The locus of semantic priming in RSVP target search

At what stage does semantic priming affect accuracy in target search? In two experiments, participants viewed two streams of stimuli, each including a target word among distractors. Stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) between the targets (T1 and T2) ranged from 53 to 213 msec. A word semantically related to one or neither of the targets preceded each trial. In Experiment 1, participants were instructed to report both targets. Although more primed than unprimed targets were reported, there was no cost for unprimed words. A strong interaction between SOA and T1 versus T2 was found, but priming did not interact with either variable. In Experiment 2, only related targets were reported. Performance was similar to that for primed targets in Experiment 1. Semantic priming does not seem to modulate how attentional resources are initially allocated between targets, but instead affects a later stage of processing, the point at which a target word reaches lexical identification.     

L'effet de l'hétérogénéité sémantique dans la détection de mots

The effects of three semantic factors (semantic priming of the target, semantic distance between the word-target and distractors, and semantic heterogeneity of the target context) on the detection of a word among other words were examined by using the classical paradigm of target detection (varying the number of distractors). Results showed that these three semantic factors affect performance: a target was better detected 1) when primed by its superordinate category than when it was defined as the “odd-one-out”; 2) when the semantic context was homogeneous than heterogeneous; and 3) when it was semantically unrelated to the context than semantically related. These results help specifying the cognitive processing of each word while searching for a word among others.     

Semantic component of a cross-modal Stroop-like task

Three experiments showed that the pattern of interference of single-modality Stroop tests also exists cross-modally. Distractors and targets were either pictures or auditory words. In a naming task (Experiment 1), word distractors from the same semantic category as picture targets interfered with picture naming more than did semantically unrelated distractors; the semantic category of picture distractors did not differentially affect word naming. In a categorization task (Experiment 2), this Stroop-like effect was reversed: Picture distractors from the same semantic category as word targets interfered less with word categorization than picture distractors that were semantically unrelated; the semantic category of word distractors did not differentially affect picture categorization. Experiment 3 replicated these effects when each subject performed both tasks; the task, naming or categorizing, determined the pattern of interference between pictures and auditory words. The results thus support the existence of a semantic component of a cross-modal Stroop-like effect.     

Exploring the role of lexical stress in lexical recognition

Three cross-modal priming experiments examined the role of suprasegmental information in the processing of spoken words. All primes consisted of truncated spoken Dutch words. Recognition of visually presented word targets was facilitated by prior auditory presentation of the first two syllables of the same words as primes, but only if they were appropriately stressed (e.g., OKTOBER preceded by okTO-); inappropriate stress, compatible with another word (e.g., OKTOBER preceded by OCto-, the beginning of octopus), produced inhibition. Monosyllabic fragments (e.g., OC-) also produced facilitation when appropriately stressed; if inappropriately stressed, they produced neither facilitation nor inhibition. The bisyllabic fragments that were compatible with only one word produced facilitation to semantically associated words, but inappropriate stress caused no inhibition of associates. The results are explained within a model of spoken-word recognition involving competition between simultaneously activated phonological representations followed by activation of separate conceptual representations for strongly supported lexical candidates; at the level of the phonological representations, activation is modulated by both segmental and suprasegmental information.     

Multiletter Word Units in Visual Recognition: Direct Activation by Supraletter Visual Features

Multiletter priming effects have been interpreted as evidence for the representation of separable multiletter units in the visual word recognition system (Whiteley & Walker, 1994). The reported experiments examine whether the activation of such units is pre- or post-lexical. Experiments 2 and 3 employed priming in an alphabetic decision task in which subjects made a discrimination response to test stimuli which could be classed as either targets or foils. Targets were single letters, or consonant bigrams, present or absent in an immediately preceding word, or (Experiment 3 and 4) they were whole words semantically associated or not to a preceding word. Foils were single non-alphanumeric characters, a character plus a letter, or a word with one letter replaced by a character. Experiment 1 was a preliminary to determine the parameters of a sequential presentation manipulation. Experiment 2 compared conditions of simultaneous and sequential presentation where letters of prime words were presented together, or one at a time in rapid succession. With simultaneous presentation, responses to bigram targets were facilitated when these appeared in the prime word, while responses to individual constituent letters of those bigrams were not facilitated. Additionally, responses to primed bigram targets were faster than responses to primed single letter targets. The sequential presentation of prime words resulted in a qualitative change in the response pattern indicative of the disruption of multiletter unit activation. That change was replicated in Experiment 3 where semantic priming confirmed that the prime words were being processed to a level of meaning. The observations challenge a post-lexical account of the multiletter priming effects. Finally, Experiment 4 addressed the question of whether bigram priming reflects the intentional use of prime information to predict following targets. Strategic interpretations are undermined and it is argued that multiletter units are activated automatically as part of normal visual word recognition.     

Cross-language negative priming remains intact,while positive priming disappears: evidence for two sources of selective inhibition

In the current experiments, within- and between-language primed lexical decision tasks with Twi-English bilinguals were used. The aim was to explore the priming effects produced by attended and ignored words, in an effort to draw theoretical and empirical parallels and differences between the mechanisms of excitation and inhibition and to isolate the different circumstances in which these mechanisms operate in bilingual language processing. In the within-language (Twi) experiment, facilitatory (positive) priming resulted when a prime word and subsequent probe target word were identical, whereas delayed decisions to probe targets (negative priming) ensued when the ignored prime word was conceptually identical to the subsequent probe target word. In contrast, while the between-language (Twi-English) experiments replicated the ignored repetition negative priming effect, no evidence of positive priming was observed. These between-language findings undermine episodic retrieval models of selective attention that discount inhibitory processes in negative priming paradigms. Instead, our findings substantiate inhibition-based accounts by showing that there are two sources of inhibition operating at the local word and global language levels of abstraction. The findings also support bilingual language representations in which the words of the two languages are integrated.     

The crucial roles of stimulus matching and stimulus identity in negative priming

Negative priming refers to the situation in which an ignored item on an initial prime trial suffers slowed responding when it becomes the target item on a subsequent probe trial. In this experiment (and a replication), we demonstrate two ways in which stimulus consistency (matching) governs negative priming. First, negative priming for identical words occurred only when the prime distractor changed color when it became the probe target (i.e., constant cue to read the red word); negative priming disappeared when the prime distractor retained its color as the probe target (i.e., cue switches from read the red prime word to read the white probe word). Second, negative priming occurred for identical words, but not for semantically related words, whether related categorically or associatively. This pattern of results is consistent with a memory retrieval account, but not with an inhibition account of negative priming, and casts doubt on whether there is semantic negative priming for words.     

Not to be and then to be: visual representation of ignored unfamiliar faces

Negative priming, the increase in response time and/or errors to targets previously encountered as distractors, is explained by inhibitory mechanisms that block the access of distractor representations to response systems. The processing of unfamiliar human faces was investigated using negative priming. Observers viewed a row of faces to decide whether 2 target faces were the same or different. Response latencies were longer when 1 or both targets had appeared as distractors on the immediately preceding trial--evidence that never-before seen faces are represented and require inhibition. Response latencies were shorter when face targets had appeared as distractors, either corrupted with high-frequency noise or contrast inverted--evidence that representations are facilitated. Finally, response latencies remained unaltered when face targets had appeared as upside-down distractors--evidence that not all distractor representations afford response priming. The visual system indeed represents ignored unfamiliar faces, but blocks these representations only if they vie with targets for the control of action.     

Negative priming is not task bound: A consistent pattern across naming and categorization tasks

When a word that was a to-be-ignored flanker on an initial prime trial becomes the target on the subsequent probe trial, responding to that word on the probe trial is slowed, a phenomenon callednegative priming. Virtually all prior studies have required subjects to perform the same task on both the prime and the probe trials. Thus, the extent to which negative priming is task bound is uncertain. We manipulated task factorially on the prime and probe trials, resulting in four groups: name-name, name-categorize, categorize-name, and categorize-categorize. The results showed equivalent negative priming of about 22 msec both within and between tasks for identical words, but no negative priming for semantically related words from the same category. These findings suggest (1) that negative priming for identical words can readily cross task types; and (2) that semantic negative priming does not occur for words, at least when categorical relatedness alone determines the semantic relation.     

When SOFA primes TOUCH: Interdependence of spelling, sound, and meaning in “semantically mediated” phonological priming

Three experiments test for semantically mediated priming of a word's phonology (e.g., sofa, an associate of couch, primes naming performance to touch). In the first two experiments, words that were body-rime-inconsistent (compare touch to couch) were used as naming targets. In the third experiment, words that were body-rime-consistent were also used (i.e., sofa primed pouch). Low-frequency inconsistent words yield a high rate of pronunciation errors when they were primed by indirectly related words, such as sofa, in both a standard naming task and a speeded naming task. High-frequency inconsistent words yielded slower naming times when they were primed by indirectly related words in a speeded naming task, but consistent words showed no significant effects of the primes. The results suggest that the relationship between semantics and phonology plays an important, early role in word perception.     

Retrieval independence between parts and wholes in successive recognition tasks

Participants studied AB word pairs and completed three recognition tests. In one recognition test each A word was presented with two distractors that did not appear on the study list. In another recognition test each B word was presented with two distractors that did not appear on the study list. In a third recognition test an AB target was presented with two distractors composed of words not on the study list. Six different groups of participants each performed the recognition tests in a different order, so that all possible orders were tested. Recognition of the A, B, and AB targets for a given study pair were independent of each other when single-word recognition preceded double-word recognition. There was almost complete independence in the reverse order. Even when recognition judgements were restricted to those for which the participants were most confident, there was independence of recognition among the three tests. A pair recognition test served as an additional study trial for the individual words; however, the reverse was not the case. All of these results were predicted by a single three-parameter mathematical model derived from the hypothesis that single-word and double-word targets had independent representations in memory.     

Retrieval independence between parts and wholes in successive recognition tasks

Participants studied AB word pairs and completed three recognition tests. In one recognition test each A word was presented with two distractors that did not appear on the study list. In another recognition test each B word was presented with two distractors that did not appear on the study list. In a third recognition test an AB target was presented with two distractors composed of words not on the study list. Six different groups of participants each performed the recognition tests in a different order, so that all possible orders were tested. Recognition of the A, B, and AB targets for a given study pair were independent of each other when single-word recognition preceded double-word recognition. There was almost complete independence in the reverse order. Even when recognition judgements were restricted to those for which the participants were most confident, there was independence of recognition among the three tests. A pair recognition test served as an additional study trial for the individual words; however, the reverse was not the case. All of these results were predicted by a single three-parameter mathematical model derived from the hypothesis that single-word and double-word targets had independent representations in memory.     

Semantic transparency and masked morphological priming: The case of prefixed words

In four lexical decision experiments, we investigated masked morphological priming with Dutch prefixed words. Reliable effects of morphological relatedness were obtained with visual primes and visual targets in the absence of effects due to pure form overlap. In certain conditions, priming effects were significantly greater with semantically transparent prefixed primes (e.g., rename-name) relative to the priming effects obtained with semantically opaque prefixed words (e.g., relate-late), even with very brief (40-msec) prime durations. With visual primes and auditory targets (cross-modal priming), significant facilitation was found in all related prime conditions, independent of whether or not primes were morphologically related to targets. The results are interpreted within a bimodal hierarchical model of word recognition in which morphological effects arise through the interplay of sublexical (morpho-orthographic) and supralexical (morpho-semantic) representations. The word stimuli from this study may be downloaded as supplemental materials from http://mc.psychonomic-journals .org/content/supplemental.     

Phonological and conceptual activation in speech comprehension

We propose that speech comprehension involves the activation of token representations of the phonological forms of current lexical hypotheses, separately from the ongoing construction of a conceptual interpretation of the current utterance. In a series of cross-modal priming experiments, facilitation of lexical decision responses to visual target words (e.g., time) was found for targets that were semantic associates of auditory prime words (e.g., date) when the primes were isolated words, but not when the same primes appeared in sentence contexts. Identity priming (e.g., faster lexical decisions to visual date after spoken date than after an unrelated prime) appeared, however, both with isolated primes and with primes in prosodically neutral sentences. Associative priming in sentence contexts only emerged when sentence prosody involved contrastive accents, or when sentences were terminated immediately after the prime. Associative priming is therefore not an automatic consequence of speech processing. In no experiment was there associative priming from embedded words (e.g., sedate-time), but there was inhibitory identity priming (e.g., sedate-date) from embedded primes in sentence contexts. Speech comprehension therefore appears to involve separate distinct activation both of token phonological word representations and of conceptual word representations. Furthermore, both of these types of representation are distinct from the long-term memory representations of word form and meaning.     

Phonological priming in the lexical decision task: A failure to replicate

Some models of the lexicon predict that recognition of words should produce activation spreading to phonologically related words. Consistent with this prediction, Hillinger (1980) demonstrated priming in a visual lexical decision task for word targets preceded by graphemically similar or graphemically dissimilar primes that rhymed with the target. In Experiment 1, we investigated whether this phonological priming effect occurred automatically or because of subject strategies. Although semantically associated primes produced significant facilitation in Experiment 1, no evidence of phonological priming was obtained. Experiments 2 to 5 were conducted in an attempt to obtain the phonological priming effect. Experiment 5 was a replication of one of Hillinger’s experiments. In none of these experiments was phonological priming observed. These results indicate either that the lexicon is not organized such that spreading activation occurs on the basis of phonological similarity, or that visual lexical decisions are made without phonological mediation.     

Phonological priming and cohort effects in toddlers

Adult word recognition is influenced by prior exposure to phonologically or semantically related words (cup primes cat or plate) compared to unrelated words (door), suggesting that words are organised in the adult lexicon based on their phonological and semantic properties and that word recognition implicates not just the heard word, but also related words. We investigate the phonological organisation of the toddler lexicon with two experiments using a picture priming technique. Twenty-four month olds showed inhibition of target recognition in related primed trials compared to unrelated primed trials (Experiment 1) and also in related primed trials compared to unprimed trials (Experiment 2). Further analysis of children’s responding found that this inhibition effect was modulated by the cohort and neighbourhood size of the words tested. Overall, the results indicate a lexical basis for the reported effects and suggest that the phonological properties provide an organisational basis for words in the toddler lexicon.     

Semantic inhibition of ignored words during a figure classification task

Two experiments investigated inhibitory processes in visual spatial attention. In particular, factors influencing the suppression of ignored visual stimuli were investigated. Subjects responded to geometric shapes while distractors were presented in the periphery. Distractors consisted of a single word, a pair of unrelated words, or a single word paired with a string of non-linguistic symbols. Semantic processing of the ignored words was measured with a subsequent lexical decision task. Test probes presented after the prime displays revealed suppression effects for words semantically related to a previously ignored word, but only for conditions in which two distractor words were presented. Suppression was not observed when the prime consisted of a single word or a single word paired with non-linguistic symbols. In Experiment 2 two different time delays between the onset of the primes and the onset of the test probes were used. At the shorter interval facilitatory priming was observed, while at longer intervals suppression was observed. The facilitation-suppression pattern suggests that ignored items are recognized before being suppressed. In summary, the results suggest the following: (1) that selectively attending does not restrict ignored items from gaining access to their semantic representations, and (2) that inhibition is an important process in determining the focus of attention. These results are discussed within a selective attention framework in which all items in a display gain access to memory representations, and attention to selected items causes competing items to be inhibited.     

False memories for script actions in a mugging account

Abstract

A number of cross-language priming experiments are reported that evaluate whether word meanings in the first and second language are represented in common or separate systems. A masked priming procedure was used on the assumption that when prime awareness is limited, any priming effects directly reveal the underlying structure of the semantic system. Primes were presented in the subjects' first language, while targets were in their second language. Priming effects were obtained for word pairs that were semantically highly similar but not translation equivalents, for example fence-haie (= hedge in French), suggesting that words in the two languages share common elements of semantic code. Priming was also obtained between translation equivalents which, in conjunction with the results for semantically similar pairs, is most naturally interpreted in terms of partially shared semantic representations. However, no masked priming effects were obtained between associated pairs of relatively low semantic similarity, for example shoe-pied (= foot in French), whereas such pairs did produce an effect when primes were unmasked. The results are discussed in terms of limitations on the semantic activation produced by masked words, and the role of collocational relationships in priming between associated words in the same language.     

Testing the direct-access model: GOD does not prime DOG

In three repetition priming experiments that employed identical (e.g., DOG-DOG) and reversed repetitions (e.g., GOD-DOG), it was found that relative to controls (e.g., DOG-DOG), GOD-type words did not prime DOG-type words. Also, neither DUT-type nor TUD-type nonwords primed DUT-type nonwords. In Experiments 1 and 2, these results occurred using both long- and short-term repetition priming conditions, respectively. In Experiment 3, the word results held under conditions of short-term priming coupled with stimulus misorientation. However, the nonword results resembled the word results (i.e., identical but not reversed repetitions primed nonwords). The failure to provide explicit evidence for direct visual access (e.g., GOD does not prime DOG while DOG does) irrespective of other sources of lexical activation supports theories of word recognition that postulate multiple and varied lexical representations that are activated through a matrix of connections.