Opening a file drawer: Surprisingly consistent evidence for semantic interference from distractor pictures in picture...

Semantic-categorically related distractor words slow down picture naming more than semantically unrelated distractor words do (e.g., the words "dog" vs. "car" for a picture of a horse). This semantic interference effect in the picture-word interference task has been replicated numerous times and is an empirical cornerstone of speech production research. However, studies using the picture-picture interference task, in which the distractor words are replaced with distractor pictures, have yielded highly inconsistent results, reporting semantic interference, semantic facilitation, and null effects. Here, we present a meta-analytic summary of the results of published picture-picture interference studies. We found the estimated semantic effect to be close to zero (2 ms, 95% confidence interval [CI] [-5, 9]). This contrasts with the results of 14 previously unpublished picture-picture interference experiments conducted in our laboratory and which we report here. Across these experiments, the estimated semantic-interference effect was 15 ms (95% CI [9, 21]). When these data were included in the meta-analysis, the pooled estimate was 9 ms (95% CI [4, 14]). These results suggest that the magnitude of semantic interference from distractor pictures has been underestimated and that it is not as elusive as previously thought. We discuss the implications for modeling word production. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).