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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
Published on: June 29, 2021
Semantic activation and letter search: blocking or suppression?
Caterina Cinel1, Steve E Avons, Riccardo Russo
1School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, Colchester, UK. ccinel@essex.ac.uk
Abstract:
Two experiments investigated associative priming with a letter-search prime task where either the prime and letter probe were presented simultaneously, or the letter probe appeared 200 ms (Experiment 1) or 300 ms (Experiment 2) after the prime. Weak associative priming was observed in both experiments, but unlike Stolz and Besner (1996) we found no evidence that priming was increased when the probe was delayed. However, strong associative priming was observed when a semantic decision had to be made on the prime (Experiment 3). Our results are consistent with an account where semantic activation of the prime occurs but its action on the target is suppressed by the prime task. The persistence of weak priming effects with the letter search task is explained in terms of the low-frequency items used.
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