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Early identification of taboo words reveals a prominent role of semantic information in visual word recognition.

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Title: Early identification of taboo words reveals a prominent role of semantic information in visual word recognition.
Authors: Sulpizio, Simone (AUTHOR), Scaltritti, Michele (AUTHOR)
Source: Cognition & Emotion. Feb2026, Vol. 40 Issue 1, p187-198. 12p.
Abstract: This research used the progressive demasking paradigm to investigate whether perceptual word identification is facilitated by semantic information. Experiment 1 revealed faster identification for taboo than neutral words. Experiment 2 revealed faster identification for taboo than emotionally-comparable non-taboo words, whereas the difference with respect to neutral words was possibly mitigated by list-wise factors related to list composition. Moreover, the facilitation for taboo words was impervious to habituation. The taboo connotation advantage seemingly originates from the attentional capture triggered by tabooness, a socio-culturally determined semantic feature that, under appropriate contextual conditions, modulates perceptual word identification. Our results suggest that (a) semantic processing is a pervasive component of any task involving word processing, and (b) when semantic information does not hinder the main task, it may influence even the earliest stages of word perceptual identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Cognition & Emotion is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: Early identification of taboo words reveals a prominent role of semantic information in visual word recognition.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Sulpizio%2C+Simone%22">Sulpizio, Simone</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Scaltritti%2C+Michele%22">Scaltritti, Michele</searchLink> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Cognition+%26+Emotion%22">Cognition & Emotion</searchLink>. Feb2026, Vol. 40 Issue 1, p187-198. 12p.
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: This research used the progressive demasking paradigm to investigate whether perceptual word identification is facilitated by semantic information. Experiment 1 revealed faster identification for taboo than neutral words. Experiment 2 revealed faster identification for taboo than emotionally-comparable non-taboo words, whereas the difference with respect to neutral words was possibly mitigated by list-wise factors related to list composition. Moreover, the facilitation for taboo words was impervious to habituation. The taboo connotation advantage seemingly originates from the attentional capture triggered by tabooness, a socio-culturally determined semantic feature that, under appropriate contextual conditions, modulates perceptual word identification. Our results suggest that (a) semantic processing is a pervasive component of any task involving word processing, and (b) when semantic information does not hinder the main task, it may influence even the earliest stages of word perceptual identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Cognition & Emotion is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1080/02699931.2025.2488986
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        Text: English
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              Text: Feb2026
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