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Stress priming in picture naming: an SOA study
Niels O Schiller1, Paula Fikkert, Clara C Levelt
1Department of Neurocognition, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands. n.schiller@psychology.unimaas.nl
Brain and Language
|June 3, 2004
Summary
This study found no evidence of lexical stress priming in speech production. However, initial stress in words was processed faster than final stress, suggesting an encoding effect related to stress patterns.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Phonology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Lexical stress is crucial for spoken word recognition and production.
- The representation of stress in the mental lexicon remains a topic of debate.
- Priming paradigms are used to investigate implicit memory and cognitive processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if lexical stress information can be primed during speech production.
- To determine if semantic relatedness influences stress priming.
- To explore the underlying mechanisms of stress effects in word encoding.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments using bisyllabic target nouns (picture names) with initial and final stress.
- Auditory prime words with matching or mismatching stress patterns were presented.
- Semantic relatedness between prime and target words was manipulated.
- Response times for picture naming were measured.
Main Results:
- No significant stress-priming effect was observed, indicating stress may not be directly primed from the lexicon.
- Targets with initial stress were named faster than targets with final stress.
- The faster processing of initial stress was attributed to an encoding effect, not lexical storage.
Conclusions:
- The findings challenge the notion of direct lexical stress priming in speech production.
- An encoding advantage for initial stress suggests processing differences beyond lexical representation.
- Results inform models of phonological encoding and lexical access in psycholinguistics.