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1. Nameability predicts subjective and objective measures of visual similarity

   Zettersten, M.; Suffill, E.; Lupyan, G. (January 2020, Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Virtual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society)

   Denison, S.; Mack, M.; Xu, Y.; Armstrong, B.C. (Ed.)

   Do people perceive shapes to be similar based purely on their physical features? Or is visual similarity influenced by top-down knowledge? In the present studies, we demonstrate that top-down information – in the form of verbal labels that people associate with visual stimuli – predicts visual similarity as measured using subjective (Experiment 1) and objective (Experiment 2) tasks. In Experiment 1, shapes that were previously calibrated to be (putatively) perceptually equidistant were more likely to be grouped together if they shared a name. In Experiment 2, more nameable shapes were easier for participants to discriminate from other images, again controlling for their perceptual distance. We discuss what these results mean for constructing visual stimuli spaces that are perceptually uniform and discuss theoretical implications of the fact that perceptual similarity is sensitive to top-down information such as the ease with which an object can be named. 

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2. Verbal labels promote representational alignment even in the absence of communication

   Suffill, E. (January 2020, Proceedings for the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society)

   Denison, S.; Mack, M.; Xu, Y.; Armstrong, B.C. (Ed.)

   What affects whether one person represents an item in a similar way to another person? We examined the role of verbal labels in promoting representational alignment. Three groups of participants sorted novel shapes on perceived similarity. Prior to sorting, participants in two of the groups were pre-exposed to the shapes using a simple visual matching task and in one of these groups, shapes were accompanied by one of two novel category labels. Exposure with labels led people to represent the shapes in a more categorical way and to increased alignment between sorters, despite the two categories being visually distinct and participants in both pre-exposure conditions receiving identical visual experience of the shapes. Results hint that labels play a role in aligning people's mental representations, even in the absence of communication 

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3. ASSETS '21: The 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3441852.3476557  

   Malik, Jeehan; Majure, Mitchell; Rubio Bidon, Hana Gabrielle; Lamoureux, Regan; Rector, Kyle (October 2021, Increasing Access to Trainer-led Aerobic Exercise for People with Visual Impairments through a Sensor Mat System)

   People with visual impairments (PVIs) are less likely to participate in physical activity than their sighted peers. One barrier is the lack of accessible group-based aerobic exercise classes, often due to instructors not giving accessible verbal instructions. While there is research in exercise tracking, these tools often require vision or familiarity with the exercise. There are accessible solutions that give personalized verbal feedback in slower-paced exercises, not generalizing to aerobics. In response, we have developed an algorithm that detects shoeprints on a sensor mat using computer vision and a CNN. We can infer whether a person is following along with a step aerobics workout and are designing reactive verbal feedback to guide the person to rejoin the class. Future work will include finishing development and conducting a user study to assess the effectiveness of the reactive verbal feedback. 

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4. Mind Melds: Verbal Labels Induce Greater Representational Alignment

   https://doi.org/10.1162/opmi_a_00153  

   Suffill, Ellise; van_Paridon, Jeroen; Lupyan, Gary (January 2024, Open Mind)

   What determines whether two people represent something in a similar way? We examined the role of verbal labels in promoting representational alignment. Across two experiments, three groups of participants sorted novel shapes from two visually dissimilar categories. Prior to sorting, participants in two of the groups were pre-exposed to the shapes using a simple visual matching task designed to reinforce the visual category structure. In one of these groups, participants additionally heard one of two nonsense category labels accompanying the shapes. Exposure to these redundant labels led people to represent the shapes in a more categorical way, which led to greater alignment between sorters. We found this effect of label-induced alignment despite the two categories being highly visually distinct and despite participants in both pre-exposure conditions receiving identical visual experience with the shapes. Experiment 2 replicated this basic result using more even more stringent testing conditions. The results hint at the possibly extensive role that labels may play in aligning people’s mental representations. 

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5. Verbal interference paradigms: A systematic review investigating the role of language in cognition

   https://doi.org/doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02144-7  

   Nedergaard, J.S.K.; Wallentin, M.; Lupyan, G. (January 2022, Psychonomic bulletin review)

   This paper presents a systematic review of the empirical literature that uses dual-task interference methods for investigating the on-line involvement of language in various cognitive tasks. In these studies, participants perform some primary task X putatively recruiting linguistic resources while also engaging in a secondary, concurrent task. If performance on the primary task decreases under interference, there is evidence for language involvement in the primary task. We assessed studies (N = 101) reporting at least one experiment with verbal interference and at least one control task (either primary or secondary). We excluded papers with an explicitly clinical, neurological, or developmental focus. The primary tasks identified include categorization, memory, mental arithmetic, motor control, reasoning (verbal and visuospatial), task switching, theory of mind, visual change, and visuospatial integration and wayfinding. Overall, the present review found that internal language is likely to play a facilitative role in memory and categorization when items to be remembered or categorized have readily available labels, when inner speech can act as a form of behavioral self-cuing (inhibitory control, task set reminders, verbal strategy), and when inner speech is plausibly useful as “workspace,” for example, for mental arithmetic. There is less evidence for the role of internal language in cross-modal integration, reasoning relying on a high degree of visual detail or items low on nameability, and theory of mind. We discuss potential pitfalls and suggestions for streamlining and improving the methodology. 

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