Semantic priming in the lexical decision task: Roles of prospective prime- … (original) (raw)
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Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 1989
In semantic priming paradigms for lexical decisions, the probability that a word target is semantically related to its prime (the relatedness proportion) has been confounded with the probability that a target is a nonword, given that it is unrelated to its prime (the nonword ratio). This study unconfounded these two probabilities in a lexical decision task with category names as primes and with high-and low-dominance exemplars as targets. Semantic priming for highdominance exemplars was modulated by the relatedness proportion and, to a lesser degree, by the nonword ratio. However, the nonword ratio exerted a stronger influence than did the relatedness proportion on semantic priming for low-dominance exemplars and on the nonword facilitation effect (i.e., the superiority in performance for nonword targets that follow a category name rather than a neutral XXX prime). These results suggest that semantic priming for lexical decisions is affected by both a prospective prime-generated expectancy, modulated by the relatedness proportion, and a retrospective target/prime semantic matching process, modulated by the nonword ratio. People are typically faster and more accurate in responding to a target word when it is accompanied by or immediately preceded by a semantically related priming word, relative to an unrelated priming word (e.g,, Meyer & Schvaneveldt, 1971; Neely, 1976). This semantic priming effect has most often been studied in the lexical decision task, in which subjects indicate whether a target letter string (e.g., robin or tark) is a word or a nonword. The relatedness proportion effect is the finding that semantic priming increases in magnitude with increases in the proportion of related word-prime/word-target trials-a proportion hereafter referred to as the relatedness proportion. The relatedness proportion effect is very robust and has been obtained across a wide range of procedural variations in the lexical decision task (de Groot,
Semantic priming in the lexical decision task: Roles of prospec-tive prime-generated expectancies an
1989
In semantic priming paradigms for lexical decisions, the probability that a word target is semantically related to its prime (the relatedness proportion) has been confounded with the probability that a target is a nonword, given that it is unrelated to its prime (the nonword ratio). This study unconfounded these two probabilities in a lexical decision task with category names as primes and with high-and low-dominance exemplars as targets. Semantic priming for highdominance exemplars was modulated by the relatedness proportion and, to a lesser degree, by the nonword ratio. However, the nonword ratio exerted a stronger influence than did the relatedness proportion on semantic priming for low-dominance exemplars and on the nonword facilitation effect (i.e., the superiority in performance for nonword targets that follow a category name rather than a neutral XXX prime). These results suggest that semantic priming for lexical decisions is affected by both a prospective prime-generated expectancy, modulated by the relatedness proportion, and a retrospective target/prime semantic matching process, modulated by the nonword ratio. People are typically faster and more accurate in responding to a target word when it is accompanied by or immediately preceded by a semantically related priming word, relative to an unrelated priming word (e.g,, Meyer & Schvaneveldt, 1971; Neely, 1976). This semantic priming effect has most often been studied in the lexical decision task, in which subjects indicate whether a target letter string (e.g., robin or tark) is a word or a nonword. The relatedness proportion effect is the finding that semantic priming increases in magnitude with increases in the proportion of related word-prime/word-target trials-a proportion hereafter referred to as the relatedness proportion. The relatedness proportion effect is very robust and has been obtained across a wide range of procedural variations in the lexical decision task (de Groot,
The long and short of semantic priming effects in lexical decision
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 1997
described a theory of priming that predicts long-term effects for all forms of relatedness. This prediction is reconciled with previous failures to observe long-term semantic priming on the basis of 2 claims: (a) that previously used pairs share few semantic features and (b) that tasks typically used to study priming are not especially sensitive to semantic influences. The present experiments provide further support for these claims by demonstrating long-term semantic priming in the lexical-decision task when the stimuli and task are modified in a way that increases semantic involvement. However, the findings suggest that in addition to the mechanism advocated by Becker et al., a second mechanism is necessary to provide a complete account of semantic priming effects. Meyer and Schvaneveldt (1971) introduced the lexicaldecision task as a tool for learning more about the processes and mechanisms underlying semantic memory. In its original form, the task consisted of two letter strings simultaneously presented, with participants instructed to press one key if both stimuli were words, and another key if one or both of the stimuli were nonwords. Findings from that task indicated that correct "word** responses could be emitted faster if the stimuli consisted of a pair of semantically related words (e.g., sky-cloud) than if the stimuli consisted of apair of semantically unrelated words (e.g., car-cloud). This phenomenon is called semantic priming. In follow-up work, Meyer, Schvaneveldt, and Ruddy (1972) discovered two other facts about semantic priming. The first was that the priming observed in the original study was also observed with a procedure in which participants had to judge the lexical status of a single item that either was or was not preceded by a semantically related associate. The second discovery was that the magnitude of the semantic priming effect was strongly affected if items were presented between the prime and target. In their experiment, they found that the strong semantic priming effect observed when the prime and target were presented consecutively became
Word-based grouping affects the prime-task effect on semantic priming
2000
Semantic priming between words is reduced or eliminated if a low-level task such as letter search is performed on the prime word (the prime task effect), a finding used to question the automaticity of semantic processing of words. This idea is critically examined in 3 experiments with a new design that allows the search target to occur both inside and outside the prime word.
Semantic priming in the prime task effect: Evidence of automatic semantic processing of distractors
Memory & Cognition, 2000
The automaticity of the semantic processing of words has been questioned because of the reduction of semantic priming when the prime word is processed nonsemantically-for example, in letter search (the prime task effect). In two experiments, prime distractor words produced semantic priming in a subsequent lexical decision task, but with the direction of priming (positive or negative) depending on the prime task. Lexico-semantic tasks produced negative semantic priming, whereas letter search produced positive semantic priming. These results are discussed in terms of task-based inhibition. We argue that, given the results from the distractors, the absence of semantic priming does not indicate an absence of semantic activation but reflects the action of control processes on prepotent responses when less practiced responses are needed.
Journal of Cognitive …, 2006
Semantic priming has been a widely used paradigm in research about semantic memory. In this study we tested the effects of the degree of semantic similarity between primes and targets (defined in terms of shared features) in semantic priming. We selected pairs of semantically related words to be used as primes and targets by using a similarity rating task and a feature generation task. Through these two tasks we obtained prime±target pairs that were more or less related in meaning (very close and close pairs). We tested these pairs in a lexical decision task (Experiment 1) and in a semantic decision task (Experiment 2). In both experiments, we obtained evidence of automatic semantic priming in both the very close and the close semantic conditions. Furthermore, in both tasks we found that priming was higher for very close than close semantic words. On the basis of these findings, we can conclude that the amount of automatic semantic priming appears to depend on the degree of semantic similarity between primes and targets. We are grateful to Urbano Lorenzo for his assistance in the statistical procedure to calculate the semantic distances of the word pairs. We are also grateful to reviewers Ken McRae and David Vinson for their valuable comments.
Priming effects on lexical access and decision processes: A signal-detection analysis
Psychological Research, 1992
to examine the assumption that in a lexical-decision task context effects are primarily the result of post-access processes. Experiment 1, in which prime-relatedness was varied within subjects, found changes in target sensitivity (d') without corresponding changes in the response criterion. This outcome was interpreted as evidence that prior context facilitates lexical access, whereas post-access contributions remain constant across conditions. When primerelatedness was varied between subjects in Experiment 2, the lexical-decision task showed differing context effects on access processes as well as on post-access processes. It was concluded that subjects adopt a single response criterion suited to maximize task performance. The particular response criterion adopted is a function of the stimulus set rather than a function of the relationship between prime and target on any single trial. Finally, it was concluded that post-access strategies alone are insufficient to account for context effects obtained when typical lexical-decision-task procedures are used, or to account for the magnitude of the differences obtained between the present experiments.
Three-step priming in lexical decision
Memory & Cognition, 2002
In two experiments, we investigated mediated two-step priming (e.g., from LION to STRIPES via TIGER) and three-step priming (e.g., from MANE to STRIPES via LION and TIGER). Experiment 1 showed robust twostep priming in the double lexical decision task. In Experiment 2, we tested for three-step priming and investigated the possibility that it is not association strength based on free association, but frequency of co-occurrence, that causes three-step priming. Co-occurrence has been proposed as a measure of familiarityand semantic relatedness. Significant three-step priming was obtained. Lexical co-occurrence could not account for the effect. However, a more global measure of semantic similarity that includes the similarity of the contexts in which concepts occur revealed that the three-step pairs were semantically related. If this global measure provides a proper estimate of the semantic relatedness of our items, then three-step priming is consistent not only with spreading activation models, but also with distributed memory models and the compound cue model.
The effects of inter-stimulus interval and prime modality in a semantic priming task
Aphasiology, 2011
Background: Semantic priming studies are employed in order to examine how various semantic contexts can influence visual word recognition processes. Although research has shown numerous factors can have an influence on the magnitude of the semantic priming effects found in lexical decision tasks, the majority of these factors have been related to the prime-target relationship itself. However, other factors have also been shown to alter the priming effect. Two such factors are the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) and presentation modality. The inter-stimulus interval may be used to independently assess automatic and strategic processes, whereas presentation modality is typically used to assess the different processing time courses that occur with spoken or written words. These factors have not been adequately investigated in the normal population. A more in-depth understanding of the relationships between prime modality, inter-stimulus interval, and word recognition processes in a sample of individuals with typical language abilities may provide valuable when examining lexical access and storage in language disordered populations such as those with aphasia. Aims: The focus of the present study was to examine the impact of relatively short and long inter-stimulus intervals on processing time in a visual and cross-modal lexical decision task. Previous research has not fully addressed whether convergent processes occur during cross-modal tasks or if an amodal semantic system exists. The utilisation of slow and fast inter-stimulus intervals should allow for a clearer distinction relative to processing.