Fast habituation to semantic interference generated by taboo connotation in reading aloud
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7149969 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Simone Sulpizio (0000-0002-4051-9494, University of Milano-Bicocca, corresponding author), Michele Scaltritti (0000-0002-3328-1748, University of Trento), Giacomo Spinelli (0000-0002-3913-8109, University of Milano-Bicocca) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 1609-1624 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cognition & Emotion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0269-9931 • E-ISSN: 1464-0600 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02699931.2024.2307367 |
| PMID | 38294682 |
| OpenAlex | W4391404357 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 49 |
The recognition of taboo words - i.e. socially inappropriate words - has been repeatedly associated to semantic interference phenomena, with detrimental effects on the performance in the ongoing task. In the present study, we investigated taboo interference in the context of reading aloud, a task configuration which prompts the overt violation of conventional sociolinguistic norms by requiring the explicit utterance of taboo items. We assessed whether this form of semantic interference is handled by habituative or cognitive control processes. In addition to the reading aloud task, participants performed a vocal Stroop task featuring different conditions to dissociate semantic, task, and response conflict. Taboo words were read slower than non-taboo words, but this effect was subject to a quick habituation, with a decreasing interference over the course of trials, which allowed participants to selectively attend to goal-relevant information. In the Stroop task, only semantic conflict was significantly reduced by habituation. These findings suggest that semantic properties can be quickly and flexibly weighed on the basis of contextual appropriateness, thus characterising semantic processing as a flexible and goal-directed component of reading aloud
Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Habituation · Linguistics · Stroop effect · Taboo · Hearing Impairment and Communication · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism
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| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |