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Lexical processing of ambiguous words: dominance or associative strength?
Francisco Nievas1, Fernando Justicia, José J Cañas
1Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Universidad de Almería, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120 Almería, Spain. fnievas@ual.es
The Spanish Journal of Psychology
|November 1, 2005
Summary
Semantic priming for ambiguous words depends on associative strength at longer processing times, not meaning frequency. Shorter processing times show no effect of associative strength.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psycholinguistics
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Understanding how the brain processes ambiguous words is crucial for cognitive science.
- Meaning frequency (dominance) and associative strength are key factors influencing word recognition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the independent roles of meaning frequency and associative strength in processing ambiguous words.
- To differentiate the effects of these factors at varying stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs).
Main Methods:
- Four experiments utilized lexical decision tasks with homograph primes and associate targets.
- Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was manipulated to differentiate between automatic and controlled processing (long SOAs: 750 ms; short SOAs: 250 ms).
- Associative norms were used to measure the strength of association between prime meanings and target words.
Main Results:
- At long SOAs (750 ms), semantic priming was facilitated by the associative strength of the target word, not its dominance.
- At short SOAs (250 ms), manipulations of associative strength did not significantly affect semantic priming, suggesting automatic processes were engaged.
Conclusions:
- Semantic priming for homographs at longer processing durations is primarily driven by associative strength.
- Automatic semantic activation of word meanings is not modulated by associative strength at very short processing intervals.