Visual lexical access is initially phonological: 2. Evidence from phonological priming by homophones and pseudohomophones.

Seven experiments were conducted that examined phonological and orthographic priming of naming using three- and four-field masking procedures with prolonged targets. Experiments 1–3 found significant phonological priming by homophones (TOWED–toad) that was independent of prime identifiability and prime-target stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA; 30, 60, or 250 ms). Subsequent experiments found significant phonological priming by pseudohomophones (TODE–toad) that was similarly independent of prime identifiability and SOA. Collectively, the limited effects of orthographic control primes (TOLD–toad, TODS–toad) and the pronounced and orthographically independent effects of phonological primes suggest (a) a leading role in visual word perception for a fast-acting, automatic, assembled phonology, and (b) a phonological basis, rather than an abstract graphemic basis, for the processing equivalency of letter variations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)