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| Research article summary (published 30 Mar 2003): |
An electrophysiological study of scene effects on object identification.
Full Abstract
The meaning of a visual scene influences the identification of visual objects embedded in it. We investigated the nature and time course of scene effects on object identification by recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and response times (RTs). In three experiments, participants identified objects within a scene that were either semantically congruous (e.g., a pot in a kitchen) or incongruous (e.g., a desk in a river). As expected, RTs were faster for congruous than incongruous objects. The earliest sign of reliable scene congruity effects in the ERPs (greater positivity for congruous pictures between 300 and 500 ms) was around 300 ms. Both the morphology and time course of the N390 scene congruity effect are reminiscent of the N400 sentence congruity effect typically observed in sentence context paradigms, suggesting a functional similarity of the neural processes involved. Overall, these results support theories postulating that visual scenes do not appreciably affect object identification processes before associated semantic information is activated. We speculate that the N390 scene congruity effect reflects the action of visual scene schemata stored in the anterior temporal lobe.
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Author information
Author/s: Ganis, Giorgio (G); Kutas, Marta (M);
Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. ganis(-atsign-)wjh.harvard.edu
Grants: 5R01 MH60734-03 (Agency:United States NIMH) ; AG08313 (Agency:United States NIA) ; HD22614 (Agency:United States NICHD) ; MH52893 (Agency:United States NIMH)
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
Journal: Brain research. Cognitive brain research (Brain Res Cogn Brain Res), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2003-Apr; vol 16 (issue 2) : pp 123-44
Dates: Created 2003/04/01; Completed 2003/05/29; Revised 2007/11/14;
PMID: 12668221, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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