The label-feedback hypothesis (Lupyan, 2012) states that language can modulate visual processing. In particular, hearing or reading aloud target names (labels) speeds up performance in visual search tasks by facilitating target detection. The current study conceptually expands previous investigations by comparing the effect of a multimodal label presentation (i.e., an audio+visual, AV, priming label), with that of a multimodal (i.e. noise+visual, NV, label) and two unimodal (i.e. audio, A, label or visual, V, label) control conditions in a visual search task. Furthermore, the name of a category (i.e. a label at the superordinate level) was used as a cue, instead of the more commonly used target name (a basic level label), with targets belonging to one of three categories: proper weapons, improper weapons, garments. According to legislation, objects are typically classified as weapons if they are offensive per se (referred to here as proper) and if they are adapted for use as weapons or carried with the intent of causing injury (referred to here as improper), with specific regulations on their usage and possession in public spaces. However, little evidence exists on the validity of this distinction in psychology, despite a widespread recognition of the importance of psychological states and perceptions in risk assessment. These categories were found to vary for their structure, improper weapons being an ad hoc category unlike proper weapons and garments, and for the perceived dangerousness and familiarity of their exemplars, which increase from garments to proper weapons. Results of the two experiments on the label-feedback effect show an overall transient facilitation of visual search performance in the AV condition compared to control conditions. However, for improper weapons, no significant difference was found between the AV and the NV label condition, suggesting that the specificity of the superordinate label effect can be modulated by the structural properties of a category. The findings are consistent with the idea that the AV condition prompted an "up regulation" of the label, a requirement for enhancing the label’s beneficial effects, with the exception of improper weapons. They also highlight the status of the category of improper weapons and offer additional proof that sets it apart from proper weapons.

abstract: The label-feedback hypothesis (Lupyan, 2007, 2012) proposes that language modulates low- and high-level visual processing, such as priming visual object perception. Lupyan and Swingley (2012) found that repeating target names facilitates visual search, reducing response times and increasing accuracy. Hebert, Goldinger, and Walenchok (under review) used a modified design to replicate and extend this finding, and concluded that speaking modulates visual search via template integrity. The current series of experiments 1) replicated the work of Hebert et al. with audio stimuli played through headphones instead of self-directed speech, 2) examined the label feedback effect under conditions of varying object clarity, and 3) explored whether the relative prevalence of a target’s audio label might modulate the label feedback effect (as in the low prevalence effect; Wolfe, Horowitz, & Kenner, 2005). Paradigms utilized both traditional spatial visual search and repeated serial visual presentation (RSVP). Results substantiated those found in previous studies—hearing target names improved performance, even (and sometimes especially) when conditions were difficult or noisy, and the relative prevalence of a target’s audio label strongly impacted its perception. The mechanisms of the label feedback effect––namely, priming and target template integrity––are explored. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Psychology 2019