Semantic satiation

Semantic satiation is a psychological phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener,[1] who then perceives the speech as repeated meaningless sounds. Extended inspection or analysis (staring at the word or phrase for a lengthy period of time) in place of repetition also produces the same effect.

History and research

Leon Jakobovits James coined the phrase "semantic satiation" in his 1962 doctoral dissertation at McGill University.[2] It was demonstrated as a stable phenomenon that is possibly similar to a cognitive form of reactive inhibition.[1] Before that, the expression "verbal satiation" had been used along with terms that express the idea of mental fatigue. The dissertation listed many of the names others had used for the phenomenon:

Many other names have been used for what appears to be essentially the same process: inhibition (Herbert, 1824, in Boring, 1950), refractory phase and mental fatigue (Dodge, 1917; 1926a), lapse of meaning (Bassett and Warne, 1919), work decrement (Robinson and Bills, 1926), cortical inhibition (Pavlov, 192?), adaptation (Gibson, 1937), extinction (Hilgard and Marquis, 1940), satiation (Kohler and Wallach, 1940), reactive inhibition (Hull, 1913 [sic]), stimulus satiation (Glanzer, 1953), reminiscence (Eysenck, 1956), verbal satiation (Smith and Raygor, 1956), and verbal transformation (Warren, 1961b).

— From Leon Jakobovits James, 1962

James presented several experiments that demonstrated the operation of the semantic satiation effect in various cognitive tasks such as rating words and figures that are presented repeatedly in a short time, verbally repeating words then grouping them into concepts, adding numbers after repeating them out loud, and bilingual translations of words repeated in one of the two languages. In each case, the subjects would repeat a word or number for several seconds, then perform the cognitive task using that word. It was demonstrated that repeating a word prior to its use in a task made the task somewhat more difficult.

An explanation for the phenomenon is that, in the cortex, verbal repetition repeatedly arouses a specific neural pattern that corresponds to the meaning of the word. Rapid repetition makes both the peripheral sensorimotor activity and central neural activation fire repeatedly. This is known to cause reactive inhibition, hence a reduction in the intensity of the activity with each repetition. Jakobovits James (1962) calls this conclusion the beginning of "experimental neurosemantics".

Studies that further explored semantic satiation include the work of Pilotti, Antrobus, and Duff (1997), which claimed that it is possible that the true locus of this phenomenon is presemantic instead of semantic adaptation.[3] There is also the experiment conducted by Kouinos et al. (2000), which revealed that semantic satiation is not necessarily a byproduct of "impoverishment of perceptual inputs."[4]

Applications

Jakobovits cited several possible semantic satiation applications and these include its integration in the treatment of phobias through systematic desensitization. He argued that "in principle, semantic satiation as an applied tool ought to work wherever some specifiable cognitive activity mediates some behavior that one wishes to alter."[5] An application has also been developed to reduce speech anxiety by stutterers by creating semantic satiation through repetition, thus reducing the intensity of negative emotions triggered during speech.[6]

There are studies that also linked semantic satiation in education. For instance, the work of Tian and Huber (2010) explored the impact of this phenomenon on word learning and effective reading. The authors claimed that this process can serve as a unique approach to test for discounting through loss of association since it allows the separation of the "lexical level from semantic level effects in a meaning-based task that involves repetitions of words."[7] Semantic satiation has also been used as a tool to gain more understanding on language acquisition such as those studies that investigated the nature of multilingualism.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Das, J.P. (2014). Verbal Conditioning and Behaviour. Oxford: Pergamon Press, Ltd. p. 92. ISBN 9781483156538.
  2. ↑ Leon Jakobovits James (April 1962). "Effects of Repeated Stimulation on Cognitive Aspects of Behavior: Some Experiments on the Phenomenon of Semantic Satiation". Retrieved 2018-08-13. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ↑ Pilotti, M.; Antrobus, J.S.; Duff, M. (1997). "The effect of presemantic acoustic adaptation on semantic "satiation"". Memory & Cognition. 25 (3): 305–312. doi:10.3758/BF03211286. PMID 9184482.
  4. ↑ Shohov, Serge (2003). Advances in Psychology Research, Volume 26. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. p. 69. ISBN 978-1590337981.
  5. ↑ Jakobovits, Leon (1966). "Semantic Satiation and Cognitive Dynamics" (PDF). U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  6. ↑ Dr. Leon James (formerly Leon A. Jakobovits) University of Illinois. "Semantic Satiation and Cognitive Dynamics".
  7. ↑ Tian, Xing; Huber, David E. (June 2010). "Testing an associative account of semantic satiation". Cognitive Psychology. 60 (4): 267–290. doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2010.01.003. ISSN 0010-0285. PMC 2882703. PMID 20156620.
  8. ↑ Fishman, Joshua (2014). Advances in the Study of Societal Multilingualism. The Hague: Mouton Publishers. p. 55. ISBN 9783111684376.

Further reading

  • Dodge, R. (1917). "The laws of relative fatigue". Psychol. Rev. 24 (2): 89–113. doi:10.1037/h0075549.
  • Don, V.J.; Weld, H.P. (1924). "Lapse of meaning with visual fixation". American Journal of Psychology. 35 (3): 446–50. doi:10.2307/1414024. JSTOR 1414024.
  • Duncan, C.P. (1956). "On the similarity between reactive inhibition and neural satiation". American Journal of Psychology. 69 (2): 227–35. doi:10.2307/1418151. JSTOR 1418151. PMID 13327083.
  • Eysenck, H.J. (1955). "Cortical inhibition, figural after-effect, and theory of personality". Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 51 (1): 94–106. doi:10.1037/h0043564. PMID 13242293.
  • Gaynor, Miriam (1954). "An effect of satiation on recall". New York: New School for Social Research. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation.
  • Severance, Elisabeth; Washburn, Margaret (1907). "The loss of associative power in words after long fixation". American Journal of Psychology. 18 (2): 182–86. doi:10.2307/1412411. JSTOR 1412411.
  • Smith, D.E.P.; Raygor, A.L. (1956). "Verbal satiation and personality". J. Abnorm. Soc. Psychol. 52 (3): 323–26. doi:10.1037/h0041334. PMID 13318837.
  • Warren, R.M. (1961). "Illusory changes in repeated words: Differences between young adults and the aged". American Journal of Psychology. 74 (4): 506–16. doi:10.2307/1419661. JSTOR 1419661. PMID 14005061.
  • Warren, R.M. (1961). "Illusory changes of distinct speech upon repetition—the verbal transformation effect". British Journal of Psychology. 52 (3): 249–58. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1961.tb00787.x. PMID 13783239.
  • Wertheimer, M. (1960). F. Weinhandl (ed.). "Studies of some Gestalt qualities of words". In Gestalthaftes Sehen: Ergebnisse und Aufgaben der Morphologie: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
  • Wertheimer, M. (1958). "The relation between the sound of a word and its meaning". American Journal of Psychology. 71 (2): 412–15. doi:10.2307/1420089. JSTOR 1420089. PMID 13545417.
  • Lambert, W.E.; Jakobovits, L.A. (1960). "Verbal satiation and changes in the intensity of meaning". Journal of Experimental Psychology. 60 (6): 376–83. doi:10.1037/h0045624. PMID 13758466.
  • Jakobovits, L.A.; Lambert, W.E. (1961). "Semantic satiation among bilinguals". Journal of Experimental Psychology (Submitted manuscript). 62 (6): 576–82. doi:10.1037/h0042860. PMID 14450947.
  • Jakobovits, L.A.; Lambert, W.E. (1962). "Semantic satiation in an addition task". Canadian Journal of Psychology. 16 (2): 112–19. doi:10.1037/h0083238. PMID 14450948.
  • Jakobovits, L.A.; Lambert, W.E. (1962). "Mediated satiation in verbal transfer". Journal of Experimental Psychology. 64 (4): 346–51. doi:10.1037/h0044630. PMID 14450946.
  • Jakobovits, L.A.; Lambert, W.E. (1963). L. Arons; M.A. May (eds.). The effects of repetition in communication on meanings and attitudes. Television and Human Behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. pp. 167–76.
  • Messer, S., Jakobovits, L.A., Kanungo, R., and Lambert, W.E. (1964). "Semantic satiation of words and numbers". British Journal of Psychology. 55 (2): 155–63. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1964.tb02715.x. PMID 14168480.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Jakobovits, L.A.; Lambert, W.E. (1964). "Stimulus-characteristics as determinants of semantic changes with repeated presentation". American Journal of Psychology. 77 (1): 84–92. doi:10.2307/1419274. JSTOR 1419274. PMID 14133230.
  • Jakobovits, L.A. (1965). "Semantic satiation in concept formation". Psychological Reports. 17 (1): 113–14. doi:10.2466/pr0.1965.17.1.113. PMID 5826453. S2CID 36214432.
  • Jakobovits, L.A. (1965). "Repetition of auditorily presented information". Psychological Reports. 17 (3): 785–86. doi:10.2466/pr0.1965.17.3.785. PMID 5854255. S2CID 10067885.
  • Jakobovits, L.A. (1966). "Utilization of semantic satiation in stuttering: A theoretical analysis". Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders. 31 (2): 105–14. doi:10.1044/jshd.3102.105. PMID 5327594.
  • Jakobovits, L.A. (1966). "Studies of fads: I. The 'Hit Parade.'". Psychological Reports. 18 (2): 443–50. doi:10.2466/pr0.1966.18.2.443. S2CID 144148539.
  • Jakobovits, L.A. (1967). "Semantic satiation and cognitive dynamics". Journal of Special Education. 2 (1): 35–44. doi:10.1177/002246696700200103. S2CID 144805146.
  • Jakobovits, L.A.; Hogenraad, Robert (1967). "Some suggestive evidence on the operation of semantic generation and satiation in group discussions". Psychological Reports. 20 (3): 1247–50. doi:10.2466/pr0.1967.20.3c.1247. S2CID 144297750.
  • Jakobovits, L.A. (1967). "Words, words, words". In L. Kuppuswami, Modern Trends in Psychology.
  • Jakobovits, L.A.; Lambert, W.E. (1967). "A note on the measurement of semantic satiation". Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior. 6 (6): 954–57. doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(67)80165-8.
  • Jakobovits, L.A.; Hogenraad, Robert (1968). "Le phénomène de la satiation semantique". Bulletin de Psychologie. 22: 140–49.
  • Kounios, John; Kotz, Sonja I.; Holcomb, Philip J. (2000). "On the Locus of the Semantic Satiation Effect: Evidence from Event-Related Brain Potentials". Memory & Cognition. 28 (8): 1366–77. doi:10.3758/BF03211837. PMID 11219964. Archived from the original on January 25, 2001.
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