Cognition and Communication Research Centre, Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, UK.
Brain Cogn. 2013 Mar;81(2):215-22. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2012.10.011. Epub 2012 Dec 20.
In this study we quantify for the first time electrophysiological components associated with incorporating long-term semantic knowledge with visuo-spatial information using two variants of a traditional matrix patterns task. Results indicated that the matrix task with greater semantic content was associated with enhanced accuracy and RTs in a change-detection paradigm; this was also associated with increased P300 and N400 components as well as a sustained negative slow wave (NSW). In contrast, processing of the low semantic stimuli was associated with an increased N200 and a reduction in the P300. These findings suggest that semantic content can aid in reducing early visual processing of information and subsequent memory load by unitizing complex patterns into familiar forms. The N400/NSW may be associated with the requirements for maintaining visuo-spatial information about semantic forms such as orientation and relative location. Evidence for individual differences in semantic elaboration strategies used by participants is also discussed.
在这项研究中，我们首次量化了使用两种传统矩阵模式任务变体将长期语义知识与视空间信息相结合的电生理成分。结果表明，具有更多语义内容的矩阵任务与改变检测范式中的更高准确性和 RTs 相关；这也与增加的 P300 和 N400 成分以及持续的负慢波（NSW）相关。相比之下，处理低语义刺激与增加的 N200 和减少的 P300 相关。这些发现表明，语义内容可以通过将复杂模式组合成熟悉的形式来帮助减少信息的早期视觉处理和后续的记忆负担。N400/NSW 可能与维持关于语义形式（例如方向和相对位置）的视空间信息的要求相关。还讨论了参与者使用的语义细化策略的个体差异的证据。
