Mizuno and Matsui (2018) conducted a semantic categorization experiment in which participants assessed whether two-kanji words represented human entities (human words) or not (general words). Processing of human words with human second characters was not facilitated, but processing of general words with human second characters was inhibited. Compound processing may not be facilitated when a word and its second character share the same semantic category, but it may be inhibited when their categories differ, as word and second-character processing should finish simultaneously. However, it may have been that no facilitative effects were found because the semantic transparencies of human words with human characters and those with general characters did not differ. This study investigated semantic transparency in the stimulus words used in Mizuno and Matsui (2018) and confirmed that they were significantly different. Findings suggest the validity of the above discussion.

Recent studies have suggested that relative embodiment, which indicates how much physical activity is associated with the meaning of a verb, affects the semantic processing of English verbs. However, the relative embodiment of Japanese verbs has not yet been investigated. Therefore, in this study, we collected relative embodiment ratings for 219 Japanese verbs and examined their relationship with existing word characteristics. The results showed that the relative embodiment ratings correlate with the indicators that are predicted to be related to the ratings. On the other hand, cluster-analysis results suggested that relative embodiment could be discriminated from those indicators. Thus, relative embodiment captures a different semantic aspect from those captured by other measurements.

Previous studies have shown that relative embodiment, reflecting the extent to which physical activity is associated with the meaning of a verb, affects English verb processing. On the basis of a Japanese version of relative embodiment ratings, the effect of relative embodiment on verb processing was examined in this study through three different tasks: naming task, lexical decision task, and verb–noun categorization task. The results revealed that words with higher relative embodiment were processed faster (in the categorization task) and more correctly (in the lexical decision task) than those with lower ratings. These findings suggest that relative embodiment influences Japanese verb processing at the semantic level.

Studies of the online experiment revealed that web-based cognitive experiment, which has Western crowd-workers (CW) as participants, replicated a task-specific effect that was shown in a conventional lab-based study (Crump et al., 2013). While a study compared Japanese CW and students showed that CW responded more accurately but more slowly than students (Majima, 2017). The present study compared the performance of in cognitive behavioral tasks between Japanese CW and students to reveal whether the speed-accuracy trade-off is replicated as in the Majima (2017), and whether the task-specific effect is replicated in a memory-task and a mood-induction task. We presented a Flanker task, a mental rotation task, levels of processing task and a mood-induction task. The results showed task-specific effects were replicated in all tasks and found no speed-accuracy trade-off. This might suggest that web-based experiments with Japanese CW is eligible participants pool in cognitive research as in lab-based experiment with students.

The Error-Related Negativity(ERN) is a maximum negative deflection at 50–150ms postresponse and Error Positivity(Pe) is a slow positive-going deflection that reaches its maximum amplitude at 150-500ms postresponse. This study examined the influence of Self-Oriented Perfectionism(SOP) and Neuroticism(N) on error processing. Participants were pre-screened to be either high or low scorers on SOP and N. Participants performed an Eriksen flanker task. ERP components measured at Cz were analyzed. High SOP scorers showed more negative ERN than low SOP scorers irrespective of the level of N, whereas low N scorers showed more positive Pe than high N scorers within low SOP scorers. In summary, SOP affects ERN, whereas N affects Pe. These findings suggest that personality trait of SOP modulate error processing. In contrast, SOP and N might influence the later error processing.

Infants prefer an agent who shows consistently prosocial actions over an agent who shows consistently antisocial actions. However, when there is an inconsistency in an agent’s behavior, infants show no preference toward the agent. The present research tested adults to examine the developmental trajectory of abilities to evaluate inconsistent agents. Participants evaluated the morality of an agent who acts either predominantly antisocially or predominantly prosocially. They were also asked to indicate their preference for an agent. The results showed that participants significantly evaluated predominantly prosocial agent as more moral and preferred the predominantly prosocial agent. Unlike the infants, adults use probabilistic information (1) to evaluate an agent’s morality and (2) to form their own preference toward a particular agent.

The aim of this study is not only to analyze word properties effects on eye on eye fixation duration in Korean reading but also to show how these phenomena differ between adolescents, young adults and older adults.

Through eye movement tracking experiments controlled word frequency, three experiments show that the fovea information processing in reading. In Experiment 1, 20 adolescents(13-14yrs) participated, who were native speakers of Korean and had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Eye movements were recorded via an Eyelink II eye tracker. 150 pairs of two syllable Korean words were chosen for the experiment. In the same conditions and methods as in Experiment1, Experiments 2 was conducted for 20 undergraduate students of SNU(20-24yrs) and Experiment3 was conducted for 20 older adults who graduated in SNU(71-75yrs).

When using a second language (L2), a greater amount of cognitive resources are consumed than when using a first language (L1). As a consequence, a smaller amount of resources can only be allocated to thinking processes, which often results in a decline of performance in thinking tasks. To examine this effect, we measured the activities of the frontal cortex while performing an inference task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). L1 English users and L2 English learners (upper intermediate level) read an English text and then answered low- and high-difficulty inference questions about the text. In the high-difficulty condition, the L1 group showed a higher level of activity in the right front area than the L2 group. Given that inferences have been reported to show right hemisphere superiority, it could be suggested that the inference processing was not as high in the L2 learners as in the L1 speakers.