The Competition Effects Of Different Types Context On Manipulable Objects

A series researches of semantic processing of manipulable objects,researchers focus in the impact of action on semantic processing rather than context.But in our daily life,objects are categorized in different context.The current research aimed at specifying the activation time course of different types of semantic information in different context during conceptual processing and the effect of different types of context on this time course.Three experiments were conducted with healthy older participants using eye tracking in a word-to-picture matching task.The time course of gaze fixations was used to assess activation of distractor objects during the identification of manipulable artifact targets(e.g.,battledore).The distractors were a thematically related by references objects(e.g.,badminton),were a specific function related by references objects(e.g.,badminton net),were a general function related by references objects(e.g.,basketball).Growth curve analyses were used to assess competition effects when target words were presented in isolation(Experiment1)and in different term of a congruent context or incongruent context(Experiment2)and in contextual sentences of different generality levels(Experiment3).In the absence of context,there was earlier and shorter lasting activation of thematically related as compared to functionally related objects.The time course difference was more pronounced for general functions than specific functions.When contexts were provided,functional similarities that were congruent with context generality level increased in salience with earlier activation of those objects.and When different level contexts were provided,functional similarities that were incongruent with context generality level increased in salience with earlier activation of those objects.These data demonstrate that processing a single manipulable artifact concept implicitly activates thematic and functional knowledge with different time courses and that context speeds activation of context-congruent functional similarity.