Masked inhibitory priming in English: Evidence for lexical inhibition.

Predictions derived from the interactive activation (IA) model were tested in 3 experiments using the masked priming technique in the lexical decision task. Experiment 1 showed a strong effect of prime lexicality: Classifications of target words were facilitated by orthographically related nonword primes (relative to unrelated nonword primes) but were inhibited by orthographically related word primes (relative to unrelated word primes). Experiment 2 confirmed IA's prediction that inhibitory priming effects are greater when the prime and target share a neighbor. Experiment 3 showed a minimal effect of target word neighborhood size (N) on inhibitory priming but a trend toward greater inhibition when nonword foils were high-N than when they were low-N. Simulations of 3 different versions of the IA model showed that the best fit to the data is produced when lexical inhibition is selective and when masking leads to reset of letter activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategic control in a naming task: Changing routes or changing deadlines?

S. Monsell, K. E. Patterson, A. Graham, C. H. Hughes, and R. Milroy (1992) reported that high-frequency irregular words are named faster when presented in a "pure" block than when mixed with nonwords. They attributed this effect to a de-emphasis of an assembly route in the pure block. The current authors replicated this effect in Experiment 1. In Experiments 2 and 3, similar effects resulted from mixing high- and low-frequency regular words with nonwords and from mixing high- and low-frequency irregular words together. Further, in all cases, the more slowly named stimuli were named faster in mixed blocks than in pure blocks. An alternative to the de-emphasis account, which is based on strategic control of initiation of articulation, was supported in Experiment 4 by confirming the alternative account's novel prediction of a regularity effect for high-frequency words in pure blocks. Implications for the single- versus dual-route debate and for interpretations of strategy effects in general are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of word frequency for Japanese Kana and Kanji words in naming and lexical decision: Can the dual-route model save the lexical-selection account?

The effects of word frequency were examined for Japanese Kanji and Katakana words in 6 experiments. The sizes of frequency effects were comparable for Kanji and Katakana words in the standard lexical decision task. In the standard naming task, the frequency effect for Katakana words was significantly smaller than that for Kanji words. These results were consistent with the lexical-selection account of frequency effects offered by dual-route models. Contrary to this account, however, frequency effects were smaller for Katakana words than for Kanji words in go/no-go naming tasks, in which participants were asked to name a stimulus aloud only if it was a word. This Frequency?×?Script Type interaction was not the result of using a go/no-go task because the interaction disappeared in the go/no-go lexical decision task. These results pose a strong challenge for the lexical-selection account of frequency effects offered by dual-route models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of word association and meaning frequency in a cross-modal lexical decision task: Is the priming due to "semantic" activation?

Two experiments examined the effects of priming by ambiguous, auditorily presented word primes. In related conditions, primes were followed by either associatively related or semantically related but associatively unrelated targets. When the targets were presented at prime offset (Exp 1), priming effects were observed only for associatively related targets, independent of meaning frequency (i.e., whether the target was related to the dominant or subordinate meaning of the ambiguous prime). When the targets were presented after a 700 msec delay (Exp 2), however, priming effects were observed only for targets related to the prime's dominant meaning, regardless of the nature of the prime-target relation. These results raise the strong possibility that previously reported differences in the nature of priming effects that had been ascribed to meaning frequency might actually be due to differences in associative strength. These results are discussed in terms of J. A. Fodor's (1983; 1990) "anti-semantic" modularity view. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neighborhood size and neighborhood frequency effects in word recognition.

What are the effects of a word's orthographic neighborhood on the word recognition process? S. Andrews (1989) reported that large neighborhoods facilitate lexical access (the neighborhood size effect). J. Grainger, J. K. O'Regan, A. M. Jacobs, & J. Segui (1989) reported that higher frequency neighbors inhibit lexical access (the "neighborhood frequency effect"). Because neighborhood size and neighborhood frequency typically covary (words with large neighborhoods will usually possess higher frequency neighbors), these findings would seem to contradict one another. In the present study, 6 experiments on the effects of neighborhood size and neighborhood frequency indicated that, at least for low-frequency words, large neighborhoods do facilitate processing. However, the existence of higher frequency neighbors seems to facilitate rather than inhibit processing. The implications of these findings for serial and parallel models of lexical access are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Picture naming: An investigation of the nature of categorical priming.

Although there are numerous theories of the structure of semantic memory, a notion central of many of these theories is that of semantic category membership. The present studies represent an investigation of the effects of a semantic category relation between prime and target in a picture-naming task. Because picture naming is presumed to require access to semantic memory, category priming effects were anticipated even when associative and phonetic effects were eliminated. This expectation was verified in Experiment 1. Experiments 2 and 3 were attempts to specify the nature and locus of this categorical priming effect. In particular, it was suggested that one locus would be an entry-level memory system for pictures. Results suggest that this system plays little role in categorical priming of picture naming. Rather, a better explanation would be one based on processing within semantic memory. The possibility of lexical memory acting as an additional locus is also considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Word naming and memory load: Still searching for an individual differences explanation.

S. E. Bernstein and T. H. Carr (1996) and P. M. Pexman and S. J. Lupker (1995) suggested that classifiable individual differences in word-naming performance can account for the varied findings on the naming and memory load task (NMLT; K. R. Paap and R. W. Noel, 1991). Bernstein and Carr's technique of testing their explanation by using performance on part of the NMLT to classify participants is problematic, however. To remedy this, in the present study participants were classified on the basis of performance on a priori tasks: Participants completed a naming task, a naming task with low memory load, and the NMLT. Performance on the NMLT was not predicted by performance on either a priori task, thus providing no support for either Bernstein and Carr's or Pexman and Lupker's individual differences accounts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ambiguity and visual word recognition: Can feedback explain both homophone and polysemy effects?

In a lexical-decision task (LDT), Y. Hino and S. J. Lupker (see record 1996-06577-001) reported a polysemy effect (faster response times for polysemous words [e.g., BANK]), and attributed this effect to enhanced feedback from the semantic system to orthographic units, for polysemous words. Using the same task, P. M. Pexman et al (in review) reported a homophone effect (slower response times for homophonic words [e.g., MAID]) and attributed this effect to inconsistent feedback from the phonological system to orthographic units, for homophones. This article tests two predictions derived from this feedback explanation: Polysemy and homophone effects should (1) co-occur in a standard LDT (with pseudoword foils) and (2) both be larger with pseudohomophones (e.g., BRANE) as foils in LDT. The results support both predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strategic effects in word naming: Examining the route-emphasis versus time-criterion accounts.

K. Rastle and M. Coltheart (1999) demonstrated that both nonwords and low-frequency regular words are named more slowly when mixed with first-phoneme irregular word fillers (e.g., CHEF) than when mixed with third-phoneme irregular word fillers (e.g., GLOW). Those authors suggested that their effects were due to a strategic de-emphasis of the nonlexical route when first-phoneme irregular fillers were used. An alternative explanation is that these results simply reflect a more lax position of a time criterion (S. J. Lupker, P. Brown, and L. Colombo, 1997) in the first-phoneme irregular filler condition. We contrasted these 2 accounts in 4 experiments. In all experiments, target naming latencies were longer when the fillers were harder to name, regardless of whether the fillers were nonwords or exception words. These results strongly favor a time-criterion account of K. Rastle and M. Coltheart's effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interacting sources of information in word naming: A study of individual differences.

Hypothetically, words can be named by spelling–sound translation rules or by looking up a phonological code in a lexicon. Following J. Baron and C. Strawson (see record 1977-00326-001), naming performance was measured as a function of skill with each route, using sets of stimuli varying in reliance on either route. Ss were 73 college students. "Phoenicians" were defined to be better with rules than with look-up; "Chinese" were better at look-up than with rules. As predicted by Baron and Strawson, Phoenicians named low-frequency regular words and nonwords faster than Chinese. Contrary to predictions, Phoenicians were also faster at naming irregular words of various frequencies. Implications of these results for various dual-route models vs single-route models are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)