An Information-Theoretic Account of Semantic Interference in Word Production

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Richard Futrell¹ 

[1] Department of Language Science, University of California, United States

关键词: language production;    information theory;    bounded rationality;    semantic interference effect;    Stroop;    rate-distortion;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.672408

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

I present a computational-level model of semantic interference effects in online word production within a rate–distortion framework. I consider a bounded-rational agent trying to produce words. The agent's action policy is determined by maximizing accuracy in production subject to computational constraints. These computational constraints are formalized using mutual information. I show that semantic similarity-based interference among words falls out naturally from this setup, and I present a series of simulations showing that the model captures some of the key empirical patterns observed in Stroop and Picture–Word Interference paradigms, including comparisons to human data from previous experiments.

【 授权许可】

CC BY