate responses to verbs associated with more foot/leg action meaning than verbs with less foot/leg action meaning, but this foot/leg action effect did not significantly interact with individual differences in motor imagery. In Experiment 2 (N = 195) we tested whether the interactions observed in Experiment 1 were dependent on the object-directed nature of the actions, or whether similar effects would be observed for hand actions not associated with objects. We also expanded our investigation beyond hand and foot imagery to consider whole body imagery. We observed an interaction between performance on a hand laterality judgement task (HLJT; assessing hand motor imagery) and sensorimotor effects in semantic processing of verbs associated with hand/arm action meaning. Participants with the fastest responses on the most difficult trials of the HLJT showed no significant difference in their response times to words with high and low hand/arm action meaning. We also observed faster and more accurate responses to high relative to low embodiment verbs, but this sensorimotor effect did not interact with individual differences in motor imagery. The results suggest specific (and not general) associations, in that some, but not all forms of hand and object-directed motor imagery are related to sensorimotor effects in language processing of hand/arm action verbs and nouns describing objects that are easy to interact with. As such, hand and object-directed motor imagery may share mechanisms with sensorimotor simulation during semantic processing.

Consensus Paper: Current Perspectives on Abstract Concepts and Future Research Directions

concepts are relevant to a wide range of disciplines, including cognitive science, linguistics, psychology, cognitive, social, and affective neuroscience, and philosophy. This consensus paper synthesizes the work and views of researchers in the field, discussing current perspectives on theoretical and methodological issues, and recommendations for future research. In this paper, we urge researchers to go beyond the traditional abstract-concrete dichotomy and consider the multiple dimensions that characterize concepts (e.g., sensorimotor experience, social interaction, conceptual metaphor), as well as the mediating influence of linguistic and cultural context on conceptual representations. We also promote the use of interactive methods to investigate both the comprehension and production of abstract concepts, while also focusing on individual differences in conceptual representations. Overall, we argue that abstract concepts should be studied in a more nuanced way that takes into account their complexity and diversity, which should permit us a fuller, more holistic understanding of abstract cognition.

The Development of Abstract Word Meanings

Extensive research has shown that children's early words are learned through sensorimotor experience. Thus, early-acquired words tend to have more concrete meanings. Abstract word meanings tend to be learned later but less is known about their acquisition. We collected meaning-specific concreteness ratings and examined their relationship with age-of-acquisition data from large-scale vocabulary testing with children in grade 2 to college age. Earlier-acquired meanings were rated as more concrete while later-acquired meanings as more abstract, particularly for words typically considered to be concrete. The results suggest that sensorimotor experiences are important to early-acquired word meanings, and other experiences (e.g., linguistic) are important to later-acquired meanings, consistent with a multi-representational view of lexical semantics.

SCOPE: The South Carolina psycholinguistic metabase

The number of databases that provide various measurements of lexical properties for psycholinguistic research has increased rapidly in recent years. The proliferation of lexical variables, and the multitude of associated databases, makes the choice, comparison, and standardization of these variables in psycholinguistic research increasingly difficult. Here, we introduce The South Carolina Psycholinguistic Metabase (SCOPE), which is a metabase (or a meta-database) containing an extensive, curated collection of psycholinguistic variable values from major databases. The metabase currently contains 245 lexical variables, organized into seven major categories: General (e.g., frequency), Orthographic (e.g., bigram frequency), Phonological (e.g., phonological uniqueness point), Orth-Phon (e.g., consistency), Semantic (e.g., concreteness), Morphological (e.g., number of morphemes), and Response variables (e.g., lexical decision latency). We hope that SCOPE will become a valuable resource for researchers in psycholinguistics and affiliated disciplines such as cognitive neuroscience of language, computational linguistics, and communication disorders. The availability and ease of use of the metabase with comprehensive set of variables can facilitate the understanding of the unique contribution of each of the variables to word processing, and that of interactions between variables, as well as new insights and development of improved models and theories of word processing. It can also help standardize practice in psycholinguistics. We demonstrate use of the metabase by measuring relationships between variables in multiple ways and testing their individual contribution towards a number of dependent measures, in the most comprehensive analysis of this kind to date. The metabase is freely available at go.sc.edu/scope.

Memory effects of semantic attributes: A method of controlling attribute contamination

Rating norms for semantic attributes (e.g., concreteness, familiarity, valence) are widely used to study the content that people process as they encode meaningful material. Intensity ratings of individual attributes have been manipulated in numerous experiments with a range of memory paradigms, but those manipulations are contaminated by substantial correlations with the intensity ratings of other attributes. A method of controlling such contamination is needed, which requires a determination of how many distinct attributes there are among the large collection of attributes for which published norms are available. Identification of overlapping words in multiple rating projects yielded a data base containing normed values for each word's perceived intensity (M rating) and ambiguity (rating SD) on 20 different attributes. Principal component analyses then revealed that the intensity space was spanned by just three latent semantic attributes, and the ambiguity space was spanned by five. Psychologically, the big three intensity factors (emotional valence, size, age) were highly interpretable, as were the big five ambiguity factors (discrete emotion, emotional valence, age, meaningfulness, and verbatim memory). We provide a data base of intensity and ambiguity factor scores that can be used to conduct uncontaminated studies of the memory effects of the intensity and ambiguity of latent semantic attributes.

Concreteness ratings for 62,000 English multiword expressions

Concreteness describes the degree to which a word's meaning is understood through perception and action. Many studies use the Brysbaert et al. (2014) concreteness ratings to investigate language processing and text analysis. However, these ratings are limited to English single words and a few two-word expressions. Increasingly, attention is focused on the importance of multiword expressions, given their centrality in everyday language use and language acquisition. We present concreteness ratings for 62,889 multiword expressions and examine their relationship to the existing concreteness ratings for single words and two-word expressions. These new ratings represent the first big dataset of multiword expressions, and will be useful for researchers interested in language acquisition and language processing, as well as natural language processing and text analysis.

Rating norms should be calculated from cumulative link mixed effects models

Studies which provide norms of Likert ratings typically report per-item summary statistics. Traditionally, these summary statistics comprise the mean and the standard deviation (SD) of the ratings, and the number of observations. Such summary statistics can preserve the rank order of items, but provide distorted estimates of the relative distances between items because of the ordinal nature of Likert ratings. Inter-item relations in such ordinal scales can be more appropriately modelled by cumulative link mixed effects models (CLMMs). In a series of simulations, and with a reanalysis of an existing rating norms dataset, we show that CLMMs can be used to more accurately norm items, and can provide summary statistics analogous to the traditionally reported means and SDs, but which are disentangled from participants' response biases. CLMMs can be applied to solve important statistical issues that exist for more traditional analyses of rating norms.

Item-Level Scores on the Boston Naming Test as an Independent Predictor of Perirhinal Volume in Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment

We explored the methodological value of an item-level scoring procedure applied to the Boston Naming Test (BNT), and the extent to which this scoring approach predicts grey matter (GM) variability in regions that sustain semantic memory. Twenty-seven BNT items administered as part of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative were scored according to their "sensorimotor interaction" (SMI) value. Quantitative scores (i.e., the count of correctly named items) and qualitative scores (i.e., the average of SMI scores for correctly named items) were used as independent predictors of neuroanatomical GM maps in two sub-cohorts of 197 healthy adults and 350 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) participants. Quantitative scores predicted clusters of temporal and mediotemporal GM in both sub-cohorts. After accounting for quantitative scores, the qualitative scores predicted mediotemporal GM clusters in the MCI sub-cohort; clusters extended to the anterior parahippocampal gyrus and encompassed the perirhinal cortex. This was confirmed by a significant yet modest association between qualitative scores and region-of-interest-informed perirhinal volumes extracted post hoc. Item-level scoring of BNT performance provides complementary information to standard quantitative scores. The concurrent use of quantitative and qualitative scores may help profile lexical-semantic access more precisely, and might help detect changes in semantic memory that are typical of early-stage Alzheimer's disease.

Malay Lexicon Project 2: Morphology in Malay word recognition

Morphological processing in visual word recognition has been extensively studied in a few languages, but other languages with interesting morphological systems have received little attention. Here, we examined Malay, an Austronesian language that is agglutinative. Agglutinative languages typically have a large number of morphemes per word. Our primary aim was to facilitate research on morphological processing in Malay by augmenting the Malay Lexicon Project (a database containing lexical information for almost 10,000 words) to include a breakdown of the words into morphemes as well as morphological properties for those morphemes. A secondary goal was to determine which morphological variables influence Malay word recognition. We collected lexical decision data for Malay words that had one prefix and one suffix, and first examined the predictive power of 15 morphological and four lexical variables on response times (RT). Of these variables, two lexical and three morphological variables emerged as strong predictors of RT. In GAMM models, we found a facilitatory effect of root family size, and inhibitory effects of prefix length and prefix percentage of more frequent words (PFMF) on RT. Next, we explored the interactions between overall word frequency and several of these predictors. Of particular interest, there was a significant word frequency by root family size interaction in which the effect of root family size is stronger for low-frequency words. We hope that this initial work on morphological processing in Malay inspires further research in this and other understudied languages, with the goal of developing a universal theory of morphological processing.

The Three Terms Task - an open benchmark to compare human and artificial semantic representations

Word processing entails retrieval of a unitary yet multidimensional semantic representation (e.g., a lemon's colour, flavour, possible use) and has been investigated in both cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence. To enable the direct comparison of human and artificial semantic representations, and to support the use of natural language processing (NLP) for computational modelling of human understanding, a critical challenge is the development of benchmarks of appropriate size and complexity. Here we present a dataset probing semantic knowledge with a three-terms semantic associative task: which of two target words is more closely associated with a given anchor (e.g., is lemon closer to squeezer or sour?). The dataset includes both abstract and concrete nouns for a total of 10,107 triplets. For the 2,255 triplets with varying levels of agreement among NLP word embeddings, we additionally collected behavioural similarity judgments from 1,322 human raters. We hope that this openly available, large-scale dataset will be a useful benchmark for both computational and neuroscientific investigations of semantic knowledge.

Quantifying social semantics: An inclusive definition of socialness and ratings for 8388 English words

It has been proposed that social experience plays an important role in the grounding of concepts, and socialness has been proffered as a fundamental organisational principle underpinning semantic representation in the human brain. However, the empirical support for these hypotheses is limited by inconsistencies in the way socialness has been defined and measured. To further advance theory, the field must establish a clearer working definition, and research efforts could be facilitated by the availability of an extensive set of socialness ratings for individual concepts. Therefore, in the current work, we employed a novel and inclusive definition to test the extent to which socialness is reliably perceived as a broad construct, and we report socialness norms for over 8000 English words, including nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Our inclusive socialness measure shows good reliability and validity, and our analyses suggest that the socialness ratings capture aspects of word meaning which are distinct to those measured by other pertinent semantic constructs, including concreteness and emotional valence. Finally, in a series of regression analyses, we show for the first time that the socialness of a word's meaning explains unique variance in participant performance on lexical tasks. Our dataset of socialness norms has considerable item overlap with those used in both other lexical/semantic norms and in available behavioural mega-studies. They can help target testable predictions about brain and behaviour derived from multiple representation theories and neurobiological accounts of social semantics.

Context matters: How do task demands modulate the recruitment of sensorimotor information during language processing?

Many theories of semantic representation propose that simulations of sensorimotor experience contribute to language processing. This can be seen in the body-object interaction effect (BOI; how easily the human body can interact with a word's referent). Words with high BOI ratings (e.g., ball) are processed more quickly than words with low BOI ratings (e.g., cloud) in various language tasks. This effect can be modulated by task demands. Previous research established that when asked to decide if a word is an object (entity condition), a BOI effect is observed, but when asked to decide if a word is an action (action condition), there is no BOI effect. It is unclear whether the null behavioral effect in the action condition reflects top-down modulation of task-relevant sensorimotor information or the absence of bottom-up activation of sensorimotor simulations. We investigated this question using EEG. In Experiment 1 we replicated the previous behavioral findings. In Experiment 2, 50 participants were assigned to either the entity or action conditions and responded to the same word stimuli. In both conditions we observed differences in ERP components related to the BOI effect. In the entity condition the P2 mean amplitude was significantly more positive for high compared to low BOI words. In the action condition the N400 peak latency was significantly later for high compared to low BOI words. Our findings suggest that BOI information is generated bottom-up regardless of task demands and modulated by top-down processes that recruit sensorimotor information relevant to the task decision.

How does attribute ambiguity improve memory?

The memory effects of semantic attributes (e.g., concreteness, familiarity, valence) have long been studied by manipulating their average perceived intensities, as quantified in word rating norms. The semantic ambiguity hypothesis specifies that the uncertainty as well as the intensity of semantic attributes is processed when words are encoded. Testing that hypothesis requires a normed measure of ambiguity, so that ambiguity and intensity can be manipulated independently. The standard deviation (SD) of intensity ratings has been used for that purpose, which has produced three characteristic ambiguity effects. Owing to the recency of such research, fundamental questions remain about the validity of this method of measuring ambiguity and about its process-level effects on memory. In a validity experiment, we found that the rating SDs of six semantic attributes (arousal, concreteness, familiarity, meaningfulness, negative valence, positive valence) passed tests of concurrent and predictive validity. In three memory experiments, we found that manipulating rating SDs had a specific effect on retrieval: It influenced subjects' ability to use reconstructive retrieval to recall words. That pattern was predicted by the current theoretical explanation of how ambiguity benefits memory.

Quantifying children's sensorimotor experience: Child body-object interaction ratings for 3359 English words

Body-object interaction (BOI) ratings measure how easily the human body can physically interact with a word's referent. Previous research has found that words higher in BOI tend to be processed more quickly and accurately in tasks such as lexical decision, semantic decision, and syntactic classification, suggesting that sensorimotor information is an important aspect of lexical knowledge. However, limited research has examined the importance of sensorimotor information from a developmental perspective. One barrier to addressing such theoretical questions has been a lack of semantic dimension ratings that take into account child sensorimotor experience. The goal of the current study was to collect Child BOI rating norms. Parents of children aged 5 to 9 years old were asked to rate words according to how easily an average 6-year-old child can interact with each word's referent. The relationships of Child and Adult BOI ratings with other lexical semantic dimensions were assessed, as well as the relationships of Child and Adult BOI ratings with age of acquisition. Child BOI ratings were more strongly related to valence and sensory experience ratings than Adult BOI ratings and were a better predictor of three different measures of age of acquisition. The results suggest that child-centric ratings such as those reported here provide a more sensitive measure of children's experience that can be used to address theoretical questions in embodied cognition from a developmental perspective.

HD-tDCS of primary and higher-order motor cortex affects action word processing

The contribution of action-perception systems of the brain to lexical semantics remains controversial. Here, we used high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) in healthy adults to examine the role of primary (left hand motor area; HMA) and higher-order (left anterior inferior parietal lobe; aIPL) action areas in action-related word processing (action verbs and manipulable nouns) compared to non-action-related control words (non-action verbs and non-manipulable nouns). We investigated stimulation-related effects at three levels of semantic processing: subliminal, implicit, and explicit. Broadly, we found that stimulation of HMA and aIPL resulted in relative facilitation of action-related language processing compared to non-action. HMA stimulation facilitated action verb processing in subliminal and implicit task contexts, suggesting that HMA helps represent action verbs even in semantically shallow tasks. HMA stimulation also facilitated manipulable noun comprehension in an explicit semantic task, suggesting that HMA contributes to manipulable noun comprehension when semantic demands are high. aIPL stimulation facilitated both manipulable noun and action verb processing during an implicit task. We suggest that both HMA and aIPL play a functional role in action semantics. HMA plays a general role in the semantics of actions and manipulable objects, while aIPL is important only when visuo-motor coordination is required for the action.

Can you touch the N400? The interactive effects of body-object interaction and task demands on N400 amplitudes and decision latencies

The effects of semantic richness on N400 amplitudes remain unclear. Some studies have reported semantic richness evoking greater N400s, whereas others have reported the opposite effect. Moreover, N400 effects of some semantic richness variables, such as body-object interaction (BOI), have yet to be demonstrated. BOI quantifies the degree to which a word's referent is easy to interact with; words such as bicycle are high-BOI whereas words such as butterfly are low-BOI. We examined BOI effects on N400 amplitudes and decision latencies in two semantic tasks. We found that in a touchable/untouchable task, low-BOI words (e.g., butterfly) evoked greater N400s than high-BOI words (e.g., bicycle), but there was no difference in decision latencies. Conversely, in a concrete/abstract task, high and low-BOI words evoked similar N400s, but decision latencies were shorter for high-BOI than for low-BOI words. Our results show that semantic richness upstream and downstream effects are dissociable and task dependent.

Concepts for Which We Need Others More: The Case of Abstract Concepts

The capability to form and use concepts is a core component of human cognition. Although all concepts are grounded in sensorimotor processes, more abstract concepts (e.g., “truth”) collect more heterogeneous and perceptually dissimilar exemplars; thus, linguistic interaction and social interaction are particularly crucial for their acquisition and use. Because of their indeterminacy, abstract concepts generate more uncertainty than more concrete concepts; hence, they induce people to monitor their inner knowledge longer and then to consult others to ask for information and negotiate the concept’s meaning. I propose that people need others more for abstract concepts than for concrete concepts: Other people are essential to acquire, process, and use abstract concepts. Conceiving abstract concepts in these terms requires the employment of novel, interactive methods to investigate how people represent them during their use.

Investigating the influence of semantic factors on word retrieval: Reservations, results and recommendations

There is consensus that word retrieval starts with activation of semantic representations. However, in adults without language impairment, relatively little attention has been paid to the effects of the semantic attributes of to-be-retrieved words. This paper, therefore, addresses the question of which item-inherent semantic factors influence word retrieval. Specifically, it reviews the literature on a selection of these factors: imageability, concreteness, number of semantic features, typicality, intercorrelational density, featural distinctiveness, concept distinctiveness, animacy, semantic neighbourhood density, semantic similarity, operativity, valence, and arousal. It highlights several methodological challenges in this field, and has a focus on the insights from studies with people with aphasia where the effects of these variables are more prevalent. The paper concludes that further research simultaneously examining the effects of different semantic factors that are likely to affect lexical co-activation, and the interaction of these variables, would be fruitful, as would suitably scaled computational modelling of these effects in unimpaired language processing and in language impairment. Such research would enable the refinement of theories of semantic processing and word production, and potentially have implications for diagnosis and treatment of semantic and lexical impairments.

Canonical Sentence Processing and the Inferior Frontal Cortex: Is There a Connection?

The role of left inferior frontal cortex (LIFC) in canonical sentence comprehension is controversial. Many studies have found involvement of LIFC in sentence production or complex sentence comprehension, but negative or mixed results are often found in comprehension of simple or canonical sentences. We used voxel-, region-, and connectivity-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM, RLSM, CLSM) in left-hemisphere chronic stroke survivors to investigate canonical sentence comprehension while controlling for lexical-semantic, executive, and phonological processes. We investigated how damage and disrupted white matter connectivity of LIFC and two other language-related regions, the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) and posterior temporal-inferior parietal area (LpT-iP), affected sentence comprehension. VLSM and RLSM revealed that LIFC damage was not associated with canonical sentence comprehension measured by a sensibility judgment task. LIFC damage was associated instead with impairments in a lexical semantic similarity judgment task with high semantic/executive demands. Damage to the LpT-iP, specifically posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), predicted worse sentence comprehension after controlling for visual lexical access, semantic knowledge, and auditory-verbal short-term memory (STM), but not auditory single-word comprehension, suggesting pMTG is vital for auditory language comprehension. CLSM revealed that disruption of left-lateralized white-matter connections from LIFC to LATL and LpT-iP was associated with worse sentence comprehension, controlling for performance in tasks related to lexical access, auditory word comprehension, and auditory-verbal STM. However, the LIFC connections were accounted for by the lexical semantic similarity judgment task, which had high semantic/executive demands. This suggests that LIFC connectivity is relevant to canonical sentence comprehension when task-related semantic/executive demands are high.

Serial Recall Order of Category Fluency Words: Exploring Its Neural Underpinnings

Background: Although performance on the category fluency test (CFT) is influenced by many cognitive functions (i.e., including language, executive functioning and speed of processing), item-level scoring methods of CFT performance might be a promising way to capture aspects of semantic memory that are less influenced by intervenient abilities. One such approach is based on the calculation of correlation coefficients that quantify the association between item-level features and the serial order with which words are recalled (SRO).

Methods: We explored the neural underpinnings of 10 of these correlational indices in a sample of 40 healthy adults who completed a classic 1-min CFT and an MRI protocol inclusive of T1-weighted (analysed with voxel-based morphometry) and resting-state fMRI sequences for the evaluation of the default-mode network (DMN). Two sets of linear models were defined to test the association between neural maps and each correlational index: a first set in which major demographic and clinical descriptors were controlled for and a second set in which, additionally, all other 9 correlational indices were regressed out.

Results: In the analysis of the DMN, ‘SRO-frequency’, ‘SRO-dominance’ and ‘SRO-body-object interaction’ correlational indices were all negatively associated with the anterior portion of the right temporoparietal junction. The ‘SRO-frequency’ correlational index was also negatively associated with the right dorsal anterior cingulate and the ‘SRO-dominance’ correlational index with the right lateral prefrontal cortex. From the second set of models, the ‘SRO-typicality’ correlational index was positively associated with the left entorhinal cortex. No association was found in relation to grey matter maps.

Conclusion: The ability to retrieve more difficult words during CFT performance as measured by the correlational indices between SRO and item-level descriptors is associated with DMN expression in regions deputed to attentional reorienting and processing of salience of infrequent stimuli and dominance status. Of all item-level features, typicality appears to be that most closely linked with entorhinal functioning and may thus play a relevant role in assessing its value in testing procedures for early detection of subtle cognitive difficulties in people with suspected Alzheimer’s degeneration. Although exploratory, these findings warrant further investigations in larger cohorts.

Serial Recall Order and Semantic Features of Category Fluency Words to Study Semantic Memory in Normal Ageing

Background: Category Fluency Test (CFT) is a common measure of semantic memory (SM). Test performance, however, is also influenced by other cognitive functions. We here propose a scoring procedure that quantifies the correlation between the serial recall order (SRO) of words retrieved during the CFT and a number of linguistic features, to obtain purer SM measures. To put this methodology to the test, we addressed a proof-of-concept hypothesis whereby, in alignment with the literature, older adults would show better SM. Methods: Ninety participants (45 aged 18-21 years; 45 aged 70-81 years) with normal neurological and cognitive functioning completed a 1-min CFT. SRO was scored as an ordinal variable incrementing by one unit for each valid entry. Each word was also scored for 16 additional linguistic features. Participant-specific normalised correlation coefficients were calculated between SRO and each feature and were analysed with group comparisons and graph theory. Results: Younger adults showed more negative correlations between SRO and "valence" (a feature of words pleasantness). This was driven by the first five words generated. When analysed with graph theory, SRO had significantly higher degree and lower betweenness centrality among older adults. Conclusion: In older adults, SM relies significantly less on pleasantness of entries typically retrieved without semantic control. Moreover, graph-theory metrics indicated better optimised links between SRO and linguistic features in this group. These findings are aligned with the principle whereby SM processes tend to solidify with ageing. Although additional work is needed in support of an SRO-based item-level scoring procedure of CFT performance, these initial findings suggest that this methodology could be of help in characterising SM in a purer form.

Metaphorical expressions originating from human senses: Psycholinguistic and affective norms for German metaphors for internal state terms (MIST database)

Internal states, e.g., emotions, cognitive states, or desires, are often verbalized by figurative means, in particular by embodied metaphors involving human senses, such as touch, taste, and smell. The present paper presents a database for German metaphorical expressions conveying internal states with human senses as their source domains. 168 metaphorical expressions from the source domains of vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and temperature combined with literal equivalents were collected and rated by 643 adults. The agreement between the metaphor and an equivalent literal expression, as well as emotional valence, arousal, and familiarity values were assessed using a 7-point Likert scale. Between the metaphorical expressions and their equivalents, familiarity, but not valence or arousal differed significantly while agreement ratings indicated high similarity in meaning. The novel database offers carefully controlled stimuli that can be used in both empirical metaphor research and research on internal state language. Using part of the stimuli in a sentence completion experiment revealed a significant preference for literal over metaphorical expressions that cannot be attributed to higher familiarity levels.

Exploring word memorability: How well do different word properties explain item free-recall probability?

What makes some words more memorable than others? Words can vary in many dimensions, and a variety of lexical, semantic, and affective properties have previously been associated with variability in recall performance. Free recall data were used from 147 participants across 20 experimental sessions from the Penn Electrophysiology of Encoding and Retrieval Study (PEERS) data set, across 1,638 words. Here, I consider how well 20 different word properties-across lexical, semantic, and affective dimensions-relate to free recall. Semantic dimensions, particularly animacy (better memory for living), usefulness (with respect to survival; better memory for useful), and size (better memory for larger) demonstrated the strongest relationships with recall probability. These key results were then examined and replicated in the free recall data from Lau, Goh, and Yap (Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71, 2207-2222, 2018), which had 532 words and 116 participants. This comprehensive investigation of a variety of word memorability demonstrates that semantic and function-related psycholinguistic properties play an important role in verbal memory processes.

Is justice grounded? How expertise shapes conceptual representation of institutional concepts

Using abstract concepts is a hallmark of human cognition. While multiple kinds of abstract concepts exist, they so far have been conceived as a unitary kind in opposition to concrete ones. Here, we focus on Institutional concepts, like justice or norm, investigating their fine-grained differences with respect to other kinds of abstract and concrete concepts, and exploring whether their representation varies according to individual proficiency. Specifically, we asked experts and non-experts in the legal field to evaluate four kinds of concepts (i.e., institutional, theoretical, food, artefact) on 16 dimensions: abstractness-concreteness; imageability; contextual availability; familiarity; age of acquisition; modality of acquisition; social valence; social metacognition; arousal; valence; interoception; metacognition; perceptual modality strength; body-object interaction; mouth and hand involvement. Results showed that Institutional concepts rely more than other categories on linguistic/social and inner experiences and are primarily characterized by positive valence. In addition, a more subtle characterization of the institutional domain emerged: Pure-institutional concepts (e.g., parliament) were perceived as more similar to technical tools, while Meta-institutional concepts (e.g., validity) were characterized mainly by abstract components. Importantly, for what concerns individual proficiency, we found that the level of expertise affects conceptual representation. Only law-experts associated Institutional concepts with exteroceptive and emotional experiences, showing also a more grounded and situated representation of the two types of institutional concepts. Overall, our finding highlights the richness and flexibility of abstract concepts and suggests that they differ in the degree of embodiment and grounding. Implications of the results for current theories of conceptual representation and social institutions are discussed.

The Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms: multidimensional measures of perceptual and action strength for 40,000 English words

Sensorimotor information plays a fundamental role in cognition. However, the existing materials that measure the sensorimotor basis of word meanings and concepts have been restricted in terms of their sample size and breadth of sensorimotor experience. Here we present norms of sensorimotor strength for 39,707 concepts across six perceptual modalities (touch, hearing, smell, taste, vision, and interoception) and five action effectors (mouth/throat, hand/arm, foot/leg, head excluding mouth/throat, and torso), gathered from a total of 3,500 individual participants using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. The Lancaster Sensorimotor Norms are unique and innovative in a number of respects: They represent the largest-ever set of semantic norms for English, at 40,000 words × 11 dimensions (plus several informative cross-dimensional variables), they extend perceptual strength norming to the new modality of interoception, and they include the first norming of action strength across separate bodily effectors. In the first study, we describe the data collection procedures, provide summary descriptives of the dataset, and interpret the relations observed between sensorimotor dimensions. We then report two further studies, in which we (1) extracted an optimal single-variable composite of the 11-dimension sensorimotor profile (Minkowski 3 strength) and (2) demonstrated the utility of both perceptual and action strength in facilitating lexical decision times and accuracy in two separate datasets. These norms provide a valuable resource to researchers in diverse areas, including psycholinguistics, grounded cognition, cognitive semantics, knowledge representation, machine learning, and big-data approaches to the analysis of language and conceptual representations. The data are accessible via the Open Science Framework (http://osf.io/7emr6/) and an interactive web application (https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/psychology/lsnorms/).

subs2vec: Word embeddings from subtitles in 55 languages

This paper introduces a novel collection of word embeddings, numerical representations of lexical semantics, in 55 languages, trained on a large corpus of pseudo-conversational speech transcriptions from television shows and movies. The embeddings were trained on the OpenSubtitles corpus using the fastText implementation of the skipgram algorithm. Performance comparable with (and in some cases exceeding) embeddings trained on non-conversational (Wikipedia) text is reported on standard benchmark evaluation datasets. A novel evaluation method of particular relevance to psycholinguists is also introduced: prediction of experimental lexical norms in multiple languages. The models, as well as code for reproducing the models and all analyses reported in this paper (implemented as a user-friendly Python package), are freely available at: https://github.com/jvparidon/subs2vec.

Degradation of Praxis Brain Networks and Impaired Comprehension of Manipulable Nouns in Stroke

Distributed brain systems contribute to representation of semantic knowledge. Whether sensory and motor systems of the brain are causally involved in representing conceptual knowledge is an especially controversial question. Here, we tested 57 chronic left-hemisphere stroke patients using a semantic similarity judgment task consisting of manipulable and nonmanipulable nouns. Three complementary methods were used to assess the neuroanatomical correlates of semantic processing: voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping, resting-state functional connectivity, and gray matter fractional anisotropy. The three measures provided converging evidence that injury to the brain networks required for action observation, execution, planning, and visuomotor coordination are associated with specific deficits in manipulable noun comprehension relative to nonmanipulable items. Damage or disrupted connectivity of areas such as the middle posterior temporal gyrus, anterior inferior parietal lobe, and premotor cortex was related specifically to the impairment of manipulable noun comprehension. These results suggest that praxis brain networks contribute especially to the comprehension of manipulable object nouns.

Mapping semantic space: property norms and semantic richness

In semantic property listing tasks, participants list many features for some concepts and fewer for others. This variability in number of features (NoF) has been used in previous research as a measure of a concept's semantic richness, and such studies have shown that in lexical-semantic tasks responses tend to be facilitated for words with high NoF compared to those for words with low NoF, even when many other relevant factors are controlled (Pexman et al. in Psychon Bull Rev 9:542-549, 2002; Mem Cogn 31:842-855, 2003; Psychon Bull Rev 15:161-167, 2008; Goh et al. in Front Psychol, 2016. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00976 ). Furthermore, shared features (i.e., features that are shared by multiple words) appear to facilitate responses in lexical-semantic tasks to a greater degree than distinctive features (Devereux et al. in Cogn Sci 40:325-350, 2016; Grondin et al. in J Mem Lang 60:1-19, 2009). This previous work was limited, however, to relatively small sets of words, typically those extracted from the McRae norms (McRae et al. in Behav Res Methods 37(4):547-559, 2005). New property listing norms provide the opportunity to extract NoF values for many more items (Buchanan et al. in Behav Res Methods 51:1849-1863, 2019). The purpose of the present study was to test whether NoF effects generalize to this larger item set, and to explore how NoF is related to other measures of semantic richness, including subjective ratings of concreteness, imageability, body-object interaction, sensory experience, valence, arousal, and age of acquisition, as well as more objective measures like semantic diversity, number of associates, and lexical centrality. Using the new Buchanan norms, we found significant NoF effects in lexical decision (is it a word or a nonword?) and semantic decision (is it concrete or abstract?) tasks. We also found significant effects of words' number of shared (less distinctive) features in each task. Further, factor analyses of all semantic richness measures showed a distinct factor structure, suggesting that there are clusters of semantic richness dimensions that seem to correspond to more embodied semantic dimensions and more distributional semantic dimensions. Results are interpreted as evidence that semantic representation is multimodal and multidimensional, and provide new insights about the structure of semantic space.

Sensitivity to emotion information in children's lexical processing

We tested predictions of multiple representation accounts of conceptual processing, including the proposal that emotion information may provide a bootstrapping mechanism for vocabulary acquisition. We investigated the influence of word valence on children's lexical processing, presenting 40 positive words, 40 neutral words, and 40 negative words in an auditory lexical decision task (ALDT), along with 120 nonwords. We tested 99 children across three age groups: 5, 6, or 7 years. There were no significant effects of valence on the ALDT responses of 5-year-old children. The 6-year-old children, however, were faster to respond to negative words than to neutral words and, for more abstract words, faster to respond to positive words than to neutral words. The 7-year-old children were faster for positive words than for neutral words, regardless of concreteness. As such, children showed sensitivity to word valence in lexical processing, at a younger age than had been established in previous research. In addition, children's language skills were related to their improved processing of more abstract neutral words between 6 and 7 years of age. These results are consistent with multimodal accounts of word meaning and lexical development.