The following article reports the results of two experiments investigating spoken word recognition in real-time using the visual world eye-tracking paradigm:
Yee, E., & Sedivy, J. (2006). Eye movements to pictures reveal transient semantic activation during spoken word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32(1), 1-14.
Answer the following five (5) questions. Make sure to answer all parts of each question. Read each question carefully. Please answer each question separately and number each question. There are points assigned for each question and if we cannot figure out which question you are answering, we wont be able to assign you points for that question. Please do not answer the entire assignment in essay format.
Use your own words! No quotes from the article are permitted. You may use some of their vocabulary but direct quotes will be penalized.
The word limit for the whole assignment is 1000 words. Aim for 200 words or so per question. Longer assignments may be penalized. Please write the number of words on your assignment.
Questions:
1) Experiment 1: Experimental design [4 points]
Using an example from Appendix A, explain what a trial would have looked like in Experiment 1. Describe a trial in the semantically-related condition and its corresponding trial in the control condition. Explain why the control condition was included. Do not use an example from the text or from class. Choose a new example from the Appendix to explain your answer.
2) Experiment 2: Experimental design [4 points]
Explain what is different in the experimental design for Experiment 2. What was the purpose in running Experiment 2?
3) Results: Experiment 1 vs Experiment 2 [4 points]
Compare the results of Experiments 1 (Figure 2) and 2 (Figure 5). What are the differences and
similarities between the findings of the two experiments?
4) Experiment 2: Theoretical Implications [4 points]
How can the results from Experiment 2 be accounted for using the notion of spreading of activation? Explain what the results would look like if the hypothesis was not confirmed. You can either describe the predicted results or draw a graph to show what you might expect.
5) Experiment 2: Using an alternative experimental method [4 points]
Imagine you wanted to run these experiments using the cross-modal priming paradigm (see our discussion of Swinney (1979) from class and from your textbook), instead of visual world eye- tracking. Describe what a critical trial would look like in your hypothetical experiment. Use an example from Appendix B from Yee & Sedivy (2006). What would be the predictions of this experiment?
Total: 20 points
