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 long time) in place of repetition also produces the same effect.
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 rapid repetition makes both the peripheral sensorimotor activity and central neural activation fire repeatedly.[citation needed] 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" [citation needed].
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]
Applicationsedit
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]
^ abDas, J.P. (2014). Verbal Conditioning and Behaviour. Oxford: Pergamon Press, Ltd. p. 92. ISBN9781483156538.
^Jakobovits, Leon. A. (April 1962). Effects of Repeated Stimulation on Cognitive Aspects of Behavior: Some Experiments on the Phenomenon of Semantic Satiation (PhD). McGill University. Retrieved 2018-08-13.
^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.
^Shohov, Serge (2003). Advances in Psychology Research, Volume 26. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. p. 69. ISBN978-1590337981.
^Jakobovits, Leon (1966). "Semantic Satiation and Cognitive Dynamics" (PDF). U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
^Leon James (formerly Leon A. Jakobovits) University of Illinois. "Semantic Satiation and Cognitive Dynamics".
^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. PMC2882703. PMID 20156620.
^Fishman, Joshua (2014). Advances in the Study of Societal Multilingualism. The Hague: Mouton Publishers. p. 55. ISBN9783111684376.
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. (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. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. pp. 167–76. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
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. (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.[permanent dead link]
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). . Memory & Cognition. 28 (8): 1366–77. doi:10.3758/BF03211837. PMID 11219964. Archived from the original on January 25, 2001.
semantic, satiation, psychological, phenomenon, which, repetition, causes, word, phrase, temporarily, lose, meaning, listener, then, perceives, speech, repeated, meaningless, sounds, extended, inspection, analysis, staring, word, phrase, long, time, place, rep. 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 long time in place of repetition also produces the same effect Contents 1 History and research 2 Applications 3 See also 4 References 5 Further readingHistory and research editLeon 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 rapid repetition makes both the peripheral sensorimotor activity and central neural activation fire repeatedly citation needed 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 citation needed 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 editJakobovits 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 editBuffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Gestaltzerfall Jamais vu Mantra Olfactory fatigue Scat singingReferences edit a b Das J P 2014 Verbal Conditioning and Behaviour Oxford Pergamon Press Ltd p 92 ISBN 9781483156538 Jakobovits Leon A April 1962 Effects of Repeated Stimulation on Cognitive Aspects of Behavior Some Experiments on the Phenomenon of Semantic Satiation PhD McGill University Retrieved 2018 08 13 Pilotti M Antrobus J S Duff M 1997 The effect of presemantic acoustic adaptation on semantic satiation Memory amp Cognition 25 3 305 312 doi 10 3758 BF03211286 PMID 9184482 Shohov Serge 2003 Advances in Psychology Research Volume 26 New York Nova Science Publishers Inc p 69 ISBN 978 1590337981 Jakobovits Leon 1966 Semantic Satiation and Cognitive Dynamics PDF U S Department of Education Retrieved October 19 2018 Leon James formerly Leon A Jakobovits University of Illinois Semantic Satiation and Cognitive Dynamics 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 Fishman Joshua 2014 Advances in the Study of Societal Multilingualism The Hague Mouton Publishers p 55 ISBN 9783111684376 Further reading editThis further reading section may need cleanup Please read the editing guide and help improve the section January 2015 Learn how and when to remove this template message 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 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a 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 New York Appleton Century Crofts pp 167 76 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help 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 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a 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 permanent dead link 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 phenomene 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 amp Cognition 28 8 1366 77 doi 10 3758 BF03211837 PMID 11219964 Archived from the original on January 25 2001 Zongker Doug 2006 Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicken PDF Annals of Improbable Research 12 5 17 21 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Semantic satiation amp oldid 1194414873, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
