When nonwords activate semantics better than words.
| Number | 1106 |
|---|---|
| Year | 1998 |
| Drawer | 21 |
| Entry Date | 11/22/1999 |
| Authors | Lukatela, G., Carello, C., Savic;, M., Urosevic;, Z., & Turvey, M.T. |
| Contact | |
| Publication | Cognition, 68, B31-B40 |
| url | http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1106.pdf |
| Abstract | We conducted a strong test of the idea that visual word processing and the activation of a printed word’s meaning proceeds at a rate scaled by the temporal evolution of a unique and stable phonological code. Using the lexical decision task, and readers fluent in the two alphabets of Serbo-Croatian, we compared the priming of a target word such as automat by the semantically related word ROBOT and by the nonword ROBOT. Whereas the Serbo-Croatian word ROBOT can support two phonological codes, /robot/ and /robot/, the nonword ROBOT composed by illegally mixing Roman and Cyrillic letters can support only the phonological code/robot/, that corresponding to the word whose meaning is related to automat’s. At a prime duration of 35 ms, the lexical decision on the target automat was facilitated by ROBOT but not by ROBOT. At a prime duration of 125 ms, the word ROBOT was the more effective prime. One consequence of phonology’s leading role in visual word recognition is that a nonword can sometimes activate a given word’s meaning better than the word itself. |
| Notes |
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