Semantic congruency effects of prime words on tool visual exploration

• Published in: Brain and cognition 2021-08, Vol.152, p.105758-105758, Article 105758
• Main Authors: Federico, Giovanni, Osiurak, François, Reynaud, Emanuelle, Brandimonte, Maria A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Action reappraisal; Attention; Cognition; Eye-tracking; Information processing; Semantic knowledge; Semantics; Tool use; Visual perception; Words
• ISSN: 0278-2626; 1090-2147
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105758

•Human tool use is an integrated process involving multiple neurocognitive systems.•In this study, we combined tools with a different class of information: words.•We analysed the visual exploration of tools preceded by congruent/incongruent words.•Congruent object-word pairs were encoded in a more suited-for-action way.•Our results extend the integrated perspective of the action reappraisal. Most recent research on human tool use highlighted how people might integrate multiple sources of information through different neurocognitive systems to exploit the environment for action. This mechanism of integration is known as “action reappraisal”. In the present eye-tracking study, we further tested the action reappraisal idea by devising a word-priming paradigm to investigate how semantically congruent (e.g., “nail”) vs. semantically incongruent words (e.g., “jacket”) that preceded the vision of tools (e.g., a hammer) may affect participants' visual exploration of them. We found an implicit modulation of participants' temporal allocation of visuospatial attention as a function of the object-word consistency. Indeed, participants tended to increase over time their fixations on tools' manipulation areas under semantically congruent conditions. Conversely, participants tended to concentrate their visual-spatial attention on tools’ functional areas when inconsistent object-word pairs were presented. These results support and extend the information-integrated perspective of the action reappraisal approach. Also, these findings provide further evidence about how higher-level semantic information may influence tools' visual exploration.