Robust affective priming effects in a conditional pronunciation task: Evidence for the semantic representation of evaluative information

Based on the hypothesis that information about the valence of words is encoded in a semantic system, we predicted that the match between the valence of a prime and the valence of a target word will influence the pronunciation of the target only if and to the extent that pronunciation is semantically mediated. In line with this prediction, we found affective priming effects (faster pronunciation when prime and target had the same valence than when they had a different valence) only when participants were instructed to read words but not nonwords (Experiment 1) or words that were not names of occupations (Experiment 2). Priming was not significant when participants were asked to read white but not red words (Experiment 1) or words that did not have a frame around them (Experiment 2).